The greatest movie ever!

Sadly Over-hyped

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

THE DARK HOUR is a pretty involved little murder mystery with a complex plotting, fast pace, and plenty of twists and turns in the narrative to keep you involved. It also features two different detectives, one a young and inexperienced P.I. and the other an elder and wiser chap, for your money.The story is about the murder of an old rich man and of course in such a situation there is no shortage of suspects in the cast. Another murder follows, and one of the methods is quite ingenious as is the way that the detectives finally solve it based on an entirely innocuous clue. Still, there are plenty of surprises here, and some warm performances from the chief actors to make it a likable viewing experience.

This film is a B-mystery from tiny Chesterfield Productions--one of many so-called 'Poverty Row' studios churning out extremely cheap and quickly made short films during the 1930s. It's only significant actor is Berton Churchill--a man who usually played blustering supporting roles (such as in "Stagecoach"). Here, however, he is co-lead in the film.The film begins with a woman going to talk to two detectives about her strange and rather nasty uncles. The two begin investigating and almost immediately a murder occurs--and one of the uncles is killed in a very peculiar manner (he was killed by gas and was stabbed AFTER he was already dead). The two detectives (one of which is Churchill) investigate the case almost like two Sherlock Holmes--which is a bit unusual, as in the mystery films of the era, usually the police are portrayed as idiots! How the murder occurred and who was behind it make this a VERY contrived film--and the ending offers too many twists to make the film realistic in any manner. Still, it's not a horrible film and is mildly entertaining--and is a film I'd recommend mostly to fans of these cheap murder mysteries. Others probably will be even less impressed by this one.

"But I didn't do it." "What! Then who the heck did?" The Dark Hour keeps viewers—and detectives—guessing until the final moment. A truly puzzling mystery combined with some juicy performances make this quite a nifty little hour of fun.Berton Churchill as the retired detective—respectfully requested by his younger counterpart Ray Walker to assist on the case—is wonderfully nimble-minded and yet perhaps suspicious. Irene Ware is earnest and intelligent as the niece of rich old uncles in whose house the mystery develops—but she's obviously hiding something. Hedda Hopper bustles in occasionally with energy and smarts as an aunt who seems to know plenty but isn't saying just what.Not a fancy movie, but one that's paced just about right: The action certainly moves along quickly, but care is taken to allow us time to notice which characters are thinking a bit more than they're saying. Irene Ware's character, for example, is given an extra moment of screen time here and there—just enough of an extra glance for us in the audience to see quite clearly that she's holding something back. Again, it's not fancy or subtle—but it does show that director Charles Lamont was paying attention.The dialog is crisp enough; the actors move with energy. Hopper and Churchill, in particular, appear to enjoy themselves immensely in their roles.My only complaint is that the sound is badly chopped up in the version I saw. Lines are dropped and cut into pieces (including in a couple of key moments!). I can only assume that the print from which this came had been shown about a hundred times and broken and been spliced in about that many places. Oh, well—I can live with that. Otherwise: a top-notch B mystery.

If you enjoy old mystery movies and like your mystery with a little light humor, this film will please you. There are plenty of unusual characters and twists to the story that will keep you amused if not confused. The characters are well played and the story is quite intriguing. Unlike most of today's movies that rely on special effects, this film lets the story and characters set up the mood for the film, and by doing so sets up some unexpected situations such as two detectives trying to solve the mystery. One is an older fellow, the other younger. Instead of teaming together, they work independently for the most part and compare notes, each feeling the other out. There is the usual romantic interests as well, and all ingredients are made to blend pretty well. There is indeed a lot going on in this old film , as you will see.