The Ghost Camera

This is no great work of art but once you've watched this for five minutes, even if your dog starts to recite Shakespeare whilst riding a unicycle around your living room, you will not be able to avert your eyes from this wonderful nonsense.

Henry Kendall who was marvellous in Hitchcock's superb subversive RICH AND STRANGE is just as marvellous in this. He plays a what wound be called a bit of a nerd today. He's so absurdly fuddy duddy that he's far too silly to be believable but that really doesn't matter. This is just a daft, fun adventure story, it's not meant to be an Scarface! The brilliant voice he does is reminiscent of Harry Enfield's Mr Cholmondley-Warner if anyone remembers that great 1990s sketch show? He's very amusing but more importantly, he's very likeable.

Ida Lupino is also lovely in this even though she was just fifteen years old! She's such a good actress and with Henry Kendall being rather scatty, it's down to her to hold this all together. Who says kids grow up faster these days! Considering some of the appalling acting around in this era both here and in Hollywood Ida Lupino is outstanding - and just fifteen as well!

Director Bernard Vorhaus was constantly frustrated making the quota quickes where the objective was to provide reels of film to the cinemas at less than £1 per foot! Twickenham Studios' boss Julius Hagen therefore let him experiment as much as he could within budget and even allowed him to take his own camera home at weekends to get some location shots. With THE GHOST CAMERA, Vorhaus had fun and turned what should have been a cheap, bland, mundane hour and a bit of wallpaper viewing into a cheap but thoroughly enjoyable, professionally and imaginatively produced piece of entertainment.

A unique opening sequence: a camera tumbles over a rocky ledge and lands in a car passing along the road below. The car's owner discovers the camera on arriving home; as he happens to have a darkroom, he decides to develop one picture from the camera in the hopes that it will lead him to the camera's owner. Instead he develops what appears to be a photo of one man stabbing another.

It's an unlikely scenario, but this picture is so well staged and performed that we hardly notice; the pace never lets up in this very entertaining mystery with excitement, romance and humor.

Henry Kendall is wonderful as the slightly nerdy hero who dives rather playfully into his investigation but displays both wits and persistence as the case develops in unexpected directions. He finds an additional clue when he develops the remaining pictures—a young woman standing under a street sign. He speaks with delicious irony to his assistant as they study the photograph: "The heroine of a mystery drama is always a ravishing creature." And eventually he tracks down….

Ida Lupino, the young woman in the photograph. They strike up a quick rapport and banter easily; but does she know more than she's telling about the brother who owned the camera and has seemingly disappeared? Lupino is truly excellent—bright, charming, deceitful, worried all at once. Not a bad leading lady performance from an actress who was only fifteen years old!

The dialog is good, the delivery perfect. Some neat camera work is also worth mentioning, especially the tense scene where the brother is finally tracked down—flashlights in the dark dart back and forth, eventually finding his form and then his frightened face. John Mills, also very young, is the brother in trouble.

A very stylish and witty production.

The Ghost Camera is an enjoyable British thriller from 1933 and although quite rare, has thankfully been released on video in the UK as part of a double feature with The Last Journey, of which I have a copy.

Two men find a camera in an abandoned car and take it back with them and then find some undeveloped film. They develop it and images include a young woman and a man murdering somebody. They track the woman down by another of the images showing a street name. It turns out that the woman's brother is missing and she teams up with one of the men to look for him. The search takes them all over, including crossing railway lines. Her brother is found eventually but is now facing a murder charge unless the photo of the murder turns up...

The Ghost Camera is partially shot on location and it's good to see the old Southern Region electric trains of the period too. The movie is quite good quality too as it's been remastered.

The cast includes Henry Kendall and early roles for Ida Lupino and John Mills.

The Ghost Camera is worth tracking down and has been on TV as well. Look out for it. A treat.

Rating: 3 and a half stars out of 5.

THE GHOST CAMERA is a fun, near-forgotten little murder mystery laced with comedy and thrills. It overcomes the shortcomings of a simple storyline by offering a surfeit of action in the form of shadowy figures ever lurking in the background and determined to cause harm to our protagonists.

Our hero is a bumbling chemist, played by Henry Kendall, who was in the later and similarly-themed DEATH ON THE SET. As another reviewer has noted, he looks a bit like Harold Lloyd here, but he's great fun and his humorous asides and quirks makes him an instantly likable figure. Kendall finds an abandoned camera with a picture apparently showing a murder taking place. He develops the shot, but when it's stolen he must go on a quest of his own to deliver justice.

THE GHOST CAMERA has plenty of incident to propel every one of its 66 minutes. Ida Lupino plays the female protagonist and was only 15 years old when this film was made. John Mills also features and was only a little older at 25. Obviously both would go on to greater things but it's fun seeing them so young here. The supporting cast is rounded out by the dependable likes of Felix Aylmer. The film is obviously heavily dated and feels very tame these days, but it's also full of atmosphere and fans of the era will lap it up.

I've only seen this a few times in the last 20 years or so, I confess that it was the highlight for me of the BBC's Christmas films showing, and it was probably the cheapest one they bought. Undeservedly, because they were also showing Blazing Saddles - I wonder how much of the license fee went on that??

For me the only other UK film this artistically satisfying over its entire length from '33 was The Ghoul, I know there are other worthies, but apart from a few lapses GC has more of a sense of purpose and a consciousness that its plot is different from others - a confidence - that I like. Although, I have a sneaking feeling there was a similar Sexton Blake story in the '20's, but with no love interest however.

I agree with both of the other comments, but really I'm glad that no one has thought of a remake as yet. It would be made "better" with mind boggling technology, plenty of sex and violence - and with digital cameras!

The British stereotypes are out in force - everyone is either sullen or unhelpful, or as hairy Felix Aylmer playing coroner plain eccentric. I bet Ida Lupino was glad to escape to more normal America! John Mills as first a jewel thief then accused murderer on the run is refreshing - but what was the point of his direct lies to the coroner on the witness stand though? Henry Kendall is good, and as verbose as usual - maybe he was the reason Ida left!

Well worth watching, but to the unwary remember it's primitive.