I wanted to but couldn't!

Great Film overall

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

. . . each more politically incorrect than the last, concerning ten little somethings. But when viewers went to their local drive-in to see the actual film version of Dame Agatha's tale, there actually were TEN of something (plus a Who-Done-It break to place your bet will the other folks in the Microbus as to WHO the killer was, and buy some concessions, of course). The skimpy movie studio behind THIRTEEN WOMEN (run by notorious tightwads) takes its source material less literally, however. At least two of the titular females were left on the cutting room floor (which sounds like a good start at producing a better horror feature than THIRTEEN WOMEN). Obviously, the producers of THIRTEEN WOMEN should have bought the rights to the title ELEVEN WOMEN, but I assume that the copyright holders may have demanded 50 cents too much.

Campy and entertaining, there are flashes of brilliance here: tight shots on Loy, made up as an evil Indian mystic bent on getting revenge against her old classmates, some scenes where tension is built up rather nicely (I won't spoil them), and even a car chase scene, 1932-style. You'll have to suspend disbelief over the concept that the mind can be controlled by another via 'waves', but that's part of the fun. Loy's motivation is revealed towards the end as she confronts Irene Dunne, and it reveals the racial climate of the times: as a "half-caste Indian half-breed", she was not allowed to "pass" as white in a sorority. As she explains it, for half-breed men this meant being a coolie, and for a woman, she simply shrugs, implying prostitution. As with many films treating race relations at the time, it has a mixed message, on the one hand, pointing out the unfairness of the sorority (and how racist its rules were), and on the other, elevating fears of violence by non- Caucasians. It's interesting that the film has quite a bit of the framework of the modern thriller in it, but it's not fleshed out as much as it ideally would have been, and seems abrupt in places. Finding out that the original release was 14 minutes longer could explain that, but I have to review it for what survives. You could do worse, and it's actually kind of a fun movie. Oh, and last point – interesting to see Peg Entwistle in her only credited screen role, before jumping from the 'H' in the Hollywood(land) sign in despair. Watch for her character 'Hazel' early on.

Myrna Loy in one of her earliest--and perhaps silliest--roles, that of a half-caste named Ursula Georgi who strikes back at the women who ostracized her many years ago at a girls' school in San Francisco using "the power of suggestion." Loy, ever the outcast, looks made-up for a night with Fu Manchu; with her colorful appearance and eyes glinting with delicious revenge and evil satisfaction, one may assume Myrna was getting a kick out of these overwrought proceedings. Although the film was produced by RKO and probably had a fairly large budget for 1932, it seems tatty and awkward, and saddled with an anti-climactic finish. It may be just enough of a curio to garner a desperate audience, however anyone looking for the Golden Age of Hollywood would be well-advised to duck for cover. ** from ****

Odd and mysterious film revolving around a woman described as a "Hindu half-breed" (played by Myrna Loy) who writes fake horoscope predictions under the guise of a famous Swami and mails them to a circle of former female classmates to get even with them. Death and suicide is the norm for these "predictions", which somehow start to come true just based on the power of suggestion. One woman receives a horoscope predicting the death of someone close to her - then, oh dear, the power of persuasion is in full force when she and her sister perform their "world famous double flip done without a net" flying trapeze circus stunt and the sister falls to her death. Luckily a bright cop is soon on the job to solve the mystery and put an end to these "horoscope murders".This film is short, fast-paced, mysterious, and quite good, actually. Myrna Loy is fine in her performance, using her hypnotic eyes in close-up to seduce unwilling partners - and victims, though the very heavy eye makeup on her here isn't exactly grounds for making her believable as half Asian. Irene Dunne is excellent in this too, as the classmate who tries to persuade the others to use reason and not believe these silly horoscopes, then has Loy on her back trying to "break" her - by sending poisoned candy and a ball with a bomb to try and kill Dunne's little boy. Yeah, you got it - a real evil piece of work, that woman. Quite a good film, well worth seeing.