Acensbart
Excellent but underrated film
Guillelmina
The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.
Darin
One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.
mark.waltz
An amusing B comedy mystery has Lis Angeles D.A. Neil Hamilton up against a mystery playwright (Evelyn Venable) to solve a real murder mystery after he criticizes her latest play. The future commissioner Gordon of "Batman" T.V. fame is far less serious in his crime fighting efforts, trying to take Venable down a peg as she keeps upping him every chance she gets. The stadium mystery surrounds the sudden murder of a prize fighter, and Venable makes herself very useful on solving the case which had fellow boxers, various lady friends and underworld sorts among the suspects. Several non-suspects take credit for the killing, only briefly throwing a monkey ranch into the plot. Cheaply done but fast moving, this may not be worthy of a series like other comedy detective stories, but it is an awful lot of fun.
MartinHafer
My score of 7 is relative to other B-movies. "Hollywood Stadium Mystery" is much better than average for a low-budget B-film, as it has wonderful chemistry between the two leads (Neil Hamilton and Evelyn Venable). Plus, it's pretty good as a mystery.The film starts off with a really neat set of opening credits--very creative and it caught my attention. Then, I noticed early on that there were several very good false alarms that caught the viewer off guard. I love it when I am surprised when I see a film! The film is essentially a romance AND a murder mystery--and I am sure this combination is a bit unusual to say the least! The District Attorney (Hamilton) and playwright (Venable) both investigate a crime that occurred at the arena just before a boxing match began--and both of our heroes have a friendly wager as to which one will solve the crime. The interplay of these two was very nice and didn't appear like what you'd expect in a B--it was very witty and fun. As for the mystery, it's not bad but clearly secondary to these two characters.There is only one major qualm about the film--and it's clearly a sad product of the times. One lady wants to hide from the police so she puts on black-face!! Uggh!! But, this sort of thing wasn't far from the norm in those old days, so it's something you'll have to look past--understanding the context of the times.If you are interested in seeing this film, follow the link on IMDb and download it for free. You'll enjoy it for what it is--a nice little B-movie with a bit extra when it comes to writing.really neat opening credits lots of early false alarms Smiley Burnett black-face
kidboots
I agree with some of the other reviewers. For a Republic picture, the production was super. The stars were a couple who were more at home in A class films. Neil Hamilton had been in silents - he was a standout in D. W. Griffiths "Isn't Life Wonderful" (1924). He moved on to talkies where he supported top MGM actresses such as Joan Crawford and Norma Shearer (usually playing unbelievably stuffed shirts). By the time of "Hollywood Stadium Mystery" he was entering a low ebb of his career but his lovely co-star, the enchanting Evelyn Venables was an actress whose career never really got off the ground. She mostly played sensible and unassuming parts - maybe that was the trouble. The role that most people remember her in was as Shirley Temple's long suffering mother in "The Little Colonel" (1935).A masked man enters a library on a rain drenched night - after a few words he is shot dead by the owner with a concealed pistol...but it is only a play. District Attorney Paul Devons (Neil Hamilton) is very scathing of the writer of such rubbish, only to find it is the pretty girl he has been trying to chat up. Pauline Ward (Evelyn Venable) is a mystery writer - the dialogue between her and Bill is delicious and witty - when she and her agent are leaving the theatre they are held up by a masked man at gunpoint!!! but it is only Bill, just trying to prove a point. She turns the tables on him and has him arrested by the night- watchman (Lucien Littlefield) as an armed and dangerous man. Pauline and her agent are going to the fights but when the lights are dimmed, in honour of a dying fighter, one of the contenders is murdered and people are already calling it the "Hollywood Stadium Mystery". 60,000 suspects but the police, in their wisdom, keep only the first three rows for questioning. One of those is Smiley Burnette, who is then called up to entertain the crowd with his impressions of a car race. Fortunately we don't see much of him. The suspects mount up - Edna Mayberry (Lynne Roberts) an old girlfriend who wants revenge, her brother (even though he isn't credited I believe it's Junior Coghlan), a refreshment clerk who wants to avenge his sister and Althea Ames (Barbara Pepper) who just acts suspicious. Pauline establishes that the fighter was killed by poison gas coming from a gun. There is also a scene thrown in when Pauline is attacked in Althea's dressing room by a hooded figure.This is an excellent programmer that grabs you right away with the snappy exchanges between the leading players.Recommended.
Lechuguilla
A boxing match is the setting for a whodunit murder mystery. But the real focus here is the camaraderie between the local D.A. (Neil Hamilton) and a famed mystery writer (Evelyn Venable). The two engage each other in a friendly duel to see which one can solve the case. The focus on them and their good-humored banter drains away any tension or suspense the story might otherwise have had. But that's hardly the only problem.Character development of the various suspects is almost non-existent. And only when the puzzle solution is revealed do we learn important information related to the killer's motive. For a murder mystery, that's a no-no. It puts the viewer at an unfair disadvantage. Further, the key clue that leads to the identity of the killer is not at all credible.In addition, characters talk unnaturally fast. Frequently, there are no pauses between lines of dialogue. The film's runtime of just sixty-two minutes conveys the impression that the project had a serious budget problem.The film's sound is terrible. Lighting is not much better. Production design is cheap. Acting is marginally acceptable. About the only element worth a positive note is the presence of actress Barbara Pepper, as a Hollywood starlet.Otherwise, this is a forgettable, way below average film that uses a whodunit storyline as an excuse to provide a cinematic vehicle for the two main actors.
