During a torrential storm twelve people are notified to come to a mansion in the country on the pretext of applying for various jobs. As they straggle in, the bedraggled visitors are let in by a man who says he is the butler (J. Frank Glendon). He tells them that the owner of the house will be arriving shortly and has them all wait in the parlor. One of the visitors, a woman applying for a job as a seamstress, Mrs. Reed (Jane Keckley) realizes that they were all on the same jury last year. They convicted a man named Oliver Elliott for the murder of John Davis (Wilfred Lucas), the owner of the house. Elliott was sentenced to death and is awaiting execution.
Panic begins as the attendees start to think that they may have been assembled for some type of retribution. When the lights go out, a shot is heard. When the lights are back on, the butler is found dead on the floor.
Into the melee that follows comes a man named J.E. Burton (Hale Hamilton). He tells them that he is an attorney and that he brought them all there. He then begins to investigate the murder. He focuses in on Helen Mason (Gloria Shea), a young woman who is there to apply for a job as a secretary. The former jurors go along with Burton’s reasoning and state that they believe she is the murderer. Burton then tells the former jury members they are wrong and that the butler, who is really his law partner, Robert Crandall, is not really dead, just playing a part to show them that they convicted John Davis on similar flimsy evidence and that he is really innocent. He asks them to sign a petition to stop the execution. They agree.
Before they go any further, they realize that the butler really is dead. Burton calls the police. Two men arrive at the house. They catch someone trying to escape out a second story window. He says he is the caretaker of the house, Edwards (Michael Visaroff). The new arrivals are assumed to be cops. They begin their investigation. Burton tells them that he believes that Davis’ former partners may be involved in Davis’ death, but he has no explanation as to who killed his partner. Not long after that is confusion, mayhem and another murder or two.
“Strange People” was released in 1933 and was directed by Richard Thorpe. It is a poverty row old dark house murder mystery.
It’s one of the creakiest old dark house mysteries I’ve ever seen. There’s plenty of atmosphere with the constant storm raging outside and the candle lit creepiness of the mansion. Inside there are hidden passages, shadows and dead bodies here and there. It’s not a bad mystery, but it can be a little confusing with all the generic people running around, most of them not really playing any part in the mystery. Some are used as plot devises, and some are never used at all.
Other than assigning professions to everyone, characterization doesn’t really exist. It is a jumble of suspects, red herrings and weak motives. Extra characters are added and tossed aside as needed. The actual jury members are basically incidental to the story.