THE DARK HOUR

US, 1936, 64 minutes, Black and white.
Ray Walker, Berton Churchill, Irene Ware, Hobart Bosworth, Hedda Hopper, E.E.Clive.
Directed by Charles Lamont.

This is a small-budget 1930s murder mystery, nothing particularly special.

We are introduced to a range of characters, especially a mean old millionaire, uncle to the heroine, Elsa, critical of her suitors, clashing with his brother, not popular with the neighbours. After several gruff scenes, he is murdered.

One of the suitors for the niece is a detective who teams up with an elderly detective next door and, together, they pursue solving the mystery.

There are many many suspects including the staff at the house, the butler, the cook, a scientist living in the working who is keen on marrying the niece for her money, they quickly looked in the window, Hedda Hopper playing Mrs Tallman. There are many interviews, hypotheses, and some more murders with people behaving rather suspiciously.

When the murder is solved, it emerges that it is the victim’s brother who is jealous, wanting money, defiant. However, when everything seems solved, the various of the hypotheses that could have been in play, included a scenario where the older detective himself is the killer and it scenario where it could have been Mrs Tallman.