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Film: The Ghost Walks
Year: 1934
Director: Frank R. Strayer
Writer: Charles Belden
Starring: John Miljan, June Collyer and Richard Carle
Review:
This was a movie that I discovered when looking for horror films from 1934. It is one that I didn’t know anything ahead of coming in, aside from the title and year of release. I was able to find this on Prime Video, which made it easy. Now I have seen things by the director, Frank R. Strayer, as well as writer, Charles Belden, and selected members of the cast. Other than that, I was blind coming in to see this.
Synopsis: during a stormy night at an old dark mansion, people who claim to see ghosts roaming the halls are later found murdered.
We start this in a car while it is storming out. The driver is Prescott Ames (John Miljan). He is a playwright who is taking Herman Wood (Richard Carle) and his secretary, Homer Erskine (Johnny Arthur), to his home. Herman is a great producer for plays and Prescott is hoping that he will put on the one he is taking him to read. They get in an accident though. This forces them to seek help at a nearby house.
It turns out that it belongs to Dr. Kent (Henry Kolker). He is there with Gloria Shaw (June Collyer), Terry Gray (Donald Kirke) and Beatrice (Eve Southern). Also, there is Carroway (Douglas Gerrard) who is the butler. Prescott realizes who this house belongs to and doesn’t think they should go in. Herman won’t hear any of it. The reason is that Prescott is engaged to Gloria. They’ve been expecting him, but Prescott never shows. The reason deals with Beatrice and what happened to her husband 3 years ago. He was murdered. It was thought that one of the people staying there did it, but it was never proven. Beatrice believes in the supernatural and Dr. Kent has her come here every year to help her with her nerves.
Herman and Homer are adamant about getting back to the city. With the weather how it is, they must stay for the night. It is during this night that we see Prescott and Terry don’t get along. Both are vying for Gloria, even though she’s engaged to the former. There is also a nearby mental hospital and it sounds like someone escaped from it. It also doesn’t help that this house has a history from a former owner. There is something that happens at dinner as well that might show that this place is truly haunted.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Now this runs just over an hour long. I got right up to the end of the first act as I don’t want to spoil where it goes from there. I did include things that happened after that first reveal, but there is one major thing that I don’t want to give away, even though this more is now 90+ years old.
With that out of the way, this has a set up that I’ve covered before from this era in that we have an ‘old dark house’. It is storming outside and due to that, our characters can’t easily leave. They’re told that the roads are flooded. That is a premise that is simple but works for me. This house also has hidden passages, which I’m a sucker for. What makes it great is that not all the characters know the ins and outs. I won’t give away why that is for some. It does feel like we are supposed to be like Herman and Homer here. They don’t know these people and are ‘fish out of water’ sorts. All these elements help build a solid atmosphere.
Another thing that works is the group dynamic. Prescott knows all the people here. He is seeing Gloria. Terry doesn’t care for him since he’s in the way of being with her. Dr. Kent is bothered that his friend doesn’t come to the house more. He is always invited. Herman and Homer are here because of him since he was trying to take them to his home. Bringing up our reveal, which changes the perspective of Herman and Homer to where they don’t believe anyone around them. I like that concept, because it puts them in harm’s way, thinking they’re in on the game. That adds another dimension for me.
Let’s then just discuss the performances. Miljan has a good look as our lead here. I thought he plays well off the other characters. Collyer is attractive. They don’t give her much to do though. That is more of the time as she is the love interest who is the reason of the love triangle. The best performances though are Carle and Arthur. It almost becomes a comedy routine, which hurts the pacing for me. Herman is ornery while Homer makes bad jokes. I thought it worked though. Kolker, Kirke and Southern round out the rest of the first group. We then have other characters show up later. I did want to say that the reveal at the end did feel cheap because there is no way to guess it. That didn’t necessarily work for me.
All that is left then is filmmaking. I’ve already said that I love the setting of this old dark house. The weather outside is good as well to help trap the characters inside. Cinematography is of the era where they don’t do much with it. That’s not a negative either. We don’t get much in much in the way of effects. It isn’t that type of movie either. I did like the ghost stuff at the dinner table though. That was a good touch. I did want to say that this is slow for its short runtime. I lost interest late in this unfortunately. What I will say is the sound design was fine to help with the atmosphere as well.
In conclusion, this movie is an interesting one. We’re getting another ‘old dark house’ setting, but we have a noteworthy twist at the first act break. From there though it does lose steam for me. What works though is the acting. Thought that the performances were good across the board with Carle and Arthur as the stand outs there. This is made well enough. It just doesn’t do enough to fully set itself apart and I think we needed just a bit more for it to fully work. Not one that I can recommend to everyone unless you love these types of movies or you are out to watch the history of this genre. One that you can skip though since others have done these things better.
My Rating: 6 out of 10