Midnight at Madame Tussaud's

Midnight at Madame Tussaud's has the premise of a creepy movie.

Veteran explorer Sir Clive Cheyne (James Carew) is invited to an unveiling of the latest waxwork model at the museum. He is then invited to spend a night at the chamber of horrors.

Only for much of the rest of the movie being spent on Cheyne being suspicious of her spoilt niece Carol's fiance.

She has got engaged with Nicholas Frome after a whirlwind romance. Cheyne thinks Frome is just after her money and Carol wants to give him £50,000 of her inheritance.

Nicholas was introduced to Carol by Cheyne's financial investor Harry Newton and Cheyne has concerns about his investments as well.

Gerry Melville and Stubbs (William Hartnell) are two journalists who want to get a scoop on the engagement story but they also smell a rat with Nicholas and Newton.

This is a low budget B movie with some actual filming at Madame Tussauds. One the movie leaves the location. It is poor for it.

You have little time for the spoilt and stupid Carol who is on the verge of getting fleeced. The two journalists liven it up a bit and it is good to see Hartnell as the comedy sidekick.

The climax of the movie returns to the wax museum but is poorly staged.

MIDNIGHT AT MADAME TUSSAUD'S is a low budget British horror/thriller with plenty of spooky touches for the horror crowd. It's chiefly of interest for the scenes set within the famous wax museum, which bookend the film; the viewer gets to take part in a tour of the ghoulish effigies and see the museum as it was then. These scenes are a lot of fun, especially with the twists at the climax, and don't disappoint.

The mid-section of the film is more prosaic, although not without elements of interest. It's the usual story of an heiress who falls for a seemingly honest young suitor, not realising that he has somewhat nefarious intentions. There's not really much in the way of incident or action, but despite this the film holds your interest throughout. American actor of the stage and screen, James Carew, holds his own as the put-upon aristocrat at the centre of a daring bet, and there's a nice performance from William 'Billy' Hartnell supplying the comic relief as a goofy journalist.

I knew a 1936 movie actually filmed in Madame Toussard's Wax Museum would be historically interesting to watch, and this is true. Seeing old images of the wife-killing doctor, Henry Cribben, Bluebeard, Sleeping Beauty and various royalty, as well as the Madame herself, as well as a bit of a history lesson to go with it all were well worth this purchase.

There is even a brief tour of the torture chamber, intriguing to think of this as a tourist attraction.

Plotwise, a golddigger is after the young socialite's fortune to pay off his accomplice's debts. Things go wrong when the uncle, Sir Clive, is too suspicious, and the engagement is called off. Sir Clive, as it is, is partaking of a bet to spend the night in the famous museum. And someone plans on taking advantage of that little bit of information. . . . !

Thankfully, the movie is tremendously short, otherwise it could be exceedingly dull, which it does get to be.

But then we had the comedy relief in a character called Stubby, who works with the reporter who wants to cover the socialite's engagement. Who should Stubby be but none other than a very young, very blonde haired Billy Hartnell, who thirty years later would become the very first Doctor Who in the British sci fi program.

Hartnell was clearly told he would be comedy relief and he delivered the goods. When the fighting begins, Stubby proclaims as he flees "me name's Walker."

Only two reasons to check out this movie, but they are well worth it: to see Madame Toussard's in the past and one who would be the time travelling doctor in the future.

George Pearson,who directed this film,was a veteran from silent days. Unfortunately his prospects had plummeted and he had to direct Quota Quickies to make a living. This film was his penultimate film.

He includes his trademark scenes of a moving camera in the front of a Rolls Royce giving us contemporary street scenes.

The cast is quite interesting with a young, uncredited,modeler at Madame Tussauds. Patrick Barr and a young Billy Hartnell as reporters.

The film seems to have been partly shot in Madame Tussauds so we get to see lots of waxworks of personalities of the era.

The film ends on a surprise climax and is worth the £1 a foot paid by Paramount British to the producers.

This is excellent, a more than interesting quota-quickie - swift and to the point and with all the usual financial shortcomings but with a smart storyline, directed by George Pearson. A low budget doesn't always mean low entertainment, I think Primer from 2004 on its USD 7,000 budget proved that for modern generations; just open your mind.

Rich and famous explorer is temporarily immortalised in wax at Madame Tussauds and whilst there has a bet with his crusty friends he can spend a night alone in the Chamber Of Horrors and survive sane. Meanwhile his niece is planning on getting engaged or married to a chap who seems to have no visible means of support and his best friend is acting rather strange too… This can all be obvious and extremely corny of course but also surprisingly intelligent too – you are forced to pay attention if you don't want to waste your time completely. It's a simple but often fascinating tale which logically unfolds to its er somewhat bizarre conclusion. The acting by all is on the staid and stodgy side but competent and believable. Young William (Billy) Hartnell was in here as some kind of wisecracking newspaper man, 27 years before he introduced Doctor Who to the world, and young Bernard (Lord) Miles played a borderline psychotic wax modeller decades before he made it to the top of the acting profession. Charles Oliver had a meaty role here but to me will forever be the Squire from Ask A Policeman. The contrived dinner scene where Nick petulantly turns his back on Carol is too daft to laugh at - she should have thrown something at the back of his head. The scenes in the "museum" were atmospherically filmed and the travelling scenes of the streets of London were interesting, none more so than the clear reflection of two of the camera crew in the car windscreen they were filming.

So plenty of good - and not so good - things in here to recommend especially if like me you like stodgy British inter-war crime movies; if you don't like them and have decided to watch this example my usual observation applies and that you will simply have to kiss the 66 minutes running time goodbye forever!