User Reviews

Back when this film was made in the early 1930s, airline travel was still a novel thing and not a particularly safe or reliable means of transportation. Because of this, the beginning of this film makes sense for the time, though today many may think the idea of an airliner with engine trouble just landing in a small town 300 before its destination impossible. Once there, the group finds a nearby abandoned house and just makes themselves at home—which is a bit hard to believe. Things seem okay, until someone is murdered and some jewels are stolen—at which point this becomes a rather typical whodunit film.

Technically speaking, by later film standards this is a pretty bad film. But, since sound movies were still a bit of a new thing, you can excuse the movie for having no incidental music—something common in many films from 1929-1931. However, the film clearly is a B-movie—with a minor cast and very modest pretenses. As far as the story goes, it's pretty typical of the day and is still worth watching today—though it often seems a bit formulaic and plot-thin. Worth seeing? Well, if you are a nut like me, sure…but otherwise it's just an average to slightly below average production.

By the way, since this film was made before the toughened Production Code was enacted, you might be surprised when you hear cursing in this film—something you would have never found in films made starting in 1934.

A plane headed for California is forced to land 300 miles short of its destination due to storms. The passengers find an abandoned house near to where the plane came down and move in for the night. Including the crew, there are 13 people in the house. Soon, however, there will only be 12 as one is murdered for a bag of diamonds. An undercover detective, whose job it was to protect the diamonds, takes on the investigation. With plenty of suspects, a raging storm, and electricity that keeps going out, can he find the missing diamonds and, more importantly, the killer?

Tangled Destinies is a nice, little, old dark house murder mystery. It's the kind of movie I enjoy curling up with late on a stormy night. Sure, it's got a few problems, but most of these are a product of its age and limited budget. If you're a fan of these older, low budget films, you know what to expect. At times the movie can be stagey, but it has a much better flow than similar movies I've seen. Acting is all over the place. Some of the actors are good, others act as if they've never been in a talking film before - and maybe they hadn't. Likewise, characters range from likable to loathsome (the attorney was so annoying). The film's solution is satisfying and, in all honesty, I should have seen it coming. Overall, a nice way to spend an hour.

Everybody aboard the plane that makes an emergency weather related landing in the middle of nowhere seems to be following someone else aboard. There's a government agent aboard guarding the shipment of diamonds, their theft and eventual discovery, the murder of someone who seemingly had associations with everybody and the sister of an unseen burlesque performer following her former lover to expose his past, and a sweet old lady who likes to snoop and never seems to get caught.

Somewhat better than the messy plot would imply, it's still poorly acted and cheaply filmed, with the wind, thunder rain machine working overtime to present a dark and stormy night. It's fortunately extremely short and packs a ton of intrigue during that time. Ethel Wales is so cutesy pie as the old woman that you expect her to do a cartwheel out of the blue when she helps expose the culprit of all the mayhem.

A very interesting low-budget independent film from the early 30s. An airliner must make an emergency landing to avoid a storm approaching southern California. The plane sets down in a desert and luckily the passengers and crew find an old deserted mansion to take refuge. An old dark house with a working generator and a box of canned soup. Among the passengers taking shelter from the storm are a socialite and her fiancé, a priest, a former-prize fighter, an elderly woman, a mysterious Oriental man,a businessman and a guy carrying a fortune in diamonds...albeit fake gems. A raging storm, blown fuses keeping the mansion totally dark off and on; by the way, there is a murder and upon questioning a few of the passengers are not who they claimed to be. The story line holds attention although you can't say the acting is more than average. Players include:Gene Morgan, Vera Reynolds, Lloyd Whitlock, Syd Saylor, Glenn Tryon, Ethel Wales and Henry Hall. Thank you Netflix for the chance to see this.

Although the title conjures up a domestic melodrama it is really a nicely written, professionally acted murder mystery set in a deserted, fog enshrouded house. Mayfair had the murder mystery market cornered and most of it's output was predictable but just occasionally a film stood out and with "Tangled Destinies" it was probably to do with the superior cast - Glenn Tryon only a couple of years earlier had starred in the prestigious "Lonesome" and Universal's big special of 1929 "Broadway", Doris Hill, in 1929, a young Paramount hopeful and a WAMPAS Baby star, the next year she was turning up in outdoor specials or westerns.

A group of passengers from an airliner that has been forced into an unscheduled landing take refuge in an old dark house (yes, it's one of that genre). They organise a power generator but just as they are setting in for the night the lights go out and when power is restored one of the guests has been killed. The victim turns out to be an agent delivering $500,000 worth of diamonds to Los Angeles and, as usual, everyone is a suspect!!

Doris (Doris Hill) is supposed to be eloping with Floyd, who doesn't seem all that keen - the reason being that he has a sordid episode in his past that he is eager to put behind him and another passenger, Monica, has followed him and threatens exposure ("she's working in a burlesque to earn enough for her and the kid"). Will Doris find out in time not to wreck her life!! She will, if elderly passenger (Ethel Wales) has anything to do with it. She is a real red herring, acting suspicious from the start, she also confesses to having the diamonds in her knitting bag but they turn out to be just quartz!!

Even among the aircraft crew there is human drama as the pretty hostess (Vera Reynolds) plays up to the captain, trying to make the steward (Tryon) jealous - although once in the house the Captain makes a bee line for Doris who he sees as his dream girl and who can rustle up a stack of biscuits even with no electricity!!! Tangled destinies indeed!!

The professionalism of the cast (all of whom were veterans of stage and screen) draws attention away from the sets and lighting which are definitely not A grade!! Clever use of dialogue and characters makes it almost impossible to pick the murderer and thief although there is a particular poster shown in a couple of books I have that gives the game away!!