|
Somewhere in rural Canada: Elsie Barlow (Sheila Bromley) is in the
lumbering business, but part of her lumger is repeatedly stolen by rival
lumberers Bart & Al Notron (Arthur Kerr, Walter Byron) and their gang
... and not only that, the Nortons even want to force her to sell her
land. In her despair, Elsie sends for her uncle Herbert, a shareholder in
her company whom she has never met, to ... oh I don't know what to do
exactly.
The unlce though arrives dead, and if there is any clue to the killer,
it might be with his dog Kind (Rin Tin Tin jr). A few days later, Elsie's
uncle Herbert arrives again, this time very much alive (and played by
Jameson Tho0mas), accompynied by his wife MArtha (Dorothy Bradshaw). Turns
out the dead man was H_erbert's secretary ...
Elsie's fiancé Sergeant Ken (Edgar Edwards) of the Royal Mounted
investigates, and soon finds all the clues leading to the Norton's - but
oerhaps a bit too conveniently. The Norton's meanwhile leave out no
opportunity to terrorize Elsie and company and force her to sell out - but
no chance, since uncle Herbert proves to be a tough cookie.
Then a Mountie trailing the killer is killed, and an attempt on Elsie's
life is made while sleeping in her own room - but at least for the second
occurence, the Nortons have the perfect alibi - they were in police
custody. With only King witness of both crimes, Mountie Ken gathers all
the suspects in one room. Then he elaborates on his deductions, coming up
with uncle Herbert as the killer, who isn't really uncle Herbert but his
secretary with whom aunt Matha has an affair (while the murdered secretary
was actually uncle Herbert). And to corroborate his claims, Ken lets King
into the room in the decisive moment, who immediately attacks the accused.
Uncle Herbert (or rather, his secretary) makes a desperate attempt to
escape, aided by aund Martha, but ultimately it's King who stops him.
The killer gets the gallows, aunt Martha gets ten years, the Nortons,
who weren't the killers after all but still pretty bad, get two years in
jail, while Mountie Ken gets the girl (Elsie, in case you wondered).
And King ? He got a bone, probably (but off-screen).
What makes this murder mystery kind of interesting is that it for the
longest time has the audience actually believe to know the real culprits
(the Nortons) by almost showing the crime, only to in the end
present someone completely different as the killer - quite plausibly
though, since the first murder was never actually shown. This
interesting aspect aside however, the film is less than greata rather
routine murder mystery desperately in need of more action, featuring
rather dull characters and mediocre actors to portray them. But at least
Rin Tin Tin jr's role is kept relatively small.
|
amazon.com
amazon.co.uk
amazon.de
eThaiCD.com
find Death Goes North at adultvideouniverse.com
