The Thirteenth Chair (1937)

Starring Dame May Whitty, Madge Evans, Lewis Stone, Elissa Landi, Thomas Beck
Directed by George B. Seitz
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

After a man is murdered, a police inspector reluctantly agrees to a plan by one of his friends to expose the murderer by inviting the suspects to a seance.

The third filmed version of a stage play by Bayard Veiller, this production brings together a cast featuring several of MGM's contract players, as well as Dame May Whitty, probably best known from her role in Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes.  Whitty gives a good performance, and it's interesting to see Henry Daniell in one of his earlier roles, but overall it's not that compelling a mystery, save for a unique twist in the hiding of the murder weapon.  In an interesting side note, Holmes Herbert plays the same role he played in the 1929 filming of the play.  For more on the 1929 version, see Dan Day Jr.'s informative post here.

After The Thin Man (1936)

Starring William Powell, Myrna Loy, James Stewart, Elissa Landi, Joseph Calleia
Directed by W.S. Van Dyke
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

On their return home to San Franciso, Nick and Nora Charles are drawn into a new mystery involving the disappearance of her sister's husband, which soon leads to murder.

The first of many sequels to the classic mystery-comedy The Thin Man, the film reunites Powell and Loy as the husband and wife detective team in a new story crafted by Nick and Nora's creator Dashiell Hammett.  I didn't find it quite as funny as its predecessor, but it's certainly enjoyable, and is notable for the inclusion of Jimmy Stewart a few years before becoming a major star.  You'll have to stay alert to catch all the twists and turns within the mystery, but the interplay between Powell and Loy was the highlight of all of these films and they're in fine form here once again.