Before Midnight

The film is told in flashback by a chief of police to a detective looking for a promotion. The Arnold case, he says is the sort of case that when solved warrants a promotion. Ralph Bellamy is Inspector Trent of the New York Detective Bureau. Called to Forest Lake and the Arnold residence, Trent is asked to look into a possible murder in the offing. It seems Arnold is a superstitious man and any time blood was found under the portrait on an ancestor the head of the house hold dies the next day. Time is running out. As Arnold shows Trent the second part of the superstition, a clock that stops a minute before the murder, the clock stops, a window bursts open and Arnold dies.

A complicated and pre-code murder mystery this is almost a straight forward police procedural as we watch Trent try to solve the case. Bellamy plays Trent in a no nonsense hard boiled style that is atypical of mysteries of this sort. Of course there is no way to know whats going on since some of the goings on are so convoluted that you can't figure it out unless they tell you. Still its a good movie who's complication keep you interested. Certainly not a great film, it is a very good one that bears a second viewing just so you can see what you missed.

Definitely worth seeing.

6.5 out out of 10 rounded up to 7 out of 10 for IMDb purposes

Before Midnight was the first movie in a short franchise based around Detective Trent.

It's an hour long old school murder mystery tale where our lead must solve the murder of a man who moments before predicted his own death.

This really is the definition of a "Whodunnit" style film, with all the potential suspects lined up, nobody entirely innocent, secrets are revealed and motives become apparent.

The cast is strong and the story is great, but it sadly all falls apart at the end. The big revelation is really quite weak and damages the film.

Regardless I'm looking forward to the remaining three movies in the series and very much hope the writing improves.

The Good:

Charming old school feel

The Bad:

Weak finale

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Cases can be settled with bullet

The action takes place at a country house in Forest Hills 50 miles from New York. It begins with Mr Arnold the owner telling Inspector Trent that he is afraid that a family curse may come true. Mr Arnold is frightened for his life as he has been warned of his imminent death. His grandfather died in mysterious circumstances after a pool of fresh blood had appeared on the floor and the house's main clock had stopped as omens of his death. Now people have gathered at Mr Arnold's house on a stormy night when Mr Arnold dies apparently of a heart attack brought on by fright after the same ominous signs occur.

This mystery poses some intriguing questions for us. What is it about Mr Arnold's 35 year stay in China that would have anything to do with his death? What is so sinister about the Buddha incense burner alone when there are other incense burners in the house? What is the item in Mr Arnold's room that is of interest to people who go there to search for it?

There are some of the usual 1930s country house thriller characters in this. The house staff are a housekeeper and a maid and a Japanese houseboy but no sinister butler this time round. Among the other suspects are a secretary and an attorney and a doctor. Be prepared to be baffled by whether people are who they appear to be or not. This is a good atmospheric whodunit from the Columbia Studio.

"Before Midnight" was done in 1933, before "The Thin Man," when the style of mysteries would become a little breezier, more stylish, and employ more humor. Ralph Bellamy stars here as Inspector Trent, out to solve a very complicated murder. It has that "dark and stormy night" feel to it, but it's done with a straightforward seriousness, without the good-natured laughter of someone like Warren William or the tipsiness of a William Powell. As Trent, Bellamy interrogates like a real cop: "You did it, didn't you!" The story, however, is very good.

I'm always amazed to see Ralph Bellamy as a young man and realize what a long, huge career he had. His first film was in 1931 (stage from 1929), at the age of 27, and his last was "Pretty Woman" in 1990, one year before he died. Here he's a lead, but as someone else pointed out, he probably lacked the excitement of a true leading man and was soon relegated to supporting roles. As a stage actor and as an older man, he really thrived on stage, in film, and on television; besides doing "Tomorrow the World" and "State of the Union" on Broadway, he enjoyed a tremendous success as FDR in "Sunrise at Campobello" in 1959.

"Before Midnight" will keep you interested. What it lacks in pace and style, it makes up for in story.

... or so says a chief of police in reference to a tale of mystery he is about to tell in flashback. In spite of the the fact that this film doesn't have much in the way of production values and has only one major star of the studio era - Ralph Bellamy - this little murder mystery that clocks in at a little over an hour in length is very entertaining with a script full of surprises.

Inspector Steve Trent (Bellamy) is called out to a remote estate one stormy night by wealthy Edward Arnold who presumes he will die before midnight just because he found blood on the hearth of his fireplace, exactly as did one of his ancestors the night before he was killed. What is odd is that the police would take this seriously. What is odder is that the man does indeed die before midnight and now Trent has to figure out who did it. He's got plenty to work with too in the way of suspects. There's Arnold's estranged wife who has traveled 3000 miles just to get more money out of him and admits she hates him, there's Arnold's young beautiful ward on whom he lavishes great unexplained attention and to whom he refuses to give his blessing for her intended marriage, there's the girl's fiancé who resents the fact that their wedding is being held up by all of this, then there is Arnold's servant, Kono, who speaks broken English although it is revealed he is a college man.

Bellamy is great at this part. This is not the Ralph Bellamy you may be used to seeing, always managing to get his girl stolen by Cary Grant in just about every picture they appeared in together. Here Bellamy plays it cool and appears firm and in control without getting heavy-handed to the point of being silly.

The film's poverty row roots do show at some points though. There is a particularly silly line half-way through the picture when Bellamy has a suspect at gunpoint and says "One bullet could settle this case" all because the unarmed man won't talk. Then there is George Cooper as Stubby, supposedly a policeman learning the ropes from a fine investigator like Trent, but I never saw a point in which he was the least bit helpful. Stubby was more like a reader of dime store mystery stories getting in the way of an investigation than anything else.

I'd recommend this as a pretty good precode film.