ThiefHott Too much of everything

Konterr Brilliant and touching

Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

utgard14 Old lady gathers her greedy relatives in her gloomy isolated mansion for a reading of her will. Not long after, she winds up dead. Welcome to an old dark house thriller, friends. Yes, it's fairly repetitive of many other such thrillers or comedies but it's pretty entertaining at times. It has an excellent cast, most of which unfortunately have little to do. Broderick Crawford stars in an early role. He's equal parts leading man and buffoon. The kind of part Wayne Morris would have been playing over at WB. Bela Lugosi has a small, thankless part. He spends most of the movie ominously lurking in the shadows and peering in windows. Hugh Herbert provides the movie's comic relief. For the uninitiated that means he fidgets and talks to himself, punctuating every other sentence with "woo hoo." It's not very funny but I found it harmless enough. Maybe I'm just used to Herbert by now. Others may find him irritating so be warned. The rest of the cast includes Basil Rathbone, Gale Sondergaard, Anne Gwynne, Gladys Cooper, and Alan Ladd before he made it big. I agree with another reviewer that this probably would have worked better as an Abbott & Costello movie. Despite the relatively short runtime, it begins to feel overlong as it nears the hour mark. It's enjoyable enough but flawed. Still, anything Universal was putting out in the horror/thriller field in the 1940s was worth watching.

preppy-3 Elderly, and rich, Henrietta Winslow (Cecilia Loftus) is going to die soon. Her greedy relatives (among them Basil Rathbone and Alan Ladd) go to her creepy old mansion to await her death. She dies (or is killed) soon after and a raging storm keeps all the relatives in her house for the night. Someone starts killing people left and right--but who? Also add Gale Sondergaard (as a sinister housekeeper), Bela Lugosi(as a sinister grounds keeper) and Broderick Crawford and Hugh Herbert (as totally horrendous comic relief) and you got a great cast in a pretty bad movie.The setting here is suitably creepy and there's some beautiful cinematography but the script is just lousy. The mystery itself is somewhat interesting but the alleged comedy ruins this. The "comedy" is painfully unfunny full of groan worthy jokes and Herbert's "woo woo" which makes you want to hit him. It got to the point that when he appeared I hit the fast forward button. The cast is full of talented actors but some of them give their worst performances. Rathbone walks through his role and Ladd comes off as an obnoxious jerk. However it is amusing to see Ladd billed last in the opening credits (this was made right before he hit it big). Lugosi and Sondergaard are good but reduced to just walking around and acting suspicious. Sondegaard hated making this film but she's enough of a pro to still give a good performance. Crawford comes across best by trying to solve the mystery. I also got a kick out of a glaring lapse in continuity--at one point he's out in a storm getting soaked. Then he walks into the house and is COMPLETELY dry! This is almost worth seeing for the cast alone. Almost. I give it a 4.

calvinnme 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.

MartinHafer Before I discuss the film in depth, I want to point out that this film wasted two talented actors. In the case of Alan Ladd, I can't blame the studio too much--after all, he was still a bit player and it wouldn't be for another year or two until he achieved notoriety. But for Universal Pictures to cast Bela Lugosi and place him in such a small and insignificant role in an old house-type movie is crazy and a real shame. It's really a shame they didn't give obnoxious Hugh Herbert one of these smaller roles, as he really, really hams it up and just doesn't fit into the overall tone of the film (likewise, he was horrible and out of place in SH!THE OCTOPUS). As for the rest of the class, with such wonderful stars as Basil Rathbone and Gladys Cooper among others, the film has some exceptional performances for such a "small" film.Despite the title, this film has nothing to do with the earlier Lugosi film of the same title nor does it compare in almost any way to the Poe short story (except for the cat stuck behind something concept). Instead, it's a murder mystery with a hint of comedy. An old lady is beset with greedy relatives who can't wait to take her fortune after she dies. She's apparently dying and one of the family even called in some people (Hugh Herbert and Broderick Crawford) to buy the contents of the old home. However, unexpectedly the lady recovers--prompting someone to kill her so they no longer need to wait! However, inexplicably, no one seems to notice when Crawford insists the lady was murdered--everyone seems very eager to accept that it was an accident--even though shortly before the lady died, there was an attempt to poison her!! This is a bit of a plot hole, as no sane people (even greedy ones) would be so quick to dismiss the possibility of murder. So, it's up to Crawford to stick around, solve the mystery and avoid a "cat-astrophe".Overall, it's a fun but relatively unremarkable Universal picture that perhaps the other reviewers have been a bit too kind to. However, it did give Crawford one of his first starring roles and is a decent time-passer. PS--Towards the end, get a load of how strong Gladys Cooper is supposed to be! Considering her age and frail look, having her exerting herself in the hidden passages is really silly. Also, had this been made just a year or so later, it probably would have been an Abbott and Costello film and probably would have worked a bit better with them in Crawford's and Herbert's roles.