Hollywood Stadium Mystery (1938) User Reviews

The crime is solved by a Gene Autry movie!!!!

[kidboots · 7/10 · 4 August 2009]

I agree with some of the other reviewers. For a Republic picture, the production was super. The stars were a couple who were more at home in A class films. Neil Hamilton had been in silents - he was a standout in D. W. Griffiths "Isn't Life Wonderful" (1924). He moved on to talkies where he supported top MGM actresses such as Joan Crawford and Norma Shearer (usually playing unbelievably stuffed shirts). By the time of "Hollywood Stadium Mystery" he was entering a low ebb of his career but his lovely co-star, the enchanting Evelyn Venables was an actress whose career never really got off the ground. She mostly played sensible and unassuming parts - maybe that was the trouble. The role that most people remember her in was as Shirley Temple's long suffering mother in "The Little Colonel" (1935).

A masked man enters a library on a rain drenched night - after a few words he is shot dead by the owner with a concealed pistol...but it is only a play. District Attorney Paul Devons (Neil Hamilton) is very scathing of the writer of such rubbish, only to find it is the pretty girl he has been trying to chat up. Pauline Ward (Evelyn Venable) is a mystery writer - the dialogue between her and Bill is delicious and witty - when she and her agent are leaving the theatre they are held up by a masked man at gunpoint!!! but it is only Bill, just trying to prove a point. She turns the tables on him and has him arrested by the night- watchman (Lucien Littlefield) as an armed and dangerous man. Pauline and her agent are going to the fights but when the lights are dimmed, in honour of a dying fighter, one of the contenders is murdered and people are already calling it the "Hollywood Stadium Mystery". 60,000 suspects but the police, in their wisdom, keep only the first three rows for questioning. One of those is Smiley Burnette, who is then called up to entertain the crowd with his impressions of a car race. Fortunately we don't see much of him. The suspects mount up - Edna Mayberry (Lynne Roberts) an old girlfriend who wants revenge, her brother (even though he isn't credited I believe it's Junior Coghlan), a refreshment clerk who wants to avenge his sister and Althea Ames (Barbara Pepper) who just acts suspicious. Pauline establishes that the fighter was killed by poison gas coming from a gun. There is also a scene thrown in when Pauline is attacked in Althea's dressing room by a hooded figure.

This is an excellent programmer that grabs you right away with the snappy exchanges between the leading players.

Recommended.

A bit ragged here and there, but otherwise very, very good for a B-movie.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 29 November 2010]

My score of 7 is relative to other B-movies. "Hollywood Stadium Mystery" is much better than average for a low-budget B-film, as it has wonderful chemistry between the two leads (Neil Hamilton and Evelyn Venable). Plus, it's pretty good as a mystery.

The film starts off with a really neat set of opening credits--very creative and it caught my attention. Then, I noticed early on that there were several very good false alarms that caught the viewer off guard. I love it when I am surprised when I see a film! The film is essentially a romance AND a murder mystery--and I am sure this combination is a bit unusual to say the least! The District Attorney (Hamilton) and playwright (Venable) both investigate a crime that occurred at the arena just before a boxing match began--and both of our heroes have a friendly wager as to which one will solve the crime. The interplay of these two was very nice and didn't appear like what you'd expect in a B--it was very witty and fun. As for the mystery, it's not bad but clearly secondary to these two characters.

There is only one major qualm about the film--and it's clearly a sad product of the times. One lady wants to hide from the police so she puts on black-face!! Uggh!! But, this sort of thing wasn't far from the norm in those old days, so it's something you'll have to look past--understanding the context of the times.

If you are interested in seeing this film, follow the link on IMDb and download it for free. You'll enjoy it for what it is--a nice little B-movie with a bit extra when it comes to writing.

really neat opening credits lots of early false alarms Smiley Burnett black-face

"Smart people mind their own business."

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 14 December 2011]

There are a couple of neat hooks in this picture, but otherwise the story left me flat. I liked the creative opening where the title and opening credits were conveyed via newspaper headlines as bundles were thrown from the back of a delivery truck. Shortly later, Smiley Burnette turns up, not as a character in the film per se, but as Smiley Burnette - introduced to three rows of detained murder suspects at a boxing match in order to provide entertainment! The whole idea of that occurring just seemed so awkward and off base that it left me scratching my head.

The main story concerns the murder of a championship contender in the middle of a boxing ring. Attempting to sort things out are District Attorney, Bill Devons (Neil Hamilton), and perky playwright Pauline 'Polly' Ward (Evelyn Venable). They develop a playfully contentious battle of wits throughout the story, supported in part by placing five dollar bets on who'll come up with the next winning strategy. The thing is, I couldn't picture these two as a couple no matter how hard the picture tried to take me there. Especially when Devons proposed in the middle of the story for the sole purpose of boxing Polly's ears once they got married. That was a just a good grief moment for me.

Somehow through all of this, a connection is made to the identity of the killer by way of a Gene Autry movie poster Polly happens to see; it's for the 1936 film "Comin' Round the Mountain". Wouldn't you know it, the murderer can't get that tune out of his head and blows his cover by whistling at ringside. Never mind that a band at the arena is repeatedly playing that same song throughout the evening, which would prompt just about anyone to join in. So the whole resolution to the mystery seemed just a little dubious to me. But just so there's no doubt of the murderer's motivation, sports commentator Nick Nicholls (Jimmy Wallington) spells out the whole scenario for Polly and the viewer, thereby relieving anyone of actually doing any investigative work to solve the crimes. Then, just as Nicholls is about to put Polly away, the DA and a trio of cops are right there to make the save. When I say they were right there, it's not like they burst on the scene in the nick of time - they were just standing there in the doorway ready to make the arrest!

Well I don't know, other reviewers on this board got a lot more from this flick than I did by the sound of it. For my part, I'm just going to move on to the next picture. That will probably be "Comin' Round the Mountain". Smiley Burnette's in it.

Way Below Average

[Lechuguilla · 3/10 · 27 March 2009]

A boxing match is the setting for a whodunit murder mystery. But the real focus here is the camaraderie between the local D.A. (Neil Hamilton) and a famed mystery writer (Evelyn Venable). The two engage each other in a friendly duel to see which one can solve the case. The focus on them and their good-humored banter drains away any tension or suspense the story might otherwise have had. But that's hardly the only problem.

Character development of the various suspects is almost non-existent. And only when the puzzle solution is revealed do we learn important information related to the killer's motive. For a murder mystery, that's a no-no. It puts the viewer at an unfair disadvantage. Further, the key clue that leads to the identity of the killer is not at all credible.

In addition, characters talk unnaturally fast. Frequently, there are no pauses between lines of dialogue. The film's runtime of just sixty-two minutes conveys the impression that the project had a serious budget problem.

The film's sound is terrible. Lighting is not much better. Production design is cheap. Acting is marginally acceptable. About the only element worth a positive note is the presence of actress Barbara Pepper, as a Hollywood starlet.

Otherwise, this is a forgettable, way below average film that uses a whodunit storyline as an excuse to provide a cinematic vehicle for the two main actors.

Proving that fictional mystery is sometimes smarter than the real deal.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 1 February 2016]

An amusing B comedy mystery has Lis Angeles D.A. Neil Hamilton up against a mystery playwright (Evelyn Venable) to solve a real murder mystery after he criticizes her latest play. The future commissioner Gordon of "Batman" T.V. fame is far less serious in his crime fighting efforts, trying to take Venable down a peg as she keeps upping him every chance she gets.

The stadium mystery surrounds the sudden murder of a prize fighter, and Venable makes herself very useful on solving the case which had fellow boxers, various lady friends and underworld sorts among the suspects. Several non-suspects take credit for the killing, only briefly throwing a monkey ranch into the plot. Cheaply done but fast moving, this may not be worthy of a series like other comedy detective stories, but it is an awful lot of fun.

Worth making a five dollar bet on

[dbborroughs · 8/10 · 10 December 2006]

Neil Hamilton plays a District Attorney investigating the murder of a boxer moments before a championship fight. The fighter collapsed with no clear signs of foul play after a tribute to a recently deceased champion. Forced to match wits and trade wisecracks with a mystery writer, played by Evelyn Venable, the DA must try to contend with an arena full of suspects including Smiley Burnette.

This is a great little thriller that gets along mostly on the winning performance of the two leads and the smart quips they trade. They are a later day Nick and Nora who are forever trying to one up each other so as to win which ever five dollar bet that is currently passing between them. While the murder itself doesn't make a great deal of sense when its finally revealed, you really won't care since you'll be having too much fun watching the DA and mystery writer try to out do the other.

I have to say that the look and feel of this movie is spectacular. Looking at it you'd be hard pressed to believe that this was a B-movie with its large cast, numerous and varying sets. Actually to be honest this is what B-movies really used to be, well produced features for the second part of a double bill. If it wasn't for the B-list cast this could easily pass for a main feature.

This is little gem thats worth keeping an eye out for.

Routine second-feature

[gridoon2024 · 5/10 · 9 January 2021]

After a bright start, with mystery writer Evelyn Venable outsmarting D.A. Neil Hamilton, and a murder inside a boxing ring just before the match starts, "Hollywood Stadium Mystery" becomes a very ordinary mystery. It does, however, offer the very rare opportunity to see the largely unknown today Venable in a leading role: she is pretty, competent, and has a pleasingly distinctive voice. ** out of 4.

An Over-Talkative D.A. Easily Out-Classed by Evelyn Venable

[JohnHowardReid · 8/10 · 25 June 2008]

As we might expect from director David Howard and writer Stuart Palmer (joined by the McGowan Brothers for screenplay), this is a superior who-dun-it. Mind you, Mr Palmer is a mystery spinner of the always-a-character-you-least-expect school, but in this spin of the wheel we have quite a few such characters to choose from, such as Robert Homans (promoted from the beat to captain for this movie), the cute Lynne Roberts, flashy Barbara Pepper, a brain-dead watchman, Mr District Attorney himself and even Smiley Burnette. The only character we can reasonably excuse is the gorgeous Evelyn Venable because Mr Palmer always has a soft spot for his heroines and it would be very disappointing to find such a classy number mixed up with a dumb pug.

Also as we might expect, David Howard has directed this little spree with considerable style which helps to make up for some shortcomings in the action itself. Instead from its trick opening to its unexpected fade-out, moderately witty dialogue rather than action is king. Happily, we also move briefly out of the sound stages to a few real Hollywood locations, including the none-too-imposing entrance-way to Republic Studios, where Miss Roberts treats us to a little comedy relief (which will not set any too well with African-Americans and could easily be deleted).

In all, however, a thoroughly enjoyable and surprisingly well-produced "B".