Haunted House

This is a mystery for teenagers so Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys fans may like this one. The main sleuth is an office boy named Jimmie at the down-at-heel Brownsville Bugle. It's a small town newspaper where the editor's chair is so in need of repair and Jimmie's press car keeps breaking down on all of it's journeys. Jimmie likes to take his hand at writing his wannabe writing columns for the newspaper when the editor Albert Henshaw is away.

Jimmie is really upset when a nice old man named Olaf is sure to be convicted of the murder of Mrs Blake in the town. He tells all about this to a newly-arrived girl named Millie who has come to stay with her uncle Albert Henshaw the editor. She encourages Jimmie to pursue his suspicions and together their sleuthing in the old broken-down press car. But their enthusiasm gets the better of them and they just get called mischief makers when they wrongfully suspect one of the town's citizens.

Jimmie loses his job at the Brownsville Bugle and thinks about moving away to pursue his journalistic dreams elsewhere. But then more clues about Mrs Blake's murder emerge and he is persuaded to stay. He and Millie go on a sleuthing adventure that has them in a spooky house during a thunderstorm. They have to sort through dusty box files and decipher an enigmatic poem to gather their evidence.

Some viewers may find the youthful enthusiasm of the young heroes a bit much to take at intervals. But this teen mystery has plenty of pace and a pleasant small town setting where "human nature is pretty hard to figure" sometimes.

Don't let the title of this scarce movie fool you. It's not a haunted house movie & it's not an "old dark house" type of movie. It's a simple murder mystery movie with teenage leads. They do spend about 5 of the movie's 70 minutes inside an old spooky house, but that's hardly enough to warrant naming this movie "Haunted House"! Not a bad movie, although a bit redundant. The acting is OK, there's a neat old hot rod, but it's neither juvenile enough to please that movie crowd, nor scary, nor mysterious enough to please those movie crowds. I rate it 5/10 (& that's being a bit generous).

Although the house concerned isn't haunted, it's merely the crime scene of a murder, young Jackie Moran who works in a small town newspaper is determined to find the killer and prove his worth to editor George Cleveland. He's also showing off for Cleveland's niece Marcia Mae Jones who's visiting from out of town.

For a cheap Monogram programmer it's not Gone With The Wind, but not all that bad either. Moran barks up a wrong tree at first, but eventually gets it right. Imagine having your grandmother being the alibi for your first suspect.

The murder turns out to be a cover-up for another crime. The victim was a wealthy widow and her killer is one whom she gave her trust. And a rather obvious choice.

Not a bad film, but not one to write home about.

So 1940 wasn't only the year former Our Ganger Ernie "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison started playing Scruno in Monogram Pictures' East Side Kids movies, or that other former OG member Mary Kornman made her final picture for the same studio called On the Spot, it was also the year former OG director Robert F. McGowan made his final movies for the exact same studio. One of them was this one which starred Marcia Mae Jones-who previously appeared in McGowan's OG shorts Birthday Blues and Mush & Milk as well as with other former OG member Jackie Cooper in The Champ-and Jackie Moran. They are a couple of teens intent on getting an innocent man out of jail. McGowan provides some good humor as well as wonderful atmosphere concerning the title object which only appears near the end. So on that note, I recommend Haunted House. P.S. Another player familiar to OG fans is Clarence Wilson, who played a meanie in the series shorts, Shrimps for a Day and Little Sinner.

Jackie Moran is the office boy at the small-town newspaper. He's ambitious to be a reporter, and the ongoing trial of Christian Rub, the simple-minded handyman accused of the murder of his employer, has him incensed. His employer, George Cleveland, tells him to mind his own work, but Jackie talks Cleveland's niece into helping him. Despite setbacks, they persevere, leading them to the home of the murdered woman.

I's directed by Robert MacGowan, best remembered as the director of the OUR GANG series throughout the silent era. It's a cheap production from Monogram, anxious to promote their own adolescent stars, but without the budgeting power that the majors could offer. The result is more cute than expert, even though the mild good humor keeps things flowing at a reasonable rate.