"The Sphinx" is a clever, black & white crime thriller about a strangler on the loose who has been killing people in the investment business. This vintage melodrama gets off to an intriguing start. An Italian immigrant, Luigi Baccigalupi (Luis Alberni of "Svengali"), is on the job cleaning up a major office building when an elegantly attired individual, Jerome Breen (Lionel Atwill of "Man Made Monster"), walks up to him and asks for a light. Luigi thought everybody had left the building and he is surprised to see Breen. Not only does he fire up Breen's cigarette, but he also tells Breen the exact time. Casually, with serene indifference, Breen leaves Luigi standing by himself. Eventually, Luigi notices a light is still shining in one office. When he investigates, he stumbles onto a dead man sprawled in the floor. Hastily, Luigi phones up the police. When the authorities arrive, Inspector James Riley (Robert Ellis of "Speed to Burn") determines that the investment broker was strangled to death, adding another such murder to several others that have Riley baffled. Along comes wisecracking newspaper reporter, Jack Burton (Theodore Newton of "Friendly Persuasion"), who tells Riley that the dead man shared one thing in common with all the other strangulation murders that have plagued the city. The District Attorney puts Luigi on the stand during Breen's murder trial, and he identifies him in court as the man who approached him in the office building after hours. Luigi mentions Breen asked for a light. The attorney for the defense proves Breen couldn't have been within a mile of the building. The revelation that Breen cannot speak because he is a deaf-mute floors the prosecution, and Breen walks out of the courtroom a free man.
During the trial, Burton had written extensively about Breen, while another reporter on The Chronicle, Jerry Crain (Sheila Terry of "Madame Butterfly") writes sympathetic stories about the accused. Now, Burton has his mind set on marrying Jerry and raising chickens with her. However, Jerry is ready to hear the deafening wedding bells. She has been supporting her sick relatives and she isn't exactly wallowing in dollars. She refuses Burton's marriage proposal and remains determined to make her way on her own dime. While Burton is writing harsh stories about Breen, Jerry has been singing his praises. By all rights, Breen appears a model citizen. Later, an employee who works in investments, Dave Werner (Paul Fix of "The Sons of Katie Elder"), visits Breen and threatens to expose him.
Predictably, Breen knocks Werner off, but the police cannot pin a murder rap on him. At one point, Riley notices that for a deaf-mute, Breen wrinkles his forehead when somebody runs his fingers over a piano keyboard. Before the inspector can share his suspicions about Breen with Burton, somebody strangles him to death! Riley's subordinate detective, Detective Terrence Aloysius Hogan (Paul Hurst of "Gone with the Wind"), takes over the case. He tells Burton that it is a make-or-break case, and if he doesn't solve all those unsolved murders, he will find himself out a job.
Little more can be said without spoiling the outcome of "The Sphinx." Director Phil Rosen keeps things moving along at a brisk clip with nothing to impede the pace. If you watch closely, you'll see a clean-shaven detective who partners up with the newspaper report. Indeed, the actor is none other than George 'Gabby' Hays who rode as a sidekick with both John Wayne and Roy Rogers. The mystery about who has been performing murder by strangulation is reveals during the last ten minutes or so. Those final few minutes for the murder are tense. He knows he is about to be exposed.
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