The Face at the Window was made for all of those who "unashamedly enjoy either a shudder or a laugh at the heights of villainy." If you believe the text at the beginning of the film, that is. And I guess it's more or less true, as I enjoyed it - although I veered *way* more to the "good laugh" side of things. It's a pretty light-hearted, fun film (for one with multiple murders at least), highlighted by the over-the-top performance of Tod Slaughter as the villainous Chevalier Lucio del Gardo.
A rash of burglaries and murders has been happening around Paris, and a wolfman is being blamed. Everyone who has witnessed the murders sees a horrific face at the window, accompanied by a terrifying howl. Then a victim will turn up, stabbed in the back. The police are at a total loss and the city is living in fear.
At the outset of the film, the wolfman has struck at the bank of Mr. de Brisson, and stolen all of his gold. (Why a werewolf would want gold is never addressed.) The bank is in dire straights until Lucio del Gardo (Slaughter) shows up, offering to invest his fortune, thus saving the bank. The only thing he asks for in return? Mr. de Brisson's permission to marry his (much younger) daughter Cecile. When del Gardo finds out the Cecile's heart belongs to a mere bank clerk named Lucien, he sets an evil plan into motion - he'll frame Lucien for the robberies (that del Gardo himself committed) and get him tossed into jail, or worse. Then he'll be free to be with Cecile. But he proves his villainy early and often, so obviously we are firmly behind Lucien and Cecile. Will they find a way to thwart the evil del Gardo?
Tod Slaughter *really* hams it up in The Face at the Window. I've used the term "mustache-twirlingly evil" before, and his performance really exemplifies that. He stops short of actually twirling his mustache - his facial hair is definitely evil but not twirlable - but he saunters around in a Dracula cape, is lecherous towards Cecile, laughs often and maniacally, has shifty eyes, and a great expression whenever someone is close to learning of his schemes. It ends up being more comical than anything, so while it doesn't make him a scary or threatening villain, he's still very entertaining.
Slaughter is really the lynchpin of the movie - the other characters are decent and the story is okay (maybe a little simple), but everything is overshadowed by the dastardly del Gardo. But it's all by design - he's clearly the main character and is in the movie more than anyone else. Of course, we need good guys for del Gardo to scheme against, but the fun here is watching the bad guy do his thing.
Because of the way it's set-up, there isn't really much "horror" to it. The deaths are very low-key, and the characters don't really seem all that upset when a family member or close friend is murdered. The closest we get to a scare is when we see the titular face at the window - it's an okay makeup job considering the time, although it doesn't really look anything like a werewolf. Plus, something about a person peeping into your window has always creeped me out. (I think this stems from a "true" story I read as a kid about a peeping-tom bigfoot.) And the big reveal at the end sort of comes out of nowhere and leaves a lot of unanswered questions. My wife was watching with me and was a little angry with the lack of explanation, and I don't really blame her. But it was still a little disturbing, I guess.
As you can see from the picture above, the version I watched on Amazon Prime was not particularly well-framed. There are a couple of times where you lose the tops of characters heads, but it didn't end up being much of a problem. The quality of the picture wasn't too bad - it was fairly crisp looking (there was a HyperCube LLC digital remaster thing at the beginning) although if there was too much white on screen the whole thing would light-up like an angel was descending from heaven. I'm not sure if that's a streaming thing, but it happened a couple of times. But still, the overall picture/sound was decent for a 1939 film.
Also, I don't want to make it sound like I'm obsessed with facial hair (even though I might be). The sideburns in the movie are amazing, and there are a couple of great mustaches in there too. I'm not sure if I would ever recommend a movie based solely on the facial hair that is on display, but this one comes close.
But sideburns aside, The Face at the Window is still a fun film. It goes by really fast (it's decently paced and is just a little over an hour long), and Slaughter is great as an old school villain. But of course, I "unashamedly enjoy a either shudder or a laugh at the heights of villainy," so I'm directly in the target demographic for this one.
I would recommend this film.
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