MIDNIGHT MYSTERY takes place in a castle/mansion on a rock off the coast on Cuba on a dark and stormy night. It's based on a play called "Hawk Island" and involves the murder of one of the guests. Intriguing little film has the usual plot elements, but this one also has some snappy dialog and a mostly good cast.
Betty Compson gets top billing as a writer of cheap murder novels. She's engaged to Hugh Trevor, a spoiled rich boy who doesn't think much of her writing. Then there's Lowell Sherman as a lawyer who wife (Rita LaRoy) is having a fling with a pianist (Ivan Lebedeff). There's also a giddy woman (June Clyde) and a bickering couple (Raymond Hatton, Marcelle Corday) as well as a butler and groundskeeper. It seems they're having a sort of "murder weekend" party when Trevor gets bored with it all. So he and Lebedeff cook up a fake murder replete with a dummy tossed into the sea. Everyone falls for it, but one of the guest gets a bright idea to take advantage of the joke and it leads to a real murder. Compson, Sherman, and Trevor are all quite good and the film is a lark. Compson gets to emote against the howling storm, "Oh listen to it! Atmosphere in chunks!"
Betty Compson gets top billing as a writer of cheap murder novels. She's engaged to Hugh Trevor, a spoiled rich boy who doesn't think much of her writing. Then there's Lowell Sherman as a lawyer who wife (Rita LaRoy) is having a fling with a pianist (Ivan Lebedeff). There's also a giddy woman (June Clyde) and a bickering couple (Raymond Hatton, Marcelle Corday) as well as a butler and groundskeeper. It seems they're having a sort of "murder weekend" party when Trevor gets bored with it all. So he and Lebedeff cook up a fake murder replete with a dummy tossed into the sea. Everyone falls for it, but one of the guest gets a bright idea to take advantage of the joke and it leads to a real murder. Compson, Sherman, and Trevor are all quite good and the film is a lark. Compson gets to emote against the howling storm, "Oh listen to it! Atmosphere in chunks!"