A Night of Terror

Once this gets moving, it's a good thriller with an interesting story that is well worth watching. It has a good cast, led by Basil Rathbone and Ann Harding. The last half of it builds up the suspense very nicely in leading up to a tense climax.

The story is a fairly straightforward one about a young woman who is swept away by a charming man, and then quickly marries him, but then begins to wonder if he is really what he seems to be. The first part is rather slow in setting everything up (the Agatha Christie story on which the play and movie are based is much more economical, and just as suspenseful), but stick with it, because the last part is more than worth waiting for. It squeezes quite a bit out of the possibilities that the situation offers, and you'll definitely want to find out what happens.

All right, it creaks a bit, now, and suffers from the staginess which afflicted many if not most British films of this period, but the Agatha Christie plot (with a strong family resemblance to that other hyper-theatrical melodrama, "Gaslight") is gripping, and the necessary claustrophobic atmosphere is established and maintained -- with help from the excellent score from a very youthful Benjamin Britten (I have, by the way, never come across a reference to this early effort in any Britten biography; it is unmentioned in the long article in Grove's Dictionary). Most of all, it's worth seeing for the terrifying performance by Basil Rathbone, which again reminds us what an accomplished and versatile actor was all-but obliterated in his later absorption into Sherlock Holmes. No goalie-mask, no retractile steel claws, no camera-tricks, he scares the pants off you using only an actor's equipment, and you'll never forget his portrayal of a psychotic, obsessive Bluebeard.

"A Night of Terror," or "Love from a Stranger" from 1937 is based on an Agatha Christie story. A woman, Carol Howard (Ann Harding) wins a huge amount of money in a lottery. She decides to sublet her apartment and go to Europe, first to claim the money in Paris, and then to sightsee. Her fiance doesn't understand, and is unhappy that after working hard for a good job, they're not going to need his salary. They consequently break up.

A man, Gerald Lovell (Basil Rathbone) comes to see the apartment - it's too short a time for him to sublet, but when she and her friend (Binnie Hale) board the ship for Paris, he's on it. Gerald wines and dines Carol, and they are soon married.

They move into the country, where Gerald exhibits some odd mood swings and secretive behavior, which includes making the basement his sacred place where no one is allowed.

On the night before they're due to leave on a long trip, the relationship boils over.

This is a wonderful psychological drama, with very good acting. One of the posts mentioned that the acting was so over the top as to be absurd. For the times, it was excellent acting. Acting style has changed and become much less theatrical over the years. I think it's important (for me anyway) to appreciate films from the perspective of the times in which they were made. Not all performances from those days survive today's critiques. Rathbone and Harding are both excellent.

A year or so before he worked with him for SON OF FRANKENSTEIN, director Rowland V. Lee unleashed a maniacal Basil Rathbone in this unusual thriller that's not really a "good film", but is still pretty interesting and serves up a delicious climax if you can wait it out. Rathbone plays a suave ladies' man who charms his way into the life of a young woman who's just won the lottery. They get married, and only then does the woman realize her husband is not what he seems and may have half his screws loose. If you don't love Basil's insane performance in SON OF FRANKENSTEIN, this will probably drive you even crazier; but if, like me, you think he's more fun than a barrel of monkeys when he lets it all hang out, this one is for you. The battle of wits at the end between Ann Harding and Rathbone has got to be seen to be believed! This one's a must if you love Basil Rathbone, and no Rathbone fan should dare miss it. **1/2 out of ****

Love from a Stranger (1937)

*** (out of 4)

A poor woman (Ann Harding) wins the lottery and soon she's swept off her feet by a nice man (Basil Rathbone) but after they're married she begins to think he has a few secrets including murder. Director Rowland V. Lee does a good job on this story by Agatha Christie and builds some nice atmosphere, which helps matters. Harding is very good in her role but the real key here is Rathbone who, as later in Son of Frankenstein, goes through a nervous breakdown, which is wonderful to watch. Some might call it over the top but I think he does a good job at showing the character losing his mind. Some slow segments hamper the film but the ending certainly makes up for that.