The Black Abbot

This is an archetypal quota quickie made by the studios that specialised in making quota quickies for distribution by American film companies thereby circumventing the protectionist provisions of the 1928 Quota Act.So this film is 56 minutes long which will mean that Twickenham would have been paid £5600 by Radio Pictures.So Twickenhams profit would be that amount less the actual cost of production.So every method that could be used would be adopted to cut costs.These are all evident here.A thriller in a country house where the action takes place at night means that sets used previously can be fertilized.Editing is cut to a minimum.This means that actors are grouped together so when it comes time for them to say their lines they walk towards the camera,say their lines and walk back to their original marks.It is a bonus to add in an American character actor,in this case Ben Welden.This merely impresses the British audience as there is no chance that RKO Radio will release it in the states.The title is the most sinister aspect of this film.

A rather silly British comedy-mystery that takes place in an old mansion & an adjoining monastery which is supposedly haunted by the Black Abbot. There is too much talk (often in the form of isolated, stagy vignettes, & too little plot. Some of the smaller roles are juicier than the major roles. For example, the parts of Aunt Mary (played by Drusilla Wills) & the maid (played by an unknown actress who keeps wiping her nose) are well done.

A slight but entertaining quota quickie in which a group of stereotypical upper-class types gather in an old mansion when the owner is kidnapped and held to ransom. The working class comic relief prevent things from being too serious.

This is one of those British quota quickies in which the only name I recognize is cinematographer Ernest Palmer. It starts out with John Stuart getting engaged to Judy Kelly, some talk about the household ghost, the Black Abbot, then Miss Kelly's father is kidnapped.

It's a lesser variety of the British Locked Room mystery, with silly-ass humor and servants canoodling each other. Palmer's camera-work is wonderful -- lots of moving shots --but the performances are all over the shop, indicating that director George Cooper either couldn't afford to hire decent actors for the smaller roles, or couldn't direct actors for beans. At 54 minutes it's bearable, but I won't be revisiting.

This is a comedy of its day that isn't what I'd call as funny today. It's got its gags that would have caused a titter or two but it's mainly the individual characters that help it along, not that it really did move along. I don't want to criticise it as there were a few things that were uttered that made me laugh. For one, I like the maid in it; there's one scene she's telling her fella about her last master who came to the kitchen & offered to 'butter me parsnips!' It made me laugh.

There's a very pretty lady, Judy Kelly, her eyebrows are so thin, I thought that she must've painted them on. I don't see women today, with similar brows although the shapes have changed in nearly a hundred years.