“Can you keep a secret?” “I’m a newspaper man.” “Answer my question.” “Sure I can keep a secret.”
Garson Denham (Gavin Gordon) convinces members of the Denham family to try to have Cassandra “Cassie” Denham (Sarah Padden) declared incompetent and put into an asylum in order to get her millions. The attempt fails. Cassie invites the relatives to stay at her estate, “Graylock”, for a week in order to study them. Her aim is to figure out who is the most worthy to leave her three million dollars to. They are told that they must be at the mansion by midnight on Friday and they must stay in the house for a week or they will not inherit.
The assemblage at Cassie’s home includes Garson and his wife Maxine Denham (Minerva Urecal), their son Tom Denham (John Jones), Martha Denham (Isabel La Mal) and her son Larry (Phillip Trent) and Cassie’s companion and niece Mary Denham (Hazel Keener). Also in the house is the cook Katie (Kay Deslys), the mechanic Michael (Dave O’Brien), the caretaker Eric (Lee Shumway) and a nosy neighbor Trowbridge Cadwalader Montrose (J. Arthur Young).
It’s not long before the greedy relatives begin to get knocked off one by one. Reporter Bob White (Wallace Ford), his assistant Nora O’Brien (Marian Marsh) and photographer Eddie (Herb Vigran) find out about the murders an high tail it over to the mansion. Sheriff William Boggs (George Guhl) is impressed with White’s column and leans on him for advice in trying to solve the murder. Cassie comes up with her own plan to catch the killer.
“Murder by Invitation” was released in 1941 and was directed by Phil Rosen. It is your classic “Old Dark House” comedy/mystery with plenty of murders and plenty of suspects. At least until they begin getting murdered. Fans of the genre will rejoice in the hidden passages and sliding panels in a creaky old mansion.
There are a couple of obvious suspects in Trowbridge Cadwalader Montrose and Miss Cassie herself. Comic relief is aplenty. Next door neighbor Trowbridge Cadwalader Montrose, spunky gal Friday Nora, photographer Eddie, sheriff Boggs, and even Miss Cassie. Almost everyone is a comedian.
The plot is your basic assembly of potential inheritors that are knocked off one by one. You’ve seen it in “Cat and the Canary”, “One Frightened Night”, “One Body Too Many” “Night of Terror” and many others. All similar plots with their own little spin. Wallace Ford was in a number of these who-done-its himself. He does nosy uninvited guest quite well. Padden is decent as Aunt Cassie, the smartest crazy woman ever.
It’s a light-hearted mystery and fun to watch. Don’t look for anything more than that.