Movie Review: The Phantom in the House (1929)
Synopsis: When inventor Boyd Milburn discovers his wife, Peggy, standing over the dead body of a man who tried to rape her, he decides to take the blame for the murder to protect their daughter, Dorothy. Paroled after 15 years, he returns home to discover Peggy living a dream life, paid for with his inventions.
When Dorothy, now a grown woman who believes her father died, gets engaged to Paul Wallis, Peggy disapproves and threatens to disinherit her daughter, forcing Boyd to intervene and threaten to expose the truth if she doesn't let the wedding happen. However, things take a dark turn when Paul is falsely accused of killing the judge that sentenced Boyd, forcing the ex-con to decide what steps he is willing to take to once again protect his daughter.
Who's in it? The movie stars Henry B. Walthall, Grace Valentine, Nancy Welford, Ricardo Cortez and Jack Curtis.
Review: I came across about a half dozen movies last night that looked interesting and since I do have a limited amount of movie watching time in the morning, ultimately decided to just pick the one that I could watch in the shortest amount of time. This turned out to be The Phantom in the House.
As it turned out, the movie wasn't quite what I was expecting it to be. However, after finishing it, I do still think it ended up being a good choice.
Boyd (Walthall) is an intriguing protagonist. He faced life in prison and ultimately spent 15 years behind bars for a crime he didn't commit while allowing Peggy (Valentine) to earn a great deal of money by patenting his inventions under her name. All of this while not believing Peggy's story and believing she was being unfaithful to him because he thought it was what was best for his daughter. As a dad, that is something I can respect, though I'm also not so certain I'd be willing to do the same.
This in turn made the overall plot unexpected. Boyd held a great deal of power/influence over his wife because of the secret he was keeping for her benefit and, had he been a villain, could have taken full advantage of it. Since he was a good guy, I was worried the film would be predictable and boring, with him just using his influence to make sure Dorothy (Welford) could marry Paul (Cortez) but that worry was laid to rest when his former prison mate Biffer Bill (Curtis) showed up and took the movie in a whole new, unpredictable direction.
The film does a great job building up the suspense at the end too, leaving me wondering if it would have a sad/depressing ending or if some sort of last-second miracle would happen, especially when there were only a few minutes left and it certainly did look like Boyd's happy family reunion would never happen. It admittedly had me on the edge of my seat and I certainly would never have expected it.
Final Opinion: This would have been a completely different movie had Boyd been a villain. However, the decision to make him the hero does make this film an entertaining watch.
My Grade: B+
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Here are some reviews of other movies from 1929:
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