In San Francisco, there's a medical convention going on at the Hotel Mardena. House detective Andy McCabe has a friendly rivalry with mystery writer Roger Blackwood; Blackwood considers himself an expert at solving mysteries but McCabe insists that "anyone can solve a mystery when they write their own answers." The two get a chance to compete when a Dr. Temple is found dead in his room, though it turns out that the dead man is not Temple but Chambers; the two had swapped rooms the night before because Temple's room was where Chambers had spent his honeymoon years ago. Because Chambers' death was from a drug overdose, he is assumed to have committed suicide, but physical evidence suggests that he may not have been alone and that he might have been using binoculars to spy on a hotel room across the street which was occupied by a Mrs. Blake. Then more evidence pops up to show that the dead man wasn't Chambers but a Mr. Blake. Confused yet? I got a little confused trying to write this summary from my movie-watching notes, but while watching, it wasn't too difficult to keep up. As a 70-minute B-mystery, some weakness in the writing is to be expected, and it is a bit talky, but there are some action setpieces involving people getting knocked out and locked in closets, fisticuffs, a car chase, a New Year's Eve party plunged into darkness, and some gunplay before the end, which is a bit abrupt. The acting is solid. Edmund Lowe plays Blackwood as relatively suave and Victor McLaglen plays McCabe as rough-edged, and though the two do have a certain respect for each other, they're not above some dirty tricks to stay ahead in the investigation. Familiar faces in support include C. Henry Gordon, Mary Carlisle, Henry O’Neill and John Wray. It drags a bit and is pretty thoroughly average for a second feature B-movie of the era. Pictured are McLaglen and Lowe. [YouTube]
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