The Mystery of the 13th Guest

The Mystery of the 13th Guest is a not a typical example of the 40's Monogram pictures productions. This one outshines most of the typical "B" trappings they produced in the early 40's. 13th Guest made the most out of the typical wartime budget's and dimly lighted set versions that Monogram made famous. The female lead, Helen Parrish made it special because she was very uder-rated to say the least. She carries the film and adds some really good action to an otherwise typical haunted house movie. She reprises the Ginger Rogers role of 1932 and adds flare and style to the character. Dick Purcel is great as the wisecracking reporter. He died soon after the film was released and it was ashame as they really sparked together. I have not seen the film on tv since the late 40's and won't either. Most of the Monograms features were struck on celuloid so they aren't around anymore. My print is on Kodak safty film so it will never die!

A young girl arrives at her ancestral home and is promptly murdered-- -or is she? Twelve years earlier the murdered woman, as a little girl, had attended a birthday party for her dying grandfather. Thirteen partygoers were invited but only twelve attended. The thirteenth guest was death.

Now, in the present, the original twelve guests are members of the family fighting over the will and someone wants the money badly enough to kill for it. Detective Dick Purcell is called in to solve the crime, aided by comic sidekicks and the usual inept policemen who only seem to inhabit "B" mysteries. Directed by William "One Shot" Beaudine, this 60 minute quickie is a darn good version of the Armitage Trail mystery and manages to be a little better that its 1932 predecessor-----though for some reason the 1943 film is much more difficult to see.

I had high hopes for this one after reading only the little blurb that comes up with the olde timey movies on Tubi but ... whoa .. is it ever a stinker.

II's like an expanded three stooges short directed by Ed Wood but without the charm of his ineptitude. The characters are not introduced or developed ... any of them. The running jokes are not even vaguely amusing.

It's a mess. Give it a miss !

A young woman's grandfather hosts a dinner party for thirteen guests, and he mysteriously dies. Thirteen years later, the woman believes that someone connected to the fatal party is trying to kill her.

I had never heard of this film before, and I doubt very many people have. Which is a shame. It has a good pace, a good story, and wraps up in around an hour. This is the kind of film anyone could enjoy.

In some ways, it has the feel of Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None", but it is its own story and should not be written off as a derivative narrative. Well, unless you consider it derivative of the previous incarnation, "The Thirteenth Guest" (1932). As I have not seen that version, I cannot comment.

I've met several people who feel that this version is much better than the original (Ginger Rogers / Lyle Talbot) picture. I disagree.

All the "spookiness" from the original (including the black-robed 'phantom') is gone, and the film is "just another mystery".

But, to each his own!

Norm