The Criminal Within

The title is a misleading in that the location is never mentioned.

That said this is the story of a great detective on vacation and attempting to write his memoirs. His sidekick has alerted the neighbors that he is in neighborhood and so they show up to see the great detective in person. In short order he finds himself invited to a party where the dynamics of the people there make the dysfunctional families on soaps seem normal. That night after the party is over two shots are heard in the night, and three people are found dead...

This is a good little thriller that should have been longer than the 67 minutes it runs. Too much time is spent in the beginning being funny, although you do get to know and like the two detectives better then if you were just dropped into the middle of things. And the end is rushed just a tad.

The cast of characters is very interesting if a bit over loaded with names and faces, its too many in too short a time. The mystery is interesting simply because even if you get part of it you won't get it all.

This is the sort of movie thats hard to write about in that its neither fish nor fowl. Certainly its a murder mystery but there is so much else going on in it, comedy, soap opera, romance crime drama that its hard to know whats what and which is which. As I said its too short for its 67 minutes.

This is part of a series of films called The Crime Club, which were nominally based on a best selling mystery novel series and which, as a film series, bounced between two or three studios. My understanding is that this was a good series of films that never varied in quality, either good or bad, other than being very watchable. From this entry its certainly a series I would try to pick up if I could.

If you like good little thrillers, especially ones that try, but not always succeed at being more than run of the mill, then search this out. And even if you don't search it out, but run across it by all means do watch it since you will enjoy it.

John Miljan who normally played smooth and oily villains plays a smooth and dapper detective of the William Powell school in Murder At Glen Athol. Although this film was done for a poverty row outfit called Invincible Pictures this was not a bad film and could have easily been a B film from one of the units at a major studio.

The dapper Miljan and his ex-pug house man James Burtis get invited next door to a swank society event sponsored by brother and sister Oscar Apfel and Betty Blythe. Among the guests is brassy Iris Adrian who before the evening is out has any number of people wanting to kill her. But later not only is Iris dead, but two other people as well including Blythe's son who made what could be and was taken for a confession.

Of course in true murder mystery tradition it's not all that simple. Miljan does a good job in sorting through the obvious suspects and in the end the puzzle is solved.

The sets are flimsy and threadbare, but the story is engrossing and the end was if not quite original taken from Agatha Christie's Murder On The Orient Express in terms of justice. Check this one out.

"Murder at Glen Athol" (although it could have been anywhere, but never mind, the location sounds interesting - and the MURDER, or rather the murders, certainly are MORE than interesting!) really has got ALL the ingredients of an absolutely first-class 'whodunit', with first and best a REALLY clever, intricate plot that's SURE to make you rack your brains a good deal, but just about 'fair' enough (no clues being held back or anything like that) for an eager and 'experienced' crime fan to find the solution.

And the moderate means of production DON'T change the fact that this movie is WAY superior to most of the other B murder mysteries of the time (and that's certainly saying something, because the 30s were the very apogee of the genre), and can even compete easily with quite some of the best A movie productions of the type! The acting is marvelous (although John Miljan, Irene Ware, and even Iris Adrian today remain familiar names probably only to real B movie friends - and yet they did better than MANY of their colleagues who are still famous today), and the film as a whole is very neatly balanced between murder mystery, gangster action, a touch of romance and a good dose of humor.

It's a REAL shame that today only absolute freaks seem to know of this little masterpiece (even I myself didn't know about its existence until recently); because it could provide GREAT suspense and entertainment for EVERY fan of classic movies - so if you ever come across it, DON'T miss it; and don't forget to make it known to others as well!

Before this film gets down to its real purpose as a standard Poverty Row low-budget who-done-it, there are a few scenes superbly acted and stolen by the young Iris Adrian as a mad cap society girl. Iris went on and on for years playing bit parts as a blowzy wise-cracking loud mouth in another 160 films but this film demonstrates what a first-rate actress she was. She might have gone on to a more brilliant career had anyone recognized how gifted she was. Irene Ware, the leading lady here, is very beautiful and very wooden. Just another face, but Iris is something else.

I almost gave up on this no-budget whodunit in the first 10 minutes. It was dull, flat, blandly staged and indifferently acted. Then Iris Adrian breezed into the room as a flirtatious gold digger who might as well have been wearing a neon sign saying "trouble."

Adrian's scenes were genuinely engaging, and if she'd had more screen time that alone could have made this movie worth watching. But she doesn't have that many scenes, and the dull script and convoluted, shapeless mystery had nothing else to recommend it.

By the way - this movie has two titles "Murder at Glen Athol" and "The Criminal Within" and neither makes much sense. No one ever talks about glen Athol and the criminal within doesn't make any sense in the context of the movie - they were clearly just trying to come up with a title that would intrigue people.

Anyway, in spite of Adrian's performance I can't recommend this movie.