Guard That Girl (1935)

Attorney Joshua Scranton hires "Budge" Edwards and Larry Donovan, who has just bought into Edwards' detective agency, to protect Estelle Hudson, a client of his who is to inherit three-million dollars the next Thursday. He tells them he has reason to believe the girl is in danger from five relatives who stand to benefit by her death. Helen Bradford, Edwards' secretary, with who Larry is in love, insists upon impersonating the endangered heiress. Edwards acts as her chauffeur and Larry as her fiancé whom she met in Europe. Scranton provides a reliable maid, Jeannie Martin, to accompany Helen. Lobo the Marvel dog , Edwards' police dog, goes along as added protection. The relatives, assembled at the Hudson country home, are Aunt Catherine, a crabby dowager; Sarah , her bitter, unmarried daughter; Cousin Ellwood, a simple, good-natured drunk cousin; and the heiress' uncle, Dr. Silas Hudson, who is an archery expert. A big-game hunting arrow sticking in Helen's (posing as the heiress) bedroom door is the first warning or danger, and all hands begin to cast wary glances in the direction of Uncle Silas. Jeanne bravely offers to sleep in Helen's room on a chaise lounge. A prowler, attacked by Lobo, leaves the dog apparently dying and, as the weapon of choice was a rake, Reynolds, the gardener, joins Uncle Silas as a suspect. But a second arrow later rips through a rowboat carrying Larry and Helen. And, a third plows through Jeannie's chaise lounge as she jumps to protect Helen when she sees a secret panel in the bedroom open. Then, Reynolds, who is a private detective hired by who-knows-who is done in by an arrow-shot only an archery expert could have made.