The old dark radio picture
What a clever film! Other comments here will fill you in on the content but let me say how interesting and unique is this film for its interactive and multimedia history. Made as the last chapter of a radio play released into cinemas instead of a radio broadcast, this film must have been an interesting and successful experiment in its day. It is also quite creepy and the pre code violence, in particular a stabbing scene on a stairway is very gruesome and explicit. The outdoor scenes almost seem to be testing the boundaries of technical sound and picture achievements of 1931 during production. I paid $3 for a VHS copy of this superb mystery film from a discount shop in Sydney. It is part of a series released here as THE RKO COLLECTION which I see for some reason is not available in the USA. The IMDb availability panel preceding shows that there is no tape or DVD availability for it. Well we have it here..along with The Most Dangerous Game, Island of Dr Moreau, Hips Hips Hooray, Mummy's Boys etc and a whole stack of 1930-33 RKO titles, all marketed legitimately with copyright. How strange Australia can have these but not the USA.
- ptb-8
- Feb 25, 2004