The Second Floor Mystery
{{short description|1930 film}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Infobox film
| name = The Second Floor Mystery
| image = Second_Floor_Mystery_1930_Poster.jpg
| caption = theatrical release poster
| producer =
| director = Roy Del Ruth
| based_on = The Agony Column (1916 novel) by Earl Derr Biggers
| writer = Joseph Jackson
| starring = Grant Withers
Loretta Young
H. B. Warner
John Loder.
| music = Samuel Kaylin
R.H. Bassett
| cinematography = Barney McGill
| editing = William Holmes
| studio = Warner Bros.
| distributor = Warner Bros.
| released = {{Film date|1930|04|26|US}}
| runtime = 58 minutes
| language = English
| country = United States
| budget =
| gross =
}}
The Second Floor Mystery is a 1930 American pre-Code film directed by Roy Del Ruth. It was based on the 1916 novel The Agony Column by Earl Derr Biggers. The film stars Grant Withers, Loretta Young, H. B. Warner and John Loder.
Plot
Geoffrey West and Marion Ferguson (Grant Withers and Loretta Young), two American tourists in London, meet each other at a London hotel while eating breakfast. Both are reading the personal columns of The Times. The next day West inserts an ad, under the alias of Lord Strawberries, which requests her friendship. Ferguson, using the alias of Lady Grapefruit, places an ad in reply which suggests that he should write a series of five letters proving himself worth knowing.
West makes up a fabulous story about a murder mysterym based on the things he has heard his upstairs neighbors arguing about. Ferguson's aunt, who disapproves of West, suspects West is the murderer and contacts Scotland Yard. West's neighbor (the one he mentioned in his letters) is found dead and the police immediately suspect West and Ferguson as being involved in the murder. The real murderer, when he hears they are prime suspects, then attempts to frame them.
Cast
- Grant Withers as Geoffrey West
- Loretta Young as Marion Ferguson
- H.B. Warner as Inspector Bray
- Claire McDowell as Aunt Hattie
- Sidney Bracey as Alfred
- Crauford Kent as Capt. Fraser-Freer
- John Loder as Fraser-Freer's Younger Brother
- Claude King as Enright
- Judith Vosselli as the Vamp
Preservation status
The film survives complete. A mute print was transferred onto 16mm film by Associated Artists Productions in the 1950s.[https://archive.org/details/mediahistory&tab=collection?and%5B%5D=subject%3A%22Motion%20pictures%20--%20Catalogues%22 1957 MOVIES FROM AAP Warner Bros Features & Cartoons SALES BOOK DIRECTED AT TV] The Vitaphone soundtrack was lost until 2004 and restored to the film by the UCLA Film and Television Archive. A 16mm copy is housed at the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research.{{cite web |url=http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/wcftr/filmlist/title.asp?film_id=35005 |title=THE SECOND FLOOR MYSTERY |website=www.wisconsinhistory.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140327234205/http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/wcftr/filmlist/title.asp?film_id=35005 |archive-date=2014-03-27}} Also listed as being incomplete at the Library of Congress.Catalog of Holdings The American Film Institute Collection And The United Artists Collection At The Library of Congress, p.161 by The American Film Institute, c.1978
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|0021351}}
- {{tcmdb title|89375}}
{{Roy Del Ruth}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Second Floor Mystery}}
Category:1930s comedy mystery films
Category:1930s English-language films
Category:Films based on American novels
Category:Films based on mystery novels
Category:Films directed by Roy Del Ruth
Category:American black-and-white films
Category:American comedy mystery films
Category:Films scored by Samuel Kaylin
Category:English-language comedy mystery films
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