Before Dawn

Back in the 1920s and 30s, Hollywood made a bunch of creepy old dark house films. This is yet another one, though it's a tad different here and there...enough so that it's worth seeing even if the plot isn't especially believable.

When the story begins, a man is dying in agony. He begs his doctor (Warner Oland) to kill him and put him out of his mercy....and the doctor agrees to do so AFTER the man tells him about a fortune in hidden gold.

Some time passes. At the home where the money is hid, the dead man's widow learns of his death. Now she no longer needs to keep the loot hidden...she wants to live in style. But when the ghost of the dead man seems to appear, she dies of fright.

Soon after this, the police constable (Stu Erwin) is investigating some psychic frauds. However, one of them seems to have genuine powers and the police decide to let her investigate the death of the lady by fright. What's really going on here and will they figure out the truth in time?

This is a decent old mystery, though I must admit that Warner Oland overacted horribly throughout the film. Additionally, who the killer is becomes rather obvious. Despite this, the film is enjoyable and fun...if also a bit antiquated.

A pretty clairvoyant (Dorothy Wilson), her greedy father (Dudley Digges), a shady doctor (Warner Oland), and a detective (Stuart Erwin) all look for hidden gold in a haunted house. Nice little old dark house mystery with good direction from Irving Pichel. Dorothy Wilson isn't well known today but she impresses in this role. I'm not sure why she didn't have a bigger career. She's certainly talented enough and beautiful, too. Speaking of people not well-known, Stuart Erwin had a career that last five decades but most people wouldn't know him from Adam today. He was always a solid actor, usually in comedies. But here he shows he can handle being the leading man. He was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar a few years later but didn't win. Warner Oland takes time off from being Charlie Chan to be a bespectacled villain here. He's always good. Character actor Dudley Digges is reliable as ever. Jane Darwell has a brief bit but she's good. Gertrude Hoffman is great, too. Wait until you see her final scene. Overall, a solid cast and nice direction elevates a somewhat flimsy story. Very interesting for the time in that it treats psychic phenomena as real.

Joe Valerie is a gangster who has stashed his loot. He's suffering unbearable pains on his death bed and offers Dr. Cornelius the location for a quick end. Mrs. Marble reads about Joe's death in the newspaper and assumes ownership of the loot. Mattie disagrees. Mrs. Marble falls down the stairs dead after seeing a vision. The police recruits clairvoyant Patricia to help with the investigation.

It's a haunted house meets murder mystery. I do like the starting premise. The police using a clairvoyant is a little out there. Warner Oland who plays Dr. Cornelius made his name playing Charlie Chan. At least, he's not doing a fake Asian here. It's fun that devolves a little into Scooby Doo territories. It's fine.

Detective Stuart Erwin is unimpressed by the sign reading "Mlle. Mystera – Psychic Readings/Vocational Guidance." And when the psychic is unable to contact his deceased Aunt Minnie, he has her hauled in as a fake, along with her manager father.

Still, the young woman insists she's for real: "It's not a racket with me," she says. "I have a gift. I'm really clairvoyant. Sometimes I wish I weren't." –Dorothy Wilson is really quite good as that rare B movie character, the psychic who is neither a phony nor a nut.

Erwin and Wilson are appealing and even believable as they gradually earn each other's respect. The plot takes them both to a spooky old house that may contain hidden robber's loot, and whose elderly resident recently saw a ghost and dropped dead of fright—or was she murdered?

Warner Oland is excellent as a mysterious doctor who knows something about the treasure and whose sinister demeanor may or may not indicate his involvement in these dark doings.

An exciting climax includes a secret passage attached to a dark staircase leading down, down…. This one is lots of fun.

BEFORE DAWN could be a popular little cult picture if it were shown more often. A Medium (effectively played by the dependable Dudley Digges) and his extra-sensorially-gifted daughter are consulted on the frightening occurrences taking place in a, yes, old and mysterious mansion. Here's the catch, though, this is 1933, and, by golly, the daughter is played for real. I've seen dozens and dozens of television detective shows dealing with this exact subject, but those are all from the 70s-thru-current times, and I know the audience was surprised to hear they were actually utilizing ESP in a serious way. Dorothy Wilson was the attractive and intelligent ingenue raised from the ranks of the RKO secretarial pool, as legend has it. Her role might have been played by any number of marvelous actresses - Maureen O'Sullivan, Frances Dee, Jean Parker, Helen Mack - come to mind, but I'm sure glad it wasn't. Wilson is just as attractive, and yet she projects an almost Margaret Lindsay-level intelligence! She's calm and confident about her gifts, and yet she's no stranger to spook house, candle carrying fright. In addition to her old reliable father, she comes to count on detective Stu Erwin, who has learned to accept her gifts and understands the value of her assistance on the case. Veteran Jane Darwell has an effective bit, but Gertrude Hoffman (making her American film debut) impresses, adding much to the proceedings with a bitter, almost inarticulate portrayal. And stealing central focus at all times is the none-other-like-him great Warner Oland. So trustworthy, so sage, so warm as Charlie Chan, we were very fortunate that in this Post-Chan world, Oland had been given so many opportunities to use his "good" for so much marvelous, entertaining "evil." He was allowed to infuse that same trustworthy, sage warmth into a colorful array of motion picture heavies that take us unexpectedly into a darker world, as in SHANGHAI EXPRESS, DANGEROUS PARADISE, the FU MANCHU entries, and in a host of silent films. To the wise viewer, one may distrust him the moment he enters the film, but to those unsuspecting audiences who may only know his Chan films, beware! BEFORE DAWN and Warner Oland certainly keep you wondering. This is an engagingly stirring and unusual little picture!