The Curse of the Wraydons

THE CURSE OF THE WRAYDONS is another murky potboiler that comes to us courtesy of Tod Slaughter, the era's top ham actor. This Napoleonic-era story tells of traitors working for the French against the English, mixing it in with a Gothic-style story of family curses and inherent madness.

Of course, it's all just a vehicle for Slaughter to show off his undeniable talents, which consist of playing up his role theatrically. He's a villain prone to uncontrollable laughter, murky mannerisms, and outlandish facial expressions. His acting belongs on a Victorian stage, but here he was, starring in sensation films for over a decade, and aren't they a lot of fun!

THE CURSE OF THE WRAYDONS is a mixed bag of a film and certainly not perfect by anybody's measure. It's overlong, it feels very staged, and it's also incredibly slow with lots of added on dialogue scenes that go nowhere. However, scenes of Slaughter and his comrades plotting and committing murder are worth watching for, and the Grand Guignol-style climax has to be seen to be believed. There are some references to the legendary figure Spring-Heeled Jack here, but sadly no actual springing - the budget wasn't big enough for that.

The Curse of the Wraydons was made in 1946 but feels like it was made in 1934, such is the creaky pace, static scenes and slow, exaggerated acting on display throughout the yarn. The film is slow, but the day is saved by the majestic turn of Tod Slaughter as the fiendish Chief, an arch villain in the employ of Napoleon, who murders, schemes and plots aplenty. Tod is always lurking in the shadows, laughing maniacally (often at nothing in particular), and is prone to nodding to himself repeatedly when spying through various windows. Yet, while there is scarcely an inch of the scenery that is left unchewed, Tod Slaughter really animates every scene he is in with his unrelentingly evil antics, as he was a unique acting talent in his dogged adherence and revival of the classic elements of the penny dreadful tradition and I truly love his work. So, there is much talk of the exploits of Spring-Heeled Jack, but no heel-springing is ever evident, but there are secret passages, a proto trash compactor, duels, braces of pistols, French spies, and Tod watching and anticipating torture with hand-rubbing glee. So, the film is not as fun as the other Tod Slaughter films, but there are still melodramatic larks galore.

Many years ago my parents attended an estate sale and obtained an old 16mm projector. We were also given several 16mm films, one of which being the Curse of the Wraydons. It is one of the all time funniest "bad" movies ever made: how none of Slaughter's films made in onto Mystery Science Theatre 3000 (MST3K) is a mystery unto itself. The production values are not too bad, considering the high-end period costumes, but the cinematography and audio is so amateurish as to make this a great film for a group whose minds easily work in MST3K mode. One shot cuts to an extreme close up of Slaughter: it is clearly obvious it's supposed to be scary, but the shot is out of focus enough, and he's grinning from ear to ear enough that when showing the film to a fellow fan of Entertaining Bad Films nearly fell off his chair laughing. Some of the scenes' audio sounds as though recorded in someone's bathroom (particularly an odd fencing duel scene): no one at the time (or at least with this production) ever considered recording the lines separately and replacing inaudible lines with audible lines. Not all bad films are entertaining (e.g., In the Name of the King, D-Wars, etc.), but it's safe to say as a "film maker," Tod Slaughter gives Ed Wood a run for his money when it comes to his Inadvertently-Entertaining Bad films.

STRANGLER'S MORGUE (aka: THE CURSE OF THE WRAYDONS) is about treachery and espionage during the Napoleonic wars. The Wraydon family is allegedly cursed with madness. Jack Wraydon seeks to uphold the family honor.

Meanwhile, a criminal known as The Chief (Tod Slaughter), an odious traitor and fiend, murders anyone in his way while betraying the crown. He also seeks revenge for an unexpected reason. Although it takes a while for things to get going, Mr. Slaughter comes through as only he can. His gleeful lunacy is at once histrionic and creepy. He even gets his own hidden dungeon, complete with a novel instrument of torture. Without Mr. Slaughter, this would be one dull movie!

A wonderfully devilish film with a fitting finale...

Madness runs in some families, in the Wraydons it practically gallops in this poky but generally good-looking pre-Victorian melodrama that marked everyone's favourite wicked uncle's return to the big screen after being obliged to confine his villainy to the stage for the duration of the War by official discouragement of horror films (although his thirties vehicles had continued to do the rounds in cinemas).

A whiskerless Tod Slaughter is only Spring Heeled Jack in name, since he skulks about rather than leaps and the action is actually set against the backdrop of the Napoleonic wars, over thirty years before the first alleged sightings of the 'historical' Jack in 1837.