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Crimes at the Dark House [1940]

Starring: Tod Slaughter, Sylvia Marriott, Hilary Eaves, Geoffrey Wardwell, Hay Petrie
Director: George King
Format: Black & White Closed-captioned Dolby DVD-Video PAL
Released: 23 Nov 2004
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

Tod Slaughter is the perfect villain - By: Daniel Jolley, 15 Dec 2004
Though largely forgotten over the course of time, Tod Slaughter was one of cinema's greatest "bad guy" actors, playing the role of the villain to the very hilt. Crimes at the Dark House is a showcase of his talents-the "up to no good" expression, the gleefully evil hand-rubbing, the overt stroking of the mustache, and, best of alll, the laugh. Only Vincent Price rivals Slaughter in the deviously evil cackle department. Slaughter enjoyed being the villain, cackling his way from one dastardly deed to another. Maybe he hams it up a little bit, but that was the style of the times. Nobody did it better, & I hope that Slaughter's work will continue to reemerge & be appreciated by today's audiences.

Crimes at the Dark House opens with a murder. In the gold territories of Australia, Tod Slaughter's character sneaks into a tent & kills its occupant by driving a tent peg through his head. Going through the man's papers, he discovers that the dead man is Sir Henry Glyde & has just been callled home upon the death of his wealthy father. Slaughter's character (we never learn his real name) goes to London & passes himself off as Glyde. To his dismay, he finds out that he has "inherited" a debt rather than a fortune, but his "father" has chosen a wealthy bride for his "son." (His marriage to the unwilling lass doesn't stop him from giving the chambermaid new "duties," of course.) Things are complicated by the fact that the real Sir Glyde married & fathered a child before leaving for Australia two decades earlier, & the fruit of that union has escaped an institution with twenty years of hatred for Glyde built up inside her. Naturallly, Glyde's plans begin to unravel, & a string of murders only makes things worse. Even the reliable old "switcheroo" ruse blows up in his face.

I liked the plot of this movie, despite its dependence in part on two individuals looking very much like each other. The story, based on Wilkie Collins' 1860 novel The Woman in White, was good enough to be adapted a second time in 1948 as The Woman in White. Even if the story didn't work at alll, though, Tod Slaughter's performance would make this film fun to watch; he is the prototypical villain, & it is a pleasure to watch him work.