csteidler It's opera night at the Hollywood Bowl and tenor Gino D'Acosta (Leo Carillo) has everyone mad at him: his understudy, the conductor, two women he's been leading on, an aspiring composer upset because Gino won't read his opera….It seems only a matter of time before somebody knocks Gino off. A fortune teller has already told him: "If you sing tomorrow night, you will die." The story's not real unique but it's performed with panache by a solid and colorful cast. Chester Morris is a fast talking police detective who strikes up a romance with cute scientist Madge Evans. Grant Mitchell is earnest as the tenor's doctor friend. Frank McHugh has some good moments as the singer's secretary who keeps belting out bits of opera, much to the annoyance of maestro H.B. Warner.The setup of various characters' motives is rather involved and there is a fair amount of music, as well, so the story itself moves somewhat deliberately. The complicated plot eventually arrives at a surprising (and unlikely) resolution.It's certainly not the best B mystery ever made, but MGM's production values, the somewhat unusual setting, and a fun cast make it very watchable.

blissfilm I just wanted to make a comment about the quality of the singing. While Frank McHugh is always fun to watch, no matter what part he's playing, I kept wondering who was really singing during the operatic performances in the film. I think this page has a listing for the singer dubbing Carillo's part, but not certain about the rest. Anyway, the singing is top notch -- beautiful voices of Metropolitan Opera quality. Sad that this is not appreciated! Carillo was also pretty (deliberately) hilarious in his part, and I enjoyed watching him. Interesting that Duncan Renaldo (a very attractive young tenor in the film) teamed up with Carillo to play Cisco and Pancho in The Cisco Kid later on. This may be classed as a "B" film but there is a great deal of talent here, and Hollywood quality touches (like the truly good singing talent).

calvinnme ...and annoying is the best way to describe tenor and opera singer Gino D'Acosta (Leo Carrillo). In the looks department he is a solid 5/10 yet in spite of that and his obvious lack of sincerity and subtlety he is a lady's man with two currently on a string, he has an understudy that badly wants his big chance, then there are the boyfriends (husbands??) of the girls he is stringing along, and a lunatic that wants to kill D'Acosta because he won't sing an opera he has written. So when D'Acosta dies on stage it is no surprise to the audience. On hand to solve the murder is the reason I - and maybe most people - hang around. That reason is Chester Morris as Detective Steve Farrell. He teams up with Dr. Adams' niece Toni (Madge Evans) who is a chemist and helps him analyze evidence. You see, at first it is thought D'Acosta was poisoned by some wine he drank before going onstage, but the autopsy proves that the poison was delivered while he was performing, and now it is a combination of Steve's detective work and Toni's forensic analysis that work to crack the case. Madge Evans is playing this role somewhat as a screwball comedienne Jean Arthur style, and the result is a good performance and good chemistry between herself and the always entertaining Chester Morris who plays this role as a good yet tough guy.So what's not so good about this film? Mainly the short running time combined with, IMHO, an excess of opera music. The time taken up by the opera music could have been used to beef up the plot a bit more. Still I'd recommend it for fans of B murder mysteries from the 30's and 40's and definitely for fans of Chester Morris.

gridoon2018 There haven't been many musical murder mysteries in the history of cinema: "Murder At The Vanities" (1934) is one, "Moonlight Murder" is another. This is a film of average quality for the most part, but it does offer three novelties: the genre mix, the highly original murder method (which I have only ever seen used in one more film, a "Mr.Wong" entry, which however was made a few years later, so "Moonlight Murder" gets extra points for originality), and the unexpectedly tearjerking finale, which, to be honest, did nearly make me cry, thanks to exceptional work by the three actors involved (of course writing their names here would be a spoiler). Also notable is Benita Hume, who shows more cleavage than you might think was "acceptable" in a 1930s post-Code film! **1/2 out of 4.