Το Έγκλημα του Αιώνα

Will Sloan

Notable for containing a scene in which the movie pauses for 60 seconds to allow the audience to try to figure out the murder. William Beaudine at the peak of his powers. He even moves the camera a bit!

theironcupcake3.5

Even if I hadn't purchased a DVD of The Crime of the Century off of eBay (from a user named "bfilmnut") recently out of a resurgence of personal interest in the wonderful Wynne Gibson, it still would have been a fine idea to check out this underseen pre-Code murder mystery since the Oscars were held three days ago and, as the ceremony does every year, the Academy handed out its Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, named for the star of this film and many more, such as Greed, Grand Hotel, Dinner at Eight, Heidi and the "Dr. Christian" series. Tyler Perry was the more famous of the two recipients, but the other one was the Motion Picture & Television Fund (formerly called the Motion Picture Relief Fund), a charitable organization for which Hersholt served as the president for many years. Thanks to his tenacity and care, the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital has been functioning as a retirement community for industry members since the 1940s. Tragically, a few of its residents have died during the COVID-19 pandemic - these casualties include character actor Allen Garfield (who was not mentioned in the Oscars' In Memoriam reel, if I recall correctly) and cinematographer Allen Daviau - but on the whole, what MPTF has done for Hollywood is extraordinary and much appreciation is owed to Jean Hersholt, who was not only a giving person but a truly superb performer.Hersholt gets top billing in The Crime of the Century, a nifty little whodunit from Paramount. He plays Dr. Emil Brandt, a well-known hypnotist who frantically contacts the police, Capt. Timothy Riley (Robert Elliott) and Lt. Frank Martin (David Landau), out of fear that his powers of mental suggestion will compel him to commit a terrible crime. Convinced that his desire to steal money for his greedy wife Freda (Wynne Gibson) will drive him to kill his latest patient, banker Philip Ames (Samuel S. Hinds), Emil turns himself into the precinct, only to be reassured by the cops that nothing will happen now that he has explained the theoretical situation. Accompanied by Lt. Martin, Emil returns home, only to be visited by Ames, who - after the lights go out and a scuffle occurs - does indeed end up dead. Now the race is on to reveal the guilty party, with fingers pointed not only at the Brandts but also at Emil's college-age daughter Doris (Frances Dee), who loathes her young stepmother; Gilbert Reid (my guy, the sadly under-remembered Gordon Westcott), Freda's clandestine paramour; and the Brandts' married housekeeper and butler, Hilda and Eric Ericson (Bodil Rosing and Torben Meyer, who, like Hersholt, were Danish). Luckily, wisecracking newspaper reporter Dan McKee (the always delightful Stuart Erwin) is also on the scene, so you know that of course his goofy but determined inquiries will eventually suss out the culprit.All the performances, Brian Marlow and Florence Ryerson's screenplay (adapted from the Walter Maria Espe play The Grootman Case), William Beaudine's direction and David Abel's cinematography are solid, making this 73-minute flick a ton of fun. Plus, included among the already excellent cast are a few more welcome sights: Marion Byron (Buster Keaton's sweetheart in Steamboat Bill Jr.) and Isabel Jewell appear briefly as bridge players at a college dorm's card table, while Arthur Hohl shows up as the host of a fascinating, William Castle-esque intermission directed squarely at the audience, giving us sixty seconds to reexamine the clues from the film's first hour and ponder which suspect might have slain Ames. Overall, The Crime of the Century is a tasty morsel of entertainment that deserves to be rediscovered, especially by fans of detective stories from this cinematic era.The Films of Wynne Gibson: Ranked (So Far)The Films of Gordon Westcott: Ranked (So Far)

D Rock2.5

Crime of the Minute, more like. This silly whodunnit is based on a play and it shows it, although maybe director William Beaudine thought he was being film-savvy by halting the whole thing partway through to give audiences in cinemas a minute to "discuss amongst themselves" and decide who each thinks is guilty. Weird little interlude, that.Anyways, there are red herrings galore that are telegraphed a mile away and basically you can guess the guilty party before the reveal since they're the one who hasn't had one of those red herrings thrown their way. So if keeping the suspense is important to you, this bit of fluff is not for you.Otherwise it's all pleasant enough; Wynne Gibson struts through the whole thing in a clingy, revealing dress so there's that, and it's always fun to see the cocky reporter (Stuart Erwin) outsmart the dumbass cops every step of the way - wouldn't be a lighthearted whodunnit without that I guess. "Anybody woulda thought of that, even a dumb cop."Though gotta say, my favourite part was when suspect Gilbert (Gordon West) shows up said reporter by proving his own innocence in about 10 seconds flat after being fingered by him. Take that, smartypants. Frances Dee is pretty and worried-looking, Fay Wray-style (there's some separated-at-birth going on there, to my eyes, but whatever), and Jean Hersholt is his usual, rather charisma-free self.