La maison du silence

This 1929 silent film directed by Walter Forde features stolen jewels, a spooky old house, secret passageways, and a gaping pit full of something nasty.

On the death of uncle, George Winsford (Arthur Pusey) and pal Barty (Gerald Rawlinson) arrive at a spooky mansion to learn the terms of the will. There's also a bizarre neighbor, Chang Fu (Gibb McLaughlin) who's interested to learn if he's been left something. There's also an unfinished note hinting at hidden jewels somewhere in the house.

A flashback tells how the uncle had stolen some jewels from a Chinese temple years before, how his business partner was killed, and how the dead man's daughter T'Mala (Mabel Poulton) was abducted. We also see Ho-Fang, the uncle's devoted servant.

Back at the mansion, things start to get desperate when Barty disappears and T'Mala is hypnotized and told to find the jewels. Turns out that Chang-Fu is the one the uncle stole the jewels from and he has followed him back to England.

When T'Mala proves uncooperative, Chang-Fu locks her in a room with a trap door in the floor. The gaping pits terrifies her but she refuses to help Chang-Fu find the jewels, knowing he plans to kill Winsford. What has becomes of Barty? Can anyone save T'Mala and Winsford from the evil Chinese lord? Briskly directed by Forde with lots of camera movement, this somewhat familiar story moves along nicely and boasts a really exciting ending sequence with more than one surprise.

Kiyoshi Takase plays Ho-Fang, Arthur Stratton plays the butler, and Frank Perfitt plays the uncle.

It's easy to see why Mabel Poulton became one of the biggest movie stars in England's late silent period.

Frank Perfit is writing instructions for his heir when the sound of flute playing disturbs him. An a rage he takes his gun and stalks outside.... and someone pushes part of the roof on his head. Soon, his heir, Arthur Pusey and his pal show up for the reading of his will, as does sinister Oriental Gibb McLaughlin, who enquires if a certain gem has been left him. Nope. There's no money, just the incomplete instructions. An oily man breaks in, finds a stack of bonds, and is assassinated by Perfit's giggling Oriental servant, Kiyoshi Takase. Meanwhile, McLaughlin is hypnotizing Mabel Poulton to go fetch... and the movie goes into a long flashback to explain what the dickens is going on.

It's Walter Forde's first directing job in which he doesn't star, and while it is still a silent, it has all the earmarks of the comedy-thrllers he would direct in the coming decade. It's certainly old-fashioned in its tropes, with sinister. Fu-Manchu-like Chinese, stolen gems, sliding doors and such, but the surprises keep coming and you can't tell who's on whose side until well past the hour mark. There are a couple of unanswered questions, like who Miss Poulton is, but the movie zooms along with a briskly moving camera for a decent late-silent melodrama derived from a stage show.