One Frightened Night

And featuring the likeable clown from Freaks. What more could one ask? A low-budget Old Dark House mystery that is better than it needs to be, with sharp dialogue and engaging characters...can't go wrong!

Why can't all B pictures be this good?

Intriguing, better-than-average old house thriller where a cantankerous old millionaire decides to give his money to his heirs whilst still alive - providing of course his lost granddaughter from a runaway daughter continues NOT to be found. But on this one frightening night - a granddaughter arrives as does mischief, mayhem, and murder. One Frightened Night, made for Mascot Pictures, is cheaply made and has no major stars; however, it does more with what it does have than in some A List movies of the same period. The opening with the title names put on shades drawn throughout the opening title sequence had me at once, and then actor Charley Grapewin, Uncle Henry from The Wizard of Oz and Inspector Queen from the Ellery Queen movie series, comes on and chews up so much scenery with his cantankerous old codger bit that you end up loving his character from the first moment you see him. Obviously the similarities with this film and The Cat and the Canary are going to be made - and with good reason as both have much in common: a similar story with similar plot twists, a cast of greedy relatives/friends, secret passageways and burning candles, an austere, humorless old maiden of a maid, light comedy amidst the backdrop of murder, and much more. This film is certainly not as polished as that one but a great deal of fun nonetheless. I love the dialog in this film - particularly that of Grapewin but also of Wallace Ford as the "Great Luvalle" and Fred Kelsey as Sheriff Jenks. In one scene Grapewin learns that one of his annoying, greedy relatives, a somewhat hysterical woman won't talk at all anymore and someone says something to that effect. Grapewin looks on dubiously and says something to the effect that she was a remarkable woman for not speaking at all and keeping silent. Such humor is pervasive throughout. One Frightened Night is just good, old-fashioned fun. Period.

Greed is the key in Christy Cabanne's ONE FRIGHTENED NIGHT, which begins with the heirs of elderly Jasper Whyte (THE WIZARD OF OZ's Charley Grapewin) assembling to learn the division of his $5,000,000 estate. Among the expectant are Jasper's wastrel nephew Tom (Regis Toomey), flighty daughter Laura (Hedda Hopper, in DRACULA'S DAUGHTER the following year), ambitious son-in-law Arthur (Arthur Hohl), family doctor Denham (Lucien Littlefield) and scornful housekeeper Elvira (Rafaela Ottiano, later of Tod Browning's THE DEVIL-DOLL). The crotchety Jasper surprises his relations by promising them all $1,000,000, barring the return of wayward granddaughter Doris Waverly before midnight-- but come the witching hour, Jasper finds he must choose between two young women claiming to be the grown up Doris, one demure and polite (Evalyn Knapp) and the other (Mary Carlisle, later in DEAD MEN WALK) sharp-tongued and accompanied by pesky variety magician The Great Luvalle (Wallace Ford, billed as Wally). When one of the Dorises turns up dead by poison, local sheriff Jenks (Fred Kelsey) and deputy Abner (Adrian Morris, brother of Chester), have their hands full trying to keep the survivors from either killing one another or falling victim to a masked fiend dealing death through the business end of an Amazon blow gun.

Former D. W. Griffith protégé Cabanne kicks off this Mascot Pictures quickie with a credit sequence promising a fun sixty minutes plus: as lightning flashes and rain pelts a miniature mockup of an old dark house, the shutters burst open to reveal titles written on window shades drawn down by a bare, pallid arm. After the introduction of the cast via a series of cute vignettes, the camera (cinematography is credited to both Ernest Miller, who later shot Sam Fuller's THE STEEL HELMET, and William Nobles) pushes in through the drawing room windows, upsetting the drapes and telegraphing the dark and stormy atmosphere that will prove `a swell night for a murder.' The script by Wellyn Totman (from a story by mystery writer Stuart Palmer) thwarts expectations by allowing the crusty Jasper Whyte to survive beyond the anticipated expiration date of a cinematic septuagenarian with his fingers curled around a multi-million dollar fortune. Although Wallace Ford steals the show (`Stick around this morgue long enough and they'll be saying goodbye to you with flowers!'), Mary Carlisle proves his equal in doling out the jibes (`I've played tougher houses than this!')-- it's a pity that Totman's script requires her to manifest more romantic interest in Regis Toomey than Ford (who would appear for Cabanne again as the magic-obsessed Babe Hansen of THE MUMMY'S HAND).

Odd title for a fairly conventional murder mystery of the 'Old Dark House' genre, in mid-Depression days when a few bow-ties and gleaming shirt-fronts would bring an hour of welcome escapism to large numbers.

A new inheritance tax is due to come into force at midnight, and an ageing multi-millionaire wants to donate his fortune to his long-lost granddaughter before Uncle Sam gets it - if he can find her, that is. Otherwise it will be divided among five other family-members.

As the clock starts ticking, on a dark and stormy night (natch!), the five lucky winners are assembled in the mansion, when a glamorous blonde, the right age, mysteriously manages to arrive, to a warm welcome from the old man, followed suddenly by a rival candidate, before the first one dies of poison.

Show me one of these Agatha Christie situations, and I will show you a detective saying "The person who killed her is in this room". Among other suspects, you will catch Hedda Hopper in one of the last of those cocktail-guest supporting roles that were her bread-and-butter for so long, before she suddenly found fame as a Hollywood gossip-columnist. Also comic relief in the form of a magician who keeps pulling odd things out of people's pockets (including revolvers). And of course, the regulation housemaid discreetly listening at doors.

This has a terrific opening with the credits played onto a window and it's shade during a storm. Those mugshots of the actors being introduced to us are good and a little creepy in some cases.

Jasper Whyte invites his relatives to his house. He wants to spread his wealth among them before the new inheritance comes into force at midnight. His plans go awry when his long lost granddaughter turns up to change his mind. Then another complication results in a murder which occurs just before the half-hour mark.

Charley Grapewin is very good as the old buzzard Jasper. He played Ellery Queen's father in the detective series from 1940 to 1942. Jasper is definitely the pick of the characters for me. He describes his family as a hungry pack of wolves as he takes delight in taking back the million dollars each he has just given them when his plans are about to be changed.

The comedy isn't overplayed and doesn't interfere with the mystery aspect of the story too much. The action includes a faked identity and poisoned coffee and a locked room murder. There are some good moments which almost tempts me to take it to the next level of rating. But it just falls short of the country house thriller classics of the period.