All Talking All Night

 (imdb)

THE UNHOLY NIGHT-1929-Many murders are taking place during the worst fog ever in London. Lord Montague (Roland Young; later the star of the “Topper” series) survives an attack and is help to Scotland Yard where he meets Sir James (Claude Fleming) who's investigating. It seems there were 4 murders earlier and Montague knew and served with them all. The surviving members all agree to meet at the Lord's house. In another part of the house, James disrupts a seance being conducted by Dr. Ballou (Ernest Torrence) and his fiancé Lady Violet (Natalie Moorland), Montague's sister. 

The remaining regiment includes Lionel Belmore, John Loder and John Miljan as the doomed Mallory who was disfigured in the war. After he's killed, everyone comes under suspicion. Then a woman Efra (Dorothy Sebastian) shows up. Almost immediately Hindu lawyer Abdul (uncredited Boris Karloff) shows up and reads a will from Efra's father, a traitor. The will seems to give a motive for killing and also for breaking up the regiment. They slowly unravel. 

Somehow over night the entire regiment save Montague is killed. James decides to have a kind of seance lead by the sinister looking mystic Sojin (Sojin Kamiyama; who turns out to be a good guy).

It's a crazy, confused and kind of convoluted ending with Karloff giving a weird performance with a strange accent. This was one of the handful of films actor Lionel Barrymore directed in his long career. He and Karloff had acted together earlier in THE BELLS (1926). It also suffers slighty from too much stilted talk. A problem that plagued many early sound films. 

Top billed Ernest Terrence later played Prof. Moriarty in SHERLOCK HOLMES (1932) (with Clive Brook in the titular role) but died the next year from complications from surgery. Karloff had made his “talkie” debut earlier in the year (in BEHIND THAT CURTAIN). Japanese actor Sojin Kamiyama was one of only 3 Asian actors to portray Charlie Chan (in THE CHINESE PARROT (1927)). The story for THE UNHOLY NIGHT was provided by playwright Ben Hecht.

Thanks for reading!

Silent Dickens Classic

OLIVER TWIST-1922-After starring with the legendary Charlie Chaplin in THE KID one year before little Jackie Coogan co-stars with the equally legendary Lon Chaney (although he wasn't a star yet) in this early adaptation of the Dickens classic. The future Uncle Fester is the title character born and raised in a workhouse overseen by the tyrannical Mr. Bumble (James A. Marcus) where at the age of 9 he asks for more. He becomes an undertaker's apprentice but runs away to London and meets the Artful Dodger (Edward Trebaol) who in turn introduces him to the evil Fagin (Chaney) who oversees a gang of pickpockets. He and meanie Bill Sykes (George Siegmann) want Oliver for another scam though but before that happens Oliver is arrested and later taken in by a kindly bookseller Mr. Brownlow (Lionel Belmore). Fagin (who answers to a mysterious guy named Monks) kidnaps the boy when he finds out that Oliver is heir to a large inheritance. Still he and Bill need Oliver's diminutive size to pull off a robbery. When Oliver rebels Bill shoots him! He's only wounded and nursed back to health by a rich dowager and her niece who reunite him with Brownlow. After Bill's wife Nancy (Gladys Brockwell) spills the beans to the bookseller, Bill finds out about her betrayal and kills her. In the end everyone is arrested except for Bill who accidentally hangs himself. Oliver gets his birthright and inheritance.

Director Frank Lloyd was no stranger to adapting Dickens to the screen as a few years earlier he'd made a version of A TALE OF TWO CITIES. He packs a lot of story into the short running time (about 75 minutes) and keeps the tale interesting and exciting. Child star Coogan was at the apex of his career and is very good (and funny) in the lead. Naturally Lon Chaney steals every scene he's in.

Thanks for reading!

Bats and Rains

VAMPIRE BAT-1933-is a creaky low budget horror film from the early 30's but despite it's obvious restrictions and drawbacks it's fairly entertaining.

The great Lionel Atwill stars as Dr. Von Neimann, the local doctor in a village where vampire like murders are taking place. Whenever giant bats appear at night, some unfortunate local dies, the body drained of blood. Melvyn Douglas (who was in James Whale's THE OLD DARK HOUSE the year before) is the investigating police constable. Fay Wray (the same year as KING KONG) is his love interest.

The best performence though is by Dwight Frye, essaying another village idiot role (it would type-cast his career) as Herman, a bat loving red herring (who meets his demise at the famous Bronson Canyon).

Familiar '30's character actor Lionel Belmore (2 Lionels for the price of one! What a movie!) also appears. The photography is a little too dark at times and there's a lot of talk but it's short running time makes it enjoyable.

Screenwriter Edward T. Lowe had been writing movies since the '20's (including HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME with Lon Chaney). He later penned HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, HOUSE OF DRACULA, several Charlie Chan and Bulldog Drummond mysteries and other stuff.

Director Frank Strayer made several unusual movies in the '30's (THE MONSTER WALKS, THE GHOST WALKS and CONDEMNED TO LIVE) before devoting most of his time to the movie series based on the "Blondie" comic strip in the '40's.



I also recently saw THE CLAIRVOYANT (aka THE EVIL MIND)-1934-made one year later and also featuring Fay Wray.

The always entertaining Claude Rains (one year after his film debut in THE INVISIBLE MAN) stars as a phony mind reader named Maximus who's predictions start to come true whenever he's around a certain woman (English actress Jane Baxter). Wray is his assistant-wife who fears his new power. Rains' trance states are very eerie (especially his last!). It's ok and probably influenced a few future films.

Thanks for reading!