Haunted House

A fun film produced to cash in on the popularity of mysteries that swept the late '30's / early '40's. Very well done for an obvious "low budget" b-film. "Want-to-be" reporter and editor's niece do their best to prove innocence of accused murderer. Much circumstantial evidence leads them down several wrong paths, causing frustration and chastizing from elders. Perserverance pays off as they finally convince the law of friend's innocence, surprising everyone with the guilt of the real culprit. Definitely worth viewing.

Don't let the title of this scarce movie fool you. It's not a haunted house movie & it's not an "old dark house" type of movie. It's a simple murder mystery movie with teenage leads. They do spend about 5 of the movie's 70 minutes inside an old spooky house, but that's hardly enough to warrant naming this movie "Haunted House"! Not a bad movie, although a bit redundant. The acting is OK, there's a neat old hot rod, but it's neither juvenile enough to please that movie crowd, nor scary, nor mysterious enough to please those movie crowds. I rate it 5/10 (& that's being a bit generous).

This is a mystery for teenagers so Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys fans may like this one. The main sleuth is an office boy named Jimmie at the down-at-heel Brownsville Bugle. It's a small town newspaper where the editor's chair is so in need of repair and Jimmie's press car keeps breaking down on all of it's journeys. Jimmie likes to take his hand at writing his wannabe writing columns for the newspaper when the editor Albert Henshaw is away.

Jimmie is really upset when a nice old man named Olaf is sure to be convicted of the murder of Mrs Blake in the town. He tells all about this to a newly-arrived girl named Millie who has come to stay with her uncle Albert Henshaw the editor. She encourages Jimmie to pursue his suspicions and together their sleuthing in the old broken-down press car. But their enthusiasm gets the better of them and they just get called mischief makers when they wrongfully suspect one of the town's citizens.

Jimmie loses his job at the Brownsville Bugle and thinks about moving away to pursue his journalistic dreams elsewhere. But then more clues about Mrs Blake's murder emerge and he is persuaded to stay. He and Millie go on a sleuthing adventure that has them in a spooky house during a thunderstorm. They have to sort through dusty box files and decipher an enigmatic poem to gather their evidence.

Some viewers may find the youthful enthusiasm of the young heroes a bit much to take at intervals. But this teen mystery has plenty of pace and a pleasant small town setting where "human nature is pretty hard to figure" sometimes.

Although the house concerned isn't haunted, it's merely the crime scene of a murder, young Jackie Moran who works in a small town newspaper is determined to find the killer and prove his worth to editor George Cleveland. He's also showing off for Cleveland's niece Marcia Mae Jones who's visiting from out of town.

For a cheap Monogram programmer it's not Gone With The Wind, but not all that bad either. Moran barks up a wrong tree at first, but eventually gets it right. Imagine having your grandmother being the alibi for your first suspect.

The murder turns out to be a cover-up for another crime. The victim was a wealthy widow and her killer is one whom she gave her trust. And a rather obvious choice.

Not a bad film, but not one to write home about.

Jimmie (Jackie Moran) is an eager young man who works at the newspaper. His job is an entry level job and he mostly cleans up and does grunt work...though he has visions of one day being a reporter. And, with the Olaf Jensen murder case, Jimmie is eager to investigate, as he KNOWS Olaf couldn't have killed anyone since he is such a kind old man. Can he and his new lady friend, Millie (Marcia Mae Jones), prove to the court that Olaf isn't responsible for the killing?

This film clocks in at 68 minutes...the length of a B-movie (they ran from 55-70 minutes in almost all cases). And, like most Bs, there are no first-tier stars but a few familiar character actors. Plus, like so many Bs, it's also a mystery. Overall, not bad and it's the sort of undemanding entertainment that is nice as a time-passer.