Reviewer:
Poohbah70
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favoritefavoritefavorite -
September 17, 2019
Subject:
Frenetic Almost Murder Mystery
PicFixer has it pretty well covered in his review. To flesh iy out a bit, we have Jack Mulhall (Danny) and and Josephine Dunn (Doris Farrington) as the voices of reason. Dunn is the daughter of Frank Ball (Dr. Farrington) who has discovered a means of creating limitless, inexpensive power. Danny and Doris go to visit her father to get his permission to marry. They take along a married couple as chaperones: Eddie Boland (Freddie), a timid and alcoholic man who provides more screams than the women and unneeded comic relief and Marjorie Beebe (Gertrude), a good screamer in her own right. Throw into this mix Martha Mattox (Housekeeper) and Mischa Auer (Henry) her crazed son, some faces at the window, some secret passages and you have a good hour's entertainment - not great, but an interesting variation on the "old dark house" film type.
Reviewer:
picfixer
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favoritefavoritefavorite -
November 29, 2011
Subject:
You mean there is no phone, and nobody paid the electric bill?
Contrary to its setting, this isn't an old dark house mystery. Rather it's a secret panel, faces in the window, clutching hand, screaming women old dark house romp. Eleven minutes are missing from this print. Fortunately enough footage survives to make viewing worthwhile and fun. Mischa Auer goes nicely over the top as an insane caretaker, and so does Eddie Boland as a continuously tanked houseguest. There even is a nifty little sane scientist's lab. Don't worry about the plot. (The uploader's plot description is in error.) However one unfortunate aspect must be mentioned, and that is the racist portrayal of a black taxi driver played by George Reed. It was the '30s, and things like that were signs of the times.
The image quality is good enough, and so is the audio quality.
CAST NOTE: Between 1913 and 1947 George Reed made 128 film appearances, most of them uncredited. He is here at IA in "Judge Priest."