A SHRIEK IN THE NIGHT

 

My last entry in this blog concerned a low-budget 1932 mystery-comedy called THE THIRTEENTH GUEST. Now I'll be discussing A SHRIEK IN THE NIGHT (1933), which is something of a follow-up to THE THIRTEENTH GUEST. Both movies have the same director (Albert Ray), the same screenwriter (Francis Hyland), and the same leading couple (Ginger Rogers and Lyle Talbot). 

In my opinion A SHRIEK IN THE NIGHT is the better film. It starts out with a literal shriek in the night, and then a shot of a body falling to street level from a great height. The body is of a man called Harker, who has fallen from the top of an apartment building that bears his name. Rival reporters Pat Morgan (Ginger Rogers) and Ted Rand (Lyle Talbot) try to get to the bottom of things, while bodies continue to pop up in the Harker building. 

The main reason why A SHRIEK IN THE NIGHT is better: Ginger Rogers gets far more screen time. She's the typical pesky girl reporter, but it's fun watching her. Lyle Talbot does the "I'm going to annoy the leading lady as much as possible so she can fall for me" bit, but he's not on screen as much as Ginger, so he's not too annoying. 

There isn't much mystery to the film--the murderer and his methods are shown during the story, it's the motive that's the main question. The movie's pace is also lacking at times--a more snappy rhythm would have helped matters considerably. There's plenty of comic relief, with two different fraidy-cat maids (Louise Beavers and Lillian Harmer), a crochety newspaper editor (Clarence Wilson), and a timid police assistant (Arthur Hoyt) who winds up having a major impact on the story's climax. 

Said climax also features the most atmospheric setting in the film--the apartment building janitor's quarters in the dark and foreboding basement, which is also the location of a incinerator that gets put into use. (Almost the entire film is set inside the apartment building, obviously due to the low budget.) 

Ginger Rogers in trouble during A SHRIEK IN THE NIGHT

Needless to say, Ginger Rogers wouldn't have to worry about being in poverty row thrillers after A SHRIEK IN THE NIGHT. You could already tell she was much better than her surroundings in this movie and in THE THIRTEENTH GUEST.