The Eleventh Commandment (DVD)

Annie Bedell, the world's richest spinster, dies amid the confines of her New York mansion. If no living heir can be located, her fifty million dollar fortune will pass to her attorney, Wayne Winters. With the Bedell millions, the lawyer can finally marry his fiancee, Corinne Ross. But the girl's father, John, disapproves of the pending nuptials. He hires a barmaid to impersonate Annie's long-lost daughter to prevent Wayne from claiming the fortune. But unbeknownst to all involved, the spinster's real-life husband, Max Stager, fled to Germany years ago after being accused of murder. Now Stager has at last returned from abroad, and anyone who stands in the way of what he considers rightfully his will face certain death.

The Eleventh Commandment is based on a real-life inheritance dispute. Elderly recluse Ella Wendel passed away in March 1931, leaving behind $36 million in New York real estate. With no close relatives, an astonishing amount of people (over 2,000) tried to lay claim to her fortune. The matter was settled in June 1933 by distributing a million dollars to sixty different claimants. Marian Marsh is best remembered for playing Trilby in Svengali (1931) opposite John Barrymore. Beloved character actor Alan Hale, Sr., had winning supporting parts in classics such as It Happened One Night (1934), Stella Dallas (1937), and The Sea Hawk (1940). He played Little John to both Douglas Fairbanks's and Errol Flynn's archers in Robin Hood (1922) and The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). His son, Alan Hale, Jr., is recognizable to generations of TV viewers as the Skipper on Gilligan's Island (1964-1967). George Melford also directed Rudolph Valentino in The Sheik (1921), as well as the Spanish version of Dracula (1931).

Note: Due to the extreme rarity of this film, some sound anomalies do exist.

• drama