The Dark Hour (1936)

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The Dark Hour was based on The Last Trap, a mystery novel by Sinclair Gluck. The setting is one of those Old Dark Houses which proliferated in 1930s "B"-pictures. Elsa Carson (Irene Ware), mistress of the house, fears that her weird uncles intend to do her harm and calls in detectives Landis (Ray… More The Dark Hour was based on The Last Trap, a mystery novel by Sinclair Gluck. The setting is one of those Old Dark Houses which proliferated in 1930s "B"-pictures. Elsa Carson (Irene Ware), mistress of the house, fears that her weird uncles intend to do her harm and calls in detectives Landis (Ray Walker) and Bernard (Berton Churchill) for protection. It isn't long before the two gumshoes come upon the body of Elsa's Uncle Henry (William V. Vong), who appears to have been starved to death (in less than 24 hours!) The gathered suspects are unable to account for their movements at the time of the murder, making our heroes' job doubly difficult. For a while, it looks as though the butler did it (honest!), but Landis believes that the killer is someone less suspicious. He's right -- but to reveal more would be to reveal all. The scenes in which the murderer stalks about the mansion in female drag are unforgettably bizarre. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi