'Green Eyes' not worth looking into

Green Eyes (1934)
Starring: John Wray, Charles Starrett, Alden Chase, and Shirley Grey
Director: Richard Thorpe
Rating: Three of Ten Stars

A millionaire is murdered during his own costume party, and a police inspector (Wray) sorts through the motives and deceptions of his staff and house guests to figure out who did. He is helped (and annoyed) by a mystery novelist (Starrett) who was in attendence.

"Green Eyes" could have been a slightly-below-average mystery movie if the writers and producers had even possessed the slightest sense of how a mystery like this is supposed to work. The movie goes off the tracks in the vvery first scene, because it starts too late.

Basically, a movie like this is either supposed to start AFTER the detectives arrive on scene, or its supposed to start with a set-up introducing the suspects and the victim, while providing a couple of hints and clues as to who did it and why. Here, we get something that's a little bit of both, but not enough of either to really make the movie satisfying... and as the clues are uncovered, they don't make much sense to the viewers, because the movie left out the piece of information that would have let us "play along" with the detectives as they solve the crime.

Another problem with the film is the mystery novelist amateur detective. That character has got to be the most annoying and obnoxious iteration of that type to ever appear on screen. (His never-ending obfuscation of facts and disturbing of evidence should at least get him arrested on 'interferring with police business.')

Although decently acted and well-paced, the fact this movie gets off on a bad track from the get-go, and it's got a "hero" who's so obnoxious that it's amazing the police detective doesn't just arrest him for the murder and call it a day, degrades "Green Eyes" from 'classic' to just plain 'old.'

'Murder on the Campus' is a mostly well-executed who-dunnit

Murder on the Campus (aka "On the Stoke of Nine") (1933)
Starring: Charles Starrett, Shirley Grey, Edward Van Sloan, Ruth Hall, and J. Farrell MacDonald
Director: Richard Thorpe
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

When a student is found shot to death high atop a locked bell tower at the center of a busy college campus, ace reporter Bill Bartlett (Starrett) is intrigued, but still thinks it's just another story. When his girl friend Lillian (Grey) emerges as the only suspect, however, he joins forces with criminologist and science professor Edwen Hawley (Van Sloan) to solve this perfect murder and find the real culprit.


After a shakey start (with some pretty lame acting by Starrett and Grey), "Murder on the Campus" comes together as a fine little murder mystery. It is particularly excellent, because it's one of those films that "plays fair" with the audience--if you're paying attention while watching, you can figure out Whodunnit as the hero does, perhaps even before.

Mostly decently acted and well-written, this film is a nice little gem that I recommend to fans of classic mysteries. The ending isn't quite what I would have expected--nor does it sit completely well with me--but it's in keeping with the rest of the film, so it's not all bad. (I guess this means that the film has a strong main body that starts and ends weakly. Still, it's worth checking out.)

Politically Incorrect Karloff

The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932)
Starring: Boris Karloff, Myrna Loy, Lewis Stone, Charles Starrett, Jean Hersholt, and Karen Morley
Directors: Charles Brabin and Charles Vidor
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

Sir Nayland Smith (Stone) and an international group of archeologists led by Professor Von Berg (Hersholt) sqaure off against evil genius Fu Manchu (Karloff) and his diabolical daughter Fah Lo See (Loy), as both factions race to gain control of the regelia of Genghis Khan as they are the keys to the evil mastermind's latest scheme to conquer the world.



"The Mask of Fu Manchu" is perhaps one of the greatest "yellow peril" films, and it's the best use of the Fu Manchu character I've seen outside of Rohmer's original stories and the Marvel Comics series "Master of Kung Fu".

First off, the film has a great adventure story, with an even mix of weird science, bizarre torture-traps, supernatural hokum, savage natives lusting for a white girl to be sacrificed to dark gods, and, of course, Fu Manchu being thwarted with his own invention on the edge of victory. Secondly, its got a great cast that all give top-notch performances, even if Karloff is hidden beneath some ofthe very worst "China-man" make-up I've ever seen; yeah, the Orient may be alien, but that still doesn't mean Fu Manchu should look like a Martian. Finally, it's got some gorgeous sets that are augmented by some nice lighting work (and an even nicer use of Tesla coils and buzzing electrial devices).

Will some people in this overly sensitive age be offended by the film's racist undertones? Sure. But if they are going to fein outrage, I hope they'll notice that the British characters don't exactly come off as saints, either. Given their behavior, Fu Manchu isn't completely in the wrong.

"The Mask of Fu Manchu" is avaiable in the "Legends of Horror" DVD collection. It's the only one of the five included movies that features Boris Karloff, but the other films are excellent, rarely seen examples of the high quality films being made at the dawn of the horror movie biz.