Crimes at the Dark House is another film from the 50 Tales of Terror budget set featuring the one and only Tod Slaughter. And much like The Crimes of Stephen Hawke, it's an above average story elevated even further by Slaughter's over the top performance. The man just knows how to be a good bad guy, and luckily the filmmakers of the era knew it. It's not all that common to see the villain as the main character, but it's par for the course when he's around.
Our story starts with the scoundrel Slaughter sneaking into a tent and brutally murdering Sir Percival Glyde. It's certainly not a gory death, but conceptually it's pretty nasty - he hammers a spike into his ear while he's sleeping. (Despite seeing him strangle a kid in Hawke, the level of violence still surprised me here.) Anyways, Slaughter (his character doesn't have a name) finds a letter addressed to Glyde, saying that it's finally time for him to come home. His last relative has passed away, and the family fortune/estate has been passed onto him. Slaughter figures it's been long enough that he could pass as Sir Percival Glyde, and gives it a go. His impostering works on most people, and all he has to do is murder a couple of people who aren't buying his act. Easy enough, right?
But it turns out Glyde's fortune isn't all Slaughter thought it would be; there's not actually much money there at all! But the silver lining? Long ago, Glyde was promised a wife. Some rich guy promised a young Glyde his daughter's hand in marriage - and likewise, a great deal of wealth. So fake Glyde just needs to seal the deal with Laura (the daughter) and he'll be rich. Laura is suspicious though - presumably since Slaughter is clearly sketchy and trying to make her sign some mysterious papers ASAP.
Complicating matters is (the real) Glyde's jilted lover. She's onto the ruse, and she and Glyde had a daughter who has recently escaped from a mental institution. The daughter is enraged at her father's return - is she crazed enough to go after the fake Glyde? The doctor from the mental institution is onto Slaughter's scheme, but luckily he's the easily bribed sort. For the lowly sum of $5,000, he agrees to help the fake Glyde conceal his identity and take care of the problems with his faux-daughter/new-wife/former-lover/etc. If all of this sounds familiar, Crimes at the Dark House is an adaptation of "The Woman in White" - a well known story by Wilkie Collins from 1859. It's been adapted for the stage and screen many times.
So, as expected, Slaughter is the highlight here. The way he carries himself and his delivery is just entertaining to no end, and wherever someone questions his true identity, he gets hilariously fidgety and nervous. No one can sell "they might be onto me!" with his eyes as well as Slaughter. And he *almost* twirls his mustache here - he's a big fan of putting his hand by his mouth when he's close to getting outed. I will find a film where he is *literally* mustache-twirlingly evil!
Horror-wise, other than the surprising (but still unseen) kill, there isn't a heck of a lot in Crimes. Fake Glyde is a fan of "inviting people to the boat house," where he strangles them (for like three seconds - people were much more easily strangled in the olden days) and tosses their bodies in the lake. Other than some nefarious scheming, that's about as deep as we get into horror territory.
Slaughter usually has a good henchman/assistant-type to help him carry out his dastardly plans. Here, Hay Petrie fits the bill as the sketchy Dr. Isidor Fosco. He's appropriately creepy and provides a nice counter balance to Slaughter's over-the-top villainy. No one else in the film really sticks out as being too good or too bad. (And honestly, looking back to The Ghost Walks from a couple of days ago, I'm just happy people were speaking their lines like normal humans instead of just yelling them.)
The atmosphere/direction seemed pretty standard for the era. It's fine but nothing remarkable. The titular dark house wasn't any different than a normal estate home in an old horror film. Also, the transfer is pretty decent for a film from 1940 on the 50 Tales of Terror budget set.
Overall, it's an enjoyable film. Although I think it would be impossible to have a film that is anything less than entertaining if you've got Slaughter as your villain. So if you "unabashedly enjoy either a shudder or a laugh at the heights of villainy" (thanks The Face at the Window), I think you'd like Crimes at the Dark House.
I would recommend this film.
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