Moonlight Murder (1936)

Best movie ever!

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

"Moonlight Murder," from 1936, is an operatic mystery. A tenor,Gino (Leo Carrillo), singing Manrico in "Il Trovatore" at the Hollywood Bowl is told by a fortune teller (Pedro de Cordoba) not to perform or he will die. Well, you can't keep a tenor from performing that way. But he does die under mysterious circumstances.Chester Morris plays the detective brought in to investigate. It's a pretty good mystery, and the detective soon learns there are plenty of suspects, including the Gino's cover, who wants to go on in his place, various women, and an escaped lunatic who is angry that Gino did not sing his opera.Some people complained here that there was too much opera. Frankly I could have used more. Of course I love Trovatore. I actually thought the first aria done by Carrillo (who was dubbed by Alfonso Pedroso) was quite good. Most of the singing was okay despite some screechy high notes.A little baby boomer trivia: For us boomers, Carrillo was Pancho on "The Cisco Kid," and the Cisco Kid was Duncan Renaldo - who is listed in the cast here. As a friend of mine used to say, "foreshadowing." Ah, Pancho; ah, Cisco.

...and annoying is the best way to describe tenor and opera singer Gino D'Acosta (Leo Carrillo). In the looks department he is a solid 5/10 yet in spite of that and his obvious lack of sincerity and subtlety he is a lady's man with two currently on a string, he has an understudy that badly wants his big chance, then there are the boyfriends (husbands??) of the girls he is stringing along, and a lunatic that wants to kill D'Acosta because he won't sing an opera he has written. So when D'Acosta dies on stage it is no surprise to the audience. On hand to solve the murder is the reason I - and maybe most people - hang around. That reason is Chester Morris as Detective Steve Farrell. He teams up with Dr. Adams' niece Toni (Madge Evans) who is a chemist and helps him analyze evidence. You see, at first it is thought D'Acosta was poisoned by some wine he drank before going onstage, but the autopsy proves that the poison was delivered while he was performing, and now it is a combination of Steve's detective work and Toni's forensic analysis that work to crack the case. Madge Evans is playing this role somewhat as a screwball comedienne Jean Arthur style, and the result is a good performance and good chemistry between herself and the always entertaining Chester Morris who plays this role as a good yet tough guy.So what's not so good about this film? Mainly the short running time combined with, IMHO, an excess of opera music. The time taken up by the opera music could have been used to beef up the plot a bit more. Still I'd recommend it for fans of B murder mysteries from the 30's and 40's and definitely for fans of Chester Morris.

There haven't been many musical murder mysteries in the history of cinema: "Murder At The Vanities" (1934) is one, "Moonlight Murder" is another. This is a film of average quality for the most part, but it does offer three novelties: the genre mix, the highly original murder method (which I have only ever seen used in one more film, a "Mr.Wong" entry, which however was made a few years later, so "Moonlight Murder" gets extra points for originality), and the unexpectedly tearjerking finale, which, to be honest, did nearly make me cry, thanks to exceptional work by the three actors involved (of course writing their names here would be a spoiler). Also notable is Benita Hume, who shows more cleavage than you might think was "acceptable" in a 1930s post-Code film! **1/2 out of 4.

Chester Morris and Madge Evans head an absolutely stellar cast (well, this was MGM - even their B movies were made with class and sophistication). This snappy murder mystery is set at the Hollywood Bowl, amidst Grand Opera and prima donnas!!The dress rehearsal of "Il Travatore" is not going smoothly - dancers have their mind on other things and the lead tenor, Gino D'Acosta (Leo Carrillo) has just been told by a fortune teller that if he sings tomorrow, he will die!! As he is temperamental, egotistical and a womanizer, there are no end of suspects. There is an unhinged composer, Bejac (J. Carroll Naish), a tenor eager to replace him, a jealous wife and an unhappy dancer who carries knives (Duncan Reynaldo). For a while Bejac is safely in custody, being driven to the local asylum but he manages to overpower his guards and is soon back at the Hollywood Bowl and at the top of the list of suspects. The conductor (H.B. Warner) proves to be pretty callous, the way he organises back up singers only moments after Gino meets his death.Chester Morris breezes through his role as the enthusiastic sleuth with his usual professionalism and Madge Evans makes a very attractive scientist. J. Carroll Naish adds another to his long list of superlative characterizations and one person you can definitely count on for laughs is Frank McHugh.This movie went through quite a few name changes - "Hollywood Bowl", "Murder Under the Stars" and "Murder in the Bowl". I actually liked the Opera and thought this movie had the perfect blend of music and murder.Recommended.