Two in the Dark ** (1936, Walter Abel, Margot Grahame, Wallace Ford, Gail Patrick, Alan Hale Sr) – Classic Movie Review 13,508

The 1936 American film noir mystery movie Two in the Dark stars Walter Abel as an amnesiac suspected of murder and Margot Grahame as an actress who helps him find the real killer.

The 1936 American mystery movie Two in the Dark stars Walter Abel, Margot Grahame, Wallace Ford, Gail Patrick, and Alan Hale Sr, and is directed by Benjamin Stoloff, who produces the 1945 remake Two O’Clock Courage.

Director Benjamin Stoloff’s 1936 murder mystery film Two in the Dark is based on the 1934 novel Two O’Clock Courage by Gelett Burgess, stars Walter Abel as a man with no name waking up bloody in Boston, having lost his memory and attempting to unravel the truth behind the death of a theatrical impresario, whose murder he’s now linked to.

Margot Grahame plays Marie Smith, the kindly woman who is ready, willing and able to help Abel.

After the amnesiac man reads that a well-known theatrical producer has just been murdered, he intuitively feels that he’s guilty. Luckily, wandering around the park in the darkness, he meets sympathetic unemployed actress Marie Smith (Margot Grahame), who helps him find the real killer.

There perhaps isn’t too very much to get excited about in this minor intrigue crime thriller, which seems to have been made in the dark, appropriately so as it is a film noir, well shot (in in black and white of course) by gifted cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca. Nevertheless, the contrived mystery plot is enjoyable, with a decent screenplay written by Seton I Miller, and the good-value stars and character actors (Eric Blore, Erik Rhodes, J Carroll Naish and Ward Bond notable among them) are entertaining.

Director Benjamin Stoloff went on to produce the 1945 remake Two O’Clock Courage starring Tom Conway, Ann Rutherford, and Richard Lane.

The cast are Walter Abel, Margot Grahame, Wallace Ford, Gail Patrick, Alan Hale Sr, Leslie Fenton, Eric Blore, Erin O’Brien-Moore, Erik Rhodes, J Carroll Naish, Addison Randall, Ernie Alexander, Ward Bond, Harry Bowen, Nora Cecil, Fern Emmett, Russell Hicks, Richard Howard, Arthur Hoyt, Frank Mayo, Tom McGuire, Dennis Moore, Forbes Murray, Hector Sarno, and Pierre Watkin.

Two in the Dark is directed by Benjamin Stoloff [Ben Stoloff], runs 73 minutes, is made and released by RKO Pictures, is written by Seton I Miller, is shot in black and white by Nicholas Musuraca, is produced by Zion Myers, and is scored by Roy Budd.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,508

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