Search - Murder in the Museum on DVD

Matt B. from GETZVILLE, NY
Reviewed on 3/6/2012...

Tagline: Sinister Sideshow of Death

Please, boss, don’t make me watch another lame Thirties B-movie mystery. I can’t handle the high society settings of mansions, golf courses and night clubs. I can’t endure the debonair amateur detective, his plucky hard-to-get love interest, the oily crooks, the pompous businessmen, the pearl-clutching society matrons. No more Irish cops with twinkle in their eye! I know they’re only an hour long but a man can take only so much!

Any movie fan that has thought this will like Murder in the Museum at least for the setting: a run-down side show in the gritty part of town. Instead of the tedious society types, the suspects in the shooting death of a blue-nose city councilman are an armless painter, a former Mexican follower of Pancho Villa and now a knife-thrower, and a former philosophy prof turned magician. They balance out the pompous police commissioner, the hard-boiled reporter on the crime beat, and the simpering curly-topped love interest. Other plusses are Pre-code shimmy dancers and a bad attitude about authority.

The total absence of music is a weak point. It’s weird to watch hoochie coochie dancers pursue their art to utter silence. Also, I think music would have added to the carefully choreographed action scenes, especially the rocking gun play in the climax. On account of the distinctive setting and characters, a good one for weary movie fans who are needing a change.