not horrible nor great

Boring, over-political, tech fuzed mess

Absolutely the worst movie.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Though always pinched for cash, Monogram Pictures still managed to produce some pretty good movies. Unfortunately "Murder by Invitation" is not one of them. We've seen this creaky, old plot rolled out in dozens of 1930s and 40s mysteries, but never with such a poorly written script, or such bad acting. Wallace Ford, the leading man, is too old and too out-of-shape for the roll of a dashing reporter, and he looks out of place as the boyfriend of pretty "girl-Friday" Marian Marsh. The rest of the cast are equally unconvincing including the local sheriff, played by George Guhl, whose Upstate New York lawman acts like a hay-seed from Deliverance. Nothing makes much sense here. Sarah Padden, who plays the lady whose family has lived in the old mansion for generations, is perfectly willing to burn it down in order to flush out the murderer. The film is only 67 minutes long, but for those set on watching to the end, it will seem like an eternity.

I won't rehash what the other reviewers have said, other than to say that most were a bit too generous. Even though this B-movie had a running time of only 67 minutes, it seemed to me more like 3 hours, as the whole story was so tedious. Everything about it is flat and stale - the production values, the acting, the writing, and especially the "humor". I am guessing it seemed old hat even in 1941. I gave it a watch because Marian Marsh was in it, and she was incredibly captivating in several of her films of the 1930's. Here she is mostly wasted. There is one basic principle shortchanged here, and it is one that I believe is basic to any kind of drama (comedy or serious, from wild fantasy to kitchen-sink realism) - the sense that those involved in the production - from the writer to the director to the actors - are playing for keeps, giving it their best. That doesn't happen here - everyone seems to be "phoning it in".

"Murder By Invitation" is what's often referred to as 'an old dark house film'. This is because quite a few films like it were made--films where a group of people find themselves at a spooky old house--and they are killed off one by one. Interestingly, this film goes far as even talk about this sort of film when one of the characters mentions early on that this reminds her of "The Cat and the Canary"--one of the earliest and perhaps most famous of the genre. I liked this gentle poke at this sort of film cliché. And, in addition to being an old dark house film, it's also a 'know-it-all reporter film'--another very, very popular sort of film from the era.The story is about a wacky old lady whose greedy relatives can't wait for her to die so they can get her fortune. The film begins with them unsuccessfully trying to have her ruled incompetent by the court so they can get the cash. When that doesn't work, she invites all these jerks to her home for a mysterious midnight meeting--at which point she says she insists they all stay a week so she can figure out which ones should inherit the estate. But, soon after they arrive, bodies start to pile up. So, by the end, it's up to this wacky old lady to work out the solution to the murders--and WOW is her plan nutty! While this film is low-budget and occasionally the writing and acting are not great, the overall picture is actually very good. Why? Because it's so darn irreverent in its sensibilities. I mentioned the one "Cat and Canary" comment above, but I also like the ways the film made fun of things such as the Hays Office, Ferdinand the Bull (from the Munro Leaf book) as well as Philo Vance and other film detectives. Well worth seeing--I almost gave this one a 7.Ferdinand Philo Christopher Hays

Thsi film is one of those Old Dark House murder mystery films that Hollywood was so fond on in the 1940s. This B movie stars Wallace Ford as a popular newspaper columnist and Marian Marsh as his secretary/girlfriend.A rich old lady (Sarah Padden) is claimed to be insane by her family and is taken to court. The court declares her sane. Shrotly thereafter she invites all her family members to her mansion in upstate New York to spend the week so that she can watch over them to decide who to leave her $3 million estate. One by one family members are murdered, with the killer seemingly hiding and watching from hidden passageways that are throughout the house.A typical second feature film, this movie is somewhat enjoyable, but for those of you who are used to suspenseful spooky house movies, this is not what you are looking for. This movie is in the public domain and as such can be easily found on DVD and VHS.