Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Sinister Hands (1932)

Ah the mysteries of the Orient and the occult, a common Golden Age trope. In this film a millionaire is murdered at a seance held by the Swami (Mischa Auer). The police are called in but Detective Devlin (Jack Mulhall) finds that everyone seems to have a motive.

Mrs Lang (Lillian West) is obsessed with her Swami, whom she hopes will tell her who troubles her (for the right amount of cash of course). Her husband Richard Lang (Phillips Smalley) rails at his house full of gigolos and other low-lives including her daughter's (Gertrude Messinger) hoodlum boyfriend (Louis Natheaux). Meanwhile Richard Lang's friend John Frazer (Lloyd Ingraham) is getting increasingly jealous of how his young wife (Phyllis Barrington) hangs around Lang...

Although a bit slow at times and frequently ridiculous overall it is a decent murder mystery film that plods along. The addition of the occult adds that little something to raise it above the mundane.