The Moonstone (1934)

Best movie of this year hands down!

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Nothing special about this one - it's a typical and rather boring whodunit. The film feels very stagy (like a made for TV movie and not one for the movie theaters) and the acting is lacking and stiff - including Patric Knowles (which I never expected)! Everything happens over a stolen moonstone in a rather large mansion with several people visiting Sir John Verinder's home. The film is pretty predictable for the most part.Well, I acquired this film in a 50-Mysteries Pack so it's not to bad for the pack deal but it's not a movie I'd watch over and over (one time watching is enough) - it's just one that is a part of the 50-pack.3/10

Those who have read the classic book by Wilkie Collins should not expect anything similar. Other than a jewel called the Moonstone, that is. The 1933-34 years saw movies that still suffered from the silent film hangover, and some that showed more naturalistic acting. This has some of both, leaning towards the stiffness of the silents. As noted by others, the actress playing the lead is so foolish that it's difficult to care that she's had her jewel stolen. And then there's the scene where she refuses to have her belongings searched for the jewel, which is never explained. And the reveal comes out of nowhere, with no 'detecting' at all. Watch 1933's The Kennel Murder Case for far superior acting and plotting. This movie just doesn't have the right pieces in the right places. It tries, but never really pays off. Still, I did watch it to the fast-arriving end, so I can't complain too much. Worth watching as long as you don't expect too much. Watch it on a dark and stormy night when you have nothing else to do.

With the success of "Jane Eyre" behind them, Monogram then released "The Moonstone", another film based on a Victorian classic, this time by Wilkie Collins. Supposedly the first modern detective novel, Monogram did very well to condense the huge novel into a brisk and thrilling 62 minutes (it was a longer film originally). Monogram would have done better to keep it as a period film instead of modernizing it.Franklyn Blake (David Manners) has returned to England from India bringing the moonstone - rumoured to have been stolen from an Idol. He arrives at Verinder Manor on a dark and stormy night. Ann, his fiancée, stupidly begs to sleep with it under her pillow instead of putting it in the safe, so of course, in the morning it has been stolen. Ann's father has a heart attack and Ann seems to be in a trance. An old dark house mystery - everyone is a suspect. Carl Von Lucker (Gustav Von Seyffertitz) is disgusted at being asked for more money, Godfrey Ablewhite (Jameson Thomas) is resentful that Ann is engaged and also has gambling loses, Ann's father is being forced to vacate his home because he has no money to continue his experiments and the maid is very interested in the gem, especially when she realises the stone is worth $30,000!!! A serum is administered to Franklyn so he can re-enact his movements of that night. He does take the moonstone, sees a blurry outline of his valet, Yandoo, and asks him to look after the gem but who did he see on the original night!! Obviously the editing was done at the film's finish because it ended so fast!!!John Davidson seemed to be often cast in exotic roles. In this film he was Yandoo, an Indian (in "Death From a Distance" (1935) he played Ahmad Haidru). David Manners was the perfect actor to play opposite some of the most beautiful actresses of the early 30s. He was handsome but non threatening and obviously didn't care enough about his career to last past the mid 30s - "A Woman Rebels" (1936) was his last film. After a sensational debut as the lovestruck shopgirl in "Cynara" (1932), within a few movies Phyllis Barry was reduced to playing "the girl" in such "classics" as "What! No Beer?" (1933), "Long Lost Father" (1934) and "Love Past Thirty" (1934) - she was even way down the cast list of a "sexploitation" film "Damaged Goods"(1937) aka "Are You Fit To Marry?"!!! So her role as Ann Verinder in "The Moonstone" may be among her most prestigious roles. Another case of "whatever happened to...".

Despite the hackneyed premise and milieu, the stage was set for a pretty interesting murder mystery. It is a 'gloomy-mansion-on-a-dark-and-stormy-night' movie, which can be very absorbing if done right. It had a good collection of characters/suspects and got off to a good start.All of sudden came the scientific-drivel denouement, the deus-ex-machina, which was both cynical and anti-climactic. This was the best the author could do? And why the rush to a conclusion? the story is short enough as is. Good performances all around and the production values were very adequate, considering this was a Poverty Row production.Sorry I can't recommend this one, but I still have a lot of movies left in my DVD collection. On to the next case.