The Mystery of Mr X *** (1934, Robert Montgomery, Elizabeth Allen, Lewis Stone, Ralph Forbes) – Classic Movie Review 12,166

The carefully made, involving 1934 thriller movie The Mystery of Mr X is a serial killer story, written and filmed before the term serial killer was coined.

Director Edgar Selwyn’s 1934 black and white movie The Mystery of Mr X is a carefully made, involving, entertaining minor vintage thriller, and it is very good of its relatively humble but popular kind. It stars Robert Montgomery, Elizabeth Allen, Lewis Stone, Ralph Forbes, Henry Stephenson, Forrester Harvey, Ivan F Simpson, Leonard Mudie, Alec B Francis, and Charles Irwin. It is a serial killer story, written and filmed before the term serial killer was coined, in this case of a series of London police murders.

But it is also the story of an elegant jewel thief (Robert Montgomery) who happens to be working the same territory when the latest murder of a policeman occurs outside the home where he has just stolen the Drayton Diamond. And it also, weirdly, a romantic comedy, with the thief ingratiating himself into the lives of the police commissioner (Henry Stephenson) and his lovely young daughter (Elizabeth Allan). It says a lot for this film, that the three elements sort of meld satisfactorily, though the serial killer story is the best and the romantic comedy story the weakest, even if Robert Montgomery and Elizabeth Allan sell it pretty well.

Based on the novel X v. Rex, aka Mystery of the Dead Police, by Philip MacDonald, it is the slickly handled tale of a smooth jewel burglar called Nicholas Revel (Robert Montgomery) who, wrongly accused of murder, redeems himself by trying to catch the murderer who has dubbed himself in signed notes Mr X (Leonard Mudie), a notorious crazed serial killer of London policemen.

Revel is an elegant jewel thief who gets dangerously involved when he happens one night to be working the same territory where the mysterious murderer strikes again. Mr X always kills his victims by a sword cane in deserted but different parts of London, notifying the police beforehand in his signed notes that he will strike. Revel finally deduces that the killer is operating killings in a pattern resembling the letter X, and tries to second-guess where the killer will strike next and sets off in a police costume to lure and trap the killer.

The Mystery of Mr X is well produced by MGM and nicely acted, especially by Montgomery (though it is as odd a performance as the film itself, actually three different performances, one for each of the stories), Stephenson (very dependable), and Lewis Stone (rock solid) as the dogged Scotland Yard inspector, Superintendent Connor. Ralph Forbes draws the short straw in a totally unforgiving role as the heroine’s silly fiance Sir Christopher Marche, a soppy rival for the heroine.

The MGM production is good but not showy, which is ideal. No-nonsense Edgar Selwyn keeps the film moving briskly and atmospherically along, delivering a few thrills and no frills. The fog-shrouded London streets add to the considerable tension. It looks and feels like a Victorian melodrama, but it is a contemporary thriller. The film starts well with a cop killing at the riverside of the Thames, runs well, and ends well, There’s an action climax and a satisfying ending. 

Montgomery’s big-eyed smirking romantic performance is by far the least ingratiating of his acts, but he has a nice suave way about him for the jewel thief persona, and a sharp, nasty look about his eyes for the cop killer story,

The cast are Robert Montgomery as Nicholas Revel, Elizabeth Allan as Jane Frensham, Lewis Stone as Superintendent Connor, Ralph Forbes as Sir Christopher Marche, Henry Stephenson as Sir Herbert Frensham, Forrester Harvey as Joseph Horatio Palmer, Ivan F Simpson as Hutchinson, Leonard Mudie as Mr X, Alec B Francis as Judge Malpas, Charles Irwin as Willis, and Claude King as Cummings.

It is written by Howard Emmett Rogers and Monckton Hoffe (additional dialogue) and based on the 1933 novel X v. Rex [aka Mystery of the Dead Police] by Philip MacDonald under the pen name Martin Porlock and was remade in 1952 as The Hour of 13.

It runs 84 minutes.

It was released by MGM on 23 February 1934.

The Mystery of Mr X is directed by Edgar Selwyn, runs 84 minutes, is made and released by MGM, is written by Howard Emmett Rogers (screenplay), Philip MacDonald (adaptation) and Monckton Hoffe (additional dialogue), based on the novel X v. Rex, aka Mystery of the Dead Police, by Philip MacDonald, is shot in black and white by Oliver T Marsh, is produced by Lawrence Weingarten, is scored by William Axt, and is designed by Merrill Pye.

London born Philip MacDonald was one of the most popular mystery writers of the 1930s. He moved to Hollywood in 1931 and up to 1963 wrote many screenplays plus some radio and TV scripts.

Philip MacDonald wrote three novels as Martin Porlock, the last of which is X v. Rex (1933) (aka The Mystery of Mr X and Mystery of the Dead Police). Serialised in American newspapers as Who Killed C*ck Robin Hoode?. it was republished as Mystery of the Dead Police by Philip MacDonald as Pocket Books #70, 1940. It is an early example of what has become known as serial killer novels before the term serial killer was coined.

Philip MacDonald’s best-known novel is The List of Adrian Messenger, filmed as The List of Adrian Messenger in 1963.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,166

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