THE MISSING GUEST (1938)
Article #1472 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-26-2005
Posting Date: 8-23-2005
Directed by John Rawlins
Featuring Paul Kelly, Constance Moore, William Lundigan

A reporter tries to get a story on a haunted house and a mysterious blue room in which people get murdered.

I always wondered why it was that Universal made so many versions of the Blue Room story; this was the second of three versions by the studio within a twelve year period. None of them are classics, but they’re watchable enough. The first one had a memorable cast (Lionel Atwill, Edward Arnold, Gloria Stuart, etc.). This one doesn’t, but goes heavy on the comedy. It’s your basic ‘old dark house’ movie, with mysterious murders, fake scares, secret passages, etc. As a time killer, it’s pleasant enough, but it’s pretty routine.