Death from a Distance (1935)

Good concept, poorly executed.

A Disappointing Continuation

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

"Death from a Distance" (which in the end, as we almost suspected, proves a QUITE appropriate title) may be no masterpiece of mystery, but it's a very solid crime puzzle which, like so often in the 30s, teams a cop with a girl reporter to solve the murder.The performances, especially by Lola Lane as the cheeky, fresh young reporter, are not at all bad: quite convincing, and containing a good dose of humor! Not that the murder case isn't handled seriously: the police methods are portrayed in a realistic way - while, on the other 'side', the newsroom's atmosphere with all its male and female news hounds, who are sometimes nerve-racking, sometimes PRETTY helpful for the cops, is once again depicted in a wonderfully authentic way.But the most stunning feature of this particular movie that otherwise would be one of many average 30s' murder mysteries are the settings of the murder scene: here we actually get to see how a planetarium of the 1930s looked like and worked - certainly a kind of time document today...

To give you an idea of what an impression this film made on me, I saw it this morning, and couldn't even remember the title when I sat down to write this review. Fortunately I keep notes, but in this case it was a moot point. Most of the dialog in the story was unintelligible, and what I could glean from the principals led me to the conclusion that the picture was twice as long as it needed to be. The real puzzler more than mid-way through had the murder weapon just lying around in plain sight in an observatory that served as the location of the story. Apparently the murderer was out for revenge, something about his son dying at the hands of the doctor he rubbed out during the opening scene. Curious, but I didn't read any other reviewer mentioning this bit of trivia. Maybe I saw a different movie. I could go back and watch it again, but as they say, it's not in the stars.

Lola Lane was a very versatile actress. She was one of the Lane sisters and came to films in the first rush of early sound musicals. Unfortunately the next year musicals were out but Lola stayed and started her acting apprenticeship in programmers. Before she was "discovered" again as one of the "Four Daughters" (1939)(the wise- cracking one) she had spent the 30s building up a respectable career in films like "Death From a Distance", in which she played sassy reporter Kay Palmer (curiously devoid of much make-up). I, also like another reviewer, felt the plot was too complicated. A renowned scientist, Professor Ernst Einfield (Lee Kohlmar) an eccentric genius, is delivering a lecture to a select audience at the Forest Park Planetarium (props were borrowed from the set of "The Invisible Ray"). A gunshot is heard in the darkness and when the lights go on, Dr. Stone, a drugs manufacturer, is found dead. At first no one can agree where the shot was fired from but it is decided it had come from the back of the room."OK sister -what's your name" - "If I'm your sister, you know it already"!!! Kay Palmer (Lola Lane), a reporter who is covering the lecture, goes rushing from the room hoping to get a scoop. Because of an altercation with Detective Mallory (Russell Hopton), when she is finally able to phone in her story, she blasts the police's (and Mallory's) inefficiency. There are many suspects - Langsdale (Wheeler Oakman) was the doctor's personal secretary but he confesses he has been in prison for assault and was only released a week ago. Ahmed (John Davidson) a suspicious type who claims he didn't know Dr. Stone but in reality came there to kill him. There is also John Gray (George Marion Snr, who was quite good as the trusting father in Greta Garbo's "Anna Christie" (1930)) a watchman who has been employed there over 10 years."Well, well, well, together again. It must be old home - icide week". Meanwhile relations between the press and the police are at an all time low. There have been a few editorials by Kay ridiculing the police. When she finds out that Professor Einfield is going to go into a trance and name the killer, she gets a front page story, realising only too late that the killer will also read it. The film is wrapped up in a novel way. Einfield is found murdered - only he isn't!!! When everyone is out of the room Mallory explains to Kay (they are now friends) that the hoax was done to shake up the real killer. Later on, to everyone's amazement, walking out of the darkness, the "corpse" makes a surprise re-appearance. The killer then breaks down and confesses ("it's lies, it's all lies I tell you") -his histrionics at the end are all explained.There is quite a lot of witty dialogue going back and forth between Kay and Mallory.

"A murder is committed at the Forest Park Planetarium during a lecture by the celebrated Astronomer, Professor Ernst Einfeld (Lee Kohlmar). The fatal shot is fired in semi-darkness while a distinguished audience observes the stars projected on the dome above them. A hardboiled homicide detective (Russell Hopton) trades verbal jabs with a wisecracking gal reporter (Lola Lane) as they attempt to unravel the mysterious killing," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis. In a very dull manner.The "gal reporter" character played by Lola Lane was, in part, writer Jerry Siegel's inspiration for Superman's Girl Friend, "Lois Lane"; however, Ms. Lane's later "Torchy Blane" characterization is a more accurate reference point. Perhaps, "Death from a Distance is most notable as featuring the penultimate performance of George F. Marion (as Jim Gray), who so memorably played the father of Pauline Lord (1921), Blanche Sweet (1923), and Greta Garbo (1930) in Eugene O'Neill's "Anna Christie".*** Death from a Distance (9/17/35) Frank Strayer ~ Russell Hopton, Lola Lane, George F. Marion