A mysterious and infamous murderer threatens a group of people at an old dark house. His calling card, "The Black Ace." He has warned his victims when he'll strike - hence the title - and only writer Chester Morris can expose him.
Morris theoretically has help in the form of two comical police detectives, Clancy and Dugan, who early in the film offer up this priceless bit of dialogue:
Clancy: What's up, Mr. Drake?
Thornton Drake: You of course know this 'Black Ace.'
Clancy: Oh, sure. We just missed catching him about 6 months ago.
Dugan: Sure, we trapped one of his earwiggers. It was like this: I'm wise this guy blatts out for stoolin'. So I'm crowdin' him wit' the heater but he don't belch. I know he's an alky stiff so I start feedin' him the dynamite when Clancy walks in wit' this guy's twist. She's all full o' happy dust and leapin'. He calls for a blizzard so we let 'er have it, figgerin' on the beef, see? She don't open up on the Black Ace, but she spills enough on this earwigger to get him fried in New York last September.
Thornton Drake: What's he talking about?
Clancy: [to Dugan] How many times have I gotta tell ya? These guys don't understand them technical terms!
Clancy: What he's tryin' to say is this: We buttoned one o' the Black Ace's spies who dropped a dim. He's sweatin' the guy with a rod, but it's no dice. But he remembers that the guy's a stew! So he starts givin' him a jolt now and then. Just then I breezes in with the guy's moll. She's a snowbird. So I gives her a sniff of the gold dust and she opens up on the guy. Last September they gave him the hot squat. That's what he's tryin' to tell ya.
Ah, the good old days, when cops could just give cocaine to people to get them to talk. Probably stood up in court too.
It takes a while to get to the old creepy house, but once we arrive we get snipped telephone wires, a mute housekeeper, a delightfully creepy coroner, and more mystery. Sounds good, right? Sadly, the film largely squanders its pulpy premise by taking a light comic tone where a creepier vibe would have better served the material. The film devotes too much time on the comic relief instead of focusing on the dashing writer character, which would have provided a more exciting story.
3 Stars for keeping the plot moving over its one hour run time. And the poster is cool as hell.
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