The Ghost Walks (1934)

Memorable, crazy movie

Don't Believe the Hype

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

A stageplay producer and his assistant are invited to an old house during a rainstorm with unexpected results.The movie's played more for laughs than for shivers. Erskine (Arthur) and Wood (Carle) are played very broadly, and in Erskine's case with a fey undercurrent. In fact the rather clever screenplay appears to be having a good time with innuendo. There are two good twists to the story, but I kept waiting for the ghost who never seemed to arrive. In fact, the little programmer is more a light-hearted mystery than anything scary. And who is Eve Sothern (Beatrice). I've never seen her before, but with her gorgeously angular features, she furnishes the movie's one riveting moment when she first appears, zombie-like. Anyway, this could have been a good little mystery-fright film had those in charge decided to drop the awkward comedic overlay.

"People stranded in a country house during a storm discover that the home was the sight of an unsolved murder years before. During a dinner discussion of the incident, the lights go out and, when they come back on, they discover that one of the guests has been killed. Fearing for their lives, the guests attempt to find out the secrets behind the death before others can occur," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.There are a couple of clever twists in this murder at the "Old Dark House" story, with the "Play within a Play" being its most interesting feature. However, the direction is rather ordinary, which serves to highlight a certain cheapness of production. Like most movies of this type, there is (or, should be) an ensemble of intriguing characters. Herein, only old-time Broadway producer Richard Carle (as Herman Wood) and his fey secretary Johnny Arthur (as Homer Erskine) maintain interest.**** The Ghost Walks (12/1/34) Frank R. Strayer ~ Richard Carle, Johnny Arthur, John Miljan

Ghost Walks, The (1934) ** (out of 4) A screenwriter invites his producer's to an old dark house. He's paid a bunch of actors to act out his play so that the producer will put up the money but soon a real killer starts to stalk them. The premise is rather interesting but like most of these types of films of the era it really never gets too interesting due to the lackluster direction. Perhaps I've just seen way too many of these films but they all appear the same. Just a different cast.Living Ghost, The (1942) ** (out of 4) A detective is hired to find out who killed a man but once he's on the scene another victim falls into some sort of zombie-like state. Here's another "old dark house" film that has a rather boring mystery plot and lifeless direction from the usually reliable William Beaudine.

I'm really interested in these early clever narrative folds. Here's the fold in this one: the movie we see is — we discover at the end — written by a character in the story, produced by another and presumably featuring actors we see in this movie as actors playing characters playing actors playing actors.Here's the story: a playwright wants to get a producer to produce his play. So he tricks him into a strange house where actors are assembled to perform the thing as if it were a real spooky murder. The pretend victim ends up dead in reality, and from then on the players leave the play and enter reality. The producer discovers the ruse at this point so he shifts from believing it real to believing the "real" thing is a play.Overlain on all this is another drama. A madman has escaped from the local loony bin. It turns out that he also is a consummate actor, and he has his own fantasy to enact. It also draws from spooky movies but in his case it is the mad scientist genre rather than the spooky detective story. These two fictions compete for dominance in the spooky house.The actual production is plain with values typical of the period, which means that you will likely find it boring. But the idea is remarkable.One folded joke: the producer is coughing. His assistant says are you okay? Producer: "Sure, why?" Assistant; "Because you were coughing horribly." Producer; "You think you can do better?"Charles Belden, the writer, was a sort of genius at these sorts of folded things. He did "House of Wax."Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.