Just the whole set-up alone seems ridiculously unbelievable, even if it is set up to be light-hearted entertainment in "The Thin Man" mold of complex situations. The world of mind reading and prophecy dominates the background of murder, set up by the light-hearted banter of mind reader Robert Young, paired with the beautiful Florence Rice, an almost forgotten leading lady of MGM's golden age, overshadowed by Garbo, Shearer, Crawford, MacDonald and Loy, seemingly second string among those legends. She possesses light charm and a witty demeanor, yet lacks in the glamorous mystery of MGM's more famous leading ladies. By now one of MGM's longest leading men, Young benefited from the ability to provide both comedy and drama in his teamings with practically every available leading lady at the studio where the make stars were practically all interchangeable.
In support, a huge cast of character actors add amusement in contrast with the outlandish plot. Of them, Frank Craven (very funny as Young's acerbic father, Gloria Holden as an obviously phony psychic (reunited with director Tod Browning from "Dracula's Daughter"), and Henry Hull as one of the more obvious suspects. Rather rushed together as part of MGM's B unit, this has the typical MGM gloss but too many convoluted moments to really be a success. At least in the twists and turns of "The Thin Man" movies, the humor and droll observations of Nick and Nora mixed well with the elements of surprise. The only surprise that exists here is that the script wasn't sent back for necessary improvements.
In support, a huge cast of character actors add amusement in contrast with the outlandish plot. Of them, Frank Craven (very funny as Young's acerbic father, Gloria Holden as an obviously phony psychic (reunited with director Tod Browning from "Dracula's Daughter"), and Henry Hull as one of the more obvious suspects. Rather rushed together as part of MGM's B unit, this has the typical MGM gloss but too many convoluted moments to really be a success. At least in the twists and turns of "The Thin Man" movies, the humor and droll observations of Nick and Nora mixed well with the elements of surprise. The only surprise that exists here is that the script wasn't sent back for necessary improvements.