The Terror (1928 film)

The Terror
Lobby card
Directed byRoy Del Ruth
Written byHarvey Gates
Joseph Jackson
Based onThe Terror
by Edgar Wallace
Produced byDarryl F. Zanuck
StarringMay McAvoy
Louise Fazenda
Edward Everett Horton
Alec B. Francis
CinematographyChick McGill[1]
Edited byThomas Pratt
Jack Killifer[1]
Music byLouis Silvers
Production
company
Distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures
Release dates
  • September 6, 1928 (1928-09-06) (Sound version)[2]
  • October 28, 1928 (1928-10-28) (Silent version)[1]
Running time
80 minutes (Sound version)[2]
85 minutes (Silent version)[1] (7,674 feet)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$163,000[3]
Box office$1,464,000 (worldwide rentals)[3]

The Terror is a lost 1928 American pre-Code horror film[1] written by Harvey Gates and directed by Roy Del Ruth, based on the 1927 play of the same name by Edgar Wallace.[1] It was the second "all-talking"[4] motion picture released by Warner Bros., following Lights of New York. It was also the first all-talking horror film, made using the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system.[5]

Plot

After a sensational bank robbery, the ringleader of the gang, Leonard O'Shea—nicknamed The Terror—is still at large. His old accomplices, Soapy Marks (Otto Hoffman) and Joe Connors (Matthew Betz), have completed prison sentences, but O’Shea remains missing with a fortune in stolen gold.

Dr. Redmayne (Alec B. Francis), the proprietor of Monkshall—an eerie English abbey turned rest home—lives in fear. Unknown to his guests, he is being blackmailed by a mysterious figure named Goodman (Holmes Herbert), whom he has promised his daughter Olga (May McAvoy) in marriage. Olga is horrified by this unwanted engagement.

Monkshall becomes a gathering place for various odd guests. Among them are the eccentric spiritualist Mrs. Elvery (Louise Fazenda), the timid amateur criminologist Alfred Katman (John Miljan), and the silent but observant butler Cotton (Frank Austin). One night, a strange man named Ferdinand Fane (Edward Everett Horton) arrives, claiming his car broke down. Though he appears drunk, Fane soon becomes entangled in the mystery.

Shortly after Fane’s arrival, another mysterious guest, Mrs. Ajax arrives. A series of increasingly strange and dangerous events proceed to unfold. After the guests retire they report hearing ghostly organ music, though there is no organ in the house. Next, Olga is attacked by a mysterious figure in her own room. Mrs. Elvery then proposes a séance hoping thereby to get to the bottom of the strange occurrences. During the séance, while the lights are off, Goodman is struck on the head, and when the lights are turned on Mrs. Ajax is found to have been stabbed to death. As the body is inspected it is revealed that Mrs Ajax is actually a man to everyone's surprise! He is eventually identified as Soapy Marks. Fane becomes a suspect to the murder when Olga witnesses him picking up and concealing the murder weapon. From this point, Olga begins to doubt Fane, despite their growing attraction.

Eventually, the famed Scotland Yard detective Superintendent Hallick (Joseph W. Girard) arrives. He identifies Joe Connors, who had also turned up at Monkshall, and insists the real danger is still at large.

Fane, revealing himself to be Bradley of Scotland Yard, orchestrates a trap using Soapy’s corpse as bait. When the killer returns, Fane narrowly avoids being murdered and chases the figure—who abducts Olga—into a secret chamber beneath the house.

In a climactic confrontation, Fane battles the masked assailant near a pit lined with knives. Just as Fane is nearly pushed in, Hallick and the others break through a panel and shoot the attacker, who falls to his death. He is revealed to be O'Shea, alias Goodman, The Terror himself.

With the threat eliminated, the missing bank loot is recovered in the underground lair. Dr. Redmayne confesses he had been coerced by O’Shea, who had posed as his benefactor and manipulated him through threats and fear—including pressuring him into forcing Olga's engagement. Redmayne admits he once attempted to kill Goodman to protect his daughter.

As the dust settles, Olga and Fane (now revealed as a true Scotland Yard man) are seen beginning a romance, with the horrors of Monkshall behind them.[1]

Cast

Cast notes

Reception

The Terror received mixed reviews upon initial release. In August 1928, Time said the film is "better than The Lion and the Mouse, [an] all-talk picture of which May McAvoy, Alec Francis, two of the terrorized, are veterans."[8] Three months later, John MacCormac, reporting from London for The New York Times upon the film's UK premiere, wrote:

The universal opinion of London critics is that The Terror is so bad that it is almost suicidal. They claim that it is monotonous, slow, dragging, fatiguing and boring, and I am not sure that I do not in large measure agree with them. What is more important, Edgar Wallace, who wrote the film, seems to agree with them also. "Well," was his comment, "I have never thought the talkies would be a serious rival to the stage."[9]

Box office

According to Warner Bros records the film earned $1,221,000 domestically and $243,000 foreign.

Preservation status

Two versions of the film were prepared, as most theaters in 1928 had yet to convert to sound. The "all-talking" sound version, featuring a Vitaphone sound-on-disc soundtrack, was released on September 6, 1928, and a silent version, which used screen-filling printed "titles" (as they were then commonly called) to supply the essential dialog, was released on October 20, 1928. Both versions have been considered lost films since the 1970s, though a complete set of the soundtrack discs still exists and is preserved at the UCLA Film and Television Archive.[2][10][11][12]

Remake

The Terror was partially remade by First National as Return of the Terror (1934).[13][14]

Four years later, in 1938, a new remake was directed by Richard Bird with a screenplay by William Freshman . It starred Wilfrid Lawson, Bernard Lee, Arthur Wontner, Linden Travers, Henry Oscar, and Iris Hoey.

The film was again remade in Germany in 1965 as Der unheimliche Mönch (The Sinister Monk).[15]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k American Film Institute (1997). Kenneth White Munden (ed.). American Film Institute Catalog, Feature Films 1921–1930. University of California Press. p. 792. ISBN 0-520-20969-9. Retrieved January 22, 2011.
  2. ^ a b c Soister, John T. (2012). American Silent Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy Feature Films, 1913-1929. McFarland. p. 760. ISBN 978-0-786-48790-5.
  3. ^ a b Glancy, H Mark (1995). "Warner Bros Film Grosses, 1921–51: the William Schaefer ledger". Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. 15: 55–73. doi:10.1080/01439689500260031.
  4. ^ "George Groves Photo-Album #3: The War, Warners & My Fair Lady (1942-76)".
  5. ^ Dirks, Tim "Horror Films" Filmsite.org Retrieved October 28, 2010
  6. ^ "NitrateVille.com • Search". www.nitrateville.com.
  7. ^ "The Terror :: J. Willis Sayre Collection of Theatrical Photographs". digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu.
  8. ^ "Cinema: The New Pictures". Time. August 27, 1928. Archived from the original on November 21, 2010. Retrieved January 22, 2011.
  9. ^ MacCormac, John (November 18, 1928). "The Terror (1928)". The New York Times. Retrieved January 22, 2011.
  10. ^ The Terror in UCLA Archive
  11. ^ The Library of Congress/FIAF American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: The Terror
  12. ^ Progressive Silent Film List: The Terror at silentera.com
  13. ^ Reid, John Howard (2007). Science-fiction & Fantasy Cinema: Classic Films of Horror, Sci-fi & the Supernatural. Lulu.com. p. 241. ISBN 978-1-4303-0113-4.
  14. ^ "RETURN OF THE TERROR | Feature Film Database | Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research | Wisconsin Historical Society". Archived from the original on October 7, 2015. Retrieved October 27, 2015.
  15. ^ Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 333. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
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