The Ninth Guest - 1934
Duration: 1:07:15
Views: 511
Submitted: 10 months ago
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Description:
A fascinating predecessor to the modern "slasher" and the "locked-room" mystery, The Ninth Guest (1934) is a sharp, pre-Code thriller that beat Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None to the big screen by several years. The setup is a classic of the genre: eight socialites and power players are invited to a lavish penthouse apartment by a mysterious, anonymous host. Once the doors are electronically locked, a voice over the radio—smooth, detached, and menacing—informs them that they are all "social parasites" who have been sentenced to death. One by one, they will die before the night is over, unless they can outsmart their unseen executioner.
The film excels in its pacing and its cynical, witty dialogue. Because it was filmed just before the strict enforcement of the Hays Code, there is a refreshing darkness to the character dynamics; these aren't innocent victims, but rather a group of people with dirty secrets who quickly turn on each other in a desperate bid for survival. The "Ninth Guest" of the title is, of course, Death itself, and the way the film personifies this threat through a cold, disembodied voice creates a genuinely eerie atmosphere that compensates for the limited budget and single-location setting.
Directed by Roy William Neill (who would go on to direct many of the classic Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes films), the movie utilizes its skyscraper setting to create a sense of vertigo and entrapment. The traps are inventive for the 1930s, and the mystery of the host's identity keeps the tension high until the final reveal. While it lacks the high-gloss polish of later mystery staples, it serves as a lean, mean blueprint for decades of "deadly dinner party" movies to come. It is a delightfully macabre time capsule that proves that 90 years ago, audiences were just as obsessed with watching the wealthy squirm in the face of their own mortality.
Usage: Public Domain 1.0
The film excels in its pacing and its cynical, witty dialogue. Because it was filmed just before the strict enforcement of the Hays Code, there is a refreshing darkness to the character dynamics; these aren't innocent victims, but rather a group of people with dirty secrets who quickly turn on each other in a desperate bid for survival. The "Ninth Guest" of the title is, of course, Death itself, and the way the film personifies this threat through a cold, disembodied voice creates a genuinely eerie atmosphere that compensates for the limited budget and single-location setting.
Directed by Roy William Neill (who would go on to direct many of the classic Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes films), the movie utilizes its skyscraper setting to create a sense of vertigo and entrapment. The traps are inventive for the 1930s, and the mystery of the host's identity keeps the tension high until the final reveal. While it lacks the high-gloss polish of later mystery staples, it serves as a lean, mean blueprint for decades of "deadly dinner party" movies to come. It is a delightfully macabre time capsule that proves that 90 years ago, audiences were just as obsessed with watching the wealthy squirm in the face of their own mortality.
Usage: Public Domain 1.0
Categories:
General Audiences
