The Phantom of Crestwood

What a clever film! Other comments here will fill you in on the content but let me say how interesting and unique is this film for its interactive and multimedia history. Made as the last chapter of a radio play released into cinemas instead of a radio broadcast, this film must have been an interesting and successful experiment in its day. It is also quite creepy and the pre code violence, in particular a stabbing scene on a stairway is very gruesome and explicit. The outdoor scenes almost seem to be testing the boundaries of technical sound and picture achievements of 1931 during production. I paid $3 for a VHS copy of this superb mystery film from a discount shop in Sydney. It is part of a series released here as THE RKO COLLECTION which I see for some reason is not available in the USA. The IMDb availability panel preceding shows that there is no tape or DVD availability for it. Well we have it here..along with The Most Dangerous Game, Island of Dr Moreau, Hips Hips Hooray, Mummy's Boys etc and a whole stack of 1930-33 RKO titles, all marketed legitimately with copyright. How strange Australia can have these but not the USA.

Radio Pictures was prolific in the early days of sound, and thanks to Turner Classic Movie Channel, many can be seen.

Phantom of Crestwood's opening is a rare combination of radio in the movies: The well known announcer, Graham MacNamie, stands before an early dynamic microphone and announces the introduction of the picture with a full orchestra in the studio. This really captures what early radio stations must have been like in the early 30s.

The mystery story is well done and a delight for fans of the era. His name once a household word, Ricardo Cortez is now mostly forgotten.

This film is the concluding episode of a radio mystery, wherein listeners were to try to figure out who the murder is.

In a unique plot twist, the head of a gang (Ricardo Cortez) becomes a "detective" to find the "real killer" before the

police arrive and accuse HIM.

The reviewer who wrote that the "ending makes no sense at all" should watch it more carefully; it makes COMPLETE sense, and shows how the movie "steers you" into thinking that the reason for the murder is one thing, while the ACTUAL reason is something totally different! (I can't say any more without spoiling the ending).

By ALL MEANS, see it! Norm

1932 murder/mystery movie which takes place on a dark and stormy night (of course) and in a "country house" which looks like a castle (don't they all?). Actually this was based on a 1932 radio show which played for (I believe) 6 weeks. It ended with a murder unsolved--to find out who the killer is, you had to see this movie. It's still very easy to follow--you don't have to know the radio show to understand this.

It's lots of fun--there are plenty of suspects, film moves like lightning, has a few very scary moments (the appearances of the "phantom"), an eye-catching flashback technique and a pretty good performance by tall and very handsome Ricardo Cortez. Sometimes the age of this film shows (especially in the outdoor scenes) but, most of the time, it looks great.

This is (unfortunately) a little known film--it pops up on TCM occasionally but that's about it. If you get a chance, see it! It's incredible how this film still holds up after 70 years.

Lots of suspects with motive, plenty of opportunity, and an unusual means of death are behind this tight old-fashioned mystery set in a creaky house with thunder and lightening. The mystery opens up with an announcement by the producers that it follows on to a successful radio drama series that concluded with a contest for listeners to send in what they thought should be the ending. The final solution to "who killed Jenny Wren" leads a group of crooks into hidden passages and false leads executed via a series of flashbacks before the real killers identity is revealed. An alert viewer should be able to figure out the two most likely suspects and eventually "who done it" before all is revealed. Enjoyable film worth watching.