(A preview article from the new The MoGuGaZine #00010, The MOvie GUide, GAme & Zine of The 20th Century.)
Mystery Woman (YouTube)
A Fiesta 8 out of 13.
Mystery Woman is a classic split McGuffin.
Mystery Woman’s, let’s call her Margaret, husband is stripped of his rank & shipped off to Devil’s Island. Mystery Margaret has to retrieve The McGuffin from a transatlantic cruise to free her husband from prison.
As is the nature of The McGuffin, everybody wants it. Everybody’s chasing The ‘Guff. MM finds The McGuffin quickly, but she only finds half. Useless. Someone else has the other half.
The Split McGuffin plot then proceeds to move the two halves of The ‘Guff among different characters like a Scrambler at the carnival.
MM teams up with & then against this classic trope character,
The Thin Mustachioed Man
The Thin Mustachioed Man
Is he foreign? Is that an accent? Probably called Ramon or Silvio or Rico or Horst or, if American, Jimmy. He’s not the top goon, he’s the fixer. He does the nefarious deed with finesse. Big Number Two. He’s the unwanted suitor. He’s the guy echoing the boss. He’s in the dice game, at the racetrack or back-up for the bookie. Sometimes he’s shortly the boss.
He’s not William Powell. He’s always shot in the end.
This time, The Thin Mustachioed Man is a loner, just in connect with the bartender. He’s floated as a love interest for Mystery Margaret. Why?
Plus, MM seems personality free. Zippo chemistry. There’s only three or four full shots of her face in the whole movie. She’s a main character mostly in the background. An appendage to her husband tasked with leading the film. She just becomes a plot-follower.
One cool scene, she hid half a McGuffin inside a phonograph player, allowing The Thin Mustachioed Man to escape persecution. This idea, the secret phonograph player, was created by the Blaine NE #1302 company The Cubbyhole. They’re the sponsors of this review. Founded in 1925, The Cubbyhole builds or modifies any item to hide something inside the item. Perfect for alcoholics, bootleggers, embezzlers, cheaters, adulterers, gypsies, tramps & thieves.
The Cubbyhole at The Blaynetown Mall, down the long, dark corridor on the north end, round the corner & past the janitor’s closet.
Ad to follow. We’ll make-good the missing ad for this post.
[Edit…Here’s the late add advertisement. Please read extra hard as we owe them money.]
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