Le Docteur Cornélius

This old dark house film is hardly a mystery. You pretty much know who the bad guy is going to be upfront. Yet it has its charms.

After a gangster dies, his elderly widow proclaims that now she is going to cash in on his one million in gold which she has kept all of these years. But on her way to get the gold she sees the gangster's ghost and falls down the stairs and dies. Meanwhile, Stuart Erwin is a plain clothes policeman making the rounds and arresting fraudulent psychics. Patricia (Dorothy Wilson) and her father (Dudley Digges) get rounded up in the dragnet. It turns out that Patricia is a legit psychic, but her dad is dishonest and greedy. After she convinces the police of her authenticity, they decide to take Patricia to the old dark house where the gangster's money is to try and solve who this "ghost" was and where the money is. Unfortunately they bring her father along for the ride.

In spite of the villain being obvious, this one does have some very good atmosphere. And you have to wonder why such a house was built with secret passageways, secret rooms, and trap doors in the first place. Plus it is fun to see Stuart Erwin in a role where he is the forceful confident protagonist throughout rather than a human Droopy like figure as he usually is.

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.

In Before Dawn you will have the opportunity to see Stu Erwin in for him was an offbeat role. Merton Of The Movies typecast Erwin in roles as the eternal schnook.

Erwin is a police detective who is looking for stolen loot and the guy who stole it died and his ghost frightened housekeeper Jane Darwell. So Erwin takes the unusual step of inviting clairvoyant Dorothy Wilson on the case as a consultant.

Enough spooky goings on in this case although we never actually see any kind of spirit. Warner Oland is also in this film as psychiatrist from, where else, Vienna who also is in on the case to expose fake mediums. Wilson's father Dudley Digges is a shady character.

Before Dawn should satisfy mystery and horror fans.

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.