"I do not know the book, 'At the Villa Rose', so I have no idea how the unexpected ending of this mystery story affects the reader. I will admit though, that the close of the film version, which I saw trade-shown at the New Gallery the other morning, left me completely flabbergasted. It seemed to me that the producers were taking an unfair advantage in using Francis Lister's well-known heroic qualities to cloak the identity of the villain of the piece. The scene when that very likable young man is led off, presumably to the guillotine, struck me as being most unreal. This is, on the whole, an excellent film, however, and though there is so little movement in it, it holds the attention from first to last. The building up of the various clues which lead to the unravelling of the mystery is absorbing to watch.
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