classicsoncall There are a couple of neat hooks in this picture, but otherwise the story left me flat. I liked the creative opening where the title and opening credits were conveyed via newspaper headlines as bundles were thrown from the back of a delivery truck. Shortly later, Smiley Burnette turns up, not as a character in the film per se, but as Smiley Burnette - introduced to three rows of detained murder suspects at a boxing match in order to provide entertainment! The whole idea of that occurring just seemed so awkward and off base that it left me scratching my head.The main story concerns the murder of a championship contender in the middle of a boxing ring. Attempting to sort things out are District Attorney, Bill Devons (Neil Hamilton), and perky playwright Pauline 'Polly' Ward (Evelyn Venable). They develop a playfully contentious battle of wits throughout the story, supported in part by placing five dollar bets on who'll come up with the next winning strategy. The thing is, I couldn't picture these two as a couple no matter how hard the picture tried to take me there. Especially when Devons proposed in the middle of the story for the sole purpose of boxing Polly's ears once they got married. That was a just a good grief moment for me.Somehow through all of this, a connection is made to the identity of the killer by way of a Gene Autry movie poster Polly happens to see; it's for the 1936 film "Comin' Round the Mountain". Wouldn't you know it, the murderer can't get that tune out of his head and blows his cover by whistling at ringside. Never mind that a band at the arena is repeatedly playing that same song throughout the evening, which would prompt just about anyone to join in. So the whole resolution to the mystery seemed just a little dubious to me. But just so there's no doubt of the murderer's motivation, sports commentator Nick Nicholls (Jimmy Wallington) spells out the whole scenario for Polly and the viewer, thereby relieving anyone of actually doing any investigative work to solve the crimes. Then, just as Nicholls is about to put Polly away, the DA and a trio of cops are right there to make the save. When I say they were right there, it's not like they burst on the scene in the nick of time - they were just standing there in the doorway ready to make the arrest! Well I don't know, other reviewers on this board got a lot more from this flick than I did by the sound of it. For my part, I'm just going to move on to the next picture. That will probably be "Comin' Round the Mountain". Smiley Burnette's in it.

MartinHafer My score of 7 is relative to other B-movies. "Hollywood Stadium Mystery" is much better than average for a low-budget B-film, as it has wonderful chemistry between the two leads (Neil Hamilton and Evelyn Venable). Plus, it's pretty good as a mystery.The film starts off with a really neat set of opening credits--very creative and it caught my attention. Then, I noticed early on that there were several very good false alarms that caught the viewer off guard. I love it when I am surprised when I see a film! The film is essentially a romance AND a murder mystery--and I am sure this combination is a bit unusual to say the least! The District Attorney (Hamilton) and playwright (Venable) both investigate a crime that occurred at the arena just before a boxing match began--and both of our heroes have a friendly wager as to which one will solve the crime. The interplay of these two was very nice and didn't appear like what you'd expect in a B--it was very witty and fun. As for the mystery, it's not bad but clearly secondary to these two characters.There is only one major qualm about the film--and it's clearly a sad product of the times. One lady wants to hide from the police so she puts on black-face!! Uggh!! But, this sort of thing wasn't far from the norm in those old days, so it's something you'll have to look past--understanding the context of the times.If you are interested in seeing this film, follow the link on IMDb and download it for free. You'll enjoy it for what it is--a nice little B-movie with a bit extra when it comes to writing.really neat opening credits lots of early false alarms Smiley Burnett black-face

JohnHowardReid As we might expect from director David Howard and writer Stuart Palmer (joined by the McGowan Brothers for screenplay), this is a superior who-dun-it. Mind you, Mr Palmer is a mystery spinner of the always-a-character-you-least-expect school, but in this spin of the wheel we have quite a few such characters to choose from, such as Robert Homans (promoted from the beat to captain for this movie), the cute Lynne Roberts, flashy Barbara Pepper, a brain-dead watchman, Mr District Attorney himself and even Smiley Burnette. The only character we can reasonably excuse is the gorgeous Evelyn Venable because Mr Palmer always has a soft spot for his heroines and it would be very disappointing to find such a classy number mixed up with a dumb pug.Also as we might expect, David Howard has directed this little spree with considerable style which helps to make up for some shortcomings in the action itself. Instead from its trick opening to its unexpected fade-out, moderately witty dialogue rather than action is king. Happily, we also move briefly out of the sound stages to a few real Hollywood locations, including the none-too-imposing entrance-way to Republic Studios, where Miss Roberts treats us to a little comedy relief (which will not set any too well with African-Americans and could easily be deleted).In all, however, a thoroughly enjoyable and surprisingly well-produced "B".

dbborroughs Neil Hamilton plays a District Attorney investigating the murder of a boxer moments before a championship fight. The fighter collapsed with no clear signs of foul play after a tribute to a recently deceased champion. Forced to match wits and trade wisecracks with a mystery writer, played by Evelyn Venable, the DA must try to contend with an arena full of suspects including Smiley Burnette.This is a great little thriller that gets along mostly on the winning performance of the two leads and the smart quips they trade. They are a later day Nick and Nora who are forever trying to one up each other so as to win which ever five dollar bet that is currently passing between them. While the murder itself doesn't make a great deal of sense when its finally revealed, you really won't care since you'll be having too much fun watching the DA and mystery writer try to out do the other.I have to say that the look and feel of this movie is spectacular. Looking at it you'd be hard pressed to believe that this was a B-movie with its large cast, numerous and varying sets. Actually to be honest this is what B-movies really used to be, well produced features for the second part of a double bill. If it wasn't for the B-list cast this could easily pass for a main feature.This is little gem thats worth keeping an eye out for.