Sh! The Octopus (1937)

Truly the worst movie I've ever seen in a theater

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

This amazingly surrealistic comedy spoofs just about every horror classic you can think of, and also throws in a good few nifty, original ideas as well. It's acted with superb timing by a great cast of farceurs led by Hugh Herbert, Allen Jenkins, and John Eldredge (who manages to keep a delightfully straight face in the midst of all the fantastic, surrealistic mayhem of this inspired, delightfully ridiculous take on all the trappings of the old dark house). Also in the cast: Australian actress Marcia Ralston (as Vesta Vernoff), Margaret Irving (as Polly Crane) and the long-time British stage actress turned Hollywood character walk-on, Elspeth Dudgeon, who has the best role here of her entire Hollywood career of mostly uncredited "old woman" walk-ons. Some may feel that the leads, Hugh Herbert and Allen Jenkins, are too idiotic and far too garrulously stupid, but I thought they were just right both as good comics and as contrasts to the more level-headed players. John Eldredge of course also acts as a stabilizing influence, but wow! People like George Rosener, Brandon Tynan and Eric Stanley have a field day here. Produced by Bryan Foy with superb photography by Arthur L. Todd and really great, highly ingenious sets by Max Parker, this is a marvelous movie in more ways than one. Available on a superb Warner Archive DVD.

Sh! The Octopus (1937) ** (out of 4) Another version of The Gorilla but this time the old dark house is replaced with a lighttower and the gorilla is replaced with an octopus. Veteran character actors Hugh Herbert and Allen Jenkins play wannabe detectives trapped inside a lighttower with several others who are being attacked by the octopus. This version pretty much stays in tact with other versions and the other remake, which followed two years later with The Ritz Brothers and Bela Lugosi. Herbert and Jenkins aren't nearly as obnoxious and they do manage to get some good laughs. The octopus looks very nice and the scene where the killer "transforms" is quite memorable. The film moves at a lightening pace yet for some reason, one I don't know, the 56-minute running time felt overly long. This certainly isn't a bad movie but it's not a good one either.

Two detectives find themselves on an island looking for a murderer and instead find that they are entangled with a super criminal called the Octopus and a real live giant octopus. Much confusion occurs.Amusing but totally nonsensical "mystery" based upon a stage play of some sort (I would love to read it at some point). Clearly something was lost in translation since the story now transpires in a scant 54 minutes and makes as much sense as a Goon Show episode by Spike Milligan. Twist piles on twist and red herring follows red herring as great deal that is foreshadowed never happens or is changed to become something else.I do like the film I just wish that it didn't have all the ear marks of a comedy mystery since there is plenty of comedy but ultimately no real mystery. There is tension aplenty and there are a few sequences that create a nice sense of suspense and perhaps even terror (the late game revelation of the master criminal creeped me out) but the film falls apart in the end as being much ado about nothing. Its a shame since the cast that includes veteran stalwarts like Allan Jenkins and Hugh Herbert are up to the material or would have been had there been some material.Worth a look so long as you don't expect anything other than the craziness thats happening right in front of you.

Though more than a bit stagebound, this film is silly and enjoyable.Allen Jenkins and Hugh Herbert are an enjoyable team, and we get to see some nice scenery-chewing by George Rosener (the butler in 1932's "Doctor X") as Captain Hook.As usual, someone among those gathered at the lighthouse is the master criminal known as The Octopus - but who? It really doesn't matter, because the epilogue takes the film to yet another level! SPOILER ALERT: As far as the on-camera "unmasking" of the villain, here is how they did it: A very exaggerated makeup was painted on the performer's face (and a couple of teeth, too) using nothing but red makeup. This person was photographed with a red filter over the camera lens at the start of the scene, rendering the red painted makeup invisible to the camera's eye. As the "transformation" took place, the filter was slowly switched to a green one, and now the lines and shadows on the culprit's face suddenly appeared as a very dark tone. The very same technique was also used in 1932 for the earliest transformations of Frederic March in "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde". (This trick does not work in color films, though, only black and white.) Anyway, sit back and enjoy the mystery. It gets a bit convoluted, but it's still fun and runs less than an hour. Just don't take it too seriously.