Cristi_Ciopron This is a misinterpreted film, with reviewers (on another site) believing the opposite of how I understood it; another of those situations when we are likely reviewing different movies, so dissimilar are the ideas, anyway to me Mischa Auer but also Sidney Bracey are the best from the cast, each of the others being also strongly effective and acting professionally, even Lease.A horror movie with a good cast: Sheldon Lewis as the surviving brother, Sidney Bracey as Wilkes (a reliable old-school role), Mischa Auer (who not only got a good role, but also knew how to play it), Martha Mattox as his mother, W. Best (sadly reduced to a coward manservant, like in a later movie); perhaps not so good were the two leads, either bland (him), or less likable, her (which in fact means good casting, she's the offshoot of a doomed family, and she has to look spooked, but also spooky herself). But even she, is understandably scared, and shaken, and asks to leave twice, the 1st time they make her change her mind and the housekeeper keeps her company, the 2nd time she's handed over to Hanns; she doesn't ask to leave the house more than twice, and each time her request is answered: calming her, and then entrusting her to the cousin she doesn't yet know she has. The plot is mysterious and unnerving, the dialogs well written, and the casting, flawless (quite the opposite of what some reviewers affect to think). The visual style proves intelligent, unlike that of other '30s movies that look like footage for a radio play. Lease, the physician, was somewhat bland, but not unlikable, and certainly not obnoxious.Hanns is an Expressionist character, something Strayer was fond of, and the player, a '30s character actor, was highly effective as someone who's not at all a simpleton, and his bond with the elder guy is suggested by the impatient way he handles him in a scene; the plot also may remind of that feel, with its suggestions of beastliness, monstrosity, the 'Universal' horrors took over something from the European style. But the horror attempted here is different, starker; it's not an Expressionist horror, Hanns alone reminds of this style, otherwise here the terror is starker, more visceral, punching. A moving frame on the wall, hands seen in the funeral chamber, a clutching hand, a player's silhouette …. Then the pulse count reveals half the solution.Strayer in the early '30s: he was a dependable director. In this tale of a doomed family, where one brother preferred his ape to his daughter, and the other one fathered a gloomy man, the doubles are significant: the caged ape is the daughter's double, but also her cousin's double.Vera R. has been chosen precisely because she looked spooky herself. In Strayer's movies, the murders are sometimes shown, in this one as well.I liked the dreary house, the sets, starkly unnerving, I enjoyed the feel, and the dialog, with some likable people, like the physician and the lawyer, behaving as they do, the lawyer made a nice gentleman, and chivalrous, so I approve of the way the characters have been thought out and played; both families, owners and servants, are German, Hanns looks and behaves the way he does, because he is the sickly brother's child, his cousin asks only twice to leave, and it's explained why she remains (as also the ape's presence in the house is amply explained; less obvious is why would Hanns use the unholy glove for his hand, but the ape is his double), and when she was going to leave, she's kidnapped. There are only few funny moments, all by W. Best.The last joke, the likeness with the ape, seems added for the half-wits, and comes after an hour with two strange German families.

ctomvelu1 Low-budget early talkie that may remind some of "The Old Dark House." A daughter returns to her family home when her father dies, to find she has inherited his estate. On hand for the will reading are her fiancé, her deceased dad's invalid brother, a housekeeper, a Boris Karloff-type butler and the family lawyer. Since a major storm is going on outside, everyone stays and beds down for the night. In the basement is a huge chimpanzee that has no love for the daughter. During the night, it would seem the chimp escapes and tries to kill the daughter. Later, the housekeeper is found murdered. Meanwhile, the storm roars on. Stilted, stagey, but not without a peculiar charm. A funny aside: Everyone refers to the large chimp as an ape, so at first I was expecting a man in a gorilla suit. In fact, it is a full-grown chimp, dangerous as all hell in real life. In the end, this may be no "The Old Dark House," but it isn't the worst scary house movie ever made.

Michael_Elliott The Monster Walks (1932) ** (out of 4) It's rather amazing at how many films would follow after The Bat was released in 1926 and kicked off the "old dark house" genre. This time a daughter returns to her father's house after his death so that she can hear the will being read. Everything starts off okay but soon a killer is stalking everyone with the help of a gorilla. I'm still rather curious why every "old dark house" from this period featured a gorilla. I'm going to guess that movie crowds back then were scared of them as I don't see why they should play such an important part in these films. Nothing really stands out in this film, although the running time is just over 60-minutes. The performances are decent but nothing special and the story itself doesn't offer enough twists to be entertaining. God knows there are far worse than this out there but then again there are much better ones. The racial humor from a servant (named Sleep 'N Eat) is off base and doesn't really help matters.

Polaris_DiB The set-up of this movie is very simple--a bunch of people in a house, trying to be scary. Add an ape to good effect. Here's the idea: a woman and her fiancé return to her childhood home after the death of her father, who was a scientist. Her uncle, his wife, and their son reside there as tenants and housekeepers, and they all want the money the young woman inherited. Thus, they do the usual thing a mismatched group of spurned relatives do in this situation: plan to kill her, framing the dead scientist's angry ape as the murderer. Of course, they're really bad at it, so it doesn't really work out very well.Even though this movie was very low budget and the plot was slim, it still could have been a lot better. The direction jumps from exposition to action with very little consideration for timing, which means both fall flat and ultimately the whole set-up is given away too early, ruining any chance of suspense or horror. It's also not worth it to expect good acting from these kind of productions from this era, but on the other hand, only the black man and the messed-up son seemed to have any character. Also, is it a little wrong to ask that the movie have something to do with the title? But worst (or perhaps best) of all, this movie does feature one very memorable scene: the worst attempt at murder EVER. Tell me, how does chaining a woman to a pole and whipping a monkey cage work to off the woman, especially when one is on a time limit? Wonderful b-movie absurdity leads to situations like that, which are very fascinating not only because they're poorly done, but you have to wonder who thought up the scene in the first place! --PolarisDiB