ThiefHott Too much of everything

Stellead Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Bea Swanson This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Cristi_Ciopron Mildred Henshew, the ravishing niece of a town reporter, arrives for her summer holiday, and she's welcomed by a youngster who promptly leaves his girlfriend, to befriend the newcomer. The storyline follows the teenage sexuality's logic, with Mildred being promoted from brat to 'young woman', after she and the boy visit the murder scene. Mildred threatened with leaving, the boy tempted her with a secret swimming hole, and a descent in a dark house follows, with both teenagers getting dirty. Monogram treats the audience with a comedy about teenage detectives, in a small town, and while the romance was enjoyable, the denouement, with the teenagers in the modest dark house during a thunderstorm, is neat, and the only reason to give the movie the name it has; except that, unlike other comedies, here the mystery plot makes sense.Marcia Mae plays a girl from the city, during a holiday; she's a bit vain, being a young woman played as such, and has a strongly peculiar voice.Like many other movies, this vehicle with an exploitative title was made to be enjoyed, not analyzed.

dbborroughs This is the story of two kids who try to get their friend Olaf cleared of murder charges. Olaf worked for a rich old lady who turned up dead. Despite Olaf being a jovial guy he appears to be the only suspect and so was brought up on charges. Jimmy and Millie are the only two people who believe in their friends innocence and so begin to snoop around and find out that all is not as it seems.I somehow think this film seemed nostalgic even in 1940 when it came out. This is very much a period piece who's period has long gone. It seems aimed at the juvenile market than the adult market. The mystery, while strong is hampered by the gosh, gee attitude of the kids, who seem stuck somewhere around twelve despite being old enough to drive. The friction between the adult murder mystery and the childishness and imaginativeness of much of the proceedings make for an odd mix where everyone loses.I know that sounds like a stupid reason for not liking the movie, but if you saw the film you'd probably understand what I was getting at.This is one of those films that almost works but doesn't quite do so. By almost working it doesn't quite reach the level of watchablity and so falls into the pit of "why am I bothering". This isn't to say that the film is a total write off, its not (the mystery in a different frame work would be great), its just the whole thing doesn't quite work the way it should. If you run across it and are curious try it it may strike you differently,

CinemaArchive A fun film produced to cash in on the popularity of mysteries that swept the late '30's / early '40's. Very well done for an obvious "low budget" b-film. "Want-to-be" reporter and editor's niece do their best to prove innocence of accused murderer. Much circumstantial evidence leads them down several wrong paths, causing frustration and chastizing from elders. Perserverance pays off as they finally convince the law of friend's innocence, surprising everyone with the guilt of the real culprit. Definitely worth viewing.

wrbtu Don't let the title of this scarce movie fool you. It's not a haunted house movie & it's not an "old dark house" type of movie. It's a simple murder mystery movie with teenage leads. They do spend about 5 of the movie's 70 minutes inside an old spooky house, but that's hardly enough to warrant naming this movie "Haunted House"! Not a bad movie, although a bit redundant. The acting is OK, there's a neat old hot rod, but it's neither juvenile enough to please that movie crowd, nor scary, nor mysterious enough to please those movie crowds. I rate it 5/10 (& that's being a bit generous).