The Mystery of the Yellow Room (1930) User Reviews

Gaston Leroux's famous murder mystery.

[dbdumonteil · 7/10 · 11 July 2005]

Gaston Leroux was one of the best writers of detective stories and his "yellow room" is an interesting case of murder in an enclosed place.

Unfortunately this movie was made at the beginning of the talkies and we can feel it.Huguette Duflos's playing seems histrionic and ludicrous today.On the other hand,Roland Toutain,who was to serve as a foil to romantic young leads (notably Jean -Pierre Aumont in "l'équipage" and "la porte du large" ) ,before playing a prominent part in Jean Renoir's "the rules of the games" at the end of the thirties,is perfectly cast as Rouletabille ,Leroux's equivalent of Poirot or Holmes.

Leroux's novel was a two-part story.The second part,"le parfum de la dame en noir" was filmed with the same cast the following year.It's more melodramatic ,and Rouletabille will learn a lot of things about his mysterious birth.

Early talkie is very "talkie" indeed

[gridoon2024 · 5/10 · 31 March 2024]

"Le Mystère De La Chambre Jaune" is undeniably a historically important film as one of the earliest French talkies, and what's more, one of the earliest talkie locked-room murder mysteries / old-dark-house thrillers / courtroom dramas. It is stilted, static, confusing (there are a lot of people to keep track of, and sometimes it's not clear who or why all those people are in a scene together), and technically rough-around-the edges, but it does boast an acrobatic amateur detective, a surprising resolution and occasionally creative use of sound (meow!). The film also begins and ends rather originally: at the start it verbally announces its credits, and at the end its own sequel. ** out of 4.

Room Service

[writers_reign · 8/10 · 27 March 2008]

Marcel L'Herbier had been grinding out movies since 1917 so that by the time the 'talkies' arrived he knew a lot more than just which way to point the camera. He made three other films in 1930 and I'm betting plenty of twelve-to-seven the others are long gone but not too worry because there's lots to admire here, not least the atmospherics he conjures effortlessly out of nothing. It's only to be expected that acting of that vintage will be a tad mannered but once we get past that we can pay more attention to where he places his camera, the clever play of black and white and the re-telling of an old war horse - it had been filmed as long ago as 1912 and there would be more to come, the latest in 2003 - so that it appears new-minted. Definitely worth a look.