The Man Outside

THE MAN OUTSIDE is another routine quota quickie courtesy of director George A. Cooper, who must have directed dozens of similar films during the 1930s. Once again the story is set in and around a country mansion where a cast of characters come up against mysterious figures and sudden murder.

The outset of this film offers something a little different to the norm, with a spooky scene involving a guy breaking into a safe with an oxyacetylene torch. However, as soon as this is over the action shifts to the normal settings with just a couple of rooms brought into play, and the usual caricatures in the cast: the idiotic policeman, the shifty servant, the obnoxious aunt. I have to say I did love the material with the masked guy lurking in the bushes outside which adds a spooky atmosphere to the proceedings.

I find films like THE MAN OUTSIDE either work or fail depending on their humour quotient. Those which take things deadly serious tend to feel very dull as a result. Thankfully there's humour present in this film in the form of a visiting wisecracking character who enjoys taking the mickey out of those assembled. Watch out for future Hollywood star Louis Hayward in an early role.

Henry Kendall, sporting one of those posh, lazy accents, shows up at Cyril Raymond's country home, which he has recently inherited from his uncle. They've been bedeviled by a spot of bother, what with a failed burglary and some chap hanging around outside, and the chauffeur turning up dead. Inspector John Turnbull shows up to ask some questions, while everyone makes sniffy comments except for Joan Gardner, who seems distraught that there's been a murder.

It's a very cheap looking Jules Hagen movie directed by Sexton Blake expert George Cooper, and each new clue is introduced with an obvious ratchet to it. I had the murderer figured out ten minutes before the revelation, and that wasn't based on any clue, just on the available personnel. Louis Hayward shows up in an early role.