"The Preview Murder Mystery"

A washed up star thought dead comes back to take revenge on the director and actors doing a remake of what had been his greatest triumph in Robert Florey's "The Preview Murder Mystery" (Paramount, 1936). This view of a preview at Grauman's Chinese is seen at the beginning of the film. Reginald Denny, Gail Patrick, Frances Drake and Rod La Rocque are the stars.

Kurt Wahlner has identified the footage as being from the April 7, 1931 premiere of "Dirigible." He comments: "You may notice a dirigible-shaped cutout suspended over the entrance. Additionally, if you play with the curves, you may see that the hanging banners say 'DIRIGIBLE.'" Visit Kurt's site www.GraumansChinese.org where he has, among other treats, information on every film to ever play the theatre. 

When they actually get around to the preview of the film "Song of the Toreador" we're in Westwood at the Fox Westwood Village.

A shot during the screening. We're not at the Fox for the interior views. Presumably these were done on the Paramount lot.

Everyone is on their guard and thinks the screening is going without incident but, when the lights come up, the star of the remake is found dead. 

See the pages about Grauman's Chinese and the Fox Westwood Village on the Los Angeles Theatres site for the history of these two landmarks.

On IMDb: "The Preview Murder Mystery"