Who's Guilty?

• 1945

• Watchlist

Undoubtedly inspired by Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians, filmed the same year by United Artists as And Then There Were None, this 15 chapter serial told the drawn-out story of a family who is about to be decimated, one by one, by a mysterious master criminal. Just like in the classic Christie whodunit, the culprit fakes his own death to be able to continue his rampage undetected. Adhering to serial traditions, the murderer makes himself heard occasionally as "The Mystery Voice." Former Fox leading man Robert Kent played the detective, who in the final chapter unmasks "The Guilty One," with Amelita Ward as the love interest and vaudeville comic Tim Ryan providing comedic relief. The serial was produced for Columbia by penny-pinching entrepreneur Sam Katzman.