House of Horror (film)

For other uses, see House of Horror (disambiguation).

House of Horror is a 1929 American sound part-talkie comedy mystery film directed by Benjamin Christensen. In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects along with English intertitles. According to the film review in Variety, only 1 percent of the total running time featured dialogue. ^[3] This very short dialogue sequence was inserted immediately after the starting titles and was apparently added so that the picture could be disingenuously advertised as a talkie. The soundtrack was recorded using the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system. The film stars Louise Fazenda and Chester Conklin. The film portion of House of Horror is now presumed lost while the sound survives on Vitaphone discs.

The House of Horror
Directed by	Benjamin Christensen
Screenplay by	Benjamin Christensen[1]
Story by	Benjamin Christensen[1][2]
Starring	Louise Fazenda Chester Conklin James Ford Thelma Todd
Cinematography	Ernest Haller Sol Polito[1]
Edited by	Frank Ware[1]
Music by	Louis Silvers[1]
Production company	First National Pictures[2]
Distributed by	First National Pictures, Inc.[2]
Release date	28 April 1929 (1929-04-28)
Country	United States[2]
Languages	Sound (Part-Talkie) English Intertitles

Cast

• Louise Fazenda as Louise
• Chester Conklin as Chester
• James Ford as Joe
• Thelma Todd as Thelma
• William V. Mong as Mystery Man
• Emile Chautard as Old Miser
• William Orlamond as Miller
• Dale Fuller as Gladys
• Tenen Holtz as Brown
• Michael Visaroff as Chauffeur

Plot

At a quiet crossroads in Ohio, spinster Louise (Louise Fazenda) and her bachelor brother Chester (Chester Conklin) run a modest country store. Their dull lives take a sudden turn when they are visited by a strange figure—the Mystery Man (William V. Mong)—who cryptically summons them to New York to visit their long-estranged Uncle Abner (Emile Chautard), whom they haven’t heard from in over thirty years.

Chester, a dedicated spiritualist, is convinced this is fate. Interpreting it as a sign from beyond—and encouraged by ghostly hints of a hidden fortune—he and Louise eagerly set off, though Chester is increasingly distracted by the misery of a new set of woolen underwear.

In New York, they arrive at Uncle Abner’s antique shop—a shadowy, sprawling building filled with sinister relics and even more sinister characters. Abner, a paranoid recluse, is protected (and menaced) by two treacherous servants: the drunken Brown (Tenen Holtz) and his scheming wife Gladys (Dale Fuller). The house is also home to Joe (James Ford) and Thelma (Thelma Todd), a pair of young fortune-seekers hiding among the antiques, and still searching for the legendary blue diamond believed to be hidden somewhere in the building.

The tension builds as Abner, pretending to sleep, overhears plots against his life and his treasure. Soon, Louise and Chester find themselves caught in a bizarre web of suspense and danger. Louise is forcibly searched for the diamond, and in a moment of quick thinking, she swallows it to keep it from falling into the wrong hands. Meanwhile, Chester endures a series of indignities, including finally having to masquerade in women’s clothing to evade detection—after triumphantly discarding his itchy woolens.

Every time something critical happens, Chester arrives just a moment too late, often bewildered and out of breath, missing the danger, the drama, or the discovery by seconds. But the audience is not kept in the dark—each scene builds toward a final confrontation.

Ultimately, all parties converge in Abner’s room. The old man reveals the hiding place of the diamond just before collapsing, and chaos erupts. The Mystery Man makes a last attempt to seize the jewel, but Louise’s clever concealment turns the tables in the most unexpected way.

Production

The House of Horrors was released both as a Part-Talkie and as an International Sound Version.^[1] The part-talkie version of the film contained a brief talking sequence at the beginning of the feature but was otherwise just with sound effects and a music score from a Vitaphone disc.^[1]

Release

The House of Horrors was distributed by First National Pictures on April 28, 1929.^[2] The film was Christensen's final Hollywood production as after completing the film he went to Denmark to handle some business ventures. Christensen had plans to make an independent production and return to the United States to follow-up with an American film but he returned to Denmark again 1934.^[4]

As of 2018, the visual portions of the film are considered lost.^[1]

Reception

From contemporary reviews, Photoplay called the film a "cheap claptrap mystery movie which is saved by the comedy of Chester Conklin and Louise Fazenda"^[1] A review in Variety declared it "one of the weakest and most boring afterbirths of pseudo mystery-comedy grinds out of Hollywood. The thing actually rants and rambles, with audience of any mental caliber at sea until the last reel when the title writer makes a supreme effort to account with cart before horse angle."^[1] Film Daily declared the film "just a dud that develops nothing in a flat mystery story with a lot of phony situations" declaring its gags as "ancient".^[4] Harrison's Reports called the film "a comedy-mystery melodrama, that does not hold the interest too much because the spectator suspects the ending almost from the beginning and is bored by the useless chasing in and out of rooms [...] The familiar hokum of trap doors, mysterious falling objects and door slamming take place."^[4]

See also

• List of early sound feature films (1926–1929)