The Strange Mr. Gregory

Stars Ed Lowe, Jean Rogers, and Don Douglas. Gregory (Lowe) is into the occult, and does magic performances. When he starts paying too much attention to the married Ellen Randall, she starts to feel uncomfortable. It's a shortie film from monogram, so things have to move right along without much buildup. But honestly, they only met for a minute the first time. Then Gregory pursues Ellen, and is not at all subtle about it, with flowers and cards. When the hubby confronts the magician, Gregory ends up d-e-d dead. And of course Ellen's husband is suspect number one. It's pretty lame... the magician tries to pull a fast one, but i don't think anyone would have fallen for the trick he tries. Can Ellen figure out what the magician is trying to pull in time?

Lowe had been around since the silents. Rogers began with the talkies. Sadly, this was one of the last films for Douglas; he died in december 1945, complications of appendicitis at age 40. He was in some biggies... murder my sweet and gilda! Film directed by Phil Rosen; apparently, he was there right at the beginning with edison. Story by the oscar-nominated Myles Connolly. It's all just very okay. Clearly, it was a B film, the opening act for something more impressive.