Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Robert J. Maxwell Unlucky numbers aren't that common across the globe, and they vary. I don't know how Western Europe settled on thirteen. To the Chinese, four is the unlucky number. There are no fourth floors in old Chinese hotels. I just threw that datum in I had to learn it once. I don't see why anybody else should be excused.To make up for it, I will now give away the snappiest line in the movie. "Poor Marjorie. Your soul must look like the inside of a vinegar bottle." I didn't say it was a flight of poetry. I just said it was the best line, which should give you some idea of what the rest of the lines are like.It's a haunted house mystery. Thirteen years ago, a dinner was given in his ancient house. The thirteenth guest failed to show up. Then the house was shut up and now, thirteen years later, the original thirteen guests receive invitations to show up again. There's a great deal of money at stake since the host, having died, has left his fortune to one or more of the guests and they're all anxious to find out who gets what. One by one, the guests get picked off, despite the presence of the brusque police captain, J. Farrell MacDonald, and the suave private investigator, Lyle Talbot. (Sounds like Agatha Christie at this point.) The murderer creeps, masked, through secret rooms in a black hooded cape and wears gloves. We see the shadow of his clawed hand against the wall, and he pipes up with the theatrical guffaw of a complete maniac. (Now it's beginning to sound like Abbott and Costello.) I've always wondered who pays these private investigators. The word "fee" sometimes shows up in Sherlock Holmes. Hercule Poirot is sometimes hired, but more often just happens to be present when the crime takes place. I've often wondered whether he was a serial murderer himself. Coincidence is one thing, but a correlation approaching unity is another. Charlie Chan never seemed to bother about money. He may have been on per diem from the Honolulu Police Department. In more carefully constructed detective stories the gum shoe usually is hired for his services. The negotiation provided some amusing moments in "The Maltese Falcon." The first half hour or so is a little dull. It belongs to MacDonald as the cop in charge. He stomps around shouting orders. Talbot is so smooth that by the time he appears he seems to have slid into the story on greased skids. But Ginger Rogers enters and it seems to be spiced up. Madonna, she was cute as hell. Wait. Let me look up her age when this was made. Okay. She was twenty-one. Nice figure, as the public would discover in a few more years. And she could dance too.Creepy old houses like this one can have a lot of promise, whether they're done seriously ("The Haunting") or used in a comedy ("Murder He Says"). This one is without distinction. It's not bad, not insulting, just strictly routine. Don't bother going out of your way to catch it.

wes-connors The DVD sleeve's synopsis offers a good preview: "A wealthy gentleman hosts a dinner party where he is going to reveal the heir to his fortune, in front of the thirteen guests attending the dinner. Unfortunately, only twelve people show up for dinner and the host dies before he can reveal the heir's identity. Years later, the host's daughter returns to her long boarded-up family home to discover someone is killing off the dinner guests, making everyone wonder who will be the next victim." In the opening scene, Ginger Rogers (as Marie Morgan and Lela)'s recollections introduce the "guests", and reveal something critical about the plot. Ms. Rogers and Lyle Talbot (as Phil Winston) make the cast look promising; but, the real attractions are James Eagles (as Harold "Bud" Morgan) and Eddie Phillips (as Thor Jensen), due to the matter-of-fact way their likely relationship is depicted. This, and the "you told me to tail her" joke, near the end, are better than this otherwise dreary version of a done-to-death plot.**** The Thirteenth Guest (8/9/32) Albert Ray ~ Ginger Rogers, Lyle Talbot, J. Farrell MacDonald, James Eagles

Mike-764 A millionaire Morgan invited 12 of his family members to his house for a dinner party (but only 11 showed up), but the host died in the middle of the event. Thirteen years later the house remains boarded up when Morgan's daughter Mary arrives, but is killed by a mysterious person walking in the house. Captain Ryan calls in investigator Phil Winston to help solve the case. Winston and Ryan suspect the family lawyer Barksdale, but later he is found murdered in the house. The two believe that one of the people invited to the party is the killer and question all the family members, but later Mary Morgan reappears and Winston finds out someone hired a woman to impersonate her in order to get her inheritance. Winston has to make sure all of the family members are watched, in order to make sure the real Mary Morgan doesn't become a victim. I was slightly disappointed by the movie considering it struggled to flow smoothly in terms of direction and script. Talbot was playing the role as if to get some scout from MGM to notice him. The rest of the cast (including Rogers) played their roles to the typical Old Dark House mystery movie stereotype. The film seemed to appear to be the first of a series with Talbot's character. It should have been better. Rating, 5.

tedg Spoilers herein.I've been slogging through many 1930's film mysteries. Dozens of them, and this is one of the most interesting. I've seen it three times now and still can't figure it all out. That's a good sign.It starts simple enough, and follows a standard pattern established over decades in radio mysteries: a raffish detective, incompetent comic police, beautiful girls, society people. There's a puzzle, hidden passages and a villain dressed in a black silk hood and gown. That villain has an evil laugh inherited from radio conventions.Things chug along predictably until the end which has a pretty interesting twist. The twist is on the notion of twist itself as the bad guy is someone you suspect and for the reason you suspect. The twist is that there are two conspiracies working at cross-purposes. So even though the solution itself is mundane, the next to the last step toward the solution is pretty darn clever.Oh, and a very young and pretty Ginger Rogers is the girl.Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.