Simply A Masterpiece

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

I say "attempts" because most of the comedy just falls flat. This could have been a great little thriller if Broderick Crawford and Hugh Herbert's bumbling around in the dark could have been omitted. Instead, this film comes across more inane than sinister.I give it 6/10 because the mystery is good enough and the atmosphere is pure Universal horror. The background of the story is that a wealthy elderly lady has provided her estate as a haven for homeless cats, complete with creepy crypt and crematorium for them when they die. She has just dodged another bout with death through illness when she decides to read her will to her greedy relatives ahead of time. Shortly afterwards the elderly woman dies mysteriously, followed by the discovery of an addendum to the will, followed by the mysterious deaths of other members of the household, all during the period of one dark and stormy night. For some reason Universal figured the presence of an investigating protagonist would not be enough for this one - that injecting some bumbling good guys in the spirit of Abbott and Costello would be a good idea, but they (Broderick Crawford and Hugh Herbert) just distract the viewer from the mystery aspect with their lame attempts at humor.The sad part of this film is how little Bela Lugosi is given to do. At this point in his career he is pretty much relegated to walking around and looking creepy.

For my taste, there's too much humor in this semi-spoof of the old dark house type mystery, but it manages to be fairly entertaining anyway.The strongest thing the movie has going for it is the marvelous sets, that really convey the feeling of a large and elaborately furnished old mansion out in the country. The typical thunderstorm that strands a group of people for the night is present and contributes greatly to the spooky atmosphere.Cecelia Loftus is wonderful as the old lady whose will has a surprise in store for her greedy relatives. Good supporting performances from Anne Gwynne as the nicest member of the family, with such reliables as John Eldredge and Basil Rathbone among the would-be heirs, including a surly young Alan Ladd and Gladys Cooper as Rathbone's long suffering wife. Bela Lugosi gets to look sinister a lot, but his character is actually benign, if a bit cryptic.The weakest parts have to do with the rather forced comedy involving real estate hustlers Broderick Crawford and Hugh Herbert, who are hoping to sell the old house and its collection of antiques. Crawford's character is meant to be a sort of bumbling hero, but he gets pretty annoying, with his almost manic energy. Hugh Herbert has a few amusing moments, such as his naive conversation with the predatory Gale Sondergaard as the housekeeper, when she offers him a suspicious looking cup of tea. But his brand of absent-minded humor is more intrusive than comical most of the time, and the picture would have been better if played a little more straight.This is a fairly entertaining little movie overall and should be enjoyed by most viewers who like the mysterious old house type of film.

Given one of the most abused titles in cinema history (innumerable films were supposedly inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's short story but few, if any, bothered to be faithful to it), the plot of this one could go in any direction. Universal had already used the title for one of its most stylish (and potent) horror offerings in 1934, so the 'remake' tried something entirely different: an old dark house comedy-chiller on the lines of THE CAT AND THE CANARY (itself brought to the screen several times, the most recent up to that time emanating from 1939). As always with this kind of film, we get a plethora of characters brought together for the hearing of a will and then starting to die violently one by one; the cast is notable and eclectic – including two horror stars (Basil Rathbone and Bela Lugosi: the latter was also in the earlier version, where his role was far more substantial), whereas the comedy is supplied by Broderick Crawford (proving surprisingly adept and likably accident-prone!) and the insufferable Hugh Herbert. Of course, there is a damsel-in-distress (pretty Anne Gwynne, also serving as Crawford's love interest) being invariably the one to receive the lion's share of the fortune possessed by the dotty (and cat-loving) owner of the estate; also on hand are Gale Sondergaard (as the sinister housekeeper, a virtual reprise of her role in the aforementioned version of THE CAT AND THE CANARY) and Gladys Cooper and Alan Ladd(!) as mother and son (the former is married to Rathbone, but he carries on an affair with another relative present). Being definitely a B-movie, the film is best compared to similarly modest ventures in this vein: even so, not involving recognizable comics (such as THE GORILLA [1939] did with The Ritz Brothers) or a horrific figure (a' la NIGHT MONSTER [1942]) – both films, incidentally, feature Bela Lugosi in an almost identical (and equally thankless) part – the film ends up not satisfying anyone…even if it is harmless enough as entertainment, the eerie atmosphere well up to par and the identity of the villain (who perishes flamboyantly in a blaze) a genuine surprise.

Truly a ham-athon, featuring an impressive array of character actors of that period. I loved Gale (The Spiderwoman) Sondergaard as the house manager -- or would you say butlerette? And seeing the young Alan Ladd in an insipid role -- no Shane moves here! -- was very interesting. Like a previous poster, I would have liked to see Hugh Herbert get knocked off first, but that wouldn't have made sense within the plot because he wasn't in line to inherit. So we're stuck with him doing his usual schtick throughout the movie.There is one huge plot-hole. Herbert picks up the old lady's will and uses it as a bookmark, but drops it later. As soon as he does that, a spooky hand (belonging to the murderer, perhaps?) reaches out of the curtains and picks it up. So what happens to it after that?Anyway, I'm glad I didn't buy a theater ticket to see this old turkey, but it was worth the hour and ten minutes to see it in streaming video on Netflix. Might watch it again some time too.