Mystery House (1938)

What makes it different from others?

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Dick Purcell (Lance O'Leary), Ann Sheridan (Nurse Sarah Keate), Anne Nagel (Gwen Kingery), Ben Welden (Gerald Frawley), Elspeth Dudgeon (Aunt Lucy Kingery), Hugh O'Connell (Newell Morse), Sheila Bromley (Terice Von Elm), Dennie Moore (Annette), Trevor Bardette (Brucker, the chauffeur), Jean Benedict (Helen Page), Anderson Lawlor (Joe Page), William Hopper (Lal Killian), Anthony Averill (Julian Barre), Ertic Stanley (Hubert Kingery), Jack Mower (coroner), Stuart Holmes (jury foreman), Loia Chaney (secretary), John Harron (director).Director: NOEL SMITH. Screenplay: Stuart L. Lowe, Robertson White. Based on the 1930 novel Mystery of Hunting's End by Mignon G. Eberhart. Photography: L. William O'Connell. Film editor: Frank Magee. Art director: Stanley Fleischer. Gowns: Howard Shoup. Music: Howard Jackson. Dialogue director: John Langan. Sound recording: Leslie G. Hewitt. Producer: Bryan Foy. A First National picture.Copyright 23 December 1937 by Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Palace: 28 June 1938. U.S. release: 21 May 1938. 56 minutes.SYNOPSIS: The daughter of a murdered millionaire (who supposedly committed suicide) summons to the family hunting lodge all the people who were there on the fateful occasion.NOTES: Sixth and final entry in the Sarah Keate series. An odd series for a number of reasons. In Eberhart's novels, Sarah Keate is a middle-aged, spinster nurse. Aline MacMahon was an ideal choice for the role in the first of the series, While the Patient Slept. For the second movie, however, Sarah was not only made younger but underwent a name change to "Sally Keating". Marguerite Churchill continued this trend in the third film, Murder by an Aristocrat. Would you believe, in the fourth film, the character reverted to middle age and was played by Jane Darwell? But for the fifth and sixth entries, Sarah/Sally became young again in the person of Ann Sheridan. COMMENT: A confused and confusing mystery thriller that involves so many characters milling around in such a short space of time, it's virtually impossible to keep track of who's who, unless you see the film twice! Unfortunately, it's hardly worth a single once-over. Ann Sheridan fans will be most disappointed. Not only does their idol contribute a perfunctory performance, she spends what little footage she has in a dowdy nurse's uniform. The actual feminine lead is Anne Nagel, but she too seems somewhat bland and colorless. It's left to Elspeth Dudgeon to hold up the distaff end with her Dame May Witty impersonation from "Night Must Fall". On the male side of the ledger, Dick Purcell makes a tepid hero and Trevor Bardette an unconvincing domestic. Only Ben Welden fitfully shines. Director Noel Smith does little to earn his pay but keep the jumbled events moving steadily towards the fade-out.

Suicide wasn't quite painless for the elderly patriarch of a greedy family, especially when it appears to have been murder! Suspicions of foul play lead to a reunion of everybody who was there that night, and more "suicides" begin to occur. All the archetypes of this type of melodrama appear including a grumpy wheelchair bound aunt (sister of the first victim who may have motives of her own), greedy and grieving children, sinister servants, a noble nurse and an unwelcome detective whose presence leads to attempts on his own life. Clues are found in the lining of a toupee, the aunt isn't as frail as she pretends to be, and when somebody is caught with their hands in the till, all suspicions point to them.A young Ann Sheridan plays the nurse of the dowager British character actress Elspeth Dugeon who had moved from bit parts the previous year to an unforgettable performance in the low-budget comedy thriller "Sh! The Octopus!". After years of being an extra, Sheridan had slowly risen to "B" leads but other than a few where she was paired with Pat O'Brien, Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney, the material she was given was genuinely weak. Dick Purcell plays her detective pal who obviously wants a bit more. Other than Elspeth Dugeon, the only really interesting performance here is the "Rin-Tin-Tin" type dog who has a fear of rifles and seems to know through his bark who the killer is. This genuinely ranks at the bottom of the rung of Warner Brothers' "B" unit, made difficult to tolerate even at an hour's running time because of the film's slow pacing and stage play like setting.

Mystery House (1938) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Rare murder/mystery from Warner has a banker committing suicide but his daughter thinks he was murdered so she invites all the guests from that night back to the house hoping the killer will slip up. Only God knows how many of these "old dark house" films were made throughout the 1930s but this one here is pretty good due to some nice direction and a short running time that makes the film fly by. All of the characters are a lot of fun so this keeps the movie going as well. The ending comes out very well and the mystery is a good one.

Noel M. Smith, Director of this film was a veteran of films and created many films during the Silent Era. This film takes place in an old house, more like a cottage and it occurs during a very bad snow storm with horrible winds blowing and drifting snow against the window panes. There is a group of men attending a board meeting and their wives and girlfriends who are visiting this mysterious house. The men have found out that their business has been cheated out of a large sum of money and they have all gathered together to find out just who forged papers and stole all the company's funds. There is a man who kills himself in a locked room and two other murders happen. Lance O'Leary, (Dick Purcell) is an investigator who is called in by a nurse Sarah Keate, (Ann Sheridan) who attends one of the older members of the household. This film is a B film, but will definitely hold your interest and keep you glued to your seats. Enjoy.