Despite the many unfavorable reviews, the first 15 minutes of this programmer are exotic and memorable. Take a look at the impressive outdoor set that places the nightmarish swimming pool in front of the majestic stairway leading up to the mansion's front door. All are full-size components of a single sound stage creation (listen for the echo), unusual for a movie of this type. Now, it's hard for me to believe that First National (Warner Bros.) would go to the trouble and expense for a series B- picture like this. But however that may be, the result is unusually atmospheric, particularly the eerie pool where any kind of mutant creature might be growing amid the ugly murk.
Then there are the stylishly dressed party guests, a good look at high fashion, circa 1934. How the guest-suspects react to the fighting fish battling to the death in the mansion's many aquariums is how we get to know them. It's an offbeat idea that also shows how the mansion's inside is as strange as its outside. And when one of the guests mysteriously vanishes in the haunted pool, thanks to the weird build-up, I was ready to believe that the legendary dragon had gotten him.
At that point, however, the screenplay collapses into a routine who-dun-it, and a not very coherent one, at that. Note how little interaction there is among the suspects after the murder. In fact, the comely Margaret Lindsey almost disappears until the end. Most of the dialogue goes to humorous throw-away lines from the froggish Sergeant Heath (Palette) and the raspy Dr. Doremus (Girardot). Nor, for that matter, does director Humberstone show any imagination in developing the characters or the initial atmosphere. Even the usually forceful Warren William seems uninterestingly subdued. Too bad a more stylish director and less pedestrian screenwriter didn't get hold of the material first. That way maybe we would have gotten more than just a promising start.
Then there are the stylishly dressed party guests, a good look at high fashion, circa 1934. How the guest-suspects react to the fighting fish battling to the death in the mansion's many aquariums is how we get to know them. It's an offbeat idea that also shows how the mansion's inside is as strange as its outside. And when one of the guests mysteriously vanishes in the haunted pool, thanks to the weird build-up, I was ready to believe that the legendary dragon had gotten him.
At that point, however, the screenplay collapses into a routine who-dun-it, and a not very coherent one, at that. Note how little interaction there is among the suspects after the murder. In fact, the comely Margaret Lindsey almost disappears until the end. Most of the dialogue goes to humorous throw-away lines from the froggish Sergeant Heath (Palette) and the raspy Dr. Doremus (Girardot). Nor, for that matter, does director Humberstone show any imagination in developing the characters or the initial atmosphere. Even the usually forceful Warren William seems uninterestingly subdued. Too bad a more stylish director and less pedestrian screenwriter didn't get hold of the material first. That way maybe we would have gotten more than just a promising start.