The Moonstone/Murder at Midnight

"Reginald Barker's The Moonstone, a screen adaptation of Wilkie Collins' mystery novel, was a production of Monogram Pictures and plays far better than the typical Monogram title. The emphasis here is on acting and character rather than action, and relatively subtle suspense rather than thrills. The source for Alpha Video's DVD is fairly clean, given the usual state of preservation of Monogram's releases; there's wear, to be sure (and spots, scratches, and blemishes), but nothing that makes the movie unwatchable. A few scenes, such as Phyllis Barry's first appearance, show signs of having a bit too much light pumped through, but there's no serious oversaturation. The major drawback, however, is that Alpha's source print runs only 47 minutes, missing nearly a third of the original release's length. In order to compensate purchasers for the short running time, the makers have thrown in a second feature, Frank Strayer's entertainingly played thriller Murder at Midnight (1931). It's fairly clever and moves better than the so-called ""main feature"" does, dealing with a murder committed in front of a room full of partygoers. The source print, which looks like a 16 mm dupe, is soft in most of the shots, but reasonably intact. There's too much light pumped into most of it, whiting out some of the faces, but it's all viewable and entertaining. The second feature gets the same four chapters as the main film, and both are accessible from an easy-to-use menu that opens automatically on start-up."