Terreur des morts vivants

This is the story of a spectacular gold coin robbery carried off by three men. Once its over, the mastermind, a man named O'Shea, turns his pals in and they go to prison vowing to get revenge when they get out. Ten years later they get out and go looking for O'Shea, and the gold, which has never turned up. At this point the film shifts gears to the happenings in and around an old monastery, now turned into a semi-boarding house. Strange people begin showing up, ghostly happenings begin occurring and finally people begin dying...

From the pen of Edgar Wallace comes a fantastical little murder mystery that's very witty and breezy and a great deal of fun. Certainly its better than the long series of German films from the 1960's that strung Wallace's books together to make a continuing series by never having the villain caught, who became a pseudo-Mabuse super villain.

While the mystery is good, the best part of this film is the acting. What a joy it is to see Bernard Lee, years before Bond, playing a lead. You really get the sense of what his range was. There's Arthur Wontner who several years earlier had played Sherlock Holmes. And of course Alastair Sim bringing a smile to your face as one of the crooks. There are others in the cast, all of which you've probably seen before but never knew their names, and who are equally good.

This is a movie to seek out on DVD, since its one that will certainly give you a good night's entertainment.

If you can't recognise who that is chuckling at the start and later on you shouldn't be watching this film in the first place, since you've probably also never seen any of the screen versions of Edgar Wallace's 'The Ringer' (such as 'The Gaunt Stranger', which opened just a few months later).

Although billed sixth, Alistair Sim has a showy part impersonating a clergyman; and its ironic to see a relatively young Bernard Lee spending most of the film pretending to be sozzled, since by the time he'd become well-known as 'M' in the James Bond films he was required to pretend that he wasn't. (Ditto Wilfrid Lawson, who even then visibly has to make an effort simply to walk in a straight line.)

The ending is an absolute riot!!

People who complain about the predictability of this film miss the quality. Just as with a sonnet you can expect a number of lines and syllables, and some occasional tweaking of the language to fit, so you can expect style and structure fitting a well rehearsed pattern. You have the gothic mansion, a former monastery, with secret doors and passages, an organ playing in the night (no one operating the bellows) and a detached but eerie chapel. The place is a guest house/ private house with a staff including Irene Handel as kitchen maid, Kathleen Harrison as the house maid playing the sorts of parts they played for decades. There is a lost £300,000 in stolen gold, two gaolbirds who, after ten years, waaant to recover it, and get the organiser of the gang who betrayed them. Star turns are Alistair Sim as a crook disguised as a dotty vicar, and James Bond's 'M' as a serial drunk. A number of murders and the melodramatic denouement complete the early 20th century stage play, transferred to film. The style of acting reminds us that several of the performers were already on stage when Victoria died, and the elocution and style were necessary to project across large audiences before sound films came along. The formula for a stage play is all there, including the expected 'crisis'. Worth a watch.

The Terror (1938)

** (out of 4)

Three thieves rob a shipment of gold and two of them are sent to prison for a decade. After the two are released they travel to a creepy old house to track down the man who turned them in and hope to find some of the treasure.

Edgar Wallace wrote the play that this here is based on. There are a couple interesting things in THE TERROR but sadly it's another British film that has way too much talk and boring talk at that. The main reason most people are going to want to watch this is because of the actors who appear here. You've got Bernard Lee from James Bond fame playing a drunk and Alastair Sim playing one of the convicts. Sherlock Holmes fans will also note Arthur Wontner in the cast.

The actual story is decent but there's no question that this "old dark house" movie just runs way too slow for its own good and even at just 70 minutes it feels rather long. It doesn't help that the majority of the dialogue is just downright boring and there's really no energy from the direction. The cast and genre might attract some to THE TERROR but there's certainly much better out there.

As to whom can roll their eyes most.This is a typical Edgar Eallace thriller with a rather predictable plot and climax.A good cast helps make this entertaining.