The Thirteenth Guest (1932)

Director: ALBERT RAY. Dialogue: Armitage Trail. Continuity: Francis Hyland. Adapted by Arthur Hoerl from the novel by Armitage Trail. Photography: Harry Neumann. Camera operator: Tom Galligan. Film editor: Leete R. Brown. Art director: Gene Hornbostel. Production manager: Sidney Algier. Assistant director: Gene Anderson. RCA Sound System. Producer: M. H. Hoffman. Executive producer: Bernard Smith. Copyright 23 August 1932 by Monogram Pictures Corporation. U.S. release: 30 August 1932. U.K. release through Equity British. 69 minutes. Filmed at RKO-Pathé Studios.U.K. release title: LADY BEWARE.SYNOPSIS: Late at night, a cab halts in front of the big, empty house at 122 Old Mill Road. The blonde passenger tells the driver to wait while she unlocks the front door. In the meantime, a man (glimpsed only as a shadow) enters the house via the back door. Inside, the blonde woman plays a flashlight over the moldy sheet- covered furnishings as she walks along the dusty, cobweb-shrouded corridor… NOTES: The first film in which Ginger Rogers achieved star billing proved a lucky break for Monogram who kept the film in very, very profitable release until 1943 when they re-made it as "The Mystery of the Thirteenth Guest". COMMENT: Dialogue "expert" Trail is the author of "Scarface". Although it has a few bright moments, most of the dialogue is self- consciously cornball and just plain awful. Most of the acting is stagey to boot. The only player to come out of the movie with any real credit is, oddly enough, Ginger Rogers herself. Erville Alderson and a couple of the other players rate as not too bad, while M. Eagles and his pal are just plain innocuous. The "comic" relief, mainly provided by Paul Hurst, often comes over like a lead balloon, though Hurst's build-up does contribute to an agreeably risqué surprise fade-out.It's Ginger's film and like all good heroines she puts herself in danger not once or twice but at least four or five times during the movie's complicated twists and turnings.Faced with this over-talkative script with its preposterous plot, amateurish dialogue and shallow characterization, director Albert Ray has done wonders in spicing it up with a bit of atmospheric photography and even three or four effective tracking shots. Plus a cleverly executed 360 degree pan. The art director and cinematographer are also to be commended. Oddly though, the star is way outclassed in the costume department by some of the lesser players. That's a turn-up for the books — as is the script which subtly (and amazingly) dares to thumb its collective nose at the bluenoses in the Hays Office.

The DVD sleeve's synopsis offers a good preview: "A wealthy gentleman hosts a dinner party where he is going to reveal the heir to his fortune, in front of the thirteen guests attending the dinner. Unfortunately, only twelve people show up for dinner and the host dies before he can reveal the heir's identity. Years later, the host's daughter returns to her long boarded-up family home to discover someone is killing off the dinner guests, making everyone wonder who will be the next victim." In the opening scene, Ginger Rogers (as Marie Morgan and Lela)'s recollections introduce the "guests", and reveal something critical about the plot. Ms. Rogers and Lyle Talbot (as Phil Winston) make the cast look promising; but, the real attractions are James Eagles (as Harold "Bud" Morgan) and Eddie Phillips (as Thor Jensen), due to the matter-of-fact way their likely relationship is depicted. This, and the "you told me to tail her" joke, near the end, are better than this otherwise dreary version of a done-to-death plot.**** The Thirteenth Guest (8/9/32) Albert Ray ~ Ginger Rogers, Lyle Talbot, J. Farrell MacDonald, James Eagles

A very young Ginger Rogers stars in "The Thirteenth Guest," a 1932 film also starring Lyle Talbot. Thirteen years earlier, a dinner party took place in an old house, but the 13th guest never appeared. Now the owner of the house is dead and left his estate to this 13th guest. Someone is murdering the original party guests and putting each dead body in his or her original seat at the table.Rogers plays Marie Morgan, whom we think has been murdered early on. It turns out that it was someone else whose face was altered to look like hers. Detective Phil Winston (Talbot) investigates the situation.This is a good haunted house mystery, but unfortunately suffers from a terrible print and bad sound. Nevertheless it's fun to see Ginger and Talbot, both of whom are very good. If you can tolerate the print, you'll enjoy it.

This is one of Roger's & Talbot's earliest film and, by far the best of the "13th Guest" films" (several remakes were done).At a dinner party many years ago, 13 people were invited, but only 12 showed up. The host died at the table, and the house was closed up for many, many years. Then, the bodies of the people who attended that dinner party started turning up in that abandoned house, sitting in the same chairs they occupied so long ago.It turns out they are being murdered by a black-cloaked figure who just MIGHT have been one of dinner guests. He peers out thru a secret viewing hole, and cackles insanely after he murders someone.A very, very eerie film!