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
Murder by Television (1935)
Prof. James Houghland (Charles Hill Mailes) has invented a new technology for that newest of new products: the television. Multiple companies want his invention, and secretive people threaten him. During his demonstration, he is murdered. Nelson, the chief of police (Henry Mowbray) has many suspects, including Houghland’s assistant Dr. Arthur Perry (Bela Lugosi), medical experimentalist
Ouanga (1936)
Klili Gordon (Fredi Washington), a plantation owner and voodoo priestess, has had a two year affair with white man Adam Maynard (Philip Brandon), but on his travels to the United States, he’s gotten engaged to a white woman and is bringing her back to the islands. The black overseer (Sheldon Leonard—yes, Jewish Sheldon Leonard, who’d
The Rogues’ Tavern (1936)
Police detective Jimmy Kelly (Wally Ford) and ex-department store detective Marjorie Burns (Barbara Pepper) are in a hurry to get married so hop across the border to the Red Rock Tavern, which is instead an inn—I suppose when the producers couldn’t find a tavern set for cheap they decided it was too much effort to
Chloe, Love Is Calling You (1934)
Old dear lord… OK, here goes: In some fantasy Deep South straight out of the wet dream of a KKK Grand Dragon, Voodoo practitioner and stereotype Mammy (Georgette Harvey) has returned to the broken down hovel she’d abandoned when her husband Old Sam was killed by Colonel Gordon (Francis Joyner). She brings along her half-White
The Thirteenth Guest (1932)
Thirteen years ago a dinner party is interrupted when the master of the house, John Morgan, dies. Only 12 of the expected 13 guests had arrived and his Last Will and Testament leaves the bulk of the estate to the missing 13th guest. Now Marie Morgan (Ginger Rogers), on her 21st birthday, has been sent
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1936)
In 1830s London, Sweeney Todd (Tod Slaughter) has carved out a successful career by murdering men fresh off ships, splitting the funds they carry with Mrs Lovatt (Stella Rho) who runs the bakery next door. He’s set his mind in a less bloody way on the beautiful Johanna (Eve Lister), daughter of wealthy ship-owner Stephen
The Monster Walks (1932)
A strange scientist dies suddenly and his will is read ridiculously quickly in his old dark house on a stormy night. attending the reading, or just hanging around nearby, are the dead man’s odd lawyer (Sidney Bracy), his paralyzed and very suspicious brother (Sheldon Lewis), his two plotting servants (Martha Mattox, Mischa Auer), his constantly
The Face at the Window (1939)
Paris is terrified by a murderer and thief known as The Wolf, who is rumored to have some supernatural powers and whose cruel attacks are accompanied by the howl of a wolf. The bank of M. de Brisson (Aubrey Mallalieu) was his last target, giving bank clerk Lucien Cortier (John Warwick) a chance to impress
Drums o’ Voodoo (1934)
Tom Catt (Morris McKenny) has returned to rural Louisiana, with plans to carry out that are both immoral and illegal. Top on his list is blackmailing the upright preacher, Amos Berry (J. Augustus Smith), who has a secret indiscretion in his past that Catt threatens to make public. He’s nearly as interested in turning the
The Devil’s Daughter (1939)
Sylvia Walton (Ida James) returns from Harlem to the islands to inherit a banana plantation. Her half-sister, Isabelle (Nina Mae McKinney), is none-too-happy about this and has taken to the hills and plans to scare her sister away with the use of voodoo. Sylvia is enamored with her conniving overseer (Jack Carter), but she has
The Phantom (1931)
Vaguely sinister stuff happens. Not enough of a synopsis? OK, I’ll write more, but “stuff happens” really covers it. So, master criminal The Phantom escapes from jail before his execution, using a train and a plane. He seems to want revenge on DA John Hampton (Wilfred Lucas), and then… He’s out of the picture. Reporter