SpecialsTarget Disturbing yet enthralling

Hattie I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Kimball Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Isbel 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.

kidboots Hollywood was still enamoured with the German cinema - even in this little Action Pictures thriller from 1932. An eerie corpse lies in a candlelit room, outside a storm rages and all is presided over by movie's most sinister housekeeper - Martha Mattox. Meanwhile whisperings are going on between wheelchair bound Robert Earlton (Sheldon Lewis) and his menacing hireling Hanns (Mischa Auer).Ruth (Vera Reynolds) has arrived from Europe to learn her father is dead. She is due to inherit the estate, that is, if she lives - if not, it will all come to her Uncle Robert. From the interesting beginning, quite clearly derived from "The Cat and the Canary", the film suffers from massive doses of over acting, Lewis pointedly exclaiming "If only I were not so HELPLESS" and "If only I could WALK" with plenty of shots of Hann's rolling eyes and Ruth saying every ten minutes "Oh Ted, take me away from here"!! Through it all is the maddening screams of Yogi, the ape, caged in the cellar, which is a bit of a problem as it is supposed to possess superhuman strength and be bitterly unforgiving of those that have taunted it but when you finally see it, it is only a chimpanzee and because of all the jungle films around at the time in which chimps were cute and funny, Yogi just doesn't convince.There is also a family secret which Hanns is forever on the point of revealing, especially when he realises that he and his mother, Mrs. Krug, were not that well provided for in the will. Ruth's fiancée, Dr. Clayton (handsome Rex Lease) is also staying there and he is convinced Ruth's hysterics are real and the whole mystery has something to do with the myriad of secret tunnels in the house that Ruth says confused her as a child. Unfortunately another red herring as the viewers see none of the subterranean passages. When Mrs. Krug is murdered it is obvious Ruth was the intended victim and Clayton is determined to get to the bottom of Robert's affliction. I just love the way, in these old chillers, two o'clock in the morning is no deterrent to performing an examination to see if Robert really is wheelchair bound or only "putting it on"!!!There is some awful racist humour involving Exodus (Sleep 'N Eat, which is the name Willie Best originally went by), including a joke about being descended from apes!!! Also Vera Reynolds, a former Cecil B. DeMille star who had seen better days, to me seemed a bit too matronly to be the innocent and easily excitable heroine.

MARIO GAUCI This is a popular title among the "old dark house" thrillers (often given a comic slant) which flooded the market from the 1920s through to the mid-1940s or thereabouts, but I was sorely disappointed by it. For one thing, characterization is inadequate (even when considering the thing is just 60 minutes long) so that what plot development there is feels largely mechanical – and, regrettably, even the treatment proves too stolid to render this an entertaining film (with little genuine atmosphere to help matters). For the record, the same director's follow-up – THE VAMPIRE BAT (1933) – has an intriguing cast and uses leftover sets from James Whale's sublime spoof THE OLD DARK HOUSE (1932) but is not otherwise that more of a success in putting across the various genre conventions! Anyway, the would-be thrills here involve a couple of attempts on the heroine's life (typically, the sole heir of a vast fortune) made, we are led to believe, by a caged ape kept – for no very good reason – in the basement (except that the assailant's hairy arms are visibly longer than those of the rather squat mammal concerned!). As for the comedy, despite the presence of Mischa Auer (who actually plays it straight, Leonard Maltin's comments notwithstanding) and Willie Best (unflatteringly billed as "Sleep 'N' Eat"), it is quite sparse – and so mild as to barely raise a smile! Also involved is Sheldon Lewis (as the heroine's invalid and indignant uncle) who had played the dual role in the 1920 version of "Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde" that fell far short of the rival production designed as a vehicle/showcase for the great John Barrymore.

mrush This is an old black and white film from the early 1930's.The setting is an old house and at night with a storm brewing outside.It has some good elements but in the end it's ruined by just not being very exciting.You get all the elements of a horror film from that time---stormy night,old gloomy house ,skulky characters and ,of course,the reading of a will from a dead man and the ensuing darting eyes after each learns of what he got ,or didn't get, as the case may be.A young women returns to her childhood home after her father dies.She ,along with her doctor boyfriend,arrive on a stormy night for the reading of the father's will at the old darkly lit home.The young woman's crippled uncle,her dad's bother,still lives there along with a tall weird bony old housekeeper/nanny and her equally creepy bony son.Also in the mix is the dead man's lawyer who is there to read the will.And the doctor's driver is also there.One of the unfortunate things about this film is the driver is a typical black character of that era.....slow shuffling bug-eyed fellow with the horrid name of Sleep N' Eat ,altho he is also called Exodus.To top it all off the weird dark old house consists of a nasty dirty looking chimp locked in a cage in the basement.So after the will is read and they all learn the daughter gets everything they all are forced to stay there since the storm is so bad.The nanny and the weird son are peeved cause they got pretty much screwed in the will after many years of drudgery in this old house taking care of two old sick men. During the night murder and mayhem ensues and they suspect the ape in the basement but each time they run downstairs he seems to be locked in his cage cage,or is he? Then they start to suspect each other of the attacks but then next time something happens they suspect the ape again.The doctor and lawyer naturally lead the investigation into the choking attacks and murders.I'm not sure why but it seems always in these old horror films a doctor ,lawyer or newspaper reporter is always doing the crime solving.Altho it's creepy looking and not an absolute waste this film doesn't make much sense.Why would the family keep a pet ape? The young woman is terribly scared of the ape and says it would surely kill her if it escaped it's cage.And how did this young woman grow up normal after being raised in this dark gloomy old house by a gloomy old nanny with the constant fear of being killed by some screaming howling ape locked up in the basement?Why wasn't the police called? All in all this wasn't a complete waste but it doesn't have much to recommend it either.It's totally a period piece,implausible and silly, and the last few unfortunate scenes involving Sleep N' Eat will make your skin crawl more than the rest of the film does put together.The horrible racism in this film was a normal and accepted part of films from that era and that is the really scary thing.The usual bad acting and bad script is here, and I was prepared for those things, but to see a human being degraded for the amusement of the movie goer isn't something you get used to.It ruined what otherwise would have been just a silly little schlocky movie turning it into a sad reminder of how far we've come but how so very far we have yet to go.

JoeB131 In the early 1930's, they had a series of these "Old Dark House" pictures, usually involving a bunch of people brought together in an old mansion as an unseen killer begins picking them off. This probably had a lot to do with the fact that early talkies were produced by people who had a lot of experience on stage, as many of the silent era directors and actors found themselves out of their depth with the introduction of sound.The film's opening graphic has a picture of half-naked woman being carried off by a ape. Of course, you see nothing like this in the film, as the primary actress never gets very naked or gets touched by an ape.The plot is simple enough. A rich man dies, leaving his entire fortune to his daughter, but her uncle is the next in line to get it if she dies. And the late millionaire had a pet ape he kept in the basement. Did the ape get out and start strangling people? Well, I'll leave you in suspense... of course not. It was old man Krug, he was the ape all along, and he'd have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling kids.(Actually, I think this is the second movie I've reviewed with someone in an ape suit killing people, which i guess was a pretty standard fare on Poverty Row in the 30's and 40's.) The final point is the actor credited as "Eat N Sleep", better known as Willie Best. He was typical of the way African-Americans were portrayed in this era, superstitious, subservient, and scared. You can't watch these kinds of scenes today without cringing.