FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

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

JohnHowardReid Ray Walker (Jim Landis), Irene Ware (Elsa Carson), Berton Churchill (Paul Bernard), Hobart Bosworth (Charles Carson), Hedda Hopper (Mrs Tallman), E.E. Clive (Foot, the Carsons' butler), Harold Goodwin (Peter Blake, a chemist), William V. Mong (Henry Carson), Michael Mark (Arthur Bell), John St Polis (Dr Munro), Miki Morita (Choong), Aggie Herring (Mrs Dubbin, the Carsons' cook), Lloyd Whitlock (Watson), Rose Allen (Mrs Murphy), Kathryn Sheldon (Helen Smith), Fred Kelsey (Detective Bruce), Harry Strang (policeman).Director: CHARLES LAMONT. Screenplay: Eward Adamson. Based on the 1928 novel "The Last Trap" by Sinclair Gluck. Photography: M.A. Anderson. Film editor: Roland D. Reed. Art director: Edward C. Jewell. Production executive: Lon Young. Assistant director: Melville Shyer. Sound recording: Dick Tyler, senior. RCA Victor Sound System Producer: George R. Batcheller.Copyright 30 January 1936 by Chesterfield Motion Pictures Corporation. U.S. release: 15 January 1936. 64 minutes. SYNOPSIS: Who killed wealthy but miserly Henry Carson? Detective Jim Landis and a retired colleague (and neighbor of Carson), Paul Bernard, investigate. Suspicion falls on just about every member of the cast (including Bernard) except Jim Landis, who has formed an attachment with Henry's niece, Elsa. COMMENT: This talky murder mystery, flatly directed by Charles Lamont, features virtually no on-camera action at all. That's right, no action at all (except for a failed murder attempt and an obvious stock shot of a fire). What interest there is accumulates from the seemingly endless twists of suspicion (which continue right to the conclusion) and the obvious rapport of a more subdued than usual Ray Walker and a far less pompous and more personable Berton Churchill as the unlikely pair of investigators. And of course the lovely Irene Ware garners some attention as the girl in the case. Hobart Bosworth, E.E. Clive and Hedda Hopper also impress. Production values, however, are pretty miserable. A few sets (which were none too striking to begin with) are used over and over.

MartinHafer This film is a B-mystery from tiny Chesterfield Productions--one of many so-called 'Poverty Row' studios churning out extremely cheap and quickly made short films during the 1930s. It's only significant actor is Berton Churchill--a man who usually played blustering supporting roles (such as in "Stagecoach"). Here, however, he is co-lead in the film.The film begins with a woman going to talk to two detectives about her strange and rather nasty uncles. The two begin investigating and almost immediately a murder occurs--and one of the uncles is killed in a very peculiar manner (he was killed by gas and was stabbed AFTER he was already dead). The two detectives (one of which is Churchill) investigate the case almost like two Sherlock Holmes--which is a bit unusual, as in the mystery films of the era, usually the police are portrayed as idiots! How the murder occurred and who was behind it make this a VERY contrived film--and the ending offers too many twists to make the film realistic in any manner. Still, it's not a horrible film and is mildly entertaining--and is a film I'd recommend mostly to fans of these cheap murder mysteries. Others probably will be even less impressed by this one.

dbborroughs The plot has two reclusive old men keeping a watchful eye on their affairs they barely allow their niece to go out and visit a retired detective living next door. The woman is also visiting an active police detective and friend to the retired detective. When one of the uncles is murdered the young detective and retired detective join forces to solve the crime.The suspect pool is too shallow to sustain this films 70 minutes and I would love to think that you can cut 20 minutes out of this and get a decent thriller, but I don't think its possible since this movie goes round and round dropping just enough clues and clever dialog in the interest of solving the crime that you really can't cut much. It would be a better movie if it simply got on with it instead of stopping for long scenes of discussion that seem more designed to fill out the running time rather than economically tell the story. Frankly I found myself hitting the fast forward in order to just have the movie move at a reasonable speed, which is a shame since this film is filled with tons of pithy dialog between all of the characters that I never heard.Recommended for those with patience.(Still any movie where the butler named Foot and played by great character actor EE Clive can't be all bad)

wrbtu This mystery film is unusual is that there are two quite different (old & retired vs. young & active on the police force) detectives on the case, & they are both competent & work well together. Usually, Hollywood would be expected to have at least one of them take the comic element, but here they are both serious & both effective! Aside from trying to guess "who done it?," the viewer also finds him/herself wondering which of the two detectives will solve the case first, & this aspect adds to the excitement. There are plenty of suspects here, & the film moves along briskly. Berton Churchill is especially good as the older detective, & reminds me of a smaller version of the great Sydney Greenstreet. I rate this 8/10.