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Who's guilty
Topic Started: May 1 2014, 09:38 AM (537 Views)
moodyhound
Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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I watched this a couple days ago. Not the best, not the worst. I did keep getting vibes from the Sidney Toler, Charlie Chan movies though. The reporter in this serial played in some of the Toler/Chan movies. One of the bad guys was wearing a suit that looked identical to the one Toler wears. There was also one scene that looked like it was borrowed from one of the Toler/Chan movies. ^o)
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panzer the great & terrible
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Mouth Breather
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I never got all the way through Who's Guilty, maybe because I'm no Chan fan.
Life is just a bowl of cherries, it's too mysterious, don't take it serious...
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Pa Stark
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Alan Barbour wrote that WHO'S GUILTY was the dullest serial he ever saw, but others told me it wasn't that bad. Columbia attempted to stretch a 60 minute who-dun-it into 15 chapters, and it didn't work. As a Charles Middletown fan, I say the one reason to view it is to see Middleton as a suspicious butler.
Honest and Lovable Pa Stark
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panzer the great & terrible
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Mouth Breather
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I call that a reasonable assessment. The plot sure didn't grab me.
Life is just a bowl of cherries, it's too mysterious, don't take it serious...
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riddlerider
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Pa Stark
May 7 2014, 10:40 AM
Alan Barbour wrote that WHO'S GUILTY was the dullest serial he ever saw, but others told me it wasn't that bad.

In later years Alan revised his opinions of many Columbia serials, which he tended to dismiss in his books. By that time he had revisited most of them via bootleg videotapes. He softened considerably on the Horne serials, allowing that they were great fun if not taken seriously. But that original opinion of Who's Guilty he never recanted.
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Pa Stark
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Please let me clarify my above remarks from Alan Barbour. He told me he thought WHO'S GUILTY was the dullest serial ever made, until he saw CHICK CARTER, DETECTIVE. Now that was a really miserable serial.
Honest and Lovable Pa Stark
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Laughing Gravy
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This is a serial I wished to check out, since it's from the director of Monster and the Ape, a serial I really like, but the reviews have scared me off before.
"I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley
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AndyFish
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Pa Stark
May 7 2014, 10:40 AM
Alan Barbour wrote that WHO'S GUILTY was the dullest serial he ever saw, but others told me it wasn't that bad. Columbia attempted to stretch a 60 minute who-dun-it into 15 chapters, and it didn't work. As a Charles Middletown fan, I say the one reason to view it is to see Middleton as a suspicious butler.
I finally got around to this one-- I don't always agree with Barbour but I'm with him on this one-- almost as painful as watching something from Monogram or PRC from the same period only 4x longer.

Great IDEA -- a mystery serial, the execution isn't there, although to be fair I only got three chapters in before I decided to shelve it.

Gravy, I'm also a fan of MONSTER AND THE APE. This is no MONSTER AND THE APE.
Edited by AndyFish, Feb 2 2018, 11:57 AM.
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MovieMan
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Laughing Gravy
May 9 2014, 06:01 AM
This is a serial I wished to check out, since it's from the director of Monster and the Ape, a serial I really like, but the reviews have scared me off before.
I've never been bothered by other people's reviews - if you want to see something, see it. Then you can decide if you like it or not.
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Pa Stark
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I always wondered how Columbia managed to string together in a row, four of the most miserable serials of the sound era. Riddle Rider, in one of Barbour's books, he did say that MONSTER AND THE APE was an above average serial for Columbia. I do remember it having some good fights, and that I did enjoy it.
Honest and Lovable Pa Stark
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theironclaw
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I liked MONSTER AND THE APE too, including the fights and George Macready's performance.
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