Midnight Faces

Now, many people claim that "Midnight Faces" (!926), which was released very shortly after "The Bat", which is regarded today as the precursor of all the great classic mystery movies of the 30s, was in a way an 'imitation' - and yet (taking NOTHING away from "The Bat": it IS an absolute masterpiece!), "Midnight Faces" at this early stage ALSO contains about ALL the necessary ingredients for a really great, scary and at the same time entertaining mystery: an isolated old mansion, without electric light, of course, dark figures creeping through the hallways, shadows on the walls, a mysterious Asian hiding in the garden, a damsel in distress - and a Mantan Moreland-style secretary for the comical relief!

Besides, the plot is VERY clever and twisted, with a REAL surprise ending; and the acting is marvelous and quite natural for the time: starring young Francis X. Bushman Jr., the son of THE matinée idol of the 1910s, and pretty Kathryn McGuire whom we first pity and then suspect, "Midnight Faces", which has been overshadowed by "The Bat" for so long (and over the years almost sunken into oblivion), surely is another one of the GREAT forerunners of this wonderful classic mystery genre, and I think it does deserve more attention by classic movie buffs as well as by critics!

I come out in favour of Midnight Faces, and even though I agree with both of the two previous posts makes it 2 - 1 for the moment! I too got this from AV, I'd not heard of it before and it was too irresistible and beguiling a title for me: to get it right I even watched it at midnight. The DVD is a budget release, so when the initial film frame wobble didn't go away I feared the worst, but it was suppressed after about 5 minutes, and although the print isn't in the best of shape it's bearable.

The story itself? Likable, implausible, utter nonsense, but you can clearly see the links from Phantom Of The Opera to The Bat and Cat And The Canary, and as such I suppose makes it perhaps more interesting from the historical point of view. The "hero" Ralph Bushman was a bit of a serious wimp, but his "man" Martin Turner still had to call him Boss dozens of times throughout - and even he was under mortal threat from the mysterious figure lunging about the house: no favourites here! What I really liked about MF though is the atmosphere of the spooky old house, and the outside shots of it, a splendid wooden Gothic pile - it was fascinating watching the endless fight on the roof - for the house itself! Incidentally Bushman was rather hard pressed fighting a cloaked figure who insisted on continuously holding one arm up to hide his face.

What a shame it wasn't just 10 minutes longer, and also what a shame if there isn't a better print extant.

A quickie of some interest, despite (or maybe because) of its similarity to both The Bat (a sensational success on the Broadway stage when it debuted in 1920 and ran for a colossal 878 performances at the Morosco) and The Cat and the Canary, an obvious imitator which opened on Broadway in 1922 and ran for 349 performances at the National. Perhaps even more to the point, the much publicized film version of The Bat had its New York premiere on 14 March 1926. And just eleven days later, Midnight Faces made its appearance. Co-incidence? Hardly.

Midnight Faces has all the standard ingredients of the creepy old house horror mystery, including clutching hands from a shadowy cloaked assassin who uses secret passages to make his escapes, a frightened heroine, stalwart hero, personable friend and comic butler. The house is sufficiently large and cavernously gloomy to lend color to the proceedings, and the pace is nothing if not brisk. It's good to see a young Jack Perrin in civvies as the ingratiating friend, while an equally youthful Bushman alertly holds down the role of the hero. Cohn (or Cohen, he was never quite sure how to spell his name) has directed with reasonable flair, though film editor Fred Bain has obviously had his work cut out to paper over some slips in continuity.

Midnight Faces (1926)

** (out of 4)

Lynn Claymore (Francis X. Bushman, Jr.) inherits an old house out in the swamp in the middle of nowhere. Once there he sees a mysterious figure and lady a woman comes running in the house saying a madman with a knife is stalking her. This is an early "old dark house"/horror film that really doesn't know what it's trying to be. There's some minor comedy from the typical stereotyped black man, the horror elements aren't really creepy and the old dark house isn't all that creepy either. Even at 56-minutes this here seems a bit too long.

As of now, this film is only available through the public domain company Alpha, so don't expect perfect quality.

Some think that silent films are by nature, inferior. I would not buy that in a million years. Some of my favorite films have been done by great directors of the silent era. That said, like with modern films, there are clinkers along the way. I consider this to be one of them. It is out of the Old Dark House tradition. Unfortunately, it's plot is silly, the characters are cardboard cutouts of real people, and it is filled with racism. Once again, the black servant is beyond ridiculous, probably because it was the only part available to him. There is a ridiculous fight that last about ten minutes, killing time so we can't mercifully get to the end. Don't bother yourself with this one.