- Director: Richard Thorpe
- Writers: Lawrence G. Blochman, Albert DeMond
- Stars: Claire Dodd, Alice White, Osgood Perkins
- Runtime: 1 Hour, 6 Minutes
- Archive.org link: https://archive.org/details/SecretOfTheChateau1934
Synopsis
A man arrives at an auction. The Duke has died, and his possessions are being auctioned off. Inspector Marotte comes in and asks the auctioneer about the auction. He says the old duke was murdered. He warns that the auctioneer might be in danger.
A man walks into the shop and asks how much the auctioneer would pay for a Gutenberg Bible. While the auctioneer works up a quote, he goes into the next room to watch the auction. His friend comes in and bids 25,000 francs on a book, but he thought the bid was only 25. He luckily gets out of it.
The man, De Brunay, talks to Julie about his Bible, and he invites her to come over and see it. She sees the police coming and runs off, but she puts something in his hand. Marotte confronts Julie about her past; she did six months for art theft, but she still denies she did it. She tells the waiter that Marotte is a famous murderer named Prahec, and they all grab him while she runs away again.
A policeman runs up and says a famous book was stolen from the auction, and either a young lady or two young men must have done it: Julie or De Brunay and his friend.
Later, Julie admits to her friend, Lucien, that she had the book in her possession all along. She wants to quit stealing books, but he threatens to turn her in to Marotte. Lucien mentions that he knows where to get a Gutenberg Bible. A rich man recently died and left it to his young nephew.
She goes to see Bardou, the executor of the dead man’s will, and he says it’s his decision on whether or not to sell the Gutenberg. De Brunay comes in and shows her exactly where the book is stored. Didi comes in and steals Bardou’s toupee, which causes a bit of a scandal.
They all sit down for dinner, and we get to know the various characters for a while. After dinner, Bardou opens the cabinet and takes out the old Bible, demonstrating the alarm. Julie claims it’s a fake, so the old man pulls out the real one from under a hidden panel. They’re all worried about that local band of book thieves known to be in the area.
In the middle of the night, they all hear a bell ringing. The old aunt says, “There’s an old legend that says its ringing is always followed by a death.” Bardou sleeps with the key on a chain around his neck. Suddenly, a shot rings out. Lucien comes in secretly and hides in the house.
Next morning, Bardou is dead and the book is gone. Inspector Marotte arrives and immediately recognizes Julie. She says she tried to steal the book, but someone beat her to it. Marotte thinks the villainous Prahec is behind it all. He gets everyone together at the breakfast table and goes over everyone’s alibis.
They catch Lucien outside with the book, but it turns out to be the fake one. Marotte thinks the aunt has the book, since she has a key as well.
The bell rings. Didi screams as she finds the aunt’s body. The group gathers in the library for Marotte to reveal the murderer. The bell rings again, and now De Brunay goes missing. It turns out the bell-ringing this time was just a distraction so Professor Racque could hide it. The old professor is really Prahec. The bell rings again, and they all gang up on the old man, tearing off the old man’s fake beard and wig. De Brunay comes back into the room, having figured out how the bell was being controlled.
Marotte is thrilled. Prahec will get thirty years, and Lucien will get fifteen. He hands Julie over to De Brunay and claims they get a life sentence… together.
Commentary
It’s not a comedy, but it does have a lot of funny moments. Using salad dressing to oil the kitchen door. A house with 26 rooms and a single bathroom. Marotte is a parody and caricature of every “great detective” ever shown on film or written about. He knows everything, and he knows that he knows it all.
It’s overall kind of a parody of every “mystery in an old house” movie ever, with a little “Scooby-Doo” thrown in with just the right amount of humor. Overall, it’s not bad.