CRUD Challenge: A Shriek in the Night
Jan. 28th, 2026 04:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skjamA Shriek in the Night (1933) dir. Albert Ray
This movie delivers on the title right after the credits as wealthy philanthropist Adam Harker (uncredited) plunges screaming to his death from the skyscraper apartment building he lived in. The obvious assumption is that he fell from the balcony of his penthouse. So it's there that Police Inspector Russell (Purnell Pratt) and his meek assistant Wilfred (Arthur Hoyt) go looking for initial clues. There they meet Mr. Harker's live in secretary, the lovely Miss Terry (Ginger Rogers) and dim-witted housekeeper Augusta (Lillian Harmer). Both claim to have been asleep at the time.
The inspector suspects not all is as it seems, and he's right. "Miss Terry" is actually Pat Morgan, a newspaper reporter who had gone undercover to infiltrate Mr. Harker's life as her editor Perkins (Clarence Wilson) had suspected the philanthropist had a darker side. She's discovered a clue she hasn't told the police about yet, and tries to phone a preliminary story in to her paper.
However, rival reporter Ted Rand (Lyle Talbot) has managed to access the apartment with a "borrowed" police badge, and uses the phone extension to trick Pat into thinking she's talking to the "rewrite man" at her paper. Armed with her juicy inside knowledge, he steals the scoop. Despite the friction this causes between the two, they're soon forced to work together to investigate the continuing deaths.
Inspector Russell has his hands full dealing not just with the nosy reporters, but the many suspects. Harker had been having an affair with the married woman in the apartment directly below his, and her husband is missing. He'd also been getting late night visits from Josephus Martini (Maurice Black), reputed racketeer. And then there's the building staff, Peterson the janitor (Harvey Clark) and the maid (Louise Beavers).
This is a relatively early movie for Ginger Rogers, before she got teamed up with Fred Astaire for dancing roles. Her Pat is cute and sharp-tongued, particularly toward Ted. Unsurprisingly, while frequently quarreling, it's clear that they have romantic feelings for each other. This makes the movie more of a comedy-mystery. Lyle Talbot is good in this role, assured and daunting.
Inspector Russell isn't particularly stupid, which is a nice change for police detectives of this vintage, but he's hampered both by the reporters withholding evidence, and an assumption he's made about the people around him.
Louise Beavers' character is stuck with the stereotypical "black people are scared of spooky stuff" routine, though it might also be a classism thing as white Augusta is also comic relief. The latter is a big fan of Detective Fiction Weekly, which I reviewed some years ago.
This isn't a top-flight movie, the coda is particularly weak, but it's enjoyable and only an hour long. It might make a good double feature with a grittier mystery. Recommended to fans of 30s comedy-mystery.
This movie delivers on the title right after the credits as wealthy philanthropist Adam Harker (uncredited) plunges screaming to his death from the skyscraper apartment building he lived in. The obvious assumption is that he fell from the balcony of his penthouse. So it's there that Police Inspector Russell (Purnell Pratt) and his meek assistant Wilfred (Arthur Hoyt) go looking for initial clues. There they meet Mr. Harker's live in secretary, the lovely Miss Terry (Ginger Rogers) and dim-witted housekeeper Augusta (Lillian Harmer). Both claim to have been asleep at the time.
The inspector suspects not all is as it seems, and he's right. "Miss Terry" is actually Pat Morgan, a newspaper reporter who had gone undercover to infiltrate Mr. Harker's life as her editor Perkins (Clarence Wilson) had suspected the philanthropist had a darker side. She's discovered a clue she hasn't told the police about yet, and tries to phone a preliminary story in to her paper.
However, rival reporter Ted Rand (Lyle Talbot) has managed to access the apartment with a "borrowed" police badge, and uses the phone extension to trick Pat into thinking she's talking to the "rewrite man" at her paper. Armed with her juicy inside knowledge, he steals the scoop. Despite the friction this causes between the two, they're soon forced to work together to investigate the continuing deaths.
Inspector Russell has his hands full dealing not just with the nosy reporters, but the many suspects. Harker had been having an affair with the married woman in the apartment directly below his, and her husband is missing. He'd also been getting late night visits from Josephus Martini (Maurice Black), reputed racketeer. And then there's the building staff, Peterson the janitor (Harvey Clark) and the maid (Louise Beavers).
This is a relatively early movie for Ginger Rogers, before she got teamed up with Fred Astaire for dancing roles. Her Pat is cute and sharp-tongued, particularly toward Ted. Unsurprisingly, while frequently quarreling, it's clear that they have romantic feelings for each other. This makes the movie more of a comedy-mystery. Lyle Talbot is good in this role, assured and daunting.
Inspector Russell isn't particularly stupid, which is a nice change for police detectives of this vintage, but he's hampered both by the reporters withholding evidence, and an assumption he's made about the people around him.
Louise Beavers' character is stuck with the stereotypical "black people are scared of spooky stuff" routine, though it might also be a classism thing as white Augusta is also comic relief. The latter is a big fan of Detective Fiction Weekly, which I reviewed some years ago.
This isn't a top-flight movie, the coda is particularly weak, but it's enjoyable and only an hour long. It might make a good double feature with a grittier mystery. Recommended to fans of 30s comedy-mystery.
