The Ghost Camera

THE GHOST CAMERA is a fun, near-forgotten little murder mystery laced with comedy and thrills. It overcomes the shortcomings of a simple storyline by offering a surfeit of action in the form of shadowy figures ever lurking in the background and determined to cause harm to our protagonists.

Our hero is a bumbling chemist, played by Henry Kendall, who was in the later and similarly-themed DEATH ON THE SET. As another reviewer has noted, he looks a bit like Harold Lloyd here, but he's great fun and his humorous asides and quirks makes him an instantly likable figure. Kendall finds an abandoned camera with a picture apparently showing a murder taking place. He develops the shot, but when it's stolen he must go on a quest of his own to deliver justice.

THE GHOST CAMERA has plenty of incident to propel every one of its 66 minutes. Ida Lupino plays the female protagonist and was only 15 years old when this film was made. John Mills also features and was only a little older at 25. Obviously both would go on to greater things but it's fun seeing them so young here. The supporting cast is rounded out by the dependable likes of Felix Aylmer. The film is obviously heavily dated and feels very tame these days, but it's also full of atmosphere and fans of the era will lap it up.

This is a truly solid early British thriller attempt. It might not be as good as the German and American work from the same period but overall it's a solid, original and interesting enough movie.

The concept and overall story of the movie are great- and original thriller material. The movie is however really short and therefor some elements in the story felt rushed. It didn't took enough time to build its tension and mystery.

The main character of the movie, played by Henry Kendall, is at times hilarious, at other times he's borderline annoying and at times he's just plain irritating as an over-the-top English-gentleman. So no, not a great consistency of the main character. It doesn't always help to make the movie and its story enjoyable and interesting to watch.

The movie screams for a remake really. The concept and story of the movie are good, mysterious and tense enough to make a real solid thriller, by todays standards, with. The movie its story really deserves a modern update.

As a whole is a quite solid early British take on the thriller-genre, which is still enjoyable and interesting enough to watch by todays standards, mainly thanks to the really original concept of the movie that is executed well enough but not to the max. I can however still really recommend this movie to the fans of early cinema and to those this movie is perhaps even a bit of an must-see, also a bit due to the very solid and at times quite revolutionary original editing, from none other than David Lean!

7/10

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"Ghost Camera" is a medium-budget British programmer that's interesting today mainly as a precursor to Hitchcock's "The 39 Steps" (man stuck in a boring routine finds both adventure and romance, involving the same woman), as well as Antonioni's and De Palma's much later "Blow Up" / "Blow Out" (a photograph that depicts a murder). It is also notable for some well-executed POV camera shots, as well as an early role for Ida Lupino in her pre-Hollywood ingénue phase. Other than that, it is nothing really special, and moves slower than an one-hour programmer should. Henry Kendall is OK in the lead, but not as funny as he was in the same year's (1933) "Shadow". ** out of 4.

The Ghost Camera (1933)

I had my hopes up for this movie for three reasons. First, it was pre-code (though only in American years--this is a British movie). That always adds hope. Second, it had a young Ida Lupino. Third, it was about photography, or at least hinted at it, and I'm a photographer. All of this is to say, I assumed the movie would be nothing much, and was watching just for kicks.

I was pleasantly surprised in several ways. It is a cute story with some simple twists that only go so far, but it is told really well--the camera-work and the editing are adventurous and loose and downright inventive. You can't miss it. The cameraman Ernest Palmer I've never heard of (and looking at his movies, there's nothing the jumps out there). But the editor? You won't believe it--none other than David Lean. Makes me want to watch it again. Lean was in fact an editor before becoming a star director.

"The Ghost Camera" is a thoroughly British movie, even though Palmer is American and in fact so is the director here, not the very British Lean but Bernard Vorhaus, who made his reputation in England. And the two leading characters are both British. Yes, Ida Lupino for all her hard luck urbane American reputation was born and raised in England. Here she's plays a common type well, a girl with a heart who's in a little trouble. The other lead, Harry Kendall, is a kind of British Harold Lloyd, and he takes some getting used to but in the end he's really rather funny and fun. He's famous at home for his work on stage, and was always dismissive of his movie career, but the movies are all we have now, so the irony of that must irk him in the grave.

The story? A classic idea not far off from Antonioni's "Blow Up"--a camera accidentally gets in the hands of a pair of goofy innocent types who develop the film in it and discover a crime. Using clues in the negatives, Kendall bumbles his way into a comic and silly mess, filled with great camera-work and that fast, creative editing. There is subjective camera (from Lupino's eyes) and wobbly hand-held camera, and a series of wipes following a series of opening doors that will blow your mind. Or your eyes. It's genius, even if it's low budget stuff. It even has the elements of a screwball comedy, where two unlikely leads are destined to fall in love after all.

You can find a free stream or free download of this non-copyrighted movie on line easily. The quality is passable on a computer screen, but little else. But it's worth it!

Driving back from a holiday, a man finds a camera in his car. Developing the negatives, he discovers a photo which shows a murder and others offering clues to the location. He identifies a young girl in another photo and she joins him on the trail.

Low budget second feature which has grown in reputation, with interesting locations and a script to make it worthwhile. Henry Kendall leads with early appearances by Ida Lupino and John Mills. Some scenes with Miss Lupino now feel uncomfortable given her age.