Murder in the Blue Room
Cast & Crew
Leslie Goodwins
Anne Gwynne
Donald Cook
John Litel
Grace Mcdonald
Betty Kean
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
After attorney Frank Baldrich decides to reopen the seaside home of his wife Linda, a house which is supposedly haunted by her deceased first husband, Sam Kirkland, the two hold a party, to which Linda's daughter Nan invites mystery writer Steve Randall. Nan tells Steve that her father died twenty years earlier of an apparent suicide in the "blue room," which has remained closed ever since. Nan also invites her old friends, nightclub entertainers "The Three Jazzy Bells"--Peggy, Betty and Jerry--to perform at the party. After the party, Larry Dearden, Nan's former boyfriend, and Steve ask to see the blue room, and Linda tells them that she still believes that her late husband was killed by a blackmailer. Larry then decides to sleep in the blue room that night, in order to prove that it is not haunted. The next morning, however, Larry is discovered missing, so Frank calls police inspector McDonald. McDonald insists that Peggy, Betty and Jerry return to the house for questioning, and after the singers tell the inspector that they saw a ghost upon leaving the party, McDonald insists that they, along with Nan, Steve, Frank, Linda, Harry Carroll, the family physician, and Edwards, the butler, remain at the house until Larry is found. Later, Steve suggests to Nan that Larry may have discovered who or how her father was killed and was murdered as a result. Everyone is ordered to spend the night at the house, though Dr. Carroll is permitted to leave to deliver a baby. Peggy, Betty and Jerry decide to sit up all night in order to catch the murderer, but all three fall asleep after their coffee is drugged. After Steve spends the night in the blue room, Larry's dead body, which has been shot through the heart, is found there the next morning. To further complicate matters, Steve is now declared missing. Later, when Nan tells him that she feels guilty about refusing to marry Larry, Dr. Carroll reveals that Larry was actually her half-brother, the illegitimate son of her dead father. Peggy, Betty and Jerry then discover an electric wire leading from a piano to the cellar, and upon following it downstairs, they find Edwards. Thus cornered, the butler argues his innocence, stating that he was merely hired by Larry to scare those staying in the house. Betty then finds the gun that was used to kill Larry, and based on the available evidence, McDonald arrests Frank for the murder. In order to prove Frank's innocence, the three entertainers decide to spend the next night in the blue room, where they discover a secret passageway behind the grandfather clock. Meanwhile, Nan spies Dr. Carroll entering the house from another secret passageway. Dr. Carroll is then mortally wounded by Steve, who correctly summized that the physician was the blackmailer and killer, as he was the only person still alive who knew the truth about Larry's paternity. With the case solved, The Three Jazzy Bells head off to their nightclub engagement, with an unidentified ghost tagging along as well.
Director
Leslie Goodwins
Cast
Anne Gwynne
Donald Cook
John Litel
Grace Mcdonald
Betty Kean
June Preisser
Regis Toomey
Nella Walker
Andrew Tombes
Ian Wolfe
Emmett Vogan
Bill Macwilliams
Frank Marlowe
Grace Hayle
Alice Draper
Victoria Horne
Milton Parsons
Jack Gardner
Robert Cherry
Crew
Howard Banks
Bernard B. Brown
Charles Carroll
Everett Carter
Stanley Davis
I. A. L. Diamond
Edward Dodds
Leo Erdody
Fred Frank
Dave Franklin
Sam Freed Jr.
John P. Fulton
Russell A. Gausman
Don George
John B. Goodman
Frank Gross
Harold H. Macarthur
Charles Maynard
Lew Porter
E. R. Robinson
George Robinson
Carlos Romero
Milton Rosen
F. J. Tableporter
Vera West
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Originally set to feature The Ritz Brothers, they are replaced by a female comedy team known as The Three Jazzybelles.
Notes
Hollywood Reporter news items, as well as Daily Variety and Hollywood Reporter production charts, include Samuel S. Hinds in the cast, but he did not appear in the released film. According to modern sources, Hinds was originally cast in the role of "Dr. Carroll." Modern sources also state that the film was originally written for the Ritz Brothers, and that little in the original script was changed, even though their roles were eventually played by actresses Grace McDonald, Betty Kean and June Preisser. Modern sources credit Mort Singer, Jr as assistant director. Universal made two earlier film versions of Erich Philippi's screenplay. The first was released in 1933 as Secret of the Blue Room, starring Lionel Atwill and Gloria Stuart and directed by Kurt Neumann, while the second was released in 1938 as The Missing Guest, starring Paul Kelly and Constance Moore and directed by John Rawlins (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1931-40; F3.2909 and F3.3946).
