Alicia I love this movie so much

Onlinewsma Absolutely Brilliant!

Limerculer A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

tedg A mystery the way they used to make them, full of clues, an on screen detective and the expectation that the audience is working hard to make sense of everything. Near the end, they stop the film and an announcer appears to give the audience a minute to guess.The murderer is hard to guess, and this also has some interesting genre features. One is that the main suspect turns himself in before the crime. What mars this is that we have that one anti-cinematic device: the lights go out and events happen without us being able to see them. All crimes happen on-screen, but the crime itself is occluded. This happens twice, each time there is a murder.As a narrative device, we have evolved away from this one, and I guess I am sad to see it go, because with it, you have purity: everything essential happens in front of you. But evolved away we have, to be replaced by off screen unknowns.We have also lost the character who is our on-screen detective, but not as a result of cinematic development. These guys just faded from life in general, the newspaper crime reporter. That is a loss too.

kidboots This movie is filled with some top stars - including Jean Hersholt, one of the screen's greatest character actors. From his humble Hollywood beginnings as a rowdy townsman in "Hell's Hinges" (1916) to the twenties with two of his greatest characterizations - as the evil Marcus in "Greed" and the tasteless Ed Munn in "Stella Dallas" - he never disappointed. In the 30s I can remember him as Mr. Schmidt, the downtrodden father in "Unashamed" and as Sorenson, the kindly businessman, who really loves Anita Page in "Skyscraper Souls". "The Crime of the Century" gave him a rare lead.Reminiscent of the classic "D.O.A", Dr. Emil Brandt (Jean Hersholt) walks to the police station to report on a murder that hasn't happened yet - but will if he is not locked up!!! He has a young wife, Frieda (Wynne Gibson) and he will do anything in his power to keep her happy. He has hypnotized a bank clerk and has ordered him to take $100,000 from the bank's vault and deliver it to him at 8.15 that night. Emil takes the policeman home with him, hoping he will stop him from the final act of murder. The hypnotized bank clerk comes to the house and even though the policeman wants to arrest the clerk, Emil convinces him to allow the man to return the money to the bank. Of course, when the police leave, a murder is committed. Dan McKee (Stuart Erwin) a likable reporter comes into the picture and teaming up with Doris (Frances Dee), Emile's beautiful daughter, tries to solve it. There are plenty of suspects including Gilbert Reid, Frieda's lover and William Janney as a mysterious stranger. When Frieda is killed, a narrator is introduced to go over the case thoroughly with the viewers. It is a similar ploy to "The Phantom of Crestwood" (1932), which originally had been a radio serial, that, as a novelty, got listeners to write in with their own ideas of how it should end - and the winning listener got to see their ending at the movies!!! "The Crime of the Century" wasn't that imaginative - after the narrator showed all the clues and the suspects, the film commenced as before!!Wynne Gibson, as usual, gave a stellar performance. Who can ever forget her - if only she had made more movies!! No matter how small her role - she was usually the character you remembered. "Ladies of the Big House" - she wasn't the star but you couldn't forget her Susie who makes life tough for Sylvia Sidney. "If I Had a Million" - her segment was probably the best, as the wornout prostitute, who uses some of her money to book into the best hotel in town for an uninterrupted night's sleep. Could Frances Dee have been too beautiful? - she was always very easy on the eye and also proved she could act in movies like "The Night of June 13th" and "The Silver Cord".Highly Recommended.

dbborroughs Crime of the Century "Alienist" (thats the term they use) arrives at the police station asking to be locked up. It seems that as well as being able to get people and criminals to confess he thinks he's come up with a way to get people to do evil things. He's come up with the idea of getting some one to commit a robbery and then kill them to cover the crime. Afraid he'd do it he's gone to get himself locked up. The police think he's mad and the police Captain takes him home. From there the tale spins out in a story of murder and robbery. Despite the lofty title the film is neither the film of the century and the crimes in it don't make up the crime either. An okay mystery the film bogs down with some performances that just seemed flat. Jean Hersholt (You know him best for the ward given at the Oscars every year) is good as the frantic alienist, as is the woman playing his daughter, however the police and the reporter seem to to really care. How can I get excited about mystery when the people charged with solving it are so low key, I mean their well written dialog which is full of snappy one liners just sort of lays there.It's an okay film, I just wish it was better

the_mysteriousx I'm not an expert on William "One Shot" Beaudine, but I would venture to say that with a nickname like "One Shot" that you probably weren't so highly regarded as a film artist. From the films I've seen of his, I tend to be unimpressed and not very entertained. However, after a deep sigh at seeing his name in the opening credits, I spent the rest of the movie being happily entertained.Crime of the Century is for fans of the 1930s-styled whodunits. It has the classic elements of what you would expect from an old mystery - a murder taking place in the dark with many suspects; an ensemble cast; a reporter who is one step ahead of the detective; the prime suspect is of course, the most innocent; and, an unexpected twist in the end. This film seemed to be very conscious of its' genre. There is a wonderful old-fashioned moment near the end when a narrator comes on-screen and gives us a short intermission to let the audience of the film take time to guess the murderer. The filmmakers' reasoning is that when reading a mystery novel, you have time to put the book down and think before you finish the end and films never offer you that opportunity. This was a refreshing moment and a great example of how this movie tries to be as original as it can.The cast is very good. Stuart Erwin comes off better here than he did in a very similar film and role a year earlier in Before Dawn. Jean Hersholt is heartfelt and convincing as the doctor who tries to prevent himself from making a grave mistake. Look for Samuel S. Hinds in an early role as the poor hypnotized victim. The film moves along at a brisk pace. There are enough camera moves to make the film visually interesting and the film was made at Paramount and the production values really help for this type of film. The plot is about a doctor who goes to police to prevent him from killing a man who stole money for him. However, when the man ends up being dead the doctor becomes the prime suspect and it's up to the reporter to find out who was behind it. Crime of the Century is an excellent forgotten whodunit and is a must for fans of these drawing room mysteries.