Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Awesome Movie

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

This is a deadly dull thriller about corpses missing from a morgue and the investigation of possible murder of those AWOL stiffs. There's absolutely no action or intrigue concerning who these people are, how they died, and why they are missing in the first place. Pitts plays the girlfriend of one of the suspects (Lucien Littlefield) who is interviewed by the police. Her nervous mannerisms light up the film the minute she steps on screen, and from blinking to stay awake, I went to sudden laughter. Unfortunately, she doesn't come in until half way through the hour long film, and is only on sporadically, her presence the reason I give this a 4 (**) rather than a 1 or 2 (Bomb). Gravely voiced Eugene Palette also adds a little bit of humor, but that's simply because he plays the dumb detective so amusingly.

I honestly don't know if this was meant to be comedy. It did have plenty of goofy little moments, but considering that the film isn't the least bit funny, I have my doubts.This film begins with a man having an argument with a young lady's father. He wants to marry her, but her father is adamantly against it. You see them arguing and a few moments later, the father's body is found in the alley behind a mortuary. You assume the young man did this--and so do the police. Oddly, when the corpse is discovered, the bystanders drop it off at the funeral home and their reactions are very weird--not at all what you'd expect. In fact, many times throughout the film, weirdos (as well as corpses) appear and disappear regularly--but none of this is funny or helps much with the film--or has much to do with the mystery. This makes the film quirky--but not altogether satisfying. And, with this relatively dull script and most indifferent acting and directing, it's only a weak time-passer at best.

In 1932 this movie was called tasteless because it depicted some comical goings on at the morgue but now with films such as "Arsenic and Old Lace" and even "My Girl" it is now seen as quite restrained. For a Tiffany production, it not only boasted a book ("The Illustrious Corpse" ) by Tiffany Thayer, a popular novelist of the day ("Call Her Savage" and "Thirteen Women") but also an impeccable crew. Director H. Bruce Humberstone was given an early chance to make good and went on to have a great career ("Pin Up Girl" (1944), "Hello Frisco, Hello" (1945)). The cameraman Arthur Edeson had a list of credits that included "The Thief of Bagdad" (1924), "All Quiet on the Western Front" (1931), "Frankenstein" (1931), "The Old Dark House" (1932), "The Maltese Falcon" (1941) and "Casablanca" (1942).Funny things are happening down at the morgue - Dr. Everett (Theodore Von Eltz) has a laboratory there and is also planning to elope with Ruth (Miriam Seegar). Ruth's father, Frank Daniels (Lucian Littlefield) is not impressed and the last time Ruth sees him, he's having a "heated" discussion with Everett. The next day a corpse is bought in who is identified as Frank Daniels and the nation's police are on the look out for Everett and Ruth (who are on their honeymoon) and also Tommy, the young assistant undertaker who has taken fright and ran. Detective Brubacher (Eugene Palette) is finding the investigation tough when a wild eyed amnesiac, known as Richard Roe, wanders in and says that a murder has been committed. He was found wandering around in an overcoat and taken in at a boarding house run by Sybil (Zasu Pitts) - his odd behaviour excites police suspicion.I won't spoil the plot but certainly Theodore Von Eltz, whose forte was oily villains, must have confused audiences of the day with his portrayal of the hero. Zasu Pitts and Lucien Littlefield were the highlights, with their very distinctive humour, especially Pitts, with her fluttery mannerisms that convulsed audiences at the time - although Erich Von Stroheim called her the "ablest dramatic actress on the screen". Miriam Seegar, who at this writing is still with us, played Ruth. She was a beautiful ingenue who, unfortunately, didn't appear in any more films after the intriguing "False Faces", filmed the same year as "Strangers of the Evening". She married director Tim Whelan in 1932 and they spent most of the 30s in England, where he directed "The Mill on the Floss" (1937), "The Divorce of Lady X" (1938) and "The Thief of Bagdad" (1940).

I suppose it goes without saying that 1930s America is a different culture than we live in today. The humor of this movie is incredibly foreign. For the entire movie I felt like the dumb blond who doesn't understand the jokes. The plot was complicated, but all and all pretty good. The acting is pretty decent. The fight scene is laughable, the one part of the movie where I think I understood the humor. The movie is set up as a mystery and in the good parts of the movie you wonder what's going on (in a suspenseful way.) And in the bad parts of the movie you wonder what's going on (in a confused way.) The ending does a fair job of cleaning up the confusion. If one's a fan of slap-stick comedy I would say this is probably a classic, but even as one who just don't get it I can say "Strangers of the Evening" tells a good enough story to earn a 6.