Here's an interesting curio, a film that would have fit perfectly into the SHOCK! or SON OF SHOCK! packages--and better than some other films that made it into those two lineups. It's BOMBAY MAIL, a Universal murder-mystery film from 1934, with Edmund "Chandu" Lowe. The music should be very familiar. The score by Heinz Roemheld was reused by Universal, most notably in the Flash Gordon serials. We'll call this part of the never released package of films from Screen Gems, their follow-up to SON OF SHOCK!: DAUGHTER OF SHOCK!
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Love the open on this film, particularly offhand dismissive reaction to the bomb. Definitely looks worth tracking down. Thanks for the heads up on the score. I'll be keeping an ear open for those musical cues.
BOMBAY MAIL had too many blase characters to hold up on a convoluted first viewing, but once Edmund Lowe arrives 17 minutes in, things do proceed at a much improved pace. Director Edwin L. Marin, who debuted with Bela Lugosi's THE DEATH KISS (1932), immediately followed this with a far superior whodunit, THE CROSBY CASE, which again featured Onslow Stevens (SECRET OF THE BLUE ROOM, HOUSE OF DRACULA) as the prime suspect. Marin later did INVISIBLE AGENT in 1942, scripted by Curt Siodmak.
Ferdinand Gottschalk went from murder victim in BOMBAY MAIL to crime solver in SECRET OF THE CHATEAU. Along with THE CROSBY CASE and THE MAN WHO RECLAIMED HIS HEAD, it was a slim year for horror at Universal, only THE BLACK CAT producing box office chills.
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