Checkmate (1935)

Written by CinemaSerf on June 19, 2022

Much better than the average crime caper, this one, and it is odd - and refreshing - to see Donald Wolfit out of his more theatrical guise. An undercover policeman takes up lodgings with a family suspected of involvement in series of jewellery heists. The father "Henry" (Felix Aylmer) is immediately suspicious as he ingratiates himself with one of his daughters and we play a cat-and-mouse game as it appears almost everyone is implicated. It's short and sweet with good performances holding it together.