Good movie but grossly overrated

Expected more

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

This amazingly surrealistic comedy spoofs just about every horror classic you can think of, and also throws in a good few nifty, original ideas as well. It's acted with superb timing by a great cast of farceurs led by Hugh Herbert, Allen Jenkins, and John Eldredge (who manages to keep a delightfully straight face in the midst of all the fantastic, surrealistic mayhem of this inspired, delightfully ridiculous take on all the trappings of the old dark house). Also in the cast: Australian actress Marcia Ralston (as Vesta Vernoff), Margaret Irving (as Polly Crane) and the long-time British stage actress turned Hollywood character walk-on, Elspeth Dudgeon, who has the best role here of her entire Hollywood career of mostly uncredited "old woman" walk-ons. Some may feel that the leads, Hugh Herbert and Allen Jenkins, are too idiotic and far too garrulously stupid, but I thought they were just right both as good comics and as contrasts to the more level-headed players. John Eldredge of course also acts as a stabilizing influence, but wow! People like George Rosener, Brandon Tynan and Eric Stanley have a field day here. Produced by Bryan Foy with superb photography by Arthur L. Todd and really great, highly ingenious sets by Max Parker, this is a marvelous movie in more ways than one. Available on a superb Warner Archive DVD.

...this film is downright silly.Being such a fan of Hugh Herbert, I went to great lengths to acquire a DVD of this film and I really wanted to like it, but outside of a few comical moments, I was let down by this film.Hugh Herbert would eventually star in a series of Columbia 2-reel comedy shorts and this film plays much more like one of those Columbia 2-reelers than a feature put out by Warner Bros./First National.It is odd that in such a slipshod production, the special effects are surprisingly well done. Like when they used the remarkable on-screen transition effect mentioned by other reviewers to expose the true identity of the "Octopus". This was only the 4th time I've seen this effect being used in a feature film. (The other three were: The 1935 film "Werewolf of London" where the effect is used on Henry Hull in the very initial portion of his first on-screen transformation into the werewolf, the 1931 version of "Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde" where Fredric March becomes Hyde for the first time, and the 1925 version of "Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ" where the transition effect is used to show a woman being miraculously healed of her leprosy.) Although, a quick review of the career of William McGann, who directed this film, shows that his one nomination for an Academy Award came, not for directing, but for Special Effects (Visual), for the 1946 film "A Stolen Life" starring Bette Davis. So maybe the use of that transition effect in this clunky little film isn't so strange after all. Judging from this film, McGann appears to have been much better at special effects than at directing.Fans of Hugh Herbert or Allen Jenkins will probably find this film worthwhile. I suspect all others are in for a loooong 54 minutes.

How can you make a bad movie with Allan Jenkins and Hugh Herbert? We now know it's possible. The script is hopeless. The acting, aside from the two main characters, is terrible. The sets are cheap and at times seem ready to fall down. I'll bet that the film was made in less than a week.This is the classic two comics in a haunted house. The result makes Monogram's Charlie Chan series look professional and expensive. I rather like "B" films, but this is a "C." I'll wager that the kids in the Saturday matinées laughed when the fake octopus tentacles come reaching out of the wall to grab people. But why go on? This is a stinker, mercifully unavailable in standard VHS or DVD format.

I was a child of perhaps 5 or 6 in 1940-1941. I went to the movies for the first time with my parents and my older brother. I think it was at the Sanford Theater in Irvington, NJ. The movie we saw was "Sh. The Octopus". I have been searching for this movie for many years, to no avail(I thought the name was "Shush Goes the Octopus"), until I found it listed at TCM for playing in June 2006. I plan to view this movie again and this time I plan to remember it all. I think the only scene that I remember is a scene where a couch in a living room is opened ( the cushions are removed)and access is obtained to a lower level in the building. The next time I see it, I will verify my pubescent memories!