On a dark and stormy night, as is normal in these sorts of pictures, theater producer Herman Wood (Richard Carle) and his secretary Homer Erskine (Johnny Arthur) are being driven by playwright Prescott Ames (John Miljan) to his home when a fallen tree forces them to take refuge in a nearby house, owned by psychologist Dr. Kent (Henry Kolker). Also within are the butler Jarvis (Wilson Benge), Gloria Shaw (June Collyer), who happens to be Amesâs fiancĂ©e, Terry Gray (Donald Kirke), who also has designs on Gloria, and Terryâs widowed sister Beatrice (Eve Southern), who is being treated by Dr. Kent and speaks to her dead husband. All are marooned there for the night when spooky things begin to happen, however, it turns out almost no one is who they say they are and a completely different mystery and danger are about to appear.
Weâre in standard Old Dark House territory here, though with the comic bits turned up and the thriller ones turned down. Quirky characters are stuck in a spooky mansion, with murder and sinister happenings all around, but it is clear from the start that things will be Scooby-Doâd in the end. There are secret passageways, painting where the eyes move, and people vanishing. There is a nice twist at the end of âthe first actâ that sets this apart from its brethren, though less is done with it than I would have expected (avoid other reviews as almost everyone gives away the twist). Otherwise, everything unfolds as expected.
Ames is an amiable enough protagonist, but most of the fun comes from the comic bickering of puffed-up Wood and effeminate Erskine. That sort of routine often annoys me, but here it is written well and it doesnât wear out its welcome.
The dialog is a step above the norm (mainly the jokes), as is the acting. The house looks nice enough, but there isnât enough of it. We keep getting the same angles of the same rooms when we should be seeing strange new locations, or at least a new setup for the camera. Clearly there wasnât enough money to create the needed sets.
This is a nice Old Dark House movie, so if you are in the mood for one, this will do nicely. But thereâs no reason to choose it over others in the sub-genre, and is more a film to watch if it happens to come on TV than to seek out.
Other Poverty Row horror films from director Frank R. Stayer: Tangled Destinies (1932), The Monster Walks (1932), The Vampire Bat (1933), Condemned to Live (1935).