The Maze

Gerald MacTeam (Richard Carlson) is vacationing in France with his fiancee Kitty and her aunt. Upon receiving word that his uncle has died, Gerald quickly returns to his ancestral castle in Scotland.

Weeks pass, and Kitty receives a cryptic letter from Gerald. Intrigued and distressed, Kitty and her aunt go to the castle in search of answers. Once there, they discover that Gerald isn't himself, and the nightmare begins.

THE MAZE is a wonderfully mysterious old spooker / monster movie. Though the finale is somewhat weak, the buildup to it is superb. If you enjoy stories by H. P. Lovecraft or other macabre fiction, then this movie belongs on your watchlist...

The Maze is directed by William Cameron Menzies and adapted to screenplay by Daniel Ullman from a story by Maurice Sandoz. It stars Richard Carlson, Veronica Hurst, Katherine Emery, Michael Pate, John Dodsworth and Hillary Brooke. Music is by Marlin Skiles and cinematography by Harry Neumann.

Scotsman Gerald MacTeam (Carlson) suddenly breaks off his engagement to Kitty Murray (Hurst) and moves to his recently deceased uncle's castle in the Scottish highlands. Kitty wonders why and decides to travel to Craven Castle with her auntie Edith (Emery). Upon arriving they find Gerald a changed man, prematurely aged and acting in a most peculiar way. Just what is going on at this mysterious castle? What is the secret of the big maze out in the grounds?

One of the early ventures into stereoscopic filming, The Maze is a delightfully off-kilter movie. As pretty much anyone who has seen it can attest, the ending, the culmination of great building by Menzies, is so far off the scale it borders on the preposterous, and for many it ruins the picture. Certainly myself had to rewind to check what I had just seen, for I felt like I must have nodded off and slipped into some sort of bad liquor induced dream!

That said, for an hour this is a triumph of atmospherics and set design. Menzies and Neumann cover the story with foggy exteriors and murky shadows, while the interior of the castle is a classic case of Gothic horror textures, with Skiles' musical accompaniments are perfectly evocative. The narrative smoothly moves along with the air of mystery hanging heavy, where the visitors to Craven are locked in their rooms at night, thus at night from the gap under the doors of the bedrooms a slow moving shadow is glimpsed roaming the corridors. What is it? What is it in the distant maze that is shuffling around? Leaving weird footprints around the grounds?

The characters are a stock group for the story, with intrepid girls investigating, shifty servants (naturally), well intentioned friends and lord of the manor harbouring a secret. Menzies fluidly uses the castle and grounds for atmospheric effects, neatly placing the characters within the palpable sense of dread and tragedy, and there truly are some striking scenes, especially the build up sequence to the revelation at film's climax. Then it's that ending...

On reflection the makers missed a trick, the chance to really create a terrifying shock, but you have to say it's also a product of its time and budget. And whilst I understand fully the groans and laughs that derail what has gone before, there is a sadness right there in the reveal, a touching tragedy that bears thought even if the ludicrousness of it all is practically impossible to forgive. 7/10

The story is somewhat ordinary: "haunted" Scottish Castle, mysterious comings and goings, morose servants. Two women saying "I wonder where that door leads to." It turns in a bit of an unexpected direction, but all in all, the story and acting by themselves are worthless.

What makes this a recommended film is the way it is layered, its careful architecture. The reason is because the director was in fact a celebrated set designer/production manager. He thought in terms of spaces.

More: the thing was filmed in 3D. I did not see it that way, but the layering, the sense of containment was rare, and thrilling.

Readers often ask me about my notion of "architectural" films and I reluctantly send them to Welles' "Othello." But that film has other mysteries woven into it. Here, I have an example that is essentially pure.

One narrative device should be mentioned. We have a narrator that frames the thing, the way Ronald Reagan used to frame that TeeVee show presented by General Electric, and Hictcock did his show. She has the same manner, but herself is located spatially.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

Moody, atmospheric and beautifully lensed Gothic thriller about an ancestral castle and its dark secret. A man about to be married (Richard Carlson) is abruptly called away to his ancestral estate. He breaks off his engagement to the delectable Veronica Hurst and she and her aunt (Katherine Emery) then travel to the castle to find out what's going on. There is a maze out back and someone or something prowls its corridors late at night. Excellent storyline and quite suspenseful, at least until the shadowy creature is finally revealed. Then it's off to MST3K territory, unfortunately. Up to that point, a very good ride that may remind some of 1960's "The Haunting." The focus is often on Hurst, and justifiably so. She looks terrific, even with her 1950s perm and makeup. Definitely not one of Carlson's best, and the film is largely forgotten today.

You know, this is not a terrible movie. It's atmospheric and mysterious and the female lead plays her part well...she reminds me of Grace Kelly. Richard Carlson is always good. The conclusion is creative and imaginative, and unlike some viewers who reported on this movie, I actually liked the ending. Interesting notion. They could only do so much with the special effects back then, but I can look past that.

One thing this movie has going for it that too few movies do these days is good-heartedness. There aren't any truly "bad guys." Everybody is acting primarily out of a desire to do good and to look out for the interests of others rather than themselves, and I was left with a feeling of goodwill rather than the typical sense of foreboding and doom that so often is the central theme of movies like this one right to the end.

A waste of time? No, I wouldn't say so. I'd say it's worth a watch.