Tockinit not horrible nor great

Softwing Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Solidrariol Am I Missing Something?

bkoganbing When sound came to the motion picture there must have been a scramble for written material of any kind for the studios. Once it was proved it could be done, the public wanted to hear their screen idols speak and they had to have dialog.What works on stage did not often work on screen and when The Thirteenth Chair was made the studios were still getting sound right. We got all kinds of dialog, but here it was all kind of static and dull. And the cast generally overacts in this filmTwo performers here stand out. Margaret Wycherly best known as the mothers of Alvin York and Cody Jarrett later on was in the original cast on Broadway when it opened in 1916. She plays a psychic medium who is brought in to solve a murder already committed. During the séance the guy who arranged the séance is also dispatched. After that the cops call in.Lots of mysteries always have that climatic scene where the detective gathers the suspects be it Nick Charles or Jane Marple. But this is a film where the whole film is that scene. The other actor is Bela Lugosi who in this mystery set in British India speaks that marvelous Hungarian as a Scotland Yard detective.Lugosi acquits himself well, but he's just so well known in those horror films I expected him to be the murderer.Everybody overacts, but they were learning on the job the art of acting in talking pictures.

preppy-3 Early talkie feature based on a popular stage play. A murder has been committed and a bunch of people hire a medium to conduct a séance to see who the murderer is. While the lights are out there's ANOTHER murder...so it's someone in that room.What follows is an obvious, dull and creaky murder mystery. Most of the cast overacts to a ridiculous degree. They act like they're on stage (where you have to overdo things) and it looks silly on screen. Most embarrassing is Bela Lugosi (two years before "Dracula") who REALLY overdoes it as a police inspector. Static direction by Tod Browning (who was always overrated) doesn't help.For Browning and Lugosi completists only. I give it a 3.

telegonus Directed by Tod Browning, The Thirteenth Chair is a well-written and acted murder mystery from a time (1929) when, due to primitive sound recording techniques, the camera had to remain in one place during a scene. The result is that the movie, while well-designed, is rather static visually. It more than makes up for this by having an exciting, if at times rather hard to follow plot, and an ingenious script with enough twists and turns in the plot to satisfy most mystery fans. For claustrophiles the movie is a delight: no one goes ANYWHERE in this film. There are some interesting visual and spatial peculiarities in the movie, such as very high ceilings on the sets, and more obviously fake than usual exteriors just outside the windows. People have a way of assembling in rooms rather than just sitting there or milling around, which gives the movie an offbeat, ritualistic feeling; probably typical enough in the theater of the time, but unusual in a film. The actors, notably Margaret Wycherly, are quite good, with Bela Lugosi giving an energetic reading of a shrewd police detective in a quite different key from his later work. One can't help but wonder what sort of screen actor Lugosi might have become had he not been typecast in horror roles. Leila Hyams is radiant as one of the chief suspects, and it's remarkable that she didn't become a bigger star, on looks alone. There is no pace to speak of in the film, as the story proceeds by dialog, and by people entering and exiting rooms on cue. Nor are there any of the typical Browning flourishes, as the movie seems anonymously directed. But the script is very tight, and there are some surprises along the way, and moments of unexpected warmth and feeling that make this a watchable and satisfying antique.

zetes This isn't a typical Tod Browning film. It's more or less a very basic filming of a stage play (I gather; I don't know that for sure, but it feels very stagey) about a group of rich people who hire a medium to find out who killed their friend (and, to some of the group, an enemy). When they go into their seance, right as the name of the killer is about to be spoken, one of the men in the circle, the one who was succeeding at questioning the medium, is stabbed in the back. They then call a detective (Bela Lugosi) who grills them, trying to discover who murdered both of these men. I don't generally like whodunits, especially the Clue variety, where a detective gathers all the suspects in a room and attempts to root out the real killer, but The Thirteenth Chair is exceptionally written. The characters, and there are many, are quite well developed. The climactic scene, while asking that we suspend our disbelief, is truly suspenseful. See this gem if you ever get the chance. 9/10.