THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY (1933)

At the police station, a visitor for Captain Riley is told he's in conference, but we see that he is actually in his office playing cribbage with Lt. Martin and crime beat reporter Dan McKee. But when the highly agitated Dr. Brandt arrives, wanting to be locked up so he won't, he says, commit the perfect murder, Riley pays attention. Brandt, a psychiatrist who uses hypnosis in his practice, says that he has hypnotized a bank official to bring him $100,000 after which Brandt will kill him and chop his body up. He blames his greedy wife for making him desperate for money, and now he has come to his senses, but the banker is to visit tonight with the money, so Riley and Martin agree to come to Brandt's house to stop him. They do but after they leave, the lights go out, someone enters the room, chloroforms Brandt, murders the banker, and steals the money. McKee, the reporter, is first on the scene and discovers a number of suspects: Freda, the wife; Gilbert, her lover who was spying through the windows just before the lights went out; a mysterious young man who was skulking about on the street; and even a maid and butler. Brandt's daughter Doris gets involved even though she was apparently at her sorority house all evening. When the cops return and try to stage a reenactment of the murder, the lights go out again and this time it's Freda who is killed, with a pair of scissors. With all the possible suspects together, the film stops dead while a man announces a one-minute intermission so the audience can try to play detective as the faces of characters and pictures of evidence flash across the screen. The police think that Brandt is the mastermind, but McKee has another idea.

Though the film begins with a couple of stunning one-take tracking shots of people entering the police station, this pre-Code B-mystery becomes fairly stagy, with the bulk of it taking place in Brandt's living room, with an unmotivated detour to the sorority house, but I don't find that a problem as that is fairly traditional for a drawing room mystery. The intermission is fun, though I don't think it's really possible to figure out the killer from the clues given, and the killer's identity is a bit surprising but satisfying. The premise involving hypnosis and Brandt's sudden change of heart is far-fetched but within the realm of suspension of disbelief. The B-level acting is satisfactory. Stuart Erwin (McKee), who typically played comic supporting parts, doesn't exactly shine here—he's a bit low energy and never seems as sharp as the character should be—but he's tolerable. A bit better is the top-billed Jean Hersholt as Brandt. Frances Dee (the daughter) is brought in only as a possible romance for McKee, which is about as far-fetched as the opening premise. The better supporting players include David Landau as Martin, Wynne Gibson as Freda, and Gordon Westcott as Gilbert. The servants (Torben Meyer and Bodil Rosing) have a very amusing bit of comic relief involving sauerbraten and heartburn. Not a must-see but light and amusing. Pictured are Erwin and Landau. [YouTube]