The House of Fear

Bearing no relation to the Sherlock Holmes 1945 outing of the same title, and actually being a little mistitled itself (shouldn't it be "Theater of Fear"?), "House of Fear" (1939) is a minor if well-plotted whodunit, a remake of a 1928 silent film called "Last Warning" (which I have not seen). It begins well, with a murder (?) during a radio show that turns out to be part of a stage play (the radio show, not the murder), it stalls midway through as it seems no progress in the investigation is being made, but there are some good stunts at the end, and an amusing turn by the little-known Dorothy Arnold as the "easiest study in town" (wink, wink). **1/2 out of 4.

This film adds nothing more to the hundreds of others which had been made during the thirties and forties: mystery stories taking place in a mansion, or simply on a room, all very talkative, tales that could be made for stageplays. Not necessarily movie theaters. OK, this one may be a little above average, there is a ppretty good suspense, and it is not too long to endure. That's not my stuff, my cup of tea and I made an effort. I don't regret it. Director Joe May gave us INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS and also HOUSE OF SEVEN GABLES. Joe May was a film maker from Germany, and I suppose that explains thee good directing skills which are obvious here.

House of Fear, The (1939)

** (out of 4)

Lazy, routine and by the numbers remake of The Last Warning from Universal. The story is pretty much the same as an actor gets murdered during a performance and then years later the cast is brought back together to try and trap the killer. This certainly sinks to the "C" level in Universal's library and it comes off very lazy compared to the original film. Several scenes are redone here but they don't come off nearly as good as the original film. The cast is also rather boring and bland but the 67-minute running time does go by fast.

Universal's 1929 part-talkie "The Last Warning," the last film for director Paul Leni (1927's silent "The Cat and the Canary") was long thought to be a lost film, and while it remains superior to this 1939 remake, "The House of Fear," the latter need not lower its head in shame. Actor John Woodford (Donald Douglas) dies during his latest performance of the play "Dangerous Currents," in the very theatre named for Woodford himself. The police assume it's just a publicity stunt when the body disappears from Woodford's dressing room, and the case remains open for 2 years, with no solution and no corpse. Arthur McHugh (William Gargan), a detective posing as a Broadway producer, decides to bring together the original cast to repeat their performance of "Dangerous Currents," despite the rumors that the theatre is haunted by Woodford's ghost, who communicates with McHugh through a dead phone line. Also, there is one supremely eerie encounter with a spectre in the darkened theatre, and this too cannot be explained away, so there may actually be a genuine haunting. Both actresses stand out: lovely Irene Hervey (who starred in Lugosi's 1942 "Night Monster") plays Woodford's leading lady, and Dorothy Arnold (who co-starred with Lugosi in the 1939 serial "The Phantom Creeps") is the sluttish golddigger. Fast paced, many twists and turns, and consistently witty dialogue (especially Alan Dinehart); a vastly underrated Universal mystery which is too often confused with the studio's 1945 Sherlock Holmes release, plus its 'Crime Club' series, a total of 7 features that ran from 1937-1939. German director Joe May would follow this with "The Invisible Man Returns" and "The House of the Seven Gables," both 1940 releases featuring Vincent Price. "The House of Fear" made three appearances on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater: March 22 1975 (between "The Ghost of Frankenstein" and "Horror Island"), Dec 17 1977 (following "Cult of the Cobra"), and July 2 1983 (solo).

After an actor is killed during the middle of a play the theatre is closed. A year later a young producer (who happens to be a detective going undercover to find out what happened to the dead actor whose body disappeared ) re-assembles the cast and re-opens the theatre (the theater is now reported to be haunted by the ghost of the murdered actor), intending to the stage the same play performed on the night of the murder.

He has a hunch that the killer will show his hand. He does just that as yet another actor is murdered by mysterious means.

Threatening letters, suddenly darkness, secret passages, a motley group of suspects, and murder - this is a fun mystery film featuring an energetic cast, enough things happening to keep you entertained, and the actual theatre is beautifully shot; there's a nice reveal of the murderer at the end. The dialogue is quite witty.