Fifteen Wives (1934)

Synopsis
A much-married man of the world is found murdered in this typical low-budget whodunit and each and every one of his fifteen wives seems to have possessed a motive. When Steven Humboldt is found dead in his apartment everyone but Homicide Inspector Decker Dawes (Conway Tearle) assumes he has committed suicide -- presumably from over exaltation. But as Dawes learns, a hydro cyanic gas stored in a glass bowl designated to break under certain sound waves had done the trick. Dawes investigation soon concentrates on the wives in general and Mrs. Sybilla Crum (Margaret Dumont), a lady evangelist, in particular. But Mrs. Crum also ends up dead and the case suddenly takes an unexpected turn. Based on an original screenplay by Charles S. Belden, of Mystery of the Wax Museum fame, and Flash Gordon's Frederick Stephani, Fifteen Wives was produced by small-scale Chesterfield-Invincible on rented sets at Universal. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide