Before Dawn

This old dark house film is hardly a mystery. You pretty much know who the bad guy is going to be upfront. Yet it has its charms.

After a gangster dies, his elderly widow proclaims that now she is going to cash in on his one million in gold which she has kept all of these years. But on her way to get the gold she sees the gangster's ghost and falls down the stairs and dies. Meanwhile, Stuart Erwin is a plain clothes policeman making the rounds and arresting fraudulent psychics. Patricia (Dorothy Wilson) and her father (Dudley Digges) get rounded up in the dragnet. It turns out that Patricia is a legit psychic, but her dad is dishonest and greedy. After she convinces the police of her authenticity, they decide to take Patricia to the old dark house where the gangster's money is to try and solve who this "ghost" was and where the money is. Unfortunately they bring her father along for the ride.

In spite of the villain being obvious, this one does have some very good atmosphere. And you have to wonder why such a house was built with secret passageways, secret rooms, and trap doors in the first place. Plus it is fun to see Stuart Erwin in a role where he is the forceful confident protagonist throughout rather than a human Droopy like figure as he usually is.

Detective Stu Erwin is arresting psychics and scoops up Dorothy Wilson and her father, Dudley Diggs. It takes him about ten minutes of screen time to realize she's no phony and enlist her aid investigating the murder of Jane Darwell.

It's a movie clearly influenced by Avery Hopwood's THE BAT, with an old dark house, a hidden million dollars in gold, someone wandering around the house terrorizing anyone who might take the money. There's a lot going on for a a 60-minute movie, and Irving Pichel directs efficiently, with a cast that includes Warner Oland ad Oscar Apfel in the largest role I've ever seen him in. Erwin, who usually annoys me with his passive persona in comedies, is okay; Miss Wilson doesn't have much to do. Given the short length, this movie at a good clip.

Detective Stuart Erwin is unimpressed by the sign reading "Mlle. Mystera – Psychic Readings/Vocational Guidance." And when the psychic is unable to contact his deceased Aunt Minnie, he has her hauled in as a fake, along with her manager father.

Still, the young woman insists she's for real: "It's not a racket with me," she says. "I have a gift. I'm really clairvoyant. Sometimes I wish I weren't." –Dorothy Wilson is really quite good as that rare B movie character, the psychic who is neither a phony nor a nut.

Erwin and Wilson are appealing and even believable as they gradually earn each other's respect. The plot takes them both to a spooky old house that may contain hidden robber's loot, and whose elderly resident recently saw a ghost and dropped dead of fright—or was she murdered?

Warner Oland is excellent as a mysterious doctor who knows something about the treasure and whose sinister demeanor may or may not indicate his involvement in these dark doings.

An exciting climax includes a secret passage attached to a dark staircase leading down, down…. This one is lots of fun.

A pretty clairvoyant (Dorothy Wilson), her greedy father (Dudley Digges), a shady doctor (Warner Oland), and a detective (Stuart Erwin) all look for hidden gold in a haunted house. Nice little old dark house mystery with good direction from Irving Pichel. Dorothy Wilson isn't well known today but she impresses in this role. I'm not sure why she didn't have a bigger career. She's certainly talented enough and beautiful, too. Speaking of people not well-known, Stuart Erwin had a career that last five decades but most people wouldn't know him from Adam today. He was always a solid actor, usually in comedies. But here he shows he can handle being the leading man. He was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar a few years later but didn't win. Warner Oland takes time off from being Charlie Chan to be a bespectacled villain here. He's always good. Character actor Dudley Digges is reliable as ever. Jane Darwell has a brief bit but she's good. Gertrude Hoffman is great, too. Wait until you see her final scene. Overall, a solid cast and nice direction elevates a somewhat flimsy story. Very interesting for the time in that it treats psychic phenomena as real.

BEFORE DAWN could be a popular little cult picture if it were shown more often. A Medium (effectively played by the dependable Dudley Digges) and his extra-sensorially-gifted daughter are consulted on the frightening occurrences taking place in a, yes, old and mysterious mansion. Here's the catch, though, this is 1933, and, by golly, the daughter is played for real. I've seen dozens and dozens of television detective shows dealing with this exact subject, but those are all from the 70s-thru-current times, and I know the audience was surprised to hear they were actually utilizing ESP in a serious way. Dorothy Wilson was the attractive and intelligent ingenue raised from the ranks of the RKO secretarial pool, as legend has it. Her role might have been played by any number of marvelous actresses - Maureen O'Sullivan, Frances Dee, Jean Parker, Helen Mack - come to mind, but I'm sure glad it wasn't. Wilson is just as attractive, and yet she projects an almost Margaret Lindsay-level intelligence! She's calm and confident about her gifts, and yet she's no stranger to spook house, candle carrying fright. In addition to her old reliable father, she comes to count on detective Stu Erwin, who has learned to accept her gifts and understands the value of her assistance on the case. Veteran Jane Darwell has an effective bit, but Gertrude Hoffman (making her American film debut) impresses, adding much to the proceedings with a bitter, almost inarticulate portrayal. And stealing central focus at all times is the none-other-like-him great Warner Oland. So trustworthy, so sage, so warm as Charlie Chan, we were very fortunate that in this Post-Chan world, Oland had been given so many opportunities to use his "good" for so much marvelous, entertaining "evil." He was allowed to infuse that same trustworthy, sage warmth into a colorful array of motion picture heavies that take us unexpectedly into a darker world, as in SHANGHAI EXPRESS, DANGEROUS PARADISE, the FU MANCHU entries, and in a host of silent films. To the wise viewer, one may distrust him the moment he enters the film, but to those unsuspecting audiences who may only know his Chan films, beware! BEFORE DAWN and Warner Oland certainly keep you wondering. This is an engagingly stirring and unusual little picture!