"I Have Always Had a Suppressed Desire to See a Grave Opened"

THE VERDICT.
Warner Brothers.
1946. 86 minutes.

Wikipedia offers a spoiler-free description of this film starring the irreproducible screen team of Greenstreet and Lorre.

As for Zangwill's original story:

One of the burning questions in 'The Big Bow Mystery' is how the culprit carried out the crime, given the bedroom door was not only locked but also bolted on the inside. Various theories are suggested in letters to the press, including a monkey with a razor coming down the chimney, the removal and replacement of a window pane or a door panel, a culprit hiding in the wardrobe who managed to escape unnoticed when the door was broken down, and secret passages and trap-doors! — Mary Reed

Clues are fairly thin on the ground, and the solution turns out to be one that a modern reader would have entertained from the beginning. It remains quite readable, though, and there is some nice interplay between the characters which is well observed. — Jon Jermey

A related article is here.

Category: Detective fiction