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I remember this film of old. It's a great, chilling, atmospheric horror picture about a man who moves into a Scottish castle, only to discover that there are strange goings-on in the corridors at night. And there are even stranger events taking place out back, in Hollywood's most familiar hedge maze. Yes, this is the maze you've seen in every feature-length film that ever involved a topiary puzzle, up to and including "The Shining." But the punchline to this story is about the last thing you would guess. I certainly didn't see it coming. This is a fine example of how good and convincing a movie can be even when the premise is utterly loopy, bordering on laughable. I'd recommend it to anyone.

You know, this is not a terrible movie. It's atmospheric and mysterious and the female lead plays her part well...she reminds me of Grace Kelly. Richard Carlson is always good. The conclusion is creative and imaginative, and unlike some viewers who reported on this movie, I actually liked the ending. Interesting notion. They could only do so much with the special effects back then, but I can look past that.

One thing this movie has going for it that too few movies do these days is good-heartedness. There aren't any truly "bad guys." Everybody is acting primarily out of a desire to do good and to look out for the interests of others rather than themselves, and I was left with a feeling of goodwill rather than the typical sense of foreboding and doom that so often is the central theme of movies like this one right to the end.

A waste of time? No, I wouldn't say so. I'd say it's worth a watch.

I recently saw this film at a 3-D film festival in Hollywood. It was in polarized 3-D (Gray glasses not red & blue) It was so much fun to watch this film with an audience, the print was excellent and the 3-D perfect. The performances were over the top and that added to the fun, the surprise ending (that we aren't supposed to share with fellow movie go'ers, at least according to the movie trailer and poster) had people howling with laughter. By today's standards this is probably more comedy than horror but with the added dimension of 3-D (complete with cobwebs and bats coming out of the screen) this film was an entertaining romp into 50's horror.

The Maze is directed by William Cameron Menzies and adapted to screenplay by Daniel Ullman from a story by Maurice Sandoz. It stars Richard Carlson, Veronica Hurst, Katherine Emery, Michael Pate, John Dodsworth and Hillary Brooke. Music is by Marlin Skiles and cinematography by Harry Neumann.

Scotsman Gerald MacTeam (Carlson) suddenly breaks off his engagement to Kitty Murray (Hurst) and moves to his recently deceased uncle's castle in the Scottish highlands. Kitty wonders why and decides to travel to Craven Castle with her auntie Edith (Emery). Upon arriving they find Gerald a changed man, prematurely aged and acting in a most peculiar way. Just what is going on at this mysterious castle? What is the secret of the big maze out in the grounds?

One of the early ventures into stereoscopic filming, The Maze is a delightfully off-kilter movie. As pretty much anyone who has seen it can attest, the ending, the culmination of great building by Menzies, is so far off the scale it borders on the preposterous, and for many it ruins the picture. Certainly myself had to rewind to check what I had just seen, for I felt like I must have nodded off and slipped into some sort of bad liquor induced dream!

That said, for an hour this is a triumph of atmospherics and set design. Menzies and Neumann cover the story with foggy exteriors and murky shadows, while the interior of the castle is a classic case of Gothic horror textures, with Skiles' musical accompaniments are perfectly evocative. The narrative smoothly moves along with the air of mystery hanging heavy, where the visitors to Craven are locked in their rooms at night, thus at night from the gap under the doors of the bedrooms a slow moving shadow is glimpsed roaming the corridors. What is it? What is it in the distant maze that is shuffling around? Leaving weird footprints around the grounds?

The characters are a stock group for the story, with intrepid girls investigating, shifty servants (naturally), well intentioned friends and lord of the manor harbouring a secret. Menzies fluidly uses the castle and grounds for atmospheric effects, neatly placing the characters within the palpable sense of dread and tragedy, and there truly are some striking scenes, especially the build up sequence to the revelation at film's climax. Then it's that ending...

On reflection the makers missed a trick, the chance to really create a terrifying shock, but you have to say it's also a product of its time and budget. And whilst I understand fully the groans and laughs that derail what has gone before, there is a sadness right there in the reveal, a touching tragedy that bears thought even if the ludicrousness of it all is practically impossible to forgive. 7/10

...originally released in 3-D, from Allied Artists and director William Cameron Menzies. Kitty Murray (Veronica Hurst) is thrilled when her fiancee Gerald MacTeam (Richard Carlson) inherits an ancestral castle in Scotland, but when he fails to answer any of her letters, or to return to the U. S. on the established date, she and her aunt Edith (Katherine Emery) travel there themselves to see what's going on. They find Gerald much changed, humorless and grim, and hiding a dark and terrible secret, something connected to the large maze located on the castle grounds. Also featuring Michael Pate, John Dodsworth, Hillary Brooke, Stanley Fraser, Lilian Bond, Owen McGiveney, and Robin Hughes.

There's a certain mood attained in the film's early stretches that, while not original, is effective in establishing a sense of gloom and menace. However, all of that is thrown to the wind thanks to the film's incredibly silly finale, when the dark family secret is revealed. It's one of the single most ridiculous moments that I've ever seen in films, and it renders the entire movie one stupid joke. It's laughable enough in its visuals alone, but then Carlson provides the situation with an even dumber explanation for what we've just seen.

My standards and expectations for low-budget horror/Sci-Fi movies from the early 50s are generally set quite low, but William C. Menzies' "The Maze" was an astonishingly pleasant surprise from all possible angles. The script, adapted from a novel, maintains a high and uncanny level of suspense throughout, the mysterious atmosphere actually works, the set-pieces and scenery (notably the titular maze) are eerie, and the performances of the ensemble cast are far above average. And then, yes, there's the ending. Say what you want about the ending, that it's goofy and utterly implausible, but it's undeniably also unique and unseen in the world of horror. Some people hate it, most people make fun of it, but I - for one - really appreciated the climax. Usually when a film keeps on building and building up the mystery, the denouement cannot live up to the expectations, but that's certainly not the case here.

A woman and her aunt go to Scotland to locate her evasive fiancé. This is a much-maligned film because of its denouement, but up to that point, it's interesting, well-acted, eerie, and with fine set design (by William Cameron Menzies, developed for 3-D projection). Veronica Hurst is captivating and genteel, sort of a chic British Marilyn Monroe, still in love with Richard Carlson, who is hiding a family secret in his forbidding castle; there are even bats in the belfry! It moves leisurely until the final extraordinary set-piece, when Hurst and her aunt (Katherine Emery, also the narrator), sneak out of the castle in the night to venture into the maze (pre - "The Shining" - 1980) and find what they're looking for in its center. As a kid, I always remembered this sequence - there's nothing scarier (or claustrophobic) than not finding your way out of a 10-foot high maze of hedges. Naturally, the two women get separated, setting the stage for engrossing suspense with horrific music. The final result is mildly disappointing really, since Carlson's epilogue {a "Psycho" (1960) style postscript} makes some sense to all the goings-on, even provoking sympathy. Worth seeing.

A Scotsman (Richard Carlson) abruptly breaks off his engagement to pretty Kitty (Veronica Hurst) and moves to his uncle's castle in the Scottish highlands. Kitty and her aunt follow Gerald a few weeks later, and discover he has suddenly aged.

I had never actually heard of this film before stumbling across it on Netflix. I can see why it might not get a lot of attention -- it does not have any big names actors, or even cult actors, and the writer, director and producer are all relatively unknown these days. This is too bad, though... the film is on par with such stories as "The House on Haunted Hill".

I am told this film looks even better in 3-D. I can see why it might, with such moments as the bat flying towards the camera. Either way, this film deserves more attention...

The Maze (1953)

** (out of 4)

When her fiancé Gerald (Richard Carlson) leaves before their wedding with no real answer, Kitty (Veronica Hurst) and her aunt (Katherine Emery) follow him to his family's estate in Scotland. Once there the women discover that Gerald has aged for some reason and soon they realize that there's even more family secrets. THE MAZE is a hard film to judge because it contains some very good stuff but the problem is that the story itself is just boring and really drawn out for no good reason. The film features some terrific performances as well as a haunting atmosphere and these here make it worth sitting through. Director William Cameron Menzies (INVADERS FROM MARS) does a wonderful job building up the creepy atmosphere of the old castle. From the opening shots of the fog thick outside to the staircase with all the spider webs. The director really makes one believe you're in this location and he also puts the maze (much like the one later seen in THE SHINING) to good use. He also handles the B&W cinematography very well as the film looks terrific and the use of shadows is well done. Carlson turns in a good performance in the lead and I though both Hurst and Emery were good. The supporting players are good as well so with all of this what's the problem? The screenplay is incredibly weak and it just doesn't go anywhere. Gerald asks the women to leave. They tell a lie to where they can stay an extra day. They discuss what could possibly be happened. These three steps repeat themselves over and over and it's just really boring. I won't give away the secret but when it's finally revealed you really can't help but laugh. The effect of this reveal is also rather laughable. The film was originally shot in 3-D but watching the standard version I really didn't see anything that would really jump out. THE MAZE is an interesting film with a lot going for it but sadly most of the good stuff was just wasted.

Kitty (Veronica Hurst) and Edith (Katherine Emery) pay an unexpected visit to Gerald (Richard Carlson) in his castle in Scotland where he has mysteriously shut himself off from the world. His behaviour is very strange and he locks his guests in their rooms at night. Why is there a maze in the garden which is out of bounds? Kitty and Edith do some investigating and alert some friends to come and join them.....

This film is entertaining to watch because the characters are annoying. But its the kind of annoying that makes you laugh, eg, Kitty's terrible pronunciation which lasts throughout the whole film. She says things like "Ketherine" and "heppening" and it is relentless. You have to laugh! Edith, on the other hand, has an equally annoying accent. She is either Scottish and pretending to be posh, or she is affecting a terrible Scottish accent. I'm not sure which one! And then there is Gerald who is just so unpleasant to his guests that it has you laughing at his rudeness! Not to mention his servants who play it up as the "spooky" characters. Mix these characters with the film's ending and you have certainly been entertained. I'd like to see it in 3-D.

I grew up in the days when "good special effects" included rocket ships, obviously made out of paper towel tubes with a road flare jammed in them, and paper mache planets. This film was out around then, so forgive the less than incredible props, and watch it for atmosphere.

I saw the title of this film on the "Lovecraftian movie list", so, of course, I had to check it out. It was a bit like a Lovecarft tale (I forget which), but all in all it was worth a watch.

I know I'm harsh on some movie in my other reviews, but I'll cut this one slack due to its age. Hey, all of you older than 20 remember the older horror movies, where there was NO gore, no CGI, no animatronics. Horror was a mood the movie set and the only violence was either only hinted or you saw the shadow of it happening on the wall.

I didn't get to see the 3D version of this film, and had to settle for a "soft" VHS copy (grainy, over-white and somewhat hard to watch).

Still, it gets 1.5 tentacles up on the elder god-o-meter

You have to admire Richard Carlson. He was reliable, almost handsome, had an MA from the University of Minnesota, wrote novels and plays, and projected intelligence, boldness, tension, and earnestness that were perfectly suited to the unusual subject matter of hi later career. He was an exceptionally unexceptional actor but he was THERE for you.

The opening is a brief flashback to a mysterious event in a 17th-century Scottish castle. Then a shot of a pleasant lady speaking directly to the audience (originally in 3D) and introducing us to the story we're about to follow. I like the lady too. Katherine Emery is Aunt Edith, and she had a pleasant, relaxing smile and I believed every word when she explained, "I guess it all started with an engagement party at Cannes, on the Rivera." She continues to do the voice over for the rest of the film. Dissolve to Carlson and a few others at a gay nightclub in which an attractive young girl is flung around with abandon by a couple of men in tuxedos. One of the guests, uncredited, is the immortal Bess Flowers, whose entire career consisted of playing uncredited guests. Carlson seems to be enjoying himself immensely. He's engaged to Emery's niece, Veronica Hurst.

His holiday is interrupted by a message from that Scottish castle, called Craven. Carlson must fly to Scotland immediately. He's next in line to inherit the castle and the title of Baronet that goes with it. The castle has no modern conveniences -- no telephone, no electricity -- and stands just as it did hundreds of years ago. Still, his fiancée doesn't object, although she muses that "I suppose I'll get used to being addressed as Baroness." (You bet you will.) He does not return. Instead he sends a message to the aunt and his fiancée dissolving their arrangement. Hurst is distraught, as who wouldn't be in such a circumstance? Hurst and Emery travel to Craven Castle to find Carlson put out by their visit. What's worse, he's turned twenty years older in the past few weeks. He reluctantly puts them up for the night, cautioning his sinister butler to lock all the doors. Strange slithering sounds are heard in the hallway. Hurst is resolved to find out what the hell has been going on, and she sneaks out that night and begins exploring the cobwebbed ruins. A bat flies at her, or rather into the 3D camera lenses.

It's impossible to know why bats have such a bad reputation. They mean no harm. One night, standing on the lip of the Grand Canyon, I tore a piece of scrap paper into bits and flung them into a floodlight, only to be surrounded by thousands of bats with a dawning sense of disbelief. Two or three of the more adventurous entangled themselves in my hair and I toppled helplessly into the canyon. But two days later they brought me up by mule, bloody but unbowed, still at peace with bats. Anyway, Hurst makes it to a grimy window that overlooks the back yard. There she sees a gigantic maze with dim figures moving through it.

The next morning she finds a webbed footprint on the staircase and another in the gravel before the maze. At this point it's beginning to look less like a horror movie or science fiction than one of Edgar Allan Poe's fantasies. Nothing that happens from that point on changes anything.

When the film begins, Sir Gerald is engaged to a lovely woman, Kitty. However, when Gerald receives work that his uncle is dying, he immediately leaves to see the man. Within a short time, the uncle has died and Gerald has inherited the family estate. Here's where it starts to get odd. Instead of returning to Kitty or inviting her to his new home, she heard NOTHING from Gerald. Naturally she's concerned and goes to his new home in Scotland. Surprisingly, he' not happy to see her and tells her the engagement is off and she should go!! But it's late at night and she cannot...so he reluctantly allows her and his aunt to stay one night only...and on the condition they stay locked in their rooms at night! Well, with no further explanation, Kitty absolutely refuses and comes up with excuses not to leave and soon invites Gerald's friends to come and see for themselves what's happened to Gerald. The once nice guy now looks old and haggard and isn't the least bit friendly or hospitable. What IS going on here...and what does the maze in the yard have to do with all this?

This film was originally shown in 3-D but I saw it on TV without the old fashioned 3-D. Director/producer William Cameron Menzies does a really good job in keeping the film suspenseful and brooding. You don't know WHAT is going on...but you know it won't be good! The music sure helps with this as well--especially when Kitty and Aunt Edith get lost and separated in that dreaded maze!

So is all this wonderful suspense worth it? Well, yes and no. Yes because you'll never guess the awful secret. No, because the secret is incredibly stupid!! But despite all this, the film is so well made up until the REALLY dumb ending that it's worth seeing. And, oddly, the film does feature a happy ending after all! Weird beyond belief at the end...really!

William Cameron Menzies directed an odd bag of films and designed some fabulous sets in his lifetime. As usual, he was working on an uncompromising budget and that, to some reviewers, seems to mean that his talent wasn't somehow up to the task. This is a sorry reward for such an intelligent designer. The script gets in the way at times, admitted, but the sets - and the fabulous musical score by Marlin Skyles - give us so much more than a few laughs from dated dialogue. It's all far-fetched with the explanations at the very end but it builds up nicely, the actors are all on cue, and the lighting alone make it worth the visit. In general, so many of the horror films of the 50s are fascinating to watch today.

Kitty and Gordon loved each other. One day Gordon fled to his castle and wrote Kitty that he could never see her again, the marriage is off. Of course Kitty had to know why so she and her aunt go to the castle. Gordon, looking 20 years older, told them to leave but they were able to stay in a locked room over night then to leave in the morning - and do not try to get out and go into the Maze. The aunt had a slight cold that morning and the irritating Kitty told Gordon they could not leave over her poor sick aunt - pushing her way to stay long enough to find out what is going on with Gordon. Later on she finds a way to push Gordon into letting a group of people into the castle with them to stay. And NO ONE is to go into the Maze outside. What is up with that Maze? It's a rather boring film most of the time, suspenseful other times - but that crazy "a-MAZE-ing" ending is worth quite a few laughs. It's unbelievable! I have a feeling this film's ending was not even scary to 1950s audiences and dang sure isn't by today's standards. It's funny! No one is to tell the ending according to the film's poster and I won't be the one to spoil it for first time viewers - all I can say it is a completely unexpected and hilarious ending.

I didn't see this one in 3D but why should I? Nothing happens until the last 10 minutes anyway.

4/10

This might be the best example yet of 3-D transforming the viewing experience of a particular film. Gothic horror mysteries are all about atmosphere, putting you in the cinematic head-space of someone going through a dark, off-kilter, traumatic experience. Shadow and light tell the story as much as the actors and the dialogue. Director Menzies draws us into the eerie world of the castle and its maze by using all the tropes of the genre-mist, candlelight, ominous set design, stark lighting, secret passages-but with an especially immersive use of 3-D, the atmosphere is that much more palpable.

I found myself watching the background of the frame quite a few times, not because there was anything going on there, but because that sense of space-the depth or "back" missing from background in 2-D-opened up the possibility that something could conceivably happen there, in the shadows. That's what might happen if we were really there in the castle, standing alongside these people, with strange things going on. Our eye would naturally explore the shadows and the corners of rooms. In 2-D, we're well aware any illusion of depth is an illusion-we're more content to be passively directed to watch this flat actor or that flat space. In 3-D, a sense of reality spills into the illusion because it's so close to how we see the real world. I believe it makes us, as viewers, more participatory in each scene; our eye can wander from the main action and still be invested in the scene and its storytelling, but with greater nuance. It's like deep focus, except we really do get the depth. We can see all the way to the backs of sets and feel every inch of that distance between angles and objects. It's this extra layering effect that Menzies absolutely capitalizes on in The Maze. 3-D isn't just an enhancement here, it's integral to the way he designed and shot the film, and to the genre itself. We're living in a Gothic nightmare.

One of my favourite sequences is when Kitty finds the hidden passage leading out of her room. It's full of cobwebs (and the usual iffy bats flapping about). He lingers on the dimensions of that staircase, on its sense of height, and the shadowy mystery leading us up to...a crucial view. It's so creepy in 3-D, that passageway. Menzies is having a good time teasing us. Inside the maze itself is intimate and immersive because he mostly keeps the camera on the two women, but leaves us just enough space to watch the hedges behind them and around them.

The ending was always going to be divisive. I think it deserves points for originality, but I didn't completely buy the explanation.

For me, the acting was very good all round. Veronica Hurst convinced me every step of the way. I enjoyed the mystery, the setting, the exquisite photography, and most of all the splendid use of 3-D to bring a Gothic horror to life. The restoration was so good, the picture quality and 3-D were genuinely jaw-dropping throughout. I've watched it twice and liked it even more second time around. It's a must-own for fans of 3-D and/or Gothic mysteries.

Shocked that her Scottish fiancée Gerald MacTeam ('50s sci-fi regular Richard Carlson) would unexpectedly call off their engagement shortly after becoming Baronet of Castle Craven, Kitty Murray (Veronica Hurst) and her aunt Edith (Katherine Emery) travel to the dismal chateau, only to find an abrupt and inhospitable Gerald living alone with a pair of cryptic servants and apparently harbouring a dark secret. This is a strange little film, with an effectively creepy build (with all the requisite 'haunted castle' tropes) and a completely off-the-wall (and admittedly unexpected) denouement. You will either laugh incredulously or feel a sense of melancholy as the dark secret o' the Clan MacTeam falls into place. William Cameron Menzies does a nice job setting the mood in this budget sci-fi/horror and the often high-contrast black and white cinematography is quite effective. Carlson, who has been threatened by everything from stranded aliens to Amazonian gill-men, is not very creditable as a Scottish heir but Hurst is fine, albeit in a pretty standard role. Fun and novel in an odd way. If you haven't seen it, try to avoid spoilers (not that there is some brilliant 'twist ending', but the sheer oddness of the climax is best experienced naïvely). Note: made in 3D but I watched a 'flat' version.

With only two weeks to go before her wedding, a young woman finds herself in distress after her fiancé, a jovial Scotsman, travels to his ancestral estate in the Highlands after the death of a relative...and does not return. The woman's aunt receives a cryptic note weeks later saying the man is canceling the wedding plans, so the girl and her aunt take it upon themselves to travel to the spooky spread and confront him. Perplexing, methodically-paced and oddly entertaining yarn originally presented in 3-D, which explains the acrobatic act near the opening. It doesn't cover all its tracks by the final reel (such as why the Scotsman has supposedly aged 20 years in two months), but the production and set-designs are quite nifty for a B-movie. The cast is solid as well, though the picture could do with a little levity or personality. ** from ****