Murder by Invitation (1941)

One of my all time favorites.

In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

This is a formula piece. It's been done a hundred times. The greed of the relatives causes them to try to get the old lady committed. Their motives are so obvious that any chance they had goes down the tube within minutes. Now they're in over their heads and have to use their resources to survive. Meanwhile, the red herrings start swimming upstream. I should have hated it, but the crazy overacting and general being of the film are rather pleasant in a maniacal sort of way. The conclusion is satisfying and justice is done. The one drawback is that the bad guys are so pathetic and incompetent that they don't pose much of a threat.

Talk about screwy films! "Murder By Invitation" almost takes first place! A daffy old lady, Aunt Cassie (a terrible performance by Sarah Padden who seems to be reading her lines off of cue cards) invites her greedy relatives to her country estate for the weekend and murders start to pop up all over the place. A reporter (Wallace Ford) and his secretary (Marian Marsh) arrive at the estate to get the scoop. Minerva Urecal (whom I usually like) overacts here as one of Aunt Cassie's relations. J. Arthur Young is totally offbeat as Trownbridge Montrose (Aunt Cassie's neighbor). Dave O'Brien is good, as usual, though as the estate's chauffeur. Zany dialog is almost unbelievable at times and Ford (although likable) is too old to be pretty Marsh's sweetheart boss. In spite of itself, "Murder By Invitation" is a film that works, although I don't quite know how!

Thsi film is one of those Old Dark House murder mystery films that Hollywood was so fond on in the 1940s. This B movie stars Wallace Ford as a popular newspaper columnist and Marian Marsh as his secretary/girlfriend.A rich old lady (Sarah Padden) is claimed to be insane by her family and is taken to court. The court declares her sane. Shrotly thereafter she invites all her family members to her mansion in upstate New York to spend the week so that she can watch over them to decide who to leave her $3 million estate. One by one family members are murdered, with the killer seemingly hiding and watching from hidden passageways that are throughout the house.A typical second feature film, this movie is somewhat enjoyable, but for those of you who are used to suspenseful spooky house movies, this is not what you are looking for. This movie is in the public domain and as such can be easily found on DVD and VHS.

No doubt prompted by the success of Elliot Nugent's 1939 remake of THE CAT AND THE CANARY, Monogram's MURDER BY INVITATION is a spit polishing of dusty doings distinguished by a cagey awareness of its own derivativeness. Like the imperiled teens of Wes Craven's SCREAM, the dramatis personae here – heirs to a sizeable legacy - enter into danger with full knowledge of the rules of the game - with comic star Wallace Ford (FREAKS) even cracking: `I'm the handsome young juvenile of this story – he never gets hurt.' Supporting the ever-watchable Ford is a cast of faces familiar from the Poverty Roll payroll: Sarah Padden (THE MAD MONSTER), Dave O'Brien (THE DEVIL BAT, REEFER MADNESS), Minerva Urecal (THE CORPSE VANISHES) and John James (DEVIL BAT'S DAUGHTER), as well as Marian Marsh (Trilby to John Barrymore's SVENGALI) and Gavin Gordon (Lord Byron in THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN). A former Edison camera man turned prominent silent film director (ABRAHAM LINCOLN), Phil Rosen exhibits little enthusiasm for George Bricker's scenario, and seems grateful that the conventions of the murder mystery allow characters to remain seated for long stretches at a time. French cameraman Marcel Le Picard also shot the low-rent SPOOKS RUN WILD and VOODOO MAN.Not a must-see film, but undemanding fun for fans of the murder mystery - and Wallace Ford never disappoints.