Wealthy young bachelor Gregory Sloane is host at a house party given at his island castle off the Maine coast on a stormy night. The guests include: Sally Wayne, his fiancée and a mystery writer; Madeline, who is carrying on a flirtation with Mischa Kawelin, a Russian pianist; Paul Cooper and his wife, Harriet; and Louise Hollister. While Tom overhears Madeline declaring her love to Mischa, Gregory and Sally argue over her refusal to marry him. Gregory and Mischa feign a quarrel in which they are separated by Paul and Tom; Gregory stages a fake murder of Mischa on the balcony, then confesses the hoax to Sally; but Tom, confronting Mischa, kills him, laying the crime to Gregory’s confession. Sally, however, discovers a button from Tom’s coat in Mischa’s hand, and by making him believe he has taken strychnine, she forces him to confess the murder. More on Wikipedia or Mubi
Watch Midnight Mystery (1930)
