The film begins with five people being killed and one other (Young) almost being killed. The police soon find out that ALL were members of the same unit in Gallipoli during WWI--so obviously this is no coincidence. The police arrange for the surviving members to all meet at the home of the guy who was almost killed--then they can determine if any of them are behind this. However, soon one of these guests dies and a weirdo foreign lawyer (Karloff) comes in and announces that a disgraced member of the unit has most likely orchestrated the killing. While this guy didn't do the killings since he's supposedly dead, his bizarre will did. He's left a million bucks to the surviving member of the unit--and assumes they'll all kill each other to get it! And, if this doesn't get the men killing, he's left the other half to a pretty lady, as he apparently hopes the woman will also come between the men and give them incentive to kill! Perhaps that is why the killings have occurred. What's next? See the film...or don't bother if you haven't got a lot of patience!
I will cut "The Unholy Night" some slack. After all, it's an early talking picture, so you have to expect that the acting style isn't going to be great. Overacting is inevitable to some degree--but this film goes WAY beyond other 1928-29 productions! This is because it's like a tag-team film--where actors keep taking turns over-acting! The worst of these is probably Boris Karloff and a few, such as Roland Young, who actually were pretty restrained. But overall, it's incredibly dated and despite a neat plot idea, the film is only for old movie buffs who are not overly critical and who have realistic expectations!
