Just Another Murder

The cost of conversion to sound had dealt Mack Sennett Productions a blow from which it had never recovered. Likewise the dying off of demand for independent short subjects -- Roach, with bigger stars and better contracts would give up within a year, leaving the field to the majors' in-house productions.

In the meantime, Sennett was struggling to produce decent two-reelers, and this is not a particularly good effort. The movie is structured as a story-in-a-story, which both pads it obviously and gives the interior story of mysterious goings-on at a hotel no pay-off. In addition, the editing, which had always been a strong point with Sennett from the beginning of Keystone, has collapsed.

In short, this is a very poor effort. Oh, it's nice to see old pros like Billy Gilbert and Jack Cooper at work in even the poorest effort. But even they can't save this one.

A man is writing a story while sitting aside his car. His terrible murder mystery is the substance of the film.

"Just Another Murder" is a film by Mack Sennett during his tenure at Educational Pictures. I've seen a few of these films and must say that this is the worst of them. The film seems practically plotless (it's a story within a story...but never really works), there's no humor, and the editing seemed random. But most importantly, it's just not funny. Now some of this isn't surprising, as it stars Vince Barnett. I have seen him in many films and never particularly cared for him and his brand of humor. Sadly, Billy Gilbert is wasted here.