The Crooked Circle

I'm looking forward to seeing Zasu Pitts and James Gleason together in two of the Hildegarde Withers mysteries soon. So I thought I would try this first to see how the two actors gel together. James Gleason plays a policeman of lower rank in this than he does in the Hildegarde Withers series. At one point he comes out with the line "I ain't afraid of no ghosts" in such a similar way as Ray Jr Parker does it in his song for 'Ghostbusters' 52 years later.

This is a story of good versus evil gang warfare. The good are a bunch of amateur criminologists known as The Sphinx Club while the bad go by the name of The Crooked Circle. The baddies convene clothed in black hoods and robes in a cellar. One of their gang is a woman who draws the skull card when they are drawing lots to see who will perpetrate their avenging act on a member of The Sphinx Club.

Colonel Walters of The Sphinx Club receives a cryptic diagram message from which he gathers his life is in danger. There is a new Sphinx convert known as Yoganda who mysteriously foretells there is danger from a string. But like some other characters in the film it's difficult to tell whose side he is really on. At one point he is seen furtively sending a Morse coded message on the telephone while at a Sphinx gathering.

A lot of this film takes place at Melody Manor where a ghostly violin can be heard being played and also the ominous sound of a clock that strikes thirteen at midnight when "evil is on the way." This is an interesting lighthearted mystery and I'm pleased to say that Zasu Pitts and James Gleason do actually gel together well in this.

Bruce `Lucky' Humberstone's THE CROOKED CIRCLE begins with that eponymous quintet of `counterfeiters and thieves deluxe' pledging their dark allegiance (`To do for each other, to avenge any brother, a fight to the knife and a knife to the hilt!'), drawing lots from a hinged skull for the honor of bringing to ground Colonel Wolters, leader of an affluent band of amateur criminologists known as The Sphinx Club. In its second half, the film adheres faithfully to the established spookhouse syllabus (sliding panels, trap doors, and an attic stuffed with skeletons, sarcophaguses and Oriental objets d'art), with director Humberstone maximizing the felonious, comic and preternatural possibilities, all nicely complemented by the amusing dialogue of playwright Ralph Spence (THE GORILLA) and Tim Whelan. Rounding out the roster of red herrings, henchmen and gawkers are WHITE ZOMBIE's Robert Frazer, the ever-quivery Zasu Pitts (`There's a ghost in this house and when he plays the violin, something always happens to somebody!'), James Gleason as a malaprop-prone New Yawk flatfoot, KING KONG's Frank Reicher, and `queer-acting hunchback' Raymond Hatton (later the sour Farmer Larkin of INVASION OF THE SAUCER MEN). It's corny and creaky and good old fashioned fun for those hip to the charms of Poverty Row whodunits. See for yourself!

I tried to watch it because it is an early Bruce Humbertsone's film, a director whose filmography will become a little more known during the forties and fifties with the likes of I WAKE UP SCREAMING, TEN WANTED MEN, THE PURPLE MASK and some Tarzan adveture yarns. I am not fond of those all alike thirties mystery flicks, talkative, mostly comedies, and boring for me. So, maybe I am not the best reviewer for this kind of stuff. But if you are courageous enough, go, don't bother my review. It is rare, short and maybe you belong to those who can enjoy it. I don't know very much the actors except maybe Zasu Pitts.

The "old dark house" sub-genre that dominated the early talkies rarely fails to disappoint when we re-view the oldies to-day. Here is one that provides so very many suspicious characters you have to wonder how they will be able to tie up all the loose ends in the 6 reel running time.

The Crooked Circle is a gang of counterfeiters and thieves who have decided to take revenge on Col. Walters (Berton Churchill) who has sent one of their ranks to prison. They decide he must die that very night. Meanwhile the Colonel's own group, The Sphinx Club, is determined to protect him at all costs. This does not sit well with Thelma (Irene Purcell) fiancée of club member Brand Osborne (Ben Lyon, late of the mega-budgeted HELL'S ANGELS (1930)) who wants him to quit the club and stop endangering his own life. Brand promises to resign after saving the colonel's life. Everyone heads off to Walters newly purchased mansion on Long Island to await the assassin.

The Colonel might be the new owner of Melody Manor but it's an old dark house complete with eccentric neighbours (like Raymond Hatton as a local hermit) and maybe even a ghost. Top billed Zasu Pitts is Nora, the housekeeper who expects to see a spirit around every corner. Throw in a cop (James Gleason) who is certain Brand is a criminal and we have a picture which is packed with action and surprises.

You will notice right away that the script writer was at a loss to come up with too much dialog because a lot of characters repeat the same lines over and over. Yoganda (C. Henry Gordon) a Hindu mystic (which movies of that time were loaded with) says "Evil is on the way." many times and I lost count of how often Ms. Pitts says "Something always happens to somebody!". There are many suspects and two characters (Mr. Gleason as the stereotype dumb cop and Roscoe Karns as Mr. Lyon's pal) who serve as comedy relief. The house itself is appropriately spooky looking (in fact I think the same set was used in THE PHANTOM (1931)) with lots of secret passages and violin music coming out of empty rooms but somehow you never really get a feeling of danger. Maybe it's because no one in the movie, and I do mean no one!, is entirely what they seem to be. It all comes out right in the end though; but to go into any more detail would spoil it for you.

Watch carefully for Robert Frazer (from WHITE ZOMBIE) and Frank Reicher (best remembered as Capt. Engelhorn from KING KONG) to pop up among the suspects.

THE CROOKED CIRCLE is a fun film. Some aspects of the plot are predictable and then again several others are not. I suspect you will enjoy it.

1930's comedy mystery about "The Crooked Circle" a band of hooded crooks who set about plotting the murder of some one who swore to oppose them. Enjoyable but really unremarkable little film, the movie works simply because the cast headed by Zazu Pitts and James Gleason (both of whom would later appear together in a couple of Hildegarde Withers films after Edna Mae Oliver dropped out of that series) and supported by a great cast of actors and actresses you know but may not know the name of (I don't hence the lack naming). A breezy hour long romp, the movie doesn't make a great deal of sense with mistaken identity, secret passages, ghostly music and people not being who they seem. Its the perfect thing for a dark and stormy night or a late night viewing when one is nostalgic for the late late show.