La trampa

This one is not only baffling, it's weird.

It starts off with a good hook for drawing the viewer into the story--but then veers off in so many different directions that the plot is soon downright bizarre. The opening has HILLARY BROOKE urging Dr. Ordway (WARNER BAXTER) to attend a dinner at her home so that he can have a good look at her husband (STEPHEN CRANE), a man whose previous wives have died mysteriously and whom she suspects might be insane.

When Crane is murdered that evening, behind doors in a locked room, Dr. Ordway must solve the case. LLOYD CORRIGAN is on hand as a bumbling carpenter friend but the plot revolves around Spanish dancers (ANTHONY CARUSO and LUPITA TOVAR), suspected of being vampires because no one has ever seen them in daylight.

A series of baffling twists and turns shed little light on whatever the outcome of the case will be--and the explanations that come forth during the film's last five minutes are less than satisfying, nor are they the least bit credible.

It's a murky yarn that starts out acceptably in typical mystery fashion, but soon gets bogged down in a far-fetched story that deals with vampirism, a jealous suitor, trick effects to make a dancer disappear, and a rather abrupt ending with virtually no character development to prepare the viewer for the final explanation.

Summing up: Interesting, but a bizarre mixture of mystery elements.