The Thirteenth Guest

A young woman named Marie Morgan (Ginger Rogers) arrives at night at a presumably vacant old house, and is quickly murdered by person unknown. A private detective named Phil Winston (Lyle Talbot) proceeds to investigate, with the help of an annoyingly grumpy cop and his bumbling sidekick.

As the whodunit plot moves along, various characters reveal the backstory, involving a rich old man who invites thirteen guests to a dinner party at which time he will announce who inherits his estate; problem is the old man dies at the dinner without revealing his secret.

The main problem is a script that is so convoluted that it's almost impossible to figure out the puzzle's solution. Once known, the solution is not remotely believable, and there are significant plot holes. Still, there's enough suspense to keep the viewer watching despite a substandard script. Dialogue comes across as stiff and stilted at times but there are a few good lines.

Before the killer's identity is known, this person appears in a few scenes wearing bizarre garb that covers his/her body completely; the costume makes the person look a little like spider man. The film's prod design is cheap looking. Most of the action takes place indoors and mostly at night.

Casting is acceptable except for the presence of Lyle Talbot who just doesn't have the mystery persona of someone like Sidney Toler or Warner Oland. Indeed, if the film had been made as a Charlie Chan thriller, I think it would have been better.

For all its faults, "The Thirteenth Guest" is worth watching once, owing to adequate suspense in a spooky old house with hidden rooms and a masked killer. Overall, it's an average whodunit for the era in which it was made.

Years ago there was a dinner at an old dark house with thirteen guests invited. Only twelve showed up. Flash forward to the future and murders are being committed at that same house with the original twelve guests. Something about an inheritance. Honestly it's a confusing old creaker. It's never as much fun as you would hope from this type of movie. Notable for being an early Ginger Rogers film and for being based on the only other novel by the guy who wrote Scarface. It's watchable enough I suppose but very dry and a bit of a chore at times. Avid fans of the period and genre will likely enjoy it more.

Monogram Pictures was a very low-budget studio that specialized in cheap and exciting films. They were NOT a studio to make operettas or Shakespeare--that's for sure. Some of there films hold up well after all of these years--many of them don't. I have not yet seen a Monogram film I would consider great but they were often quite fun. Fun, cheap and entertaining is how I would describe "The Thirteenth Guest". While the film has many plot holes and problems, the overall film is pretty good for a B-movie. The film is one of those ridiculously impossible and complex murder films that is fun to watch but dumb when you actually think about it. Only in this sort of film or a Charlie Chan film (many of which were also made by Monogram) film would do.

The film begins with a lady being horribly electrocuted by some maniac--though who did it is uncertain. Oddly, instead of the police heading the investigation, they ask a private detective (Lyle Talbot) to run things--a plot element that makes not one bit of sense. Eventually, Talbot and the police learn that the murder (and subsequent murders) are probably related to a weird dinner that had happened many years earlier. The man who threw the dinner party was very rich and he died during the dinner! His will incredibly stated that the thirteenth guest to arrive would inherit his fortunate--but only twelve show. His wife was odd, as she left the house and the room where the rich guy died exactly as it was during the party--and the killer would then prop the bodies of each victim in their original seats from the party!! Weird stuff alright and the killer turns out to be the one who looked like a killer the first time I saw them! Make of that what you will.

A nice fast-paced plot with some cool murders cannot completely undo the ridiculousness of it all as well as some plot problems. Other than having a private citizen lead the investigation, there is a plastic surgery angle that makes no sense as well as some overly obnoxious suspects--too obnoxious to be real. Worth watching (especially since it's in the public domain) but not one to rush out to see--unless you are dying to see Ginger Rogers in one of her earliest roles (though, unfortunately, her acting and character are both a bit rough).

A very young Ginger Rogers stars in "The Thirteenth Guest," a 1932 film also starring Lyle Talbot. Thirteen years earlier, a dinner party took place in an old house, but the 13th guest never appeared. Now the owner of the house is dead and left his estate to this 13th guest. Someone is murdering the original party guests and putting each dead body in his or her original seat at the table.

Rogers plays Marie Morgan, whom we think has been murdered early on. It turns out that it was someone else whose face was altered to look like hers. Detective Phil Winston (Talbot) investigates the situation.

This is a good haunted house mystery, but unfortunately suffers from a terrible print and bad sound. Nevertheless it's fun to see Ginger and Talbot, both of whom are very good. If you can tolerate the print, you'll enjoy it.

The owner of an Estate invited thirteen guests to dinner to reveal the inheritors of his will. The thirteenth guest never arrived and the host passed away without revealing their identity. The house has been boarded up for years exactly as it was that night when Miss Morgan on the eve of her 21st birthday is invited to the house.

This is such a fun little mystery with Ginger Rogers starring as Miss Morgan and Lyle Talbot as the private investigator and playboy Phil Winston. There are sliding panels and a cackling hooded figure who is luring and then electrocuting individuals amongst the original twelve guests using a metal phone.

Based on the novel by Armitage Trail (of Scarface fame), this is well worth the watch by classic film fans and mystery fans as it keeps your guessing as to the identity of the hooded figure.