A dozen people arrive one by one at an old dark house in the rain for a variety of purposes, where they are let in by a butler who has just knocked out another butler. The twelve think they they recognize each other. They had all been on the jury in a murder trial, and had found the defendant guilty. A door opens to the rain, it is closed, and they find the butler lying on the ground. In walks Hale Hamilton, who demands to know whaat they are doing there.
It's an interesting set-up for a murder mystery, and given a script that permitted some grace notes - like having the people be more than two-sentence descriptions - director Richard Thorpe might have made something of it. He was a whi at getting a good movie out of a short budget and mediocre actors. He certainly makes a stab at it, giving cinematographer M. A. Anderson some nice Dutch angles and lets him move the camera to keep a scene going. However, the mystery angle keeps popping up with new situations, people don't say the obvious thing to clear themselves, and the final clue isn't revealed until five minutes before the end, making this less than a fair mystery.
Even so, it's pleasant to see some old and new performers, like D.W. Griffith regular Wilfred Lucas in a late credited role and Walter Brennan in an early credited one. Too bad the print I saw had a soundtrack filled with hiss.