''The Missing Guest'' is a 1938 American mystery-comedy film directed by John Rawlins. It is a remake of the 1933 film ''

Secret of the Blue Room ''The Secret of the Blue Room'' is a 1933 American pre-Code mystery film directed by Kurt Neumann and starring Lionel Atwill, Gloria Stuart, Paul Lukas and Edward Arnold. The film's plot concerns a group of wealthy people who stay at a Europe ...

''.

Synopsis

newspaper reporter A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

is sent by his editor to spend a night in a country house where a notorious murder had been committed exactly twenty years before.

Cast

Production

''The Missing Guest'' was the first of two remakes of the 1933 film ''

''. The film was budgeted at $80,400 and was completed under budget, at $72,000. Music in ''The Missing Guest'' is recycled from previous films including ''

Werewolf of London ''Werewolf of London'' is a 1935 horror film directed by Stuart Walker and starring Henry Hull as the titular werewolf. The supporting cast includes Warner Oland, Valerie Hobson, Lester Matthews, and Spring Byington. Jack Pierce, who is b ...

'' and ''

Dracula's Daughter ''Dracula's Daughter'' is a 1936 American vampire film, vampire horror film produced by Universal Pictures as a sequel to the 1931 film ''Dracula (1931 English-language film), Dracula''. Directed by Lambert Hillyer from a screenplay by Garrett F ...

''.

Release

''The Missing Guest'' was distributed by Universal Pictures on August 12, 1938.

Reception

From contemporary reviews, "Hobe." of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' referred to the film as a "feeble whodunnit for bottom billing" and that "Every outdated aunted housesituation and piece of business is included - not only included, but embarrassingly highlighted." ''

The New York World-American ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' stated that " you know your mystery stories at all, you must know by now how unfunny a couple of presumably comic detectives can be when they get mixed up with spooks, sliding panels, and clutching hands" and found that the film "is a feeble and fumbling attempt at being eerie and funny" Kate Cameron of ''

The New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in t ...

'' said that the comedy in the film was "such feeble fooling that it entirely destroys its purpose and merely serves to shatter whatever illusion the murder and the mystery might otherwise hold for the audience." Frank S. Nugent of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' declared "The cast does as little with it as it deserves, and that is little enough." In their book on Universal Horror films, the authors stated that "mile-a-minute wisecracks and inane humor stand in for atmosphere and chills" declaring the film to be a "dismal mystery-comedy that serves up none of either." and declaring it to be "one of the worst Universal mysteries of the '30s."

References

Footnotes

Sources

External links

* 1938 films 1938 mystery films American mystery films Films directed by John Rawlins Universal Pictures films Remakes of American films 1930s English-language films 1930s American films {{mystery-film-stub