For a Poverty Row effort (Allied Pictures), A SHRIEK IN THE NIGHT has unusually high production values and a far better cast (Ginger Rogers, Lyle Talbot, Purnell Pratt, even Louise Beavers) than such movies could normally command. Actually, I'm puzzled as to what Ginger Rogers was doing here at this point in her career. Some sort of loan-out from her new studio, RKO? Was RKO responsible for the realistic outdoor shooting and the occasionally witty banter in the script? There must be some story here, but I've never come across it.
In any event, a handsome young couple wisecracking their way through a murder mystery was a staple of thirties' filmmaking and stayed that way for at least for another fifty years (the TV series Moonlighting would be the latest 'New Hot Thing' of its time, which was at least 50 years after SHRIEK). This was a pretty early example of the genre, and not the worst that it would produce by a long shot. Not exactly a sequel to THE THIRTEENTH GUEST though it also was about a murder and featured the same two leads, SHRIEK is much more in the spirit of THE THIN MAN as our pair of rival reporters (Rogers and Talbot) banter their way through a murder investigation ("What's romantic about a speakeasy?" "Man! Don't be vulgar") that is heavier on the comedy than it is on the mystery (it's not a good sign when you have to spend two minutes at the end of your picture explaining what the plot had been about).
Lyle Talbot had sort of reached his level as the star of movies like this; Ginger Rogers, of course, was about to reach her level as the star of movies like TOP HAT. They raise material which otherwise was potentially watchable to material that is--well, watchable. One reviewer suggested that it would have been better had Ginger gone off to solve the mystery with Detective Purnell Pratt as they had better chemistry than she had with Talbot, and I believe that I agree with that idea. Still, with a fast forward button in hand, SHRIEK does provide the viewer with some pleasant scenes.
In any event, a handsome young couple wisecracking their way through a murder mystery was a staple of thirties' filmmaking and stayed that way for at least for another fifty years (the TV series Moonlighting would be the latest 'New Hot Thing' of its time, which was at least 50 years after SHRIEK). This was a pretty early example of the genre, and not the worst that it would produce by a long shot. Not exactly a sequel to THE THIRTEENTH GUEST though it also was about a murder and featured the same two leads, SHRIEK is much more in the spirit of THE THIN MAN as our pair of rival reporters (Rogers and Talbot) banter their way through a murder investigation ("What's romantic about a speakeasy?" "Man! Don't be vulgar") that is heavier on the comedy than it is on the mystery (it's not a good sign when you have to spend two minutes at the end of your picture explaining what the plot had been about).
Lyle Talbot had sort of reached his level as the star of movies like this; Ginger Rogers, of course, was about to reach her level as the star of movies like TOP HAT. They raise material which otherwise was potentially watchable to material that is--well, watchable. One reviewer suggested that it would have been better had Ginger gone off to solve the mystery with Detective Purnell Pratt as they had better chemistry than she had with Talbot, and I believe that I agree with that idea. Still, with a fast forward button in hand, SHRIEK does provide the viewer with some pleasant scenes.