The Deceiver

(1931)

66 minutes

Mystery

Directed by Louis King

Cast:

Lloyd Hughes as Tony Hill
Dorothy Sebastian as Ina Fontanne
Ian Keith as Reginald Thorpe
Natalie Moorhead as Mrs. Lawton
Richard Tucker as Mr. Lawton
George Byron as Speedy
Greta Granstedt as Celia Adams
Murray Kinnell as Breckinridge
DeWitt Jennings as Inspector Dunn
Al Ernest Garcia as Payne
Harvey Clark as Nat Phillips
Sidney Bracey as Barney
Frank Holliday as Thomas
Colin Campbell as Dr. Schulz
Nick Copeland as Stage manager
John Wayne as the corpse of Richard Thorpe 

Lies, unrequited love, and murder all reside backstage of a Broadway production of Shakespeare's works.  Actor and scoundrel Reginald Thorpe is preparing to leave Broadway for Hollywood, and not only lies to his current mistress, telling her to meet him at the wrong train station, he convinces another girl in the production, Ina Fontaine, to go west with him in an attempt to woo her from Thorpe's understudy, Tony Hill.  Thorpe is not very well liked and several people in the production have grudges against him as well.  When Thorpe is murdered shortly after requesting police protection from Inspector Dunn, the Inspector must sort through a long list of seasoned actors and shifty characters, all with motives to want the unscrupulous star dead.

Notes:

John Wayne makes a brief cameo appearance as a dead body.

Film Daily and Hollywood Reporter note that the working title for The Deceiver was originally Unwanted.