MURDER IN THE BLUE ROOM (1944) is a remake of Universal's THE SECRET OF THE BLUE ROOM, which was actually a remake of a German film. Universal had already remade SECRET as THE MISSING GUEST in 1938. Confused? The real confusion is why such a standard mystery tale got reused so many times.
What makes MURDER IN THE BLUE ROOM different is that it is a mystery-musical comedy, although not a very effective one. 1940s Universal regular Anne Gwynne's family owns a rambling old house which contains "The Blue Room", the location where her father died under mysterious circumstances. A beau of Gwynne's decides to spend the night in the room, and come morning, the young man cannot be found.
What follows are plenty of the expected old dark house-murder mystery elements, but this time they're enlivened by "The Jazzy Belles"--a singing & dancing group of starlets played by Grace McDonald, June Preisser, and Betty Kean. (Apparently the Andrews Sisters weren't available.) The ladies are actually the real stars of the picture (sadly Anne Gwynne doesn't get much to do). The Jazzy Belles have talent, but they come off as a minor league (and much less violent) version of the Three Stooges.
Among the supporting cast are past-his-prime leading man Donald Cook, Regis Toomey as a no-nonsense police detective, and Ian Wolfe as (what else?) a butler. What's sorely missing in MURDER IN THE BLUE ROOM is anyone on the Lugosi-Atwill-Zucco level. Most of the characters are very dull, and one of the usual Universal boogeymen would have livened things up considerably. The film was very generically directed by Leslie Goodwins.
The musical numbers in this film are decent enough, but none of them really stick out. The always appealing Anne Gwynne gets a chance to perform a song....but she's dubbed. The solution to the mystery is so perfunctorily handled that one wonders why Universal even bothered to remake this story in the first place, and you'll also wonder why the Jazzy Belles got more screen time than Anne Gwynne did. MURDER IN THE BLUE ROOM is one of the most obscure chillers of Universal's Golden Age, and after seeing it, you'll understand its status.
This is a fun B-Flick. June Preisser started out at MGM but didn't stay long. She made her way to Monogram and was still playing teenagers at age 29. But I always liked her. Anne Gwynne definitely had talent and beauty and deserved more of a chance than she was given.
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