Crimes at the Dark House

Ah, you've got to love Tod Slaughter. As far as I can see, this English actor was pretty much forgotten for decades but has now rightfully been rediscovered in large part because of the glories of the internet and public domain DVD collections. It's via these two channels in particular that the great man has now become known to fans of movies from the less seen corners of cinema history. Slaughter made a number of British melodramas back in the day where he played a succession of utterly evil cads whose actions were totally immoral. Slaughter's performances in these movies were always the best things about them and it is only right that he is slowly receiving praise and fans many decades down the line. Crimes at the Dark House is another typical Slaughter offering. In it he plays another nasty bit of work called Sir Henry Glyde, who not only is a serial murderer but who also replaces his wealthy wife with a look-a-like from the local asylum! He begins the story as he means to go on by entering a tent and hammering a spike into a sleeping man's head! He takes on this unfortunate individual's persona and travels to his estate in order to claim his huge inheritance, only to discover a pile of debts instead of a pile of loot. He then coerces a very young wealthy woman to be his bride, in order to ultimately claim her money. This one is essentially business as usual for Slaughter. Again, he is on fine form in another boo! hiss! performance of quality ham. His actions are utterly deplorable of course but he ultimately meets a suitably macabre end which is as it should be. I personally wouldn't put this in the upper bracket of his films; it's more serviceable than especially good. But it's still one that should certainly be seen by any fan of this awesome old school actor!

The extraordinarily popular novel THE WOMAN IN WHITE, written in the mid-to-late 19th century by Wilkie Collins, is the basis of this loose adaptation that serves as an opportunity for British horror actor Tod Slaughter to give another barnstorming performance as a moustache-twirling villain. Now, I've read TWIW and studied the novel at university, so I'm pretty familiar with the complex plot. CRIMES AT THE DARK HOUSE tears that plot to shreds. Sure, some of the names are the same, and events do loosely resemble those found in the Collins novel, but don't go in expecting the script to slavishly follow the original storyline. For example, the fire in the church is moved to the film's end, while another major sub-plot is a virtual retread of MURDER IN THE RED BARN! This is melodrama at its best and the most entertaining I've seen of Slaughter's films – in fact, it rivals SWEENEY TODD as his best work! Slaughter is at his hammy best and not a scene goes by when he isn't cackling with mad glee or giving his sinister trademark throaty chuckle. The film begins with him hammering a stake into a poor soul's head (eat your heart out Peter Cushing!) and throughout he commits acts of villainy time and time again. When it comes to the ladies Slaughter is a particular cad here. The script also provides him with great lines, the best of which is undoubtedly "I'll feed your entrails to the pigs!". The supporting cast is pretty decent, especially Hat Petrie playing Dr. Fosco. This slimy professional is such a creep that he almost rivals Slaughter and the ending provides him with a fitting send-off. You can tell that British films had become more Hollywood-ised by his period, as there are moments of comedy (intentional for a change) and even a reel of serial-style punch-ups. Camera-work and music are great and director George King handles the proceedings with aplomb. All in all a great B-movie, one of Slaughter's very best!

source: Crimes at the Dark House

Crimes at the Dark House (1940) ** 1/2 (out of 4) A psycho (Tod Slaughter) kills a man and takes over his identity thinking the man has riches. When it turns out the man actually owed money, Slaughter marries a woman to murder her for her money. Sometimes silly film has some nice moments, including some raunchy (for the time) death scenes including one pregnant woman being murdered, which is strange considering how strict the British censors were around this time. Slaughter's performance is way over the top and I can't help but wonder why he always gives that stupid laugh.

Callous thief and murderer kills the real Sir Percival Glyde whose gone bush down under for more than a decade, then returns to England impersonating his victim to inherit the vast estate. With a litany of perjury to maintain, things soon begin to unravel for the "false" Sir Percival, as his lechery and lies quickly catch-up leading to ever more desperate and depraved crimes. Tod Slaughter is suitably nasty as the greedy deviant whose unsophisticated ruse barely adheres through a mutually beneficial alliance with crooked Doctor (Petrie) who catches on to the deceit early in the piece, then becomes complicit through escalating blackmail. The sheer abhorrence of the imposter's crimes is breathtaking for a film made in 1940, and he surely ranks as one of the most unconscionable villains of that decade (his dismissive immorality is right up there with Richard Widmark's giggling killer from "Kiss of Death"). His vulgar disposal of one of the victims in particular really is quite shocking when you consider the motive. Memorable dialogue ("double cross me and I'll feed your entrails to the pigs") and plot twists (the apparently illegitimate daughter who's a basket case, and just so happens to be a dobbleganger for Sir Percival's reluctant wife), keep the momentum constant, and combined with Slaughter's wicked characterisation, it's worth hanging in just to anticipate his comeuppance.

Crimes at the Dark House (1940) was adapted from the famous Wilkie Collins novel, The Woman in White. Warner Bros made an outstanding (and far more faithful) version, directed by Peter Godfrey in 1948, with Alexis Smith, Eleanor Parker and Sydney Greenstreet (which is not at present available on commercial DVD). This one was obviously filmed on the cheap. Nonetheless, despite Slaughter's fulsome melodramatics, it has its suspenseful and even horrific moments, plus a delightful interpretation (the extreme opposite of Greenstreet's) of Fosco by diminutive Hay Petrie. Geoffrey Wardwell (in his last of six movies) is a dead loss as the hero, but Sylvia Marriott manages her dual role quite ably. Stage actress Hilary Eaves also makes a considerable impression in one of her rare movies (she made only three), while Rita Grant is an absolute stand-out as the maid of no account.

All I can say is LOL. This was a riot. The central character in this mystery is a rotten egg from the word go. Instead of following a protagonist, we follow a horrific evil, but the story is told in such a way that we can follow with a sort of Monty Python style of black humor in his escapades, fully aware that it would take a miracle for him to pull off his charade as he murders a man and assumes his identity. This impostor can best be described in three words and I quote: stink, stank, stunk. In a sort of deranged Long John Silver style, he kills and kills and lies his way through the story to the end. The only real negative contrivance is the "look alike", which you'll find, but that does help set up an interesting bit. The rescue from the asylum didn't make much sense, as it would've been easier to just get witnesses and come back to expose the fraud who put the lookalike there. (I think I said this in such a way that it isn't a spoiler) But the movie is a good ride.

Devlishly wicked tale of a murderer(the deliciously vile Tod Slaughter)stealing the identity of Percivel Glyde, a man supposedly on the throes of receiving a large castle and possible fortune. What the false Glyde doesn't expect is that the ancestor not only left him the castle, but in a state of massive debt. He is told, however, that his ancestor had arranged a marriage between Percival and Laurie Fairlie(Sylvia Marriott), the daughter of a nobleman who left her in the care of a selfish old disease-phobic uncle, Frederick(David Horne)who is squeamish when anyone challenges him or sneezes around him..he often goes into outrageous fits when Laurie's very vocal, high-strung sister Marion(Hilary Eaves)confronts him on his wrongs and attitudes towards them. But, Laurie, despite being madly in love with "paint-instructor" Paul(Geoffrey Wardwell), agrees to marry Percival, although she's deeply sad regarding the weighted burden of marrying a man she'll never love. The arrangement of marriage could lead to quite a fortune if the false Percival can get Laurie to sign a document turning over her assets to his name. Marion, Laurie's confidant and adviser, however, will always be a thorn in the false Percival's side. Also, weighing on the false Percival's mind is the mother of the real Percival's child, a woman bound in a private asylum, ran by the slimy director Dr. Isidor Fosco(Hay Petrie;playing him as a sly scoundrel, almost as devious a character as the false Percival). He'll have to be rid of the mother, Mrs. Catherick(Elsie Wagstaff)and somehow get rid of a nagging nuisance that develops..the real Percival's daughter, the "woman in white" Anne Catherick(also played by Sylvia Marriott)escapes from the asylum in an unfortunate mishap and begins raising havoc informing Paul that the false Percival only wishes to marry Laurie for her money. And, he has ANOTHER problem he'll have to deal with, a lovely servant girl he soon makes a chambermaid..she's pregnant with the false Percival's child and wants to marry him herself. He contends with all this drama while being blackmailed by Fosco who will keep his lips sealed if the false Percival feeds his pockets with a large sum. Together, the false Percival and Fosco etch out a plan..because Laurie and Anne look almost identical, they could let Anne die of the pneumonia she contacts being out in the open too long and switch her body with Laurie's. They'd lock Laurie away in the asylum with everyone believing her dead using the corpse of Anne as the disguise. Through and through, however, Paul and Marion will not easily sit on their hands when they know deep down inside that the false Percival is indeed not who he he says he is. And, it's only a matter of time before the relationship between two scoundrels, Foscoe and the false Percival will deteriorate. Marvelously twisted black comedy is played with such relish and glee, the flick is intoxicatingly entertaining..if the material suits your tastes. The false Percival, played with such demented joy by a great Tod Slaughter, who cackles with widened eyes as he strangles innocents unfortunate enough to meet him late at night at an isolated boat house. The film is also startlingly adult presenting some pretty disturbing material played to the hilt. I mean, in the opening scene, Slaughter kills the real Percival with hammered stake to the temple of his skull! Despite watching a bad quality print(this terrific film deserves a pristine copy if ever a film deserves one), the film's still atmospherically rich with a very noirish, Gothic, decadent beauty. A must-see for fans of macabre comedies. Not for all tastes.

The above statement is how I saw the great Todd Slaughter's role in this movie as he laughed every time he killed somebody. He plays somebody who he has just killed and heads for England where he takes up residence in his victim's large and creepy mansion, the residents there not knowing he is a mad impostor. After several deaths, mostly women which he finds funny, a fire at the end claims him after his real identity is discovered. Joining Slaughter in the cast are Sylvia Marriott and Hilary Eaves. Crimes At the Dark House is a must for all old horror fans out there. Excellent. Rating: 3 and a half stars out of 5.

The Wilkie Collins novel "The Woman in White" has been made into several films, a TV miniseries, and a Broadway musical by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber. In this 1940 version, it's pretty much the same story, but acted in a somewhat over the top manner by Tod Slaughter, who plays an impersonator of Sir Percival Glyde after he kills the real Glyde. Even though it's a short film, this movie seemed endless as Glyde gleefully kills anyone who stands in the way of the money from his alliance with Laurie Fairlie. The rest of the acting is okay; Hay Petrie plays Isidore Fosco, and he's a small man, nothing at all like Sydney Greenstreet. Not having read the original novel, I don't know how much this veers from it, but it definitely veers from other versions. If the entire film had been done in a tongue in cheek manner, it would have been one thing, but everyone played it straight except Slaughter.