Menace

Ray Milland is badgered into playing a game of bridge in British East Africa instead of managing his dam during a storm. When the dam bursts, he crashes his plane on purpose. His unseen brother, whom the authorities know to be cuckoo, blames the bridge players. He threatens to kill them all and disappears. A year later, the proposed victims are in an isolated house in Santa Barbara with some other folks when the murderer strikes. Will they discover the murderer before he kills them all?

Of course, you'd think there would be a picture, or at least a description of this maniac for the authorities and the people who are frightened they will be killed. No. There's a good reason for that, but it's never mentioned; it would turn this one-hour B movie into a twenty-minute short.

Director Ralph Murphy uses all the Dark House mystery convention except for the one where the detective sits everyone down and explains what happens. It's one of those mysteries where anyone could turn out to be the murderer, and the explanation at the end seemed thin to me. Still, the mood is creepy, and the actors are competent, with Henrietta Crosman delightful as the old and forthright lady.

This is a very interesting film, but it should've been longer! The beginning, which leads up to the hero's death, seems to go on FOREVER (altho, it's only 15 mins). The rest of the film (about 45 mins) is an EXTREMELY well-done mystery; you won't guess who the murderer is until the very end. However, the "mystery" part of the film is much too "hurried" and things happen too fast, the end result is that you don't have time to piece together the clues. If they would've added another 30 mins (or so) to this film, and slowed down the pace, it would've been an EXQUISITE film! As it stands, it's not bad, but the action is so fast, that you might have to see it several times to understand it all!