Dorathen
Better Late Then Never
Scotty Burke
It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review
JohnHowardReid
Perennial second-lead, Ralph Bellamy, has the star part in the 4-picture "Inspector Trent" series. The first of these Columbia "B" entries, Before Midnight (1933) is heavy on atmosphere but short on credibility. True, the plot presents some fascinating permutations of the usual mystery thrillers. I like the idea of the two principals switching their identities, but writer Robert Quigley is unable to come up with any reason at all for this startling plot development. Yes, a reason is certainly given at the time, but it is later revealed to be a lie! And that's not the only plot twist by far that's just simply left hanging. Nonetheless, Claude Gillingwater battles gamely against the script and right up to the end, almost succeeds in presenting a believable characterization. George Cooper (as Bellamy's offsider), Betty Blythe and William Jeffrey also excel. (Formerly available on a fair quality VintageFilmBuff DVD).
calvinnme
... or so says a chief of police in reference to a tale of mystery he is about to tell in flashback. In spite of the the fact that this film doesn't have much in the way of production values and has only one major star of the studio era - Ralph Bellamy - this little murder mystery that clocks in at a little over an hour in length is very entertaining with a script full of surprises.Inspector Steve Trent (Bellamy) is called out to a remote estate one stormy night by wealthy Edward Arnold who presumes he will die before midnight just because he found blood on the hearth of his fireplace, exactly as did one of his ancestors the night before he was killed. What is odd is that the police would take this seriously. What is odder is that the man does indeed die before midnight and now Trent has to figure out who did it. He's got plenty to work with too in the way of suspects. There's Arnold's estranged wife who has traveled 3000 miles just to get more money out of him and admits she hates him, there's Arnold's young beautiful ward on whom he lavishes great unexplained attention and to whom he refuses to give his blessing for her intended marriage, there's the girl's fiancé who resents the fact that their wedding is being held up by all of this, then there is Arnold's servant, Kono, who speaks broken English although it is revealed he is a college man.Bellamy is great at this part. This is not the Ralph Bellamy you may be used to seeing, always managing to get his girl stolen by Cary Grant in just about every picture they appeared in together. Here Bellamy plays it cool and appears firm and in control without getting heavy-handed to the point of being silly.The film's poverty row roots do show at some points though. There is a particularly silly line half-way through the picture when Bellamy has a suspect at gunpoint and says "One bullet could settle this case" all because the unarmed man won't talk. Then there is George Cooper as Stubby, supposedly a policeman learning the ropes from a fine investigator like Trent, but I never saw a point in which he was the least bit helpful. Stubby was more like a reader of dime store mystery stories getting in the way of an investigation than anything else.I'd recommend this as a pretty good precode film.
MartinHafer
Ralph Bellamy stars as 'Inspector Trent'--a detective who is trying to solve a murder. However, his method of solving the case seems to be to let the murderer kill off all the other possible so that by the process of elimination he's found the killer! In the very first scene, a guy announces to Trent that he's about to be murdered--and he is! Then, the houseboy appears to be connected to the crime and he's stabbed in the back right before the very eyes of Trent!! At the end, when Bellamy discovers the killer, he deliberately gives the guy ample opportunity to kill himself--thus saving the tax payers from having to pay to incarcerate him!! This is all pretty funny, as the case is apparently being told to an up and coming cop who wants an advancement--and his boss tells him how Trent so masterfully solved the case as an example of great detective work!!! Thank God other 'great detectives' don't work this way!! Fortunately, despite this weird plot element, the solution to the crime is actually really cool and makes this B-mystery well worth seeing. Good acting, a genuinely interesting mystery and a relatively ineffectual detective make this one to watch. Plus, it's nice to see Bellamy in a film where he doesn't lose the girl in the end...which seemed to happen all too often through the 1930s and early 40s!
boblipton
It's a well-directed mystery with more twists than a pretzel. This movie times in at just over an hour, and had to be filled out with a prologue, epilogue and long takes of Ralph Bellamy thinking to bring it up to that. Carefully directed with full Old Dark House look and feel by long-time director Lambert Hillyer -- he had directed William S. Hart to stardom but had retreated, as had so many, to the B list when sound came in -- there's only one flaw in the mystery plot: the detective has the motive before the audience does.This was one of a short and probably unofficial series of movies starring Ralph Bellamy as Inspector Trent of the New York Detective Bureau. He is rather straightforward in his characterization, which probably explains why in another couple of years he was relegated to the role of Second Man in the movies, even if he could act up a storm when given the opportunity. Still, the story is the thing in this movie. The mystery will probably stump you and it's only an hour.
