Someone at the Door

Brenon was a leading Hollywood director in the '20s, working with the likes of Theda Bara and Ronald Colman. But his career fizzled with the coming of sound. He couldn't see it lasting. By the time he pulled his head out of the sand, there was no work left, so he returned to his native England and made a series of lively but forgettable comedies. This is a prime example of British Brenon, a creaky but well-crafted comic thriller (from a play by Dorothy and Campbell Christie) about a mischievous journalist who fabricates a murder mystery to further his career.