The Phantom

This is the kind of movie you start watching from the cynical forward-looking viewpoint of 2007 and start complaining that the premise is hokey, the set-ups are creaky and the dialog is loaded with clichés.

Then you realize that this film IS SO DANG OLD that it represents probably the first time that some of these set-ups, situations and dialog were ever seen on the movie screen! This dates from only the third year that talking pictures were widely available, so there wasn't much before this that this film could be ripping off, except probably stage plays. From this perspective, there is at least some originality here by definition, and lots of fun to be had with the murderer-on-the-loose-in-the-creepy-insane-asylum premise.

This would make a great double feature with "The Old Dark House," from 1932, creating lots of fodder which would be mocked in the ensuing decades by Bugs Bunny cartoons, Three Stooges shorts, Abbott and Costello films, sketches on "The Carol Burnett Show," "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," and Larry Blamire's "Dark and Stormy Night."

The four-feature DVD from Retromedia is worth the price if you are a fan of obscure, ancient, creaky horror movies like this. You can look up the other features under the individual titles for reviews, but they are all just about as entertaining as this feature. If black-and-white horror films from the dawn of time are not your bag, you should pass, otherwise this DVD is a worthwhile purchase. And these movies are so old that they won't really scare children except for the smallest tots. Pop some popcorn and go back to the 1930's.

It starts with a prison break with a man about to be electrocuted jumping over the wall onto a moving train and then being picked up by a plane dangling a rope ladder! And that is just the first 5 minutes! Most of this is an "old dark house" style thriller about a mad killer called The Phantom who is out to kill a local district attorney (former D.W. Griffith regular Wilfred Lucas). The D.A.'s daughter (Allene Ray) and her reporter boyfriend (Guinn WIlliams) team up to catch the cloaked maniac and, in the tradition of movies like this, do a much better job than the cops who have surrounded the house. They trail the madman to an insane asylum where nobody, and I mean NOBODY! is playing with a full deck. For a one hour film the plot gets complicated with things like insanity, kidnapping, revenge and even brain transplants. The only thing missing was a gorilla, and if the plot had run another 10 minutes I'll one would have popped up! It all makes sense (well, sort of) at the end when the prison warden shows up to identify the mad killer. (You don't expect ME to reveal who it is, do you?) Also in the cast is The Clutching Hand himself, Sheldon Lewis. In a cap, tall hat and fright wig he is still playing the character he created for the 1916 serial THE EXPLOITS OF ELAINE and doing it rather well. Lweis was also the only actor to ever play Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde twice. Once in 1920 in the version filmed on location in New York to compete against the John Barrymore and again in 1929 in a one reel talkie short. Art? No way. Fun? You bet! See this one.

A prisoner named the Phantom is moments away from going to the chair when he climbs over the wall, jumps on top of a passing train and makes a get away when a plane flies down and picks him up. He then threatens the DA, even though he's not the DA who sent him up the river...and then things get complicated.

This is a movie from the early days of sound. Using silent footage with sound effects it broadens what could be done at reasonable expense with the then bulky sound equipment. As a result this film does things that many similar movies from the period couldn't, it goes outside the drawing room, the best example is the jail break at the beginning.

But while it goes places that other films didn't, and it has more twists than a pretzel factory, this film suffers from the same problem that countless other lower budget films did, and that is its limited by sound itself. There is no music and many scenes are staged simply to have people talk, a sequence at the beginning in the newspaper editor's office for example, goes on way too long just so we can hear the characters talking on the phone.

The movie itself is interesting up to a point, but at times it seems to want to get as many of the mystery conventions into the movie as possible so things keep spinning out for no real reason other than to make the film reach a reasonable length. The problem is that as interesting as the plot is, the film's age hinders full enjoyment of it.

If you're in the mood for an antique give it a try, otherwise steer clear.

I just read all of the other reviews to verify my premise, which turned out to be true. They all take the position that this movie is pretty awful on many levels. Well, sure it is since it is obviously a spoof and a send-up. Taking it seriously is a preposterous mistake of judgment. For whatever reason the director chose to go beyond all the limits and that is what gives him away. Maybe just to have fun, maybe to get even with the studio for some transgression, could have been anything. Like it or hate it as you choose but take a chill pill and recognize that your leg has been properly pulled!

When a dangerous killer escapes from the local gaol, police suspect he may come after the DA as retribution for his incarceration. Assigned to protect the DA (Lucas), bull-nose detective (O'Brien) settles in for a long night that ends up turning into a fracas when "The Phantom" enters the house via a secret labyrinth of ducts and concealed passages, threatening the DA's daughter (Ray) before disappearing into the night. Fortunately, novice reporter (Williams) has a hunch "The Phantom" might be heading for a local mental sanitarium leading to a terrifying encounter with the residents of the local loony-bin.

There's some mild chuckles and feint thrills in his uneven comedy-thriller, but the acting seems quite stilted at times and the tension seems to be constantly nobbled by ill-timed humour. Williams is the strongest performer as the young, assertive reporter keen to solve the mystery to earn a pay increase that will fund his ensuing matrimonials with the DA's daughter.

I found the jittery housekeeper (Knights) a tad over-bearing, her incessant shrills and dramatics becoming old very quickly, while combined with her vertically challenged boyfriend, the Chauffeur Shorty (Dunn) the pair added a touch of farce to the proceedings that I felt were unnecessary diversions (perhaps padding). Nevertheless, it's coherent and at barely one hour in duration, nothing if not efficient.