"The Mystic Hour" (1934) stars Charles Hutchison, a renowned Hollywood stuntman famous for his motorcycle riding, especially in serials such as "Lightning Hutch" (1926). Here he's the lead in a grade "B" cheapie made by Reliable Pictures, with co-stars Lucille Powers, Montagu Love, Charles Middleton, Edith Thornton, Eddie Phillips, and Jimmy Aubrey. You can understand how cheap this is by its television re-title of years later, "At Twelve Midnight", signaling something ominous and imminent. This has crooks galore, and from the beginning we're not sure who all the crooks are, but by the middle everybody but the girls seem to be law-breakers or schemers of the worst sort. Hutch loves Powers, but her guardian doesn't think he's the right guy. Why? People begin being bumped off. Hutch is up to be bumped off. Can he overcome all the obstacles? Will this end the way it should? Is the Pope Catholic? I've seen worse, but, boy-o, it's cheap. Hutch is a pretty good actor, though he's not very charismatic. Powers isn't much. She made 11 features and 1 short in five years. Charles Middleton was in serials to the point you'd think he was in every one ever made. Usually a baddie in some shiny other world suit with a mask or a helmet. Now, Montagu Love...there's talent; and he makes this thing actually very watchable. He and stunts by Hutch - some of them really amazing - make this watchable when it probably shouldn't be. It only lasts for one hour exactly. Directed by Melville De Lay: he only directed 2 movies including this one, but was assistant director on 113 films!
