The Preview Murder Mystery (1936)

At Worldwide Attractions under studio chief Jerome Hewitt, the prestige production currently filming is a musical remake of the silent classic Song of the Toreador, with the scuttlebutt being that it will make a star out of its leading man Neil Du Beck much like it did for the leading man of the original, Edwin Strange, who has since passed in a workplace accident. E. Gordon Smith, who helmed the original, is directing and producing this remake, with the leading lady being Smith's wife, Claire Woodward, who was married to Strange at the time of the original. There have been some threats issued concerning the preview of the movie, Johnny Morgan, head of the Publicity Department, swearing they not manufactured by him or his department to raise hype for the movie. Johnny is too preoccupied in trying to get his astrology-fanatic assistant Peggy Madison to accept his proposals of marriage, which she has thus far refused in the stars not aligning, to resort to such stunts. But when what appears to be a murder occurs at the preview, and subsequent threats and attempted murders take place at the studio itself, Police Detective McKane, leading the investigation into the murder, orders a lock-down of the studio during the investigation. While he allows the multitude of productions to continue, upwards of seven hundred people are "locked" behind the walls of the studio. What this situation also probably does is lock a murderer in their midst, he/she who will probably try again if the threats are to be taken seriously.