Just Another Murder (1935) Online

The cost of conversion to sound had dealt Mack Sennett Productions a blow from which it had never recovered. Likewise the dying off of demand for independent short subjects -- Roach, with bigger stars and better contracts would give up within a year, leaving the field to the majors' in-house productions.

In the meantime, Sennett was struggling to produce decent two-reelers, and this is not a particularly good effort. The movie is structured as a story-in-a-story, which both pads it obviously and gives the interior story of mysterious goings-on at a hotel no pay-off. In addition, the editing, which had always been a strong point with Sennett from the beginning of Keystone, has collapsed.

In short, this is a very poor effort. Oh, it's nice to see old pros like Billy Gilbert and Jack Cooper at work in even the poorest effort. But even they can't save this one.