The Thirteenth Guest (1932)

Ginger Rogers ("Lela") and Lyle Talbot ("Winston") work well enough together in this quite enjoyable murder mystery. It all centres around a dinner party that took place (or didn't!) some thirteen years earlier, at which the wealthy host died. It turns out that his fortune has been left to the thirteenth guest, but nobody knows who that actually is/was... Skip forward to present day, and a young woman returns to the house - still bedecked for the ill-fated banquet, only electricity and a telephone have been installed. After a brief altercation with two unknown assailants, she is murdered - or is she? Who is she? The police, led by "Capt. Ryan" (J. Farrell MacDonald) now have to track down the culprits and establish an hitherto unclear motive for all these shenanigans. They start by summoning those who ought to have been at that fateful dinner and with the aid of Talbot (a criminologist) work to get to the bottom of things, in an increasingly dangerous environment for all! As cheap and cheerful thrillers go, it's not bad at all. The eerie big house setting works well in it's favour, the pace is quite effective and there are enough interesting characters - especially the acerbic "Marjorie" (Frances Rich) and an hooded stranger who inhabits the obligatory secret passages, to keep the pot boiling. I could have done with far less of McDonald's annoying comical sidekick "Grump" (Paul Hurst) though even he does manage to raise a laugh at the end. It was probably just the print, but the lighting really needed a bit more radiance too. Worth an hour though...