The Intruder

This is a movie that I discovered through Letterboxd when searching for horror from 1933. The title intrigued me. I was able to find this one on Tubi to check out as well which made it easy. Surprisingly, this was a difficult one to search due to the title and the number of movies since they use it.

Synopsis: a murder is committed abroad on a cruise ship just before it sinks in a storm. The survivors, including the killer, land on a mysterious jungle island.

We start this on an ocean liner. A murder is committed so Det. Lt. Samson (William B. Davidson) is called in to investigate. He is on this ship due to following the now deceased man. He stole diamonds and Samson was following him. It is then thought that whoever did the killing should now have what he stole. In the room is Carlo (Sidney Bracey), who I believe is the deceased's valet.

Samson demands that a group of people be brought in for questioning. This is Connie (Lila Lee), her father - Mr. Wayne (Wilfred Lucas) and her brother Reggie (Arthur Housman). The latter is incapacitated due to drinking. John Brandt (Monte Blue), Daisy (Gwen Lee) and Cramer (Harry Cording) are also called in. Before they can get into though, the ship hits something and they're sinking. This causes panic. Samson can keep everyone in the room aside from John. He flees to save Reggie who is drunk in his room.

This group takes the last lifeboat along with Jamison (Lynton Brent), Capt. Rush (Allan Cavan) and Hanson (John Beck). They are all crew of the ship. This lifeboat makes it to an island. They must hold up here until rescue comes. They aren't alone though. We see a gorilla that calls out in the night. There also is a wild man, played by Mischa Auer, living in a nearby cave. Also, as the synopsis said, the killer is a member of this group. They aren't done yet as they try to get away with murder and keep the diamonds as well.

That is where I'm going to leave my recap and introduction to the characters. The version I watched was 54 minutes so we don't have the deepest story. I do hate to start with a negative, but this movie was all over the place with different plot points that it uses as well. I'll admit, I did read someone else's review to settle in before I could get into my thoughts. This was just to make sure I had things in line.

Where I want to then start is what I like about this movie. We get a murder that shifts into solving the crime. There are a group of suspects, but I'll be honest, I did have a bit of trouble keeping them straight. Connie and Daisy are called in, but I don't believe that they're considered to be the killers. John seems more of a suspect along with Carlo and Cramer. Loosely you could consider Reggie and Mr. Wayne, but the former always seems to be drunk and there for comic relief. Samson is determined to figure it out. He also seems stuck in his ways. If I'm understanding how this plays out, that makes more sense.

This feels standard for the era. Murder mysteries tended to be placed in the horror genre. What is wild about this is that the runtime for my version was under one hour. Despite that, this movie is disjointed in what it wanted to do. We start on a cruise ship which is great. There are then troubled waters and it causes it to sink. We then are on deserted island or so they think. We have this gorilla on the island and a wild man. We still have the murder mystery, but it doesn't seem like it knows what it wants to do. It falls in the trappings of getting too complicated and not fleshing out the elements well enough. This problem caused me to need to reread a synopsis as I was lost. Again, not good for a movie with a low runtime like this.

Where I'll then take this is to the acting. Lee is fine as one of our leads. She gets to show a bit of her abilities, but she also isn't given a lot to work with. There is a romance that sparks between her and Blue's character. That was fitting for the era. I did like how Connie interacts with Gwen Lee's role. They play well off each other too. Housman does add comedy. That is about the extent for him. Davidson is solid as the detective. Other than that Bracey, Cording, Lucas, Brent, Cavan and Beck were all fine. None of them stand out. I did want to give Auer credit as the wild man. He's one that I've seen in other things. His character doesn't fit, but his performance was fine.

All that is left then is filmmaking. I do think that the cinematography is fine. It is early into history of film, so it is limited. We do get miniature work for the sea vessel when it is hitting rough water. It doesn't necessarily fit what they're conveying. It does have charm to it though. The print I saw wasn't in great shape either. There is a guy who is uncredited in an ape suit. That was interesting. Auer's look as the wild man is fine. What I'm saying is that we don't get a lot in the way of effects. It also doesn't need them. The soundtrack didn't stand out to me as a negative or a positive.

In conclusion, this movie feels too generic. It doesn't do well enough in building the story elements that would work. We are falling into a trap of trying to set itself apart by adding too many threads. The acting doesn't do well in carrying this. It is fine, but no one stands out. The filmmaking is about the same. It also doesn't do much to set itself apart either. I can't recommend this outside of seeing this oddity. There are good parts if they just would have focused on them. They didn't unfortunately.

My Rating: 4 out of 10.

The title refers to an ocean liner, on which a murder is committed in the opening moments. The ship soon sinks during the storm, but a bunch of survivors - including the killer - end up making it to a nearby jungle island, occupied by skeletons, a gorilla, and a crazed-looking primitive man (a hilarious Mischa Auer ("You Can't Take It with You")). Also in the lifeboat is a detective (William B. Davidson, "The Most Dangerous Game") determined to reveal the culprit.

Briskly paced and very, very brief (although it appears that this DVD trimmed about a dozen minutes from the run time indicated at IMDb), "The Intruder" is no great shakes, but it's all watchable enough, delivering some decent laughs and mild thrills. Top character actor Auer and Arthur Housman ("Manhandled"), who plays the oft-drunken Reggie, tend to steal the show, although I enjoyed how sassy the leading lady (Lila Lee, "The Unholy Three") was. Other familiar faces like Monte Blue ("Key Largo") and Harry Cording ("The Black Cat") provide additional value.

All in all, this is amusing enough to watch, albeit eminently forgettable. It kills the better part of an hour pretty painlessly.

Five out of 10.

Intruder, The (1933)

** (out of 4)

Bland "old dark house" type mystery but this one here takes place on a deserted island. The film starts off on a cruise ship where a man is murdered but before the killer can be located, the ship sinks with the survivors ending up on a strange island, which appears to be the home of a killer gorilla and a strange caveman. This is a pretty bizarre little film but the screenplay is so weak and so full of holes that I couldn't help but grow rather tired, which isn't good considering the movie runs just 57-minutes. The biggest problem is the story that seems to go in and out of focus as the movie never seems to really pay much attention to the actual mystery going on. Not only do we have the mystery but quite often it takes a back seat to various comedy attempts via a drunk, fighting characters and the strange Tarzan-like creature who keeps yelling throughout the film. The gorilla shows up in a couple scenes and to be honest, I'm still not really sure what he was up to. The inside of the cave with the two skeletons was pretty funny but in the end there's just not enough to keep this thing going. The performances are decent but nothing great. Griffith fans might be interested in checking out Wilfred Lucas in his small role here.

Moving like the wind and possessing a devil make care attitude this film has everything including gaffes for sharp eyed viewers to find.

Where to start? The basic plot has a murder at sea occurring during a wicked storm that sinks the ship and strands many of the passengers on a deserted...almost deserted island. There is much much more to it than that, but if I tried to explain the French men, the skeletons, and the other twists you'd probably think I was nuts.

This movie just goes. From the moment it starts to the end this movie twists and turns in ways that most three hour epics could only dream about. For its sheer nuttiness and throw everything at the audience attitude this film must be seen because you'll never see another movie like it.

I love this movie because it seems so intent on telling its wild story and having you believe it even as you sit there in complete disbelief. On the fun scale its easily a nine simply because its a decently made piece of madness.

Things to watch out for: The boats off shore after the sinking The factory and houses down the beach from the filming locations There are more but I'll leave it to other sharp eyed viewers to spot them.

Obviously dated,this has some interesting bits,especially on the island.They never do go much into the why's and how's of the "resident" on the island,either.Probably ahead of its time in terms of "spookiness",worth a glance,but probably not much else...An opener for,perhaps,films of greater import??