The Phantom Light (1935)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Michael Powell

Writers:

Joan Roy Byford (play)
Joseph Jefferson Farjeon (dialogue)

Release Date:

5 August 1935 (UK)

Genre:

Mystery | Thriller

Plot:

A lighthouse keeper has been murdered in mysterious circumstances and, during the ensuing investigation...

Plot Keywords:

Detective | Haunting | Quota Quickie | Based On Play

Cast

Binnie Hale	...	Alice Bright
Gordon Harker	...	Sam Higgins
Donald Calthrop	...	David Owen
Milton Rosmer	...	Dr. Carey
Ian Hunter	...	Jim Pearce
Herbert Lomas	...	Claff Owen
Reginald Tate	...	Tom Evans
Barry O'Neill	...	Capt. Pearce
Mickey Brantford	...	Bob Peters
Alice O'Day	...	Mrs. Owen
Fewlass Llewellyn	...	Griffith Owen
Edgar K. Bruce	...	Sgt. Owen
Louie Emery	...	Station Mistress

Runtime:

76 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English | Welsh

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Eddystone Lighthouse, Devon, England, UK

Company:

Gainsborough Pictures

Quotes:

[repeated line]
Alice Bright: I'm going to tell you the truth.
[but she then gives a different reason for being there each time]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Dad's Army: Put That Light Out! (#4.7)" (1970)

and a blonde on the rocks, if you please

Very funny British Gainsborough Picture from 1935 with plenty of No-code 'damn' 'ruddy' and 'cor-blimey' -ies along with Binnie Hale's long legs and keen 'how about it' frankness, THE PHANTOM LIGHT is a bookend GHOST TRAIN fog bound mystery set on the shrouded eerie Welsh coast. The photography and settings particularly in the quaint railway scenes in reel one and the village scenes near the end offer the viewer genuine storybook pleasure in that they look completely fake but are not at all. It just happens to naturally all look like some plaster model. Lead actor, music hall star Gordon Harker has some hilarious lines - particularly the closing one: "Lummy! what a night" which would have rocked any Odeon theatre with gales of laughter. Binnie Hale is the Brit Joan Blondell, all perky and silly and ready to cut up her trousers all ready to gad about the lighthouse stairways in hotpants and high heels. Local Welsh eccentricness is on full display with plenty of Popeye style gnarling and eyeball flexing. I thought it was hilarious as (later famous) Director Michael Powell was clearly getting his actors to have fun with their roles. The local policeman is exactly like Constable Plod from the Noddy kids books..all tubby and bug eyed. It is all silly and very funny. The Warner bros pic SHH! THE OCTOPUS of 1935 is a good counterpart from the USA.