Rendezvous at Midnight (1935) User Reviews

Seen on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater in 1976

[kevinolzak · 5/10 · 22 May 2009]

Ralph Bellamy gets top billing in 1934's "Rendezvous at Midnight," but the real star here is Valerie Hobson, just before "Bride of Frankenstein" began shooting after the new year 1935. As wealthy socialite Sandra Rogers, Valerie is dating the city's police commissioner Robert Edmonds (Bellamy), whose tour of duty prevents him from attending many functions with her. One evening as a lark, she confesses to a nonexistent murder just to bring him over to share a leisurely dinner for two. Unbeknownst to her, the phony murder victim, Myles Crawford (Arthur Vinton), an unscrupulous businessman with many lovers who was about to be prosecuted for his nefarious schemes, has indeed been found dead (shot) in his apartment, the killer leaving traces of a silver fox fur that Sandra had just purchased from the boutique of Fernande (Catharine Doucet). Only hours before, Sandra had been in the dead man's apartment threatening to kill him for attempted blackmail. It's disappointing that the character of Fernande gets so much screen time as she is very annoying, even exposing a "style thief" (a woman trying to steal designs) that she had hired herself to fool the clientele. Although the film is carried by its large female cast, it's still the male police commissioner who solves the crime. Laurel and Hardy veteran Vivien Oakland plays one of the suspects, a socialite who was in love with Crawford, while one of the models is played by lovely Irene Ware, who twice shared the screen with Bela Lugosi (in 1932's "Chandu the Magician" and 1935's "The Raven"), and would end her career by 1940. Valerie Hobson couldn't have been busier in her year and a half in Hollywood, with this film, "The Man Who Reclaimed His Head," "Life Returns," "Mystery of Edwin Drood," "WereWolf of London," "Bride of Frankenstein," "Chinatown Squad," and "The Great Impersonation," returning to England and retiring in the early 50's. Director Christy Cabanne went on to do "The Mummy's Hand" (George Zucco) in 1940, and "Scared to Death" (Lugosi and Zucco) in 1946, prior to his death in 1950. Although never a part of Universal's SHOCK! package of classic horror films issued to television in the late 50's, this non horror item did show up once on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater, paired with 1953's "House of Wax" on October 2 1976.

Murder at 12:01.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 6 November 2020]

Or thereabouts. this is just another standard paint-by-numbers murder mystery surrounding the shooting of a blackmailing businessman (Arthur Vinton) which gathers together a group of actors to after suspects, some more believable than the others, but with commissioner Ralph Bellamy finding out that his girl, Valerie Hobson, had dealings with Vinton, he must go out of his way to prove her innocence. That leads him to fashion boutique owner Catherine Doucet (who does nothing but giggle and cluck like a chicken) as he suspects that the killer was wearing one of her designs.

Featured actresses Irene Ware, Helen Jerome Eddy, Kathlyn Williams and Vivienne Oakland are among the females questioned, and they are written with such cliched characterizations that it's obvious that they would just pull a character's name out of the hat to decide who the killer would be.

Of these women, only Eddy as Hobson's companion adds anything interesting, reminding me of characters that Margaret Hamilton played when not portraying witches. The slow pacing and cliched script keeps it from being unique in any way, and this is easily lost in the pile of the dozens of other similar scripts being released by the B units of the time. This is the type of film that you can enjoy for the hour it lasts, but will have a difficult time describing hours after it is over.