The House of Fear

Theatre actor John Woodford (Donald Douglas) dies suddenly while on stage, and his body mysteriously goes missing shortly thereafter. The actor's ghost is rumoured to haunt the theatre, and the place closes down.

To try and solve the mystery, police detective McHugh (William Gargan) poses as a producer who wants to reopen the theatre, putting on Woodford's last play, 'Dangerous Currents', with the same cast members.

Mysterious notes, purportedly written by Woodford, warn the cast not to go ahead with the play, and leading man Carleton (Walter Woolf King) is found dead. The play goes ahead, however, McHugh determined to catch the killer.

A creaky whodunit with plenty of suspects, The House of Fear is like a live-action Scooby Doo episode, with the detective discovering clues along the way that help him to solve the crime. And like a Scooby Doo episode, any seemingly supernatural occurrences are explained away, with the villain chased, caught and unmasked in the final act, an outpouring of convoluted exposition explaining their motive and modus operandi.

It's all a bit too talky to be wholly entertaining, but at just over an hour, the pace is fairly brisk and there are some fun performances (Dorothy Arnold is great as gold-digger actress Gloria DeVere), although the obligatory comic relief -- El Brendel as stagehand Jeff -- is thoroughly irritating.

This film adds nothing more to the hundreds of others which had been made during the thirties and forties: mystery stories taking place in a mansion, or simply on a room, all very talkative, tales that could be made for stageplays. Not necessarily movie theaters. OK, this one may be a little above average, there is a ppretty good suspense, and it is not too long to endure. That's not my stuff, my cup of tea and I made an effort. I don't regret it. Director Joe May gave us INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS and also HOUSE OF SEVEN GABLES. Joe May was a film maker from Germany, and I suppose that explains thee good directing skills which are obvious here.

An actor, John Woodford, dies on-stage during a performance of a play. His body is taken to his dressing room, where it disappears. The theatre is closed for over a year, and rumors that Woodford's ghost haunts it spread all over Broadway.

A detective (posing as a producer) rents the theatre and attempts to present the same play, but all sorts of "ghostly occurences" happen to try to thwart his plans. (Woodford's voice coming over a dead telephone, his face appearing on the pitch-dark stage during a police vigil, more murders, mysterious notes from the "dead man", etc).

All-in-all, a "different" mystery with good acting; if you watch the film intently, you can figure out who the murderer is (but, it's DIFFICULT!). Highly recommended. (btw....this film has NOTHING to do with the Sherlock Holmes film of the same name).

After an actor is killed during the middle of a play the theatre is closed. A year later a young producer (who happens to be a detective going undercover to find out what happened to the dead actor whose body disappeared ) re-assembles the cast and re-opens the theatre (the theater is now reported to be haunted by the ghost of the murdered actor), intending to the stage the same play performed on the night of the murder.

He has a hunch that the killer will show his hand. He does just that as yet another actor is murdered by mysterious means.

Threatening letters, suddenly darkness, secret passages, a motley group of suspects, and murder - this is a fun mystery film featuring an energetic cast, enough things happening to keep you entertained, and the actual theatre is beautifully shot; there's a nice reveal of the murderer at the end. The dialogue is quite witty.

Enjoyable programmer helped by a solid cast of recognizable faces and a script that's wittier than it has any right being. Despite being a Universal picture, this has no connection to the Universal Sherlock Holmes film of the same name released six years later. This is a remake of the silent film The Last Warning. It's also part of the Crime Club series.

The plot isn't any better than your average Charlie Chan flick, but there are some fun characters here with some snappy lines brought to life by great character actors like William Gargan and Alan Dinehart. The standout to me was Dorothy Arnold (who married Joe DiMaggio a few months after this was released). She's a lot of fun. Anyway check this out if you like cozy old murder mysteries with a little humor.