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| Laura La Plante | ... | ||
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Creighton Hale | ... | |
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Forrest Stanley | ... |
Charles Wilder
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Tully Marshall | ... |
Roger Crosby
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Gertrude Astor | ... |
Cecily
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Flora Finch | ... |
Susan
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Arthur Edmund Carewe | ... |
Harry
(as Arthur Edmund Carew)
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Martha Mattox | ... | |
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George Siegmann | ... |
The Guard
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Lucien Littlefield | ... |
Ira Lazar
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Rich old Cyrus West's relatives are waiting for him to die so they can inherit. But he stipulates that his will be read 20 years after his death. On the appointed day his expectant heirs arrive at his brooding mansion. The will is read and it turns out that Annabelle West, the only heir with his name left, inherits, if she is deemed sane. If she isn't, the money and some diamonds go to someone else, whose name is in a sealed envelope. Before he can reveal the identity of her successor to Annabelle, Mr. Crosby, the lawyer, disappears. The first in a series of mysterious events, some of which point to Annabelle in fact being unstable. Written by Ron Kerrigan
This has been restored by Kevin Brownlow and Photoplay Productions. The new print is beautiful and shows why Paul Leni was considered a master. Sure, the plot is slight, but Leni is so imaginative and unrestrained in his style that you just sit there with your mouth open in amazement. Most every shot is a masterpiece. The sets and photography are wonderful. There's way too much silly humor in it -- Leni's far more effective at the scary moments. But leading lady La Plante is effective; and the more ghoulish secondary roles are handled with relish. You wonder why most haunted house movies of the 30's and 40's didn't have this much style. They should have learned from the Master. I hope this restored version makes it out on DVD soon.