The original story was a sequel to The Mystery of the Rue Morgue and this film makes great capital of that - it constantly refers to the Rue Morgue, an achievement of Dupin, which was filmed by Universal in 1932.
That was more of a horror movie - this isn't really, though there are horrific elements: in particular murders of two women, both of whom have their faces mutilated. There's also mention of a killer leopard. But it's generally a straight mystery - similar in ways to the Universal Sherlock Holmes films of the time.
The investigating duo are police officer Gobelin (jaunty Lloyd Corrigan) and Dupin (Patric Knowles). Knowles is awful - flat, dull, uninteresting. So not a star.
Other actors are a lot better: Maria Ouspensaka as the head of the family, Nell O'Day is fine as the ingenue, John Litel and Edward Morris are solid character support, and Maria Montez is a femme fetale. Montez isn't much of an actor but it was good to see her play a baddy - a woman out to kill her sister - and the film suffers once she disappears. She sings a (presumably) dubbed song too.
There's a lot of story - two murders, attempted murders, pulling out brains, duel challenges. It lacks focus - Morris is driving the action, then Montez, the Knowles. Really the film should've been told from Knowles' POV, no matter how dull he was.
There's solid production values and photography - you can tell it's a studio movie. It could have done with a lot more suspense and shocks - it's not particularly well directed and it's not surprising this isn't better known. Still, I didn't mind it.
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