The Mystery of the 13th Guest * (1943, Helen Parrish, Dick Purcell, Tim Ryan, Frank Faylen) – Classic Movie Review 12,168

‘IT’S MURDER!… and it’s HORRIFIC!’

Director William Beaudine’s 1943 black and white Monogram Pictures studios American crime mystery thriller The Mystery of the 13th Guest is produced by Lindsley Parsons, and stars Helen Parrish, Dick Purcell, Tim Ryan and Frank Faylen.

Helen Parrish plays pretty Marie Morgan, who at 21 goes to visit her family’s abandoned house to open her grandfather’s will left to her 13 years earlier. Dick Purcell and Tim Ryan play Private Investigator Johnny Smith and Police Lieutenant Burke who investigate when guests of the grandfather’s dinner party 13 years earlier seem to being murdered according to the past seating arrangement.

The Mystery of the 13th Guest is clumsy, complicated, cheap and campy with virtually no points of interest to recommend it, other than it is short, quick and painless.

The screenplay by Charles Marion and Tim Ryan is based Armitage Trail’s 1929 novel The 13th Guest and is an updated version of the 1932 film The Thirteenth Guest, which featured Ginger Rogers and James Gleason.

The cast are Helen Parrish as Marie Morgan, Dick Purcell as Private detective Johnny Smith, Tim Ryan as Police Lieutenant Burke, Frank Faylen as Speed DuGan aka McGinis, Jacqueline Dalya as Marjory Morgan, Paul McVey as Uncle Adam Morgan, John Duncan as Harold ‘Bud’ Morgan, John Dawson as Cousin Tom Jackson, Cyril Ring as Attorney John Barksdale, Addison Richards as District Attorney Jim, and Lloyd Ingraham as Grandfather Morgan.

The Mystery of the 13th Guest is directed by William Beaudine, runs 61 minutes, is made and released by Monogram Pictures, is written by Charles Marion and Tim Ryan, based Armitage Trail’s novel The 13th Guest, is shot by Mack Stengler, and is produced by Lindsley Parsons.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,168

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