Movie Review: Night of Terror (1933)
Synopsis: When Professor Richard Rinehart is murdered by a maniac, he divides his money between his daughter, Mary, his brother, John, and his servants. Sometime later, Mary's fiancé, Dr. Arthur Hornsby, who has invented a way to survive without oxygen, invites a team of scientists to bury him alive, only to have the experiment interrupted by the same maniac committing multiple murders in and around the manor.
Who's in it? The movie stars George Meeker, Bela Lugosi, Wallace Ford, Sally Blane and Edwin Maxwell.
Review: I came across Night of Terror on Amazon Prime yesterday evening and since it had a somewhat intriguing description and Bela Lugosi, I decided to give the film a try. It wasn't quite what I was expecting but still proved to be a reasonably decent film.
While I thought the movie's slower pace prevented it from being a true horror movie, as the description claimed, I did think it proved to be a decent murder mystery. The simple explanation for the various deaths was the maniac (Maxwell) stalking people outside the manor, but it was also clear there was much more to the story than that. I didn't know if the maniac was a red herring and the killer was someone inside the house, if he was being hired by someone inside the house or if he had a secret motive but I figured (correctly) it wasn't as easy as saying they were being killed by a random lunatic.
Dr. Hornsby's (Meeker) experiment added a little something extra as well. I thought it was a bit odd he'd carry it out so soon after Rinehart's (Tully Marshall) death and wondered what, if anything, it had to do with the murders.
Lugosi's role in this film is relatively small, but he still manages to be impactful. His character, Degar, was just menacing enough to make it easy to question if he was the bad guy or just very loyal to his dead boss and Hornsby. The twist at the end involving him was more surprising than it probably should have been as a result while the final scene with the maniac warning the audience not to spoil the ending for others was a bit corny but still fun.
There were some parts of the movie that I wasn't a big fan of. For example, the fact Dr. Rinehart was both Mary's (Blane) dad and Hornsby's uncle made their engagement seem a bit, well, icky since, by my math, it meant they were cousins. Unless, of course, there was a different definition for uncle back in the 1930s.
I also didn't really care for the awkward, budding romance between Mary and news reporter Tom Hartley (Ford). For a woman that was constantly reminding Hartley she was engaged, she sure didn't put up a fight whenever he kissed her, even when her fiancé was in the next room. I probably could have understood it if Hornsby treated her poorly but that didn't appear to be the case, and she wasn't showing any indication she didn't love him. In other words, it was a love triangle that didn't make sense and probably wasn't needed.
Final Opinion: I wouldn't describe it as one of Bela Lugosi's best films, but it does have an interesting plot and solid mystery. It's worth taking the time to watch if you get a chance.
My Grade: B
___________________________________________________________________
Here are some reviews of other Bela Lugosi movies:
Movie Review: Bowery at Midnight (1942)
Movie Review: The Thirteenth Chair (1929)
Comments
Post a Comment