Murder by the Clock

"Murder by the Clock" is an early murder mystery and it has a lot going for it. Unfortunately, it seems to have just about as much going against it and I see it as a movie only worth seeing if you have nothing better to do!

When the story begins, you learn that a nasty old lady is trying to figure out which person to leave her fortune to--and one is an obviously psychotic and mentally challenged guy. But leaving the money to a different relative is NOT a good choice either, as the man and his conniving wife, Laura, plan on murdering the old lady. Once this occurs, it's like a bag of potato chips...and Laura manipulates the men around her to keep killing to ensure she'll be rich AND avoid jail.

The problems with the film mostly boil down to subtlety....or the lack of it. Laura (Lilyan Tashman) is so obviously manipulative and evil that she's practically a cartoon character (like Snidely Whiplash, perhaps). And, because she's so obvious and transparent, seeing men throwing their lives away for this not super attractive and nasty lady just didn't make any sense. The other problem was that the film went on too long...and relied too much on filler. Cutting a bit of it AND making Laura more believably evil would have improved this one significantly.