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Greetings, and welcome to VIEWING THE CLASSICS. Here you'll find capsule reviews of vintage movies from the early days of cinema through the 1970s, with a special emphasis on sci-fi, horror, and mystery movies. Be sure to check out the Pages links, where you can find a Film Index of all my reviews, links to the reviews organized by cast members, directors, and other contributors, and links to my reviews of the films of talented young director Joshua Kennedy.

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Tuesday, September 17, 2013

The Crooked Circle (1932)

Starring Zasu Pitts, James Gleason, Ben Lyon, Irene Purcell, C. Henry Gordon
Directed by H. Bruce Humberstone
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

The head of a group of amateur detectives is targeted for death by a gang of hooded criminals, who plan to strike the same night the man moves into a mansion said to be haunted.

This is a fun little mystery, featuring the comedic stylings of Pitts as the easily rattled housekeeper of the mansion, and enlivened by mysterious characters, secret passages within the mansion, and a number of red herrings spicing up the plot.  Most early sound films of this type are a bit creaky, due to the lack of a musical score and staging of scenes around a microphone, but there's so much action in this film, you don't have time to notice.

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