Richard Chatten Curiously enough, none of the previous reviewers have picked up on this film's title, which has negligible bearing upon anything that actually happens; of which there is plenty. What 'Murder by the Clock' sorely lacks is decent direction, editing and a music score; what it has is a jaunty plot, a magnificent (though underused) churchyard and crypt set, atmospheric photography by Karl Struss, an entertaining cast of wierdos and weaklings. And the breathtaking Lilyan Tashman.Blanche Friderici is Julia Endicott, matriarch of the Endicott clan, plainly nearing the end of its thinning bloodline; her only heirs being Philip (Irving Pichel), a hulking simpleton capable of breaking a man's neck with his bare hands but little else, and Herbert (Walter McGrail) a drunken weakling completely under the thumb of his gold digging wife Laura, who Julia sums up as "a malicious designing creature, ought to be hung for a witch." The late Lilyan Tashman is an absolute blast as this platinum blonde Lady Macbeth smirking evilly one minute, shedding crocodile tears the next while flirting like mad with every man in sight with a pulse ("I could be awfully fond of you"), her curvaceous, Amazonian chassis seductively on display in a clinging satin number that would probably have caused censorship problems a few years later.The unfunny comic relief provided by Irish cop Regis Toomey and maid Sally O'Neil is rendered wholly superfluous by Tashman's rollicking performance, which gets plenty of appreciative laughs. She meets her match, however, in Lt. Valcour (William 'Stage' Boyd), who engages her in a final battle of wills, "one artist to another".

edalweber This is an excellent movie from the pre Production Code era that very well combines the detective gender with the horror one.Combining the graveyard setting with the old dark house, it has an atmosphere as creepy as any straight horror movie. The performances of all of the players are uniformly good.Lilyian Tashman is wonderful as the totally amoral con-woman, who manages to manipulate each one of the men she pretends to love into doing her killings for her while protesting that she didn't really MEAN for them to do that! William(stage) Boyd is superb as the tough, incorruptible police lieutenant who refuses to stop trying to learn the truth despite pressure and temptation by Tashman.Very much like Bogart's Sam Spade.Boyd reminds you in voice and somewhat in appearance of Randolph Scott.It is a pity that his problems with drugs and alcohol ruined his career and let to an early death.He was a great actor and might otherwise have rivaled Bogert and the rest as a tough, no nonsense leading man

asinyne I was captured from the opening scene which takes place in a murky old Gothic style graveyard...then we move on to inside the tombs! Yeah, this is a good one. It's borderline horror with a large cast of weird characters, an excellent evil, evil woman, and all kinds of cool vintage strangeness. In one scene a corpse in disinterred to make certain she is really dead(yeah). Then an old woman sits holding said corpse which was dead and had been for awhile. A detective looks at the body and says..."yeah, she's cold as ice," WHOA! The actor who plays the super strong Quasimodo type dude was terrific as were most of the cast. This is one you don't want to miss. Find it, along with MURDER AT DAWN, if you are a fan of vintage horror or suspense. Its not really a mystery because you find out who did it right away. Tons of fun with this one! They don't make them like this anymore...and probably never will. Great lighting too.

kidboots This is a superb horror/thriller that soaked up the atmosphere from the new cycle of eerie and atmospheric horror films that were taking the movie public by storm. The stars were Lilyan Tashman in a sleek "Lady Macbeth" type role and William "Stage" Boyd as Lt. Valcour.Julia Endicott (Blanche Frederici), Miss Roberts (Martha Mattox) and Julia's imbecile son Phillip (Irving Pichel) come to pay their respects to Phillip's father in a magnificent family crypt. Visually it is very impressive, along with Karl Struss' superb camera work. Julia has a fear of being buried alive, so she has had a horn installed that is heard throughout the movie whenever a murder is about to take place. Irving Pichel is wonderful as the scary and menacing Phillip.Herbert Endicott (Walter McGrail) is on a visit to his aunt but in the cab he is being grilled by Laura,(Lilyan Tashman) his wife, who wants him to claim his inheritance. Julia decides to leave all her money to Herbert and not Phillip - but Herbert and Laura must live in the house as one of the conditions of the will. Once they are installed in the house Julia is murdered and Phillip, with his obsesssion with knives and death by strangulation is instantly arrested. Lt. Valcour (William "Stage" Boyd) is not convinced - he thinks more attention should be given to Mr. and Mrs. Endicott. At the funeral Valcour sees Laura holding hands with Jimmy, her lover (Lester Vail) and knows he is on the right track.Herbert, who is the real murderer, is stricken with conscience and wants to go to the police. Laura then pays a visit to Philip - getting him all hot and bothered - and proposes that if she were only free, they, (Laura and Phillip) could live happily in the old house together. Suddenly there is an escaped lunatic at large!!! She has also whispered in the ear of Jimmy as well. When Herbert turns up strangled - who is the killer???? The murderous and gleeful gleam in Tashman's face when her scheme comes together is wonderful to see.There is a romantic subplot involving Regis Toomey as a young policeman and Sally O'Neal as the maid but it is never allowed to get in the way of the main story. Being a pre-code horror things don't go always to plan - you may be surprised at the end result. The ending was very similar to "The Maltese Falcon", which preceded it into cinemas by a few months.Highly Recommended.