The Missing Guest
                                                                                                                 
Director: John Rawlins
Year: 1938
Rating: 5.0
A mild comic murder mystery haunted house film from Universal that doesn't have much punch, but at 67 minutes is easily digestible. It is a remake of the Universal film, The Secret of the Blue Room,  made only five years prior, but  this was produced in the years where the studio was temporarily banning horror films. So the emphasis is on the comedy which is as sophisticated as dogs putting on Shakespeare. There are actually quite a few differences from The Secret of the Blue Room but the gist is the same.



Scoop Hanlon (Paul Kelly) is a typical motor mouth newsman with a smart-ass crack for every occasion. He has been demoted to advising beauty tips in the women section. His boss (Harlan Briggs) gives him a chance for redemption. A party is being given at a supposedly haunted house. Get in and get a story. Whoever has slept in the Blue Room for over 200 years has died or disappeared. Maybe they should change the name. That night one of the attendees (William Lundigan) decides to sleep there to prove it is all malarkey. In the morning he is gone. Scoop who has fallen for the daughter (Constance Moore) sticks around to solve it. The main problem is Kelly is annoying as hell. Spending time with him is water torture. In 1927 Kelly had killed a man and received a sentence of ten years but was released after 25 months. Too bad.