The Face at the Window (1940)

Best movie ever!

A Masterpiece!

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

It was a night full of heavy rain and thunderstorms yesterday. We decided to watch some scary films from 1939 with the lights down low while our dog hid by us from the thunder. The first one we watched was 'The Face at the Window' (1939). The second was 'Human Monster' also from that same year.'The Face at the Window' takes place in Paris probably in 1880s. The story concerns grisly murders that are committed right after the victim sees a gruesome werewolf-like face in their window. Soon after that vision they're found with a knife in their back accompanied by an eery howling sound. While these murders are being investigated another side story is going on. The partner of a rich banker has eyes for his associate's much younger daughter. This creepy and lecherous character is played with gusto by actor Tod Slaughter. The daughter he wants for his wife is in love with a young penniless bank clerk in her fathers employe. The evil older man must find a way to get rid of his young rival. The story is slow at times, still most fans of 1930s crime/horror films should enjoy it like we did. I would not call it a great film; it is entertaining with some genuinely scary scenes.

In 1880, the criminal called The Face is responsible for a murderous rampage in France. When the Brisson Bank is robbed in Paris and the employee Michelle is murdered, the wealthy Chevalier Lucio del Gardo (Tod Slaughter) is the only chance to save the bank.Another team-up between actor Tod Slaughter and director George King (who expertly told the tale of Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street). This dynamic duo really nailed it and for that I thank them.This is something of a horror film, though it tends to be more along the lines of a crime story. There is little about it that is outright terrifying or scary. That in no way takes away from the picture and all those involved should be proud.

1880: A vicious wolf-like fiend called the Face terrorizes Paris, France with his murderous misdeeds. After a bank gets robbed, the wealthy, but evil and cunning Chavalier Lucio del Gardo (a delightfully hammy portrayal by Todd Slaughter) tries to set up poor struggling bank clerk Lucien Cortier (a likable turn by John Warwick) as master criminal the Wolf so he can have the lovely Cecile de Brisson (fetching Marjorie Taylor) all too himself. Director George King, working from clever script by A.R. Rawlinson and Ronald Fayre, relates the involving story at a steady pace, offers a flavorsome evocation of the 19th century period setting, and stages the lively and exciting climax with considerable brio. Slaughter's deliciously robust, theatrical, and outsized acting is a total eye-rolling joy to watch; his vigorous and enthusiastic presence keeps the movie entertaining throughout. Moreover, Chavalier makes for a marvelously slimy, arrogant, and hateful villain. The supporting cast manage to hold their on with Slaughter: Warwick and Taylor are appealing leads, plus there are solid contributions from Aubrey Mallalieu as honest bank president M. de Brisson and Robert Adair as the no-nonsense Detective Gouffert. Harry Terry is genuinely creepy as the titular hirsute snarling freak. Hone Glendinng's cinematography is pretty rough around the edges, but overall acceptable. Jack Beaver's rousing and dramatic score does the stirring trick. A fun little quickie.

Though you often read about the "quota quickies" made in Britain under a law that required a certain amount of screen time to be allotted to local product, you don't see many of them in America-- and for good reason: most were cranked out cheaply just to comply with the law, and are awful. In a few cases, however, the quota quickie laws provided opportunity for Britain's seemingly bottomless reserve of superior stage actors to be preserved on film-- that's why we have them to thank for Arthur Wontner's very fine Sherlock Holmes in some (not nearly as fine) Holmes movies, and it's also why we have a healthy collection of films starring the splendid ham Tod Slaughter, who toured for years as a ripsnorting baddie in authentic Victorian melodramas (such as Sweeney Todd) and transferred a number of them with minimal alteration to film. The Face at the Window is reportedly the highest-budgeted of Slaughter's films, and thus probably isn't technically a quota quickie at all, but it's still brought to the screen with the smell of fresh greasepaint straight from the provinces-- specifically the provinces circa 1895. Slaughter's larger than life performances give us as good a picture of what Victorian audiences ate up as the D'Oyly Carte company did of Gilbert and Sullivan's productions, because like them he was less reviving the old melodramas than carrying on their tradition intact. You may think you've seen people doing the Snidely Whiplash-style villain, and don't need to see them again, but you haven't lived until you've seen a seemingly sane and proper Slaughter dissolve in maniacal glee-- a-ha, ahahaha, ahahahahahahahahaha!