The Phantom of Crestwood

This film is the concluding episode of a radio mystery, wherein listeners were to try to figure out who the murder is.

In a unique plot twist, the head of a gang (Ricardo Cortez) becomes a "detective" to find the "real killer" before the

police arrive and accuse HIM.

The reviewer who wrote that the "ending makes no sense at all" should watch it more carefully; it makes COMPLETE sense, and shows how the movie "steers you" into thinking that the reason for the murder is one thing, while the ACTUAL reason is something totally different! (I can't say any more without spoiling the ending).

By ALL MEANS, see it! Norm

What a clever film! Other comments here will fill you in on the content but let me say how interesting and unique is this film for its interactive and multimedia history. Made as the last chapter of a radio play released into cinemas instead of a radio broadcast, this film must have been an interesting and successful experiment in its day. It is also quite creepy and the pre code violence, in particular a stabbing scene on a stairway is very gruesome and explicit. The outdoor scenes almost seem to be testing the boundaries of technical sound and picture achievements of 1931 during production. I paid $3 for a VHS copy of this superb mystery film from a discount shop in Sydney. It is part of a series released here as THE RKO COLLECTION which I see for some reason is not available in the USA. The IMDb availability panel preceding shows that there is no tape or DVD availability for it. Well we have it here..along with The Most Dangerous Game, Island of Dr Moreau, Hips Hips Hooray, Mummy's Boys etc and a whole stack of 1930-33 RKO titles, all marketed legitimately with copyright. How strange Australia can have these but not the USA.

Lots of suspects with motive, plenty of opportunity, and an unusual means of death are behind this tight old-fashioned mystery set in a creaky house with thunder and lightening. The mystery opens up with an announcement by the producers that it follows on to a successful radio drama series that concluded with a contest for listeners to send in what they thought should be the ending. The final solution to "who killed Jenny Wren" leads a group of crooks into hidden passages and false leads executed via a series of flashbacks before the real killers identity is revealed. An alert viewer should be able to figure out the two most likely suspects and eventually "who done it" before all is revealed. Enjoyable film worth watching.

Other than the presence of Ricardo Cortez, who is one of those very cool actors nobody remembers, and the beautiful Karen Morley (who died in March 2003, only a couple of months ago), Crestwood is somewhat unique as it is the finale of a popular radio program. But it may also be the first interactive mystery!

According to the opening titles, radio listeners were invited to submit their storyline for the finale in a nationwide contest, with the movie to be based on their plot.

There were disclaimers, of course, and who knows what RKO really did with the winner's script, but the film deserves a place in history for the attempt at least.

Convoluted, yes. Stiff and rather lurid, perhaps. But Crestwood is an archeological clue to the once close bond between the radio and the movie theater.

At the very least, truly an "RKO Radio Picture"!

This one is getting a 7/10 from me just on originality, even if the proceedings were a bit rushed and confusing. The film opens with a radio announcer asking the listeners to solve the mystery. But then the film solves it for you? A well dressed fur wrapped woman (Karen Morley as Jenny Wren) is going around town running errands. She is being followed by a man (Ricardo Cortez) yet unnamed for an unnamed purpose, but he does not want to give his correct name and keeps calling himself "Mr. Farnesbarnes" to anyone who asks. He obviously does not know the woman because he poses as somebody interested in renting her soon to be vacated apartment, and she does not recognize him.

That night Jenny has arranged for all of the married and well connected men with whom she has been having affairs to meet at the Andes seaside retreat home, "Crestwood", where she announces she is blackmailing them all for large sums of money so that she can retire in style. In a completely separate development, Jenny's little sister is there to with her fiancé, Frank Andes, the son of one of the men Jenny is blackmailing. Little sister is hoping to be welcomed into the Andes family. In the middle of the night, Jenny is killed with a dart to the neck, the police are called before the phone goes out, and in burst several hoods led by Gary Curtis alias Farnesbarnes, who has nothing to do with the murder but is a well known criminal. Knowing the police will try to pin the murder on him he sets about to try and solve the crime. He can do this because he and his companions are all armed. Oh, and the road is washed out too, delaying the police.

What follows is part Sherlock Holmes, part Old Dark House, part Poe (those portraits!), part German Expressionist with some crazy camera work, a ghost, hidden passage ways, and more murders. I was expecting this all to be the work of George Zucco, but alas he wasn't in the film. Ricardo Cortez is a real hoot in this one, showing a bit of his comedic side.