I've been watching some thrillers from the the first two decades of the talkies. I thought I would start a thread on here giving some comments to these at the rate of one film per post. I have found most of these B-Thrillers enjoyable. But I will warn of any disappointments I have found among them.
shareTHE PHANTOM (1931). Running time 61 minutes.
This is a camp thriller spoof which mostly takes part in a mansion being used as an insane asylum. It's very much an old-dark-house film with secret doorways hidden in walls.
There are some silent movie actors who are on their uppers because they are not suitable for the new medium. So this gives the film an amateurish feel. It's best to ignore this and enjoys the laughs. The dialog by some is delivered in an Oliver Hardy deadpan manner. The mansion servant's includes a maid who spends most of her screen time in a fainting fit and a creepy looking butler who lurks about the corridors.
The best character for me is a tall and gawky man with rubber limbs. He seems to be an inmate with a degree of authority and for some reason carries an umbrella with him everywhere.
THE PHANTOM LIGHT (1935). Running time 76 minutes.
This is a British thriller with a blithe spirit about a 'haunted' lighthouse set on the Welsh coast. All the superstitious Welsh villagers are called Owen except for one with the surname of Morgan just to mix things up a bit.
A lighthouse keeper has been found dead in mysterious circumstances. The reason turns out to be less supernatural as deliberate sabotage of ships enter the story as an insurance scam. The replacement lighthouse keeper is cockney Gordon Harker who doesn't let anything phase him. He soon gets company from a couple of snoopers who boat over to the lighthouse for their own reasons. There's also a reserve keeper and a sick man and a boy there as well so things get mighty crowded.
A village woman is dressed in the Welsh tradition with black pointed hat and only speaks Welsh. And the village is suitably shrouded in fog to give a mild supernatural air about it.
MAN WITH TWO LIVES (1942). Running time 63 minutes.
This is a story of a man who gets another chance at life after being killed in a car accident. He is resuscitated by a doctor who has been experimenting with a dog on returning life to dead beings.
It ventures into the belief in the transmigration of souls and that "souls possess us." So when Philip Bennett is revived at midnight at the very moment that a mob leader is executed in the electric chair he becomes animated with the gangster's soul. Philip becomes a stranger to his own well-to-do family and walks out at night to frequent the seedier side of town. He becomes a violent mob leader and then returns to his family after midnight. He says "Everything important happens at midnight" at his midnight birthday celebration just as the police catch up with him.
An alternative ending is tagged on in the last two minutes which you may like to ignore. But a ghostly dream-like sequence is a good prelude to this part.
MURDER BY TELEVISION (1935). Running time 54 minutes.
My eyes glazed over at the amount of esoteric information about the technology of early television that hampers this as a thriller. Although I did come alive at how big and grand-looking the TV was that is used in the demonstration. Houghland the inventor dies while broadcasting his ideas of how TV will be able to zoom in on places all over the world. A shadow flashes over the screen as the man suffers which suggests someone is moving towards him at the time. It turns out to be murder and suspicion is thrown on those who had left the viewing room about the time of Houghland's death.
The print available of this is poor. I couldn't read the telegram that is presented for us to ponder over because of the horrible glare at this point of the film. None of the cast turn in a good performance which includes Bela Lugosi in a double role. There lots of red herrings including an intruder who doesn't seem to have any relevance to the story.
DEATH FROM A DISTANCE (1935). Running time 70 minutes.
Dr Stone is an anaesthetist who is shot dead while attending a lecture at an observatory. A gun lies at his feet. The whole remainder of the audience are locked in under investigation from Mallory. A female reporter is pushing the police for a story. She invents a story and gets a really dumb policeman to corroborate it. This endangers the life of the astronomical lecturer at the observatory. The killer is expected to strike for a second time.
Suspects are lined up in the observatory at the end. The telescope is timed to fire a shot at the end of the interrogation.
THE MOONSTONE (1934). Running time 47 minutes.
Franklin Blake is entrusted with taking a very valuable yellow diamond to his fiancee who lives in a mansion on the Yorkshire Moors. A number of other people collect in the house on a stormy night. The diamond had been originally taken from a sacred idol and some think there is a curse on it because of this theft. But the new owner disregards this and flaunts it to the guests in her father's mansion. The diamond is thieved from under her pillow as she sleeps.
Inspector Cuff has to sort out the suspects from among the dodgy guests and staff. Cousin Godfrey has been losing money at gambling. Yandoo may be wanting to restore the diamond to it's rightful sacred place even though he says he has adopted the Christian faith. Roseanna the maid has been previously imprisoned for stealing pearls at a former employment.
THE MURDER IN THE MUSEUM (1934). Running time 65 minutes.
This is set in the sphere Museum which is currently housing carnival side-show acts. Councilman Blair Newgate is there to lead a committee that want to close them down. He is shot down there and then and his murder is investigated. The prime suspect's daughter joins forces with a newspaper reporter to find the real killer on their own.
Here is a list of some of the side-show suspects. A foot-painter that has no arms. Professor Mysto the conjuror who reads a lot of philosophy. Pedro the Mexican knife-thrower. And Katuro the mystical fortune-teller.
REIGN OF TERROR (1949). Running time 87 minutes.
This is set in the France of 1794 when the newly-won people's liberties of the French Revolution are being destroyed by Robespierre. He wants to become dictator and he sows paranoia. He has a little black book filled with the names of fellow-revolutionaries who have a date with the guillotine if he has his way. A man claiming to be a prosecutor known as the Terror of Strasbourg enters the story. He and an ambiguous woman named Madelon join forces to steal the black book and turn people against Robespierre.
This is full of intrigue and the sense that no one can be trusted. The chief of police Fouche is likened to a snake and is a sinister ambiguous character of great interest. Robespierre wears the powdered wig of the aristocracy that he has destroyed and feeds doves on his windowsill. This recommended thriller may be found under it's alternative title of 'The Black Book' if you can't find it under the title given.
Basehart was great as Robespierre.
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