High-class escort Jenny Wren (Karen Morley) intends to retire after blackmailing four of her past clients: banker Priam Andes (H.B. Warner), Eddie Mack (Richard “Skeets” Gallagher), William Jones (Gavin Gordon), and Senatorial candidate Herbert Walcott (Robert McWade). She instructs Andes to invite the other three and their significant others to his lodge for a party, which she’ll attend along with her maid. By coincidence, her sister Ester (Anita Louise) returns from school that day with her fiancé, who happens to be Andes’s nephew. so they head to the lodge as well, which causes Andes’s estranged, family-obsessed sister (Pauline Frederick) to show up. The final invited guest is the frail Mr. Vayne, who has a crush on Jenny. But there’s also uninvited guests. Cary Curtis (Ricardo Cortez) has been following Wren all day. He’s a gangster who’s been hired to steal some letters from her that are incriminating to yet another wealthy client, and he’s brought along a few local thugs as backup. When Wren is murdered, Curtis realizes the police will frame him for it, so he plays detective, frantically trying to find the killer before the police can arrive.
Well, they don’t sell them like this any more. As a marketing gimmick, the story was broadcast as a radio serial with the last episode missing. Then they asked listeners to send in their ideas for who killed Jenny Wren for a prize. However, there was no promise that a submitted ending would actually make it into the movie. The film actually begins with Graham McNamee, a radio superstar at the time, standing before an orchestra at what appears to be NBC’s radio studio, explaining the contest in tones that only game show hosts can match and asking “Who killed Jenny Wren.” Then he fades away and the film begins in proper.
The Phantom of Crestwood must have really resonated with Depression-era audiences. Our heroes are Jenny Wren, the blackmailing call girl, and Cary Curtis, the criminal detective. Both are smart, likable, and reasonable, and both are sticking it to the man. They are we the people, getting by as best they can in a world that is against them. The others, except for our two babes who are too immature for the real world, are wealthy elites, and are hypocrites and scum, cheating the masses. Two of them are directly connected to the stock market crash, one a banker and the other a politician who was conning people into “selling short.” The Phantom of Crestwood has something to say, and it’s “Eat The Rich.”
All the Old Dark House tropes are here, used with a bit more panache than usual. The house is spooky enough, but a secret passageway, the phantom, and a death mask give it an extra kick. The storm creates the proper backdrop, with a lovely mud slide keeping everyone in place. It’s all good, as is the story, but The Phantom of Crestwood beats most of its competition on character. It’s Wren and Curtis (and Morley and Cortez) that make this one of the better mysteries and horror films of the decade, though I also give points to the stylish spin that takes us into multiple flashbacks, and those flashbacks have the added advantage of keeping Wren in the movie. It’s the perfect role for Cortez, who always mixed charm and sleaze. Here it fits. Morley is even better, powerful and sexy. She could have been one of the great stars, but studio politics derailed her career and then the Black List killed it. It’s a shame, but we’ve got her here.
If you have any interest in mysteries or Old Dark House films, The Phantom of Crestwood is a film you will want to see.