The King Brothers had a success with their first movie, Paper Bullets, so asked back that movie's star (Joan Woodbury) and director (Phil Rosen). The budget could accomodate a "name', Ricardo Cortez. It's not a bad locked room mystery - a group of people assemble to watch an execution, only to see the accused man be killed by a poisoned dart before he's going to reveal who his big boss was. Cortez investigates with the help of wisecracking reporter Woodbury, who is a lot of fun. There's another aspiring crime solver as well.
It's no classic, but there is heaps of story, I genuinely couldn't pick whodunnit (admittedly I'm bad at that), the concept is fresh. I also liked how Cortez kept arresting the wrong guy and Woodbury kept figuring out he'd made a mistake - this gives it freshness. Phil Rosen's direction keeps things ticking over and the acting is pretty good. It's a cheapie but engagingly so.
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