Moonlight Murder

I liked this movie for several reasons. First, I bought it because Leo Carillo and Duncan Renaldo were both in it. They were the pair from the CISCO KID TV series which I watched when I was a kid. I was surprised with the turn around here. Leo Carillo was excellent as the arrogant womanizing tenor and Duncan Renaldo, as the handsome jealous dancer, did his best with a smaller part. As far as the rest of the cast, Chester Morris plays a good detective (he also played Boston Blackie) and had believable chemistry with the heroine and the actor who plays the chief of police. J. Carrol Naish was unrecognizable as usual in a part where you are asking yourself 'who played the mad man?' See him in 'Charlie Chan in the Circus' to see a real character actor who can disappear into a role. Second, the scenes of the Hollywood Bowl and the production scenes of Il Trovatore take us back to the 30's and California history. Third, the murder mystery was good - lots of people wanted to murder the victim, so it's a good guessing game. I also became interested in seeing the whole opera, although I am not a fan of opera in general, and ordered a blu-ray of Il Trovatore because of the scenes I saw here. This movie will be a nice companion piece to that in my collection. Fourth, on the production side, I was surprised that the movie played better on my 46" than it did on my 9". Usually an old movie plays better on a smaller screen. But the grandeur of the opera scenes was way better on the larger screen. Considering this is a DVD-R, I didn't expect that. So all-in-all a pleasant way to spend some time. I would recommend it to fans of opera, history and 30's murder mysteries.

My dad used to tell me about this movie which he saw as a child. I snatched it up out of curiosity and found it a fun little who-dunnit. There is quite a bit of opera singing throughout, which I enjoy but be forewarned if you are not an opera buff. The modus operandi has to be unique among murder mysteries.

Very funny with a good plot, good acting, etc. Very well done!

As happens often to promising A-list actors, Chester Morris was quickly relegated to starring in budget pictures for double bills. "Moonlight Murder" is typical of those 1930s mystery genre efforts. It is less a showcase for Morris' infectious good humor and screen energy and more a romp for Leo Carrillo, who finished his career as Pancho to Duncan Reynaldo's Cisco Kid. Portraying a temperamental opera star with two women crazy for him, Carrillo eats up the limited 66-minute screen time in a less serious and more comic opera tone. He and personal assistant Frank McHugh seem to be competing for the comic sidekick role. The setting is the Hollywood Bowl where the opera is performed and the murder committed. Since this is a 1936 MGM picture everything is soft-peddled. A mad composer threatens Carrillo if he doesn't sing his arias. An understudy mad to be a star looks guilty. A frustrated orchestra conductor has a murderous gleam in his eye. An hot-tempered diva mad about Carrillo looks guilty. How about the mild-mannered doctor who treats Carrillo? Who done it? All is revealed at the finish.

This is a typical B movie mystery. The big clue is blatantly obvious, but only after the mystery is solved. This is simple fun....enjoy

Too much opera music for me but the mystery part was satisfying.

She a hurtles by very-a fast, yet stops to include the entirety of the Il Trovatore (?) duet also heard in NIGHT OF THE OPERA, and lots of grandiose overacting by Carillo, with McHugh stealing the scenes as his long-suffering assistant / PR man. That swami in the turban on the cover gets one little scene by contrast, and there's no seance, just a dire warning - a couple of interlocking murder attempts / red herring and Chester Morris as either the smartest or dumbest of all detectives. I liked his cute romance with the very blonde Madge Evans, one of those ingenues who came and went with such regularity, she's one I could see more of willingly, but where is she? Oh well, whoops! It's over. But if you love the period and love mysteries then you should get this, why not - I bought it for around $5 on streaming and it looks terrific.

it was a pretty good movie but i'm not really into musicual movies. but other than that it was pretty good