SpunkySelfTwitter It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

DipitySkillful an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

Tayloriona Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

kai ringler you just gotta love our evil character, he kills a guy in the beginning,, takes his ring,, his estate and takes over his whole entire life,, get's to marry one of the richest and prettiest maidens around,, he got a houseful of servants, and one cute one too boot, this movie is so funny , from start to end,, it was hard to keep a straight face,, so many lines from the butler , the lawyer, to sir Percival, were just too darn funny,, all of the killing he must do in order to keep his secret.. he has to get rid of several meddling people in order to keep everything on the up and up,, and the way he goes about it so nonchalant like it doesn't even bother him to kill these people.. and he is so jolly about it,, always twirling that mustache of his, there are a few people trying to stop him,, but they don't really show up till near the end of the movie. his assistant is probably the best character in the movie,, doesn't want to drink, but obliges, he get's cast deeper and deeper into Percival's sick plot, and soon the two are thick as thieves. well this was an amazing movie,, will watch again next year definitely.

drystyx 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.

blanche-2 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.

Michael_Elliott 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.