By now I’ve seen most of the big titles from the 1930s’ horror boom that Wm. Everson covers in Classics of the Horror Film (indeed, on checking the book again, I think Murder by the Clock might be the last of the 1930s left; still got some of the 40s titles to go, though), but for whatever reason this one has proven elusive until now… but recently I discovered Eureka had it on blu-ray as part of a set of these things; I duly invested in it, it duly arrived the other day, and I duly watched it tonight. Duly enjoyed it, too, although I find myself a bit perplexed by Paramount’s decision to assign it to Eddie Sutherland… the latter was much more of a comedy specialist (having started in the business as a Keystone Kop) and I don’t see anything else horror-adjacent in his filmography. I wonder if that’s why the film leans so much on top-billed Charlie Ruggles’ comedy relief (cos Ruggles is a secondary character at best); I mean, so many of these films did back then, but it feels even more so than usual here… But despite that, the film nonetheless has some quite nasty business going on, starting as it does with Lionel Atwill (the real star and villain of the piece) sewing a man’s mouth shut and leaving him to be eaten by jungle animals; that’s not the only thing about the film where I’m amazed it passed the Production Code (I know the latter wasn’t yet enforced and wouldn’t be until the following year, but even so). Atwill gives good heavy in Murders, whose main sticking point is its typically “early talkie” lack of incidental music; there is some scoring but not when the film could really have done with it… King Kong premiered the day after this did, and revolutionised the use of music in films; alas that Murders in the Zoo was a bit too late to benefit from that. Still, had Paramount waited much longer to make it, the Hays office might’ve stopped it being made at all…
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