Mystery Classics V.1 DVD: Review By JIm Mourgos

It's a good thing I watched the other Mystery Classics DVD sets before watching this one. The four mystery films were hard to watch because of the bad quality of the original films.

I mean, why not clean them up? The sound was very bass, the dark was very dark, the low contrast scenes were so bad that I could barely follow what was going on. Further, the English accents and mumbling made watching these films a chore!

There were some positive points too that may help the viewer enjoy some early appearances of their favorite Silver Screen actors and actresses.

A Shriek in the Night with Ginger Rogers as a tough newspaper woman who is in competition with a former boyfriend reporter as they both try to solve a murder mystery. Ginger's character goes undercover and is very interesting to watch as an actress rather than part of the Fred Astaire duo in her later years. Historically interesting is the fact that she would give up her job to get married. I guess that was what was expected or something? The murderer's cackling is especially unnerving.

Scream in the Night was not that great although Lon Chaney Jr. (Wolfman) playing a dual role was interesting. I think the producers had a split screen effect when Lon Chaney's character was talking to himself.

A silly fight scene with a jewel thief and Lon's character and the two women was more like a wrestling match than a fight and was downright silly. Still, an interesting mystery.

The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes with Arthur Wontner as Holmes was really hard to watch due to the poor nature of the negative. Based on an actual story by Arthur Conan Doyle (Valley of Fear) with an interesting story of a gang of murderers and their revenge against one Bertie and how this gang uses Moriarty for their own ends. The heavy accents will have you rewinding with your remote as you mutter, "What did he say?"

Mr. Moto's Last Warning is the best of the quartet as Peter Lorre's character attempts to solve the mystery of a gang of spies who plan to blow up a fleet of ships and try to start a war between France and England. Can Moto stop them? Lots of underwater action here, and plenty of stereotyping of the British ("What is the rot, what?") and Japanese (Vewey solly, preeze) may be offensive to some. But heck that was the 1930s.

Somewhat recommended, though renting a few on Netflix or Blockbuster might be a better bet.