Movie Info
Movie Name: A Shriek in the Night
Studio: M.H. Hoffman Inc.
Genre(s): Mystery/Suspense
Release Date(s): July 21, 1933
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Murder most foul!!!
The murder of a socialite philanthropist named Harker has police questioning if he fell to his death or if he was murdered. Imbedded reporter Pat Morgan (Ginger Rogers) has the inside scoop on Harker, but her competition at the paper Ted Rand (Lyle Talbot) has gotten her fired from the job. Pat is out to solve the crime and get her job back…but as more murders occur and the mystery deepens, the real murderer will be revealed!
Directed by Albert Ray, A Shriek in the Night is a mystery thriller. The pre-code film is in the public domain and readily available.
A Shriek in the Night is one of those thrillers that is quick and to the point. With movies that are early sound movies, they often feel like a combination of stage play and almost a (later) TV mystery. The movie is a pretty good example of that style of filmmaking.
Ever think of dancing?
The story is simple…a man has fallen to his death, but it appears to be murder. You have a bunch of potential murderers and a detective trying to figure out who is responsible. In addition to the detective, you have a pair of newspaper reporters doing almost parallel work to uncover the killer…but of course, they end up in danger before the end.
Ginger Rogers is different in this “non-dancing” title. She really made her name as a film dancer, and in this movie, she’s generally playing a His Girl Friday type character as a female reporter competing in a man’s world…and of course against her love interest. The cast is loaded with character actors at the time which does enrich the rather slim story.
Taking out the trash
Visually, the movie often is pretty rough simply due to the fact it has so many cheap copies floating around. The movie (like the story) feels a bit like a stage play and is pretty limited on sets…and most of the sets are rather basic, but the furnace scene is pretty good and the whole movie has a bit of a gritty noir style.
A Shriek in the Night is one of those early movies you can watch and enjoy, but you also get what you kind of expect. The mystery is there, but it feels a bit underdone and could have been played up more (aka the death of a man in a locked room type of story). If you are looking for someone old but “new”, check out the movie for a quick little mystery.
