Typical thirties movie made by Monogran Pictures with Ginger Rogers in good shape and beauty like ever starring this mystery about a young girl who has an inheritance from his father who was afraid about your daughter's security,so he decides to give his money after she turns 21 years old,when she is ready,the lawyer invites her to goes to old father's house to hear the will,but nobody came,but a hidden man try to kill her,so police department are in charge to investigate this case,funny and silly story told a dozen times...the movie has some importance by Gingers Roger's presence and some funny characters whose in some points of the movie stolen the show!!!Resume: First watch: 2017 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 6

minor spoiler Ginger Rogers in one of her VERY early roles. She hadn't yet turned into the shrew that tormented Fred Astaire in all their dance films. Sound and picture quality are pretty rough, but as we see from the TRIVIA section, as it is now in public domain, anyone can make a (crappy) copy and sell it for profit. She arrives at a dark, dirty house, late at night, and finds an envelope marked "to be opened on Marie's 21st birthday". A shot rings out, and her taxi driver goes for the cops. The adventure begins. They bring in investigator Phil Winston (Lyle Talbot, in one of HIS early roles. ) We hear the history of the family and the house from the local policeman. I thought it was odd that even though they found the dead chick sitting in a chair, they knew right off that she had been electrocuted, in spite of the fact that the doctor says "enough to kill her but not enough to leave any marks." I would have thought that an autopsy would have necessary to find that... but I'm not a physician. The whole story revolves around a dinner party where they invited thirteen guests, but the thirteenth guest never showed up. Along the way, another girl shows up and looks JUST like the first girl found d-e-d dead. Not a bad film, but some things move pretty slowly. It's a Monogram shortie, at 69 minutes. Not bad who-dunnit, but a few cracks in the woodwork, so don't take it too seriously. And being pre-code, there are a couple naughty references in here if you pay attention.Directed by Albert Ray, a prolific actor, director, writer, who had started in silents, and moved into talkies. He died quite young at 46, but I haven't been able to find the cause of death.

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.

THE THIRTEENTH GUEST (Monogram, 1932), directed by Albert Ray, from the novel by Armitage Trail, is an acceptable 70 minute programmer murder mystery that stands very well on its own merits. Starring Ginger Rogers and Lyle Talbot, both of whom would be reunited once more under Ray's direction in A SHRIEK IN THE NIGHT (Allied, 1933), another mystery thriller, THE THIRTEENTH GUEST ranks the better of the two, in spite of its current lack of television broadcasts in comparison to the frequent revivals of A SHRIEK IN THE NIGHT during the early years of cable TV during most of the 1980s. As with A SHRIEK IN THE NIGHT, THE THIRTEENTH GUEST includes no underscoring, with the exception of a Johannes Brahms composition, "Academic Festival Overture," heard during its opening screen credits. The story begins with a young woman (Ginger Rogers) coming out of a taxi which stops in front of 122 Old Mill Road, and asking the driver to wait for her. She enters the house, which has stood vacant for thirteen years. Noticing the abandoned estate still has telephone service and electric lights, she finds and opens the envelope which reads, "To be handled to my daughter, Marie Morgan, on her 21st birthday." Envisioning the dinner party that was to have taken place 13 years ago, by which her father had died and the mysterious thirteenth guest had never arrived, the girl, after hearing a noise, suddenly screams. The cab driver leaves to notify the police. Called to the case are Captain Ryan (J. Farrell MacDonald, Hollywood's resident cop), and Gump (Paul Hurst), his stooge detective. Ryan summons Phil Winston (Lyle Talbot), a private investigator and womanizer whose catch phrase is "Ah, you go to the devil," (the frequent remark used by Talbot in A SHRIEK IN THE NIGHT). Winston finds the girl in question, apparently Marie Morgan, whose cause of death was electrocution, although there are no wires found connected to the seat where she was sitting. While going through the usual channels of investigation, and finding out that Morgan Sr. had written a will leaving a fortune to the 13th guest, John Barksdale (Robert Klein), is also found dead through electrocution. More mystery follows when a hooded mystery man wearing a black cloak is seen (by the avid movie viewer) stalking about the mansion behind the walls pulling a switch that electrocutes any his victims as well as the arrival of Marie Morgan (Ginger Rogers), very much alive, leaving more questions to be answered as to who was that other girl who was killed earlier? Who is this person with the intentions of murdering the former thirteen dinner guests one by one? Is the killer one of the thirteen guests? And what does the slip of paper found reading 13-13-13 mean?The supporting cast in this production includes: James Eagles as Bud Morgan, Marie's brother; Erville Alderson as Uncle John Adams; Frances Rich as Marjorie Thornton; Ethel Wales as Joan Thornton; William B. Davidson as Captain Browne; Eddie Phillips as Thor Jensen; and Phillips Smalley as Dick Thornton.While THE THIRTEENTH GUEST is a low-budget production, it was obviously a profitable little item for Monogram because of several imitators in later years, along with the studio's very own 1943 remake, retitled THE MYSTERY OF THE THIRTEENTH GUEST, starring Helen Parrish, Dick Purcell and Tim Ryan in the Rogers, Talbot and MacDonald roles. It's been noted that Monogram frequently revived THE THIRTEENTH GUEST in theaters over the years due the strength of the popularity of its leading star, Ginger Rogers, who was by then just a featured performer. Concentrating more on its creepy atmosphere and unusual occurrences to keep the action going and audiences guessing, the movie does takes time for humor, intentional or otherwise, compliments of Paul Hurst as a comical stupid cop, who could be, at times, more annoying than amusing; as well as one scene which finds the wealthy members of the family being sent to jail and sharing the cell with an assortment of people beneath their class, in other words, low-lifes.THE THIRTEENTH GUEST, an interesting curio for some and a yawner for others, once considered a "lost" film, was formerly available on video cassette through several distributors, including Matinée Classics and Video Dimensions. Video transfers from each are satisfactory, although picture restoration is evident. Be aware DVD prints from Alpha Video doesn't include original 1932 opening titles, actually a latter 1940s reissue print credited by Equity Studios instead of Monogram. (**1/2)