For Every Good Thing in this Remake from Director William "One Shot" Beaudine, there are Bad Things that Make it a Tough Watch. The Monogram Studio was Known for its Low Rent Productions and Often Hid that Shortcoming with Darkness. But Beaudine, Unfortunately, One of the Most Prolific Directors Ever, was No Val Lewton.So the Mystery Element is Succinct with its Foreboding Look and Musty Surroundings but is Negated by the God-Awful Comedy Relief that is so Prevalent, this Must be Called a Mystery-Comedy. Even the Masked Killer, while Looking Ominous behind the Peep Hole, is "Overshadowed" by the Goofiness of the "Sleeping Detective".Overall, if Lowbrid Compilations of Inept Slapstick and Silliness Mixes Well with Your Mystery Movie Input, then Have at it. But Most Viewers will Find this Dated and Dumb with Only a Smattering of Interest Interspersed Among the Shenanigans.Note...To this Day no one has uncovered the "Thirteenth Guest", and the identity remains a "Mystery".

I'm a big fan of B detective movies with wise-cracking heroes, but few of them are as bad as this one. The acting is abysmal, the dialog is flat (with characters making embarrassingly inappropriate attempts at witticisms), the story has a vaguely interesting premise but it goes nowhere.At least I think it goes nowhere. Honestly, about halfway through this hour-long movie my attention wandered and I went over to work on my computer while the movie kept running. I definitely missed some important plot points - for example, I have no idea who the 13th guest turned out to be, assuming that was ever explained. But giving this movie half my attention was still more attention than it deserved.

I've met several people who feel that this version is much better than the original (Ginger Rogers / Lyle Talbot) picture. I disagree.All the "spookiness" from the original (including the black-robed 'phantom') is gone, and the film is "just another mystery".But, to each his own!Norm

A young girl arrives at her ancestral home and is promptly murdered-- -or is she? Twelve years earlier the murdered woman, as a little girl, had attended a birthday party for her dying grandfather. Thirteen partygoers were invited but only twelve attended. The thirteenth guest was death.Now, in the present, the original twelve guests are members of the family fighting over the will and someone wants the money badly enough to kill for it. Detective Dick Purcell is called in to solve the crime, aided by comic sidekicks and the usual inept policemen who only seem to inhabit "B" mysteries. Directed by William "One Shot" Beaudine, this 60 minute quickie is a darn good version of the Armitage Trail mystery and manages to be a little better that its 1932 predecessor-----though for some reason the 1943 film is much more difficult to see.