THE CIRCUS QUEEN MURDER

THE CIRCUS QUEEN MURDER (1933). Director: Roy William Neill.

New York police commissioner Thatcher Colt (Adolphe Menjou) takes his efficient secretary off for a quiet, restful vacation in the bucolic town of Gilliad, but instead of balm he finds murder. There are sexy circus queens, angry husbands, illicit affairs, a troupe of cannibals, not to mention the usual lions, tigers and gorillas, but none of it saves the movie from being dull, dull, dull. Dwight Frye is his usual intense self as the jealous hubby of the high-wire circus queen (Greta Nissen). Ruthelma Stevens is Colt's lip-reading secretary, Miss Kelly. Colt has an admirably modern attitude toward women and even thinks that Miss Kelly would make a great police commissioner when he retires. Alas, the movie has no real snap to it and the plot isn't terribly interesting. The pic only runs 63 minutes but seems much longer. Menjou is fine, however. He played the same role in one other movie.

Verdict: Not as much fun as a barrel of monkeys.