Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Micitype Pretty Good

Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

preppy-3 Elderly, and rich, Henrietta Winslow (Cecilia Loftus) is going to die soon. Her greedy relatives (among them Basil Rathbone and Alan Ladd) go to her creepy old mansion to await her death. She dies (or is killed) soon after and a raging storm keeps all the relatives in her house for the night. Someone starts killing people left and right--but who? Also add Gale Sondergaard (as a sinister housekeeper), Bela Lugosi(as a sinister grounds keeper) and Broderick Crawford and Hugh Herbert (as totally horrendous comic relief) and you got a great cast in a pretty bad movie.The setting here is suitably creepy and there's some beautiful cinematography but the script is just lousy. The mystery itself is somewhat interesting but the alleged comedy ruins this. The "comedy" is painfully unfunny full of groan worthy jokes and Herbert's "woo woo" which makes you want to hit him. It got to the point that when he appeared I hit the fast forward button. The cast is full of talented actors but some of them give their worst performances. Rathbone walks through his role and Ladd comes off as an obnoxious jerk. However it is amusing to see Ladd billed last in the opening credits (this was made right before he hit it big). Lugosi and Sondergaard are good but reduced to just walking around and acting suspicious. Sondegaard hated making this film but she's enough of a pro to still give a good performance. Crawford comes across best by trying to solve the mystery. I also got a kick out of a glaring lapse in continuity--at one point he's out in a storm getting soaked. Then he walks into the house and is COMPLETELY dry! This is almost worth seeing for the cast alone. Almost. I give it a 4.

calvinnme I say "attempts" because most of the comedy just falls flat. This could have been a great little thriller if Broderick Crawford and Hugh Herbert's bumbling around in the dark could have been omitted. Instead, this film comes across more inane than sinister.I give it 6/10 because the mystery is good enough and the atmosphere is pure Universal horror. The background of the story is that a wealthy elderly lady has provided her estate as a haven for homeless cats, complete with creepy crypt and crematorium for them when they die. She has just dodged another bout with death through illness when she decides to read her will to her greedy relatives ahead of time. Shortly afterwards the elderly woman dies mysteriously, followed by the discovery of an addendum to the will, followed by the mysterious deaths of other members of the household, all during the period of one dark and stormy night. For some reason Universal figured the presence of an investigating protagonist would not be enough for this one - that injecting some bumbling good guys in the spirit of Abbott and Costello would be a good idea, but they (Broderick Crawford and Hugh Herbert) just distract the viewer from the mystery aspect with their lame attempts at humor.The sad part of this film is how little Bela Lugosi is given to do. At this point in his career he is pretty much relegated to walking around and looking creepy.

Spondonman This little gem has long been one of my favourites: since I taped it in the '80's my daughter and I have watched it dozens of times, and although the 1934 horror film may be better it's still lovely to watch. Universal Pictures in the 1940's could churn out inconsequential family entertainment films like this so seemingly effortlessly and all with a special atmosphere that marked them apart from their bigger and richer rivals. Russell Gausman as set director did his usual fantastic job of creating something gorgeous to look at from nothing and the nitrate-film photography by Stanley Cortez was beautifully brooding, when the comedy allowed.Relatives with secrets and problems assemble at a dying old lady's spooky old house to find out how much they'll inherit from her when the day comes. Or whether her army of beloved pampered cats will get it all. Dapper Basil Rathbone had the biggest problems of them all - but was he the one who murdered the old lady, or was she killed from kindness after all? There could have been some mysterious feline power at work, Alan Ladd looked like he'd shoot everyone for a nickel, Gladys Cooper was very demure even if very strong, Gail Sondergaard (her line "Two is equal to one" matched her "Sometimes they get into the machinery" from Cat And The Canary) and Bela Lugosi were as creepy as ever, Claire Dodd was plain nasty and John Eldredge just too dumb to be real. However I don't care what anybody says the lovely Anne Gwynne was never going to be Guilty in my eyes! Chunky Broderick Crawford and Hugh Herbert bumble through it all as the hero and light relief – this was a big vehicle for Herbert to woo-hoo his way through too. His over-zaniness can be a problem at times – was he and Crawford there in place of some songs or Abbott & Costello and overall did he help or detract? And what the Hell was Anne Gwynne supposed to see in Broderick Crawford anyway??Maybe it helps to have seen it when young to see it now through rose-tinted spectacles. It can be too melodramatic at times, especially during the otherwise gripping climax, but with plenty of lovely smoky visuals and a rich atmosphere to wallow in I've always enjoyed watching this and hope to many more times.

MARIO GAUCI Given one of the most abused titles in cinema history (innumerable films were supposedly inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's short story but few, if any, bothered to be faithful to it), the plot of this one could go in any direction. Universal had already used the title for one of its most stylish (and potent) horror offerings in 1934, so the 'remake' tried something entirely different: an old dark house comedy-chiller on the lines of THE CAT AND THE CANARY (itself brought to the screen several times, the most recent up to that time emanating from 1939). As always with this kind of film, we get a plethora of characters brought together for the hearing of a will and then starting to die violently one by one; the cast is notable and eclectic – including two horror stars (Basil Rathbone and Bela Lugosi: the latter was also in the earlier version, where his role was far more substantial), whereas the comedy is supplied by Broderick Crawford (proving surprisingly adept and likably accident-prone!) and the insufferable Hugh Herbert. Of course, there is a damsel-in-distress (pretty Anne Gwynne, also serving as Crawford's love interest) being invariably the one to receive the lion's share of the fortune possessed by the dotty (and cat-loving) owner of the estate; also on hand are Gale Sondergaard (as the sinister housekeeper, a virtual reprise of her role in the aforementioned version of THE CAT AND THE CANARY) and Gladys Cooper and Alan Ladd(!) as mother and son (the former is married to Rathbone, but he carries on an affair with another relative present). Being definitely a B-movie, the film is best compared to similarly modest ventures in this vein: even so, not involving recognizable comics (such as THE GORILLA [1939] did with The Ritz Brothers) or a horrific figure (a' la NIGHT MONSTER [1942]) – both films, incidentally, feature Bela Lugosi in an almost identical (and equally thankless) part – the film ends up not satisfying anyone…even if it is harmless enough as entertainment, the eerie atmosphere well up to par and the identity of the villain (who perishes flamboyantly in a blaze) a genuine surprise.