Zeus

Midnight Mystery (1930)

• Director
  • George B. Seitz
• Writers
  • Howard Irving Young(play "Hawk Island")
  • Beulah Marie Dix(screenplay)
• Stars
  • Betty Compson
  • Lowell Sherman
  • Raymond Hatton

  Several able silent-screen veterans converge in RKO Radio's Midnight Mystery. Sally (Betty Compson), Tim (Lowell Sherman), Mischa (Ivan Lebedeff) and Paul (Raymond Hatton) are among the shady types whom wealthy Gregory (Hugh Trevor) invites to his isolated island mansion off the coast of Maine. Cut off from the mainland by a fierce storm, the gathered parties begin bickering amongst themselves, culminating in the murder of Mischa. It's up to Sally, Gregory's fiancee and a best-selling author of murder mysteries, to assemble the clues and trick the culprit into confessing. Though Hugh Trevor seems somewhat lost in the leading role, he was in no imminent danger of being dismissed from the film: His aunt was the wife of producer William LeBaron. Midnight Mystery was rather obviously derived from a stage play, in this case Hawk Island by Howard Irving Young.