The Girl Who Dared (1944)

From my favorite movies..

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

THE GIRL WHO DARED – 1944Quite watchable dark house mystery put out by Republic Pictures. A group of folks arrive at a country mansion for a party. The problem here is that the invitations were not sent by the home owner. The main leads are played by Lorna Gray, (Adrian Booth) Peter Cookson, Grant Withers, Veda Ann Borg, (playing twins) Kirk Alyn, John Hamilton and Willie Best. Bodies start to pile up and the people are of course all blaming each other. Arriving on the scene is Investigator Cookson. He is pursuing a big city Doctor who absconded with $60,000 worth of radium. He suspects that one of the guests is in league with said Doctor. The story is old hat and supplies nothing really new. But the pace is brisk and the actors seem to relish their parts. Somewhat wasted is Willie Best doing the frightened servant bit he had done in more than one film. Anyways, there is the mandatory scene where all are gathered in a room while the Detective, Cookson flushes out the killer. If you have an hour to kill, this quickie should fill the bill nicely.

Several people are invited to the home of Beau and Chattie Richmond for a party at which the "ghost of Heron Point" will make an appearance. The thing is - the Richmonds did not send out the invitations. The ghost is supposedly one of the crew of a pirate ship that sunk a hundred years ago near the Richmond estate. Then there's the mysterious mechanic who crashes the party. While the guests await for the ghost to appear, one of them is murdered but her body later disappears. Two more murders follow. This dark house type mystery is devoid of humor, has a thin and unbelievable plot, and a not really spooky atmosphere but is nonetheless mildly entertaining to watch because of the cast. Oh, there's Superman (Kirk Alyn), there's Perry White (John Hamilton), there's the guy that was in a gazillion Westerns (Roy Bancroft), there's Loretta Young's first husband and actor in dozens of B movies (Grant Withers), there's the brassy and always competent character actress Veda Ann Borg, and last, but not least, there's Willie Best as the servant who is always scared. At least the motive for the murder is somewhat innovative as is the ploy for identifying him. The lead characters, played by Peter Cookson and Lorna Gray are pretty bland. It is sad, though, to have to watch the talented comedian Willie Best as a shuffling, scared servant. This an actor who Bob Hope evidently referred to as one of the finest performers he ever worked with. What a waste and what a shame.

Girl Who Dared, The (1944)** 1/2 (out of 4) Decent "B" flick from Republic has a group of people invited to a party at a creepy house where legend has it a ghost appears once a year. It turns out this group doesn't know who invited them and sure enough it doesn't take long before one by one they start dropping dead. The "old dark house" genre was more than fifteen-years-old by the time this one here was released to theaters so needless to say there's really nothing new or original here. The more of these films I watch the more I realize that they were all for the most part cheaply made and I'm really not sure what the point of so many of them were unless they simply made a lot of money on small budgets. This one here certainly isn't a masterpiece but at just 52-minutes the thing is short enough to be fairly entertaining. I think the best thing the film has going for it is the nice cast, which includes Peter Cookson as a mysterious mechanic, Lorna Gray as the main female, Willie Best as the nervous servant and Grant Withers as one of the many possible murderers. Each person turns in a fine performance with Best once again doing that scary-cat act like no other. The story itself isn't all that bad and I actually enjoyed the backstory dealing with a pirate ship that crashed a hundred years earlier and this is where the ghost comes from. We also have a subplot dealing with radiation and the impact it might have on the person who comes in contact with it. There's some fairly good atmosphere but there's no question that they weren't meaning for this to be anything other than cheap entertainment. Fans of the genre who must see everything will certainly want to check it out but others will probably be squirming in their seats. This certainly isn't the type of movie for everyone but fans of the genre should find it entertaining.

No great acting or production values here. Just a simple "B" mystery that lasts about 52 minutes. I, personally, enjoy this genre but I am under no illusions as to the craftsmanship of the production. Still, one can always count on certain things happening in this type of movie. Willie Best plays the servant so you know there will be some scenes with a scared, shivering, character. There's always a couple of red herrings as the identity of a triple murderer is ferreted out. And, lastly, the murderer is trapped by a trick device in the room where the entire set of suspects are present.