The Thirteenth Guest

The Thirteenth Guest is a mystery movie about a house with more secret passages than actual rooms which seems to be the one element of old black and white suspense/horror movies more common than monkeys. Unlike the monkeys, though, I never get tired of secret passages. I swear, if I ever reach millionaire status I'm going to build a house full of silly crap like that.

But I digress. The secret passages in this are only incidental. The real story is in the mystery of the elusive 13th guest. Years ago old man Morgan held a dinner party for 13 people at which it was said he would reveal who was the sole air of his fortune. Before he had a chance to make his announcement and before the last guest arrived he dropped dead.

Jump forward 13 years later: Morgan's daughter is returning to her old homestead and is soon murdered. The police suspect other dinner guests, but the list of suspects starts narrowing down as the other guests start dropping dead as well. Facts of the case don't make sense and darken when the first girl shows up ALIVE!

It's an amusingly twisting tale of intrigue and suspense. It's not completely predictable, but that's not to say it's ingenious. It's good enough to be satisfying. I enjoyed this flick a lot more than A Shriek in the Night which this same crew made later.

Ginger Rogers is the murdered / somehow alive daughter and does a nice job with the role. Lyle Talbot plays a young detective the police turn to for help in getting this mess figured out. I didn't recognize anyone else, but most of the major roles are done well. Some of the supporting cast could stand to be a little better.

MORALITY:

Typical of black and white movies there is no sexuality, nudity, or strong language.

Violence is minimal. In fact, sometimes the effort to keep violence from being shown on screen can make the plot confusing. When the leading lady dies within the first few minutes of the story I couldn't help but wonder if what I thought had happened had actually happened. I shouldn't have second-guessed myself, but that's what being overly-cautious about what's being depicted causes.

SPIRITUALITY:

There's not much of anything spiritual here.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

This is probably one of the better old-dark-house suspense flicks from the early 30's. It might not be for everyone given its dated quality, but for fans of this genre and age it's worth seeing.

#TheThirteenthGuest