The Florentine Dagger (1935) Review - Creepy Borgia Drama

If you're looking for a quick, dusty 1930s mystery that doesn't make a whole lot of sense but has great atmosphere, yes, watch this tonight. Anyone who loves old-school melodrama and weird gothic vibes will have a blast.

But if you need airtight logic or modern pacing, you'll probably hate it within ten minutes. 🗡️

The whole plot hinges on this guy, Juan Cesare, who is convinced he is genetically evil because his ancestors were the Borgias. It's the kind of silly psychological drama they loved back then, where having bad ancestors means you might just murder people in your sleep without knowing it.

Honestly, Juan is a bit of a whiner. He's played by Donald Woods, who spends most of the movie looking like he's about to cry or faint.

He is is love with Florence, but her dad is a total jerk about the whole Borgia thing and says no way.

Then, surprise! The dad ends up dead with a fancy Renaissance dagger stuck in his chest.

Naturally, Juan immediately thinks, "Oh no, I must have done it during one of my weird hereditary blackouts!" It’s a hilarious leap of logic, but the movie treats it with absolute, deadpan seriousness.

The Creepy Mask and Weird Details

What saves this from being a boring police procedural is the sheer amount of weirdness crammed into 70 minutes. For one, there’s a housekeeper who wears a mask because her face is disfigured, and she is easily the spookiest thing in the entire film.

Every time she slinks into a room, the movie gets ten times better.

Also, C. Aubrey Smith shows up. He's always great, playing his usual crusty, authoritative British self, even though the movie is supposedly set in Vienna.

Nobody in Vienna has an accent, by the way. They all sound like they grew up in Ohio or London, which is just classic old Hollywood for you.

If you want a more traditional detective story from this era, you’d probably have more fun with something like Charlie Chan's Courage. This movie is much more interested in theatrical angst than actual clues.

"I have the Borgia blood! It demands blood!"

That's not an exact quote, but it might as well be. The dialogue is incredibly dramatic, probably because legendary writer Ben Hecht had his hands on the script.

You can feel his cynical, snappy touch in some of the detective scenes, even if the romance parts are incredibly mushy.

Speaking of the romance, the chemistry between Donald Woods and Margaret Lindsay is pretty much non-existent. It’s definitely not the sweet, simple chemistry you get in something like Puppy Love.

Here, it just feels like two polite strangers who were told to hug for the camera.

A Few Things I Noticed:

• The lighting in the study scene is wonderfully moody, with huge shadows that make the room look five times bigger than it is.
• The dagger itself looks like a cheap prop from a high school play, which is funny because everyone treats it like a cursed artifact.
• The ending wraps up so fast you might blink and miss the actual killer's explanation.

Is it a masterpiece? Absolutely not.

But the short runtime means it never gets boring, and that spooky housekeeper will probably stick in your mind for a few days. It's a fun little relic from an era when movies weren't afraid to be slightly ridiculous. 🎭