I found this 50-minute crime thriller most interesting for the glimpses of early 20th-century lifestyles. Pretty much everything I write here will be a spoiler. The "agony column" of the local city newspaper provides a way to contact people in need. The two main characters use this source to lure people to their stately home in order to fake a crime and have some scapegoats to blame. Most surprising to me: all the invitees show up! A complete stranger offers you a weekend in the suburbs and you happily go, even 2 single women. Such a different approach to charity from today's impersonal institutions and online kickstarters.
The film was full of crime story cliches and way too many characters for such a short run time. I enjoyed the development of who the most morally bankrupt character would be, not the character set up at the beginning as the primary reprobate, although he was reprehensible too. Overall, one thumb up, one thumb not up or down. Trivia: the niece was played by the orginal "scream queen" Evelyn Ankers, who a few years later starred in The Wolf Man.
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