The Thirteenth Guest (aka Lady Beware)

Ginger Rogers in a suspense murder mystery before she danced her way to fame with Fred Astaire! That in itself is enough to see this film. Lyle Talbot's a little stiff and stuffy but he always played that kind of part. It's a good low budget mystery complete with haunted house, electronic murder, hooded villian, and a good comic scene near the very end of the film. As pointed out by another reviewer there are some holes in the plot but it's far superiod to many movies of its kind and age. And Ginger is cute!

I enjoyed this antique thriller very much. It was real a pleasure to see pretty, young Ginger Rogers in a haunted house before her Fred Astaire days. The story is somewhat complicated and you have to fill in the blanks sometimes which is normal in these low-budget films (Example: It's never really revealed who the man is that gets murdered while the family is in jail. I'd have to say that it was the missing Uncle, for sure). The haunted house, itself, is very satisfactory and atmospheric. The supporting cast all play well. I laughed outloud when I realized why the character Grump's shoes were on the wrong feet near the end of the film! As far as "oldies" go, I'd have to say that "The Thirteenth Guest" is an agreeable little mystery and that it was a nice surprise to see it's star when she was that young.