Hedda Hopper-Irene Ware
Dull and talkie murder mystery with one of the dumbest endings I can remember.
Elsa Carson (Irene Ware) lives with her two rich uncles, Henry and Charles. She doesn’t like them but figures they need her so she stays on. Across the street lives retired detective Paul Bernard. His paying guest is chemist Peter Blake who has a lab set up on the top floor.
Visiting Bernard is detective Jim Landis (Ray Walker) who has just wrapped up a case. He and Elsa have a thing going despite the vehement objections of Uncle Henry. Living next door is Elsa’s Aunt Marion (Hedda Hopper).
Also in the house with Elsa and her uncles is Foot the Butler (E.E.Clive), the maid and the cook. One night Charles looks out the window and sees a man outside. He tells Henry who doesn’t seem to care. Later that night Henry is found at his desk with a dagger in his back. There’s a dead mouse on the floor.
Henry and Charles have been having trouble because tenements they own have been the target of an arsonist. The man creeping around outside lost his wife and baby in one of the fires.
Jim finds a dagger in Elsa’s drawer and a singed dress in her closet that couldn’t fit her. He thinks she’s protecting her aunt. Then Foot is found at the same desk..dead.
The solution is ridiculous and probably meant to be funny but it’s just too unbelievable to be credible.
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