csteidler Some nice plot twists keep the viewer sitting up through this old dark house mystery featuring John Miljan as a playwright with a new play to read—a thriller, this time! Among a supporting cast of vaguely familiar faces, Richard Carle and Johnny Arthur lend comic relief as a Broadway producer and assistant accompanying Miljan. Producer Carle is constantly firing and un-firing assistant Arthur, which is cute but predictable; on another level entirely is their merry insistence for a good chunk of the film that the entire "mystery" taking place is part of Miljan's presentation of his new play, put on for their benefit!Nothing particularly unusual here, otherwise, but those of us who enjoy being trapped in a dark house on a stormy night with an escaped lunatic in the neighborhood will find an hour of fun. As a bonus, the final few minutes feature a couple of bursts of really ripe maniacal laughter.

wes-connors "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

tedg 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.

dbborroughs On their way to a country house to hear a new play being read a theatrical producer, his secretary, and the playwright end up stuck in the mud. They make their way to a nearby house, only to end up at the home of the playwright's fiance. If you can't guess that murder and mayhem are about to take place then you haven't been paying attention.This is a a good entry in the old dark house genre. Not only does it have a good mystery, you also have some very funny one liners wandering through it. The cast is across the board excellent and they're more than willing to have a good time with what is good material.I would love to say that this is one of the best of the genre, it should have been, but for me something happened on the way that made me down grade the rating to only seven out of ten. I can't tell you what it is, not for certain anyway. Perhaps its the sense that I knew where it was going almost from the outset, or perhaps its something else, I'm not sure what, but there was something that I couldn't shake that made me like this film despite wanting to love it. It just missed being great and somehow fell short.That said I DO SUGGEST YOU SEE IT. It is after all a very witty film, that entertains fully, despite just missing being great.