Hollywood Stadium Mystery | Neil Hamilton, Evelyn Venable

Hollywood Stadium Mystery | Neil Hamilton, Evelyn Venable | "'The acrid odor of bitter almonds' - say, that sounds all right. You should have been a writer."

DVDs:

Hollywood Stadium ...

	Hollywood Stadium Mystery Neil Hamilton, Evelyn Venable Alpha Video, 2005 average customer review:based on 2 reviews view larger image
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A boxing match at the Hollywood Stadium turns into a gripping murder mystery with over 2,000 suspects! As top contender Ace Cummings prepares to take on Madison, the reigning champ, Madison, the house lights dim. Suddenly, a scream echoes through the venue and a peculiar odor fills the air. When the lights come up, Ace is found dead. After witnessing the bizarre event, sassy and beautiful young writer Polly Ward decides to investigate, teaming up with dapper district attorney Bill Devons. Their long list of suspects includes a candy-seller, a gambler, a movie star, two of the victim's girlfriends and the boxer Madison. Clues are scarce, but the sleuths work every angle. As Polly and Bill draw closer to discovering the killer, their lives are threatened and the danger becomes frighteningly real. Rife with snappy dialogue, brisk pacing, and sharp performances, The Hollywood Stadium Mystery (a.k.a. The Stadium Murders) is a tightly-executed whodunit and a fine example of what smaller studios were capable of during Hollywood's golden era. The opening credit sequence is particularly inventive with its clever use of newspaper headlines to kick off the action. Director David Howard handles the mystery genre with panache, despite a career that centered mostly on adventures and western films like Six-Gun Gold, Painted Desert and Daniel Boone. Neil Hamilton later gained fame as white-haired Commissioner Gordon in the 1966 TV-series "Batman." The ringside radio commentator in The Hollywood Stadium Mystery was Jimmy Wallington, a real-life announcer whose voice was heard on such programs as "The Life Of Riley" and "Stranger Than Fiction."

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Surprisingly Enjoyable

I usually don't expect too much from Alpha Video public domain releases, but this little 1938 jewel proved an exception. It's a surprisingly taut, creatively directed and funny mystery featuring a real charmer, Evelyn Venable, as the leading lady.

Right from the titles -- delivery trucks drop bundles of newspapers with the actors and other necessaries presented in the headlines (sounds hackneyed, but the way it's handled here it's not) -- and the first few moments of the movie, when you're misled into thinking a play is part of the plot, you know this is more than your average B movie.

The film shrivels and fizzles a bit as it goes along, but there are plenty of juicy moments and enough wit and humor to keep you interested.

Evelyn Venable has a throaty, three-dimensional voice you'll never forget. One wonders why she never made it to big-time stardom.

Neil Hamilton, as a dorky DA, does a workmanlike job but nothing more.

At the price Amazon is charging, this is one of the great B&W bargains from the 1930s. I've already watched it a half dozen times.

--Lan Sluder

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"'The acrid odor of bitter almonds' - say, that sounds all right. You should have been a writer."

Hollywood Stadium is playing host to a big time championship prize fight, and the crowd's in a frenzy. Moments before the match is underway, the house lights are dimmed. When the lights go back on, arrogant boxer Ace Cummings continues to sit on his stool, but murdered in the ring. Now, whodunit? Is it the actor whose eye Ace had blackened? Or the two girlfriends he had dropped? What about that night's ring opponent? Or the shifty gambler? Geez, is it the popular comic Smiley Burnette? With 2000 people in attendance, there's certainly no lacking in suspects. Debonair district attorney Bill Devons (Neil Hamilton) and clever mystery writer Polly Ward (Evelyn Venable), both of whom in the film's opening minutes engage in a smilingly contentious first encounter, more or less team up to solve the case. But it's a tumultuous partnership as things like flirting, their friendly rivalry, and 5 dollar wagers keep getting in the way. Then a second corpse surfaces.

HOLLYWOOD STADIUM MYSTERY is a nifty little black-and-white whodunit which came out in 1938. At 53 minutes, it sets a no-nonsense pace; the film is over before you know it. The mystery's perplexing enough, but it's the two leads who truly elevate this modest B picture. Neil Hamilton - who would later play Commissioner Gordon in the 1966 Batman series - and lanky, lovely brunette Evelyn Venable do it up right as the dueling sleuths. Their back and forth patter is snappy and handily delivered, and, really, Hamilton and Venable's chemistry is so solid that their getting together at the end is a foregone conclusion. And, as an added bonus, the mystery is solved (and, no, the killer isn't Smiley Burnette).

Released by Republic Pictures, HOLLYWOOD STADIUM MYSTERY proves that, with taut execution, crackling dialogue, and proper casting, even a film from Poverty Row can do more than hold its own. The dvd quality, as rendered by Alpha Video, is decent - oh, a few crackles in the audio and the image could be sharper, but, nevertheless, decent. And, with no other dvd versions out there (that I know of), this one works nicely enough. Anyway, do yourself a favor and don't pass up this little murder mystery.

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