MYSTERY LINER

MYSTERY LINER (1934) Director: William Nigh. 

A dull, flat Monogram cheapie set on an ocean liner in which a device called an "S 505" is being tested and people are either strangled or have their necks broken with ropes. Zeffie Tilbury plays a very unpleasant old lady who treats her grandson, Edgar (Jerry Stewart), the way you shouldn't treat a dog. Noah Beery is Captain Holling; Edwin Maxwell is Major Pope; and Gustav von Seyffertitz is the sinister Von Kessling with a secret. 62 minutes seems like two hours, and nothing remotely interesting ever seems to happen, despite a couple of murders. Inspired by an Edgar Wallace story that had to be immeasurably better. 

Verdict: Like watching paint dry. 1/2 *.

ZORRO RIDES AGAIN

ZORRO RIDES AGAIN (1937). Republic. Directed by William Witney and John English.

This is an acceptable but pretty standard cliffhanger that is by no means any great classic of the genre. John Carroll is fine as James Vega/Zorro, who comes to the aid of a brother-sister team of railroad owners beset by villains. Marsden (Noah Beery) wants the railroad for himself, and has "El Lobo" do his dirty work for him out in California while he sits behind a desk in Manhattan. El Lobo and Marsden are both colorless, unprepossessing antagonists. Helen Christian plays Joyce Andrews, one of the railroad owners. (Her reaction when she learns that a father and his young son have been killed by El Lobo is "underplayed," to say the least!) Duncan Renaldo is "Renaldo," who assists Zorro at times. Some good cliffhangers involve floods, explosions, and train tunnels, while chapter three features some good fisticuffs on the tracks as a train approaches, with Zorro’s foot getting caught in the rail (it never occurs to Zorro to simply remove his boot)! Zorro Rides Again is not terrible, but considering it comes from Republic studios, it is rather disappointing.

Verdict: Unspectacular. **1/2.