HAUNTED HOUSE

Jackie Moran

HAUNTED HOUSE (1940). Director: Robert F. McGowan.

In a small town a handyman named Olaf (Christian Rub) is on trial for murder. A young aspiring reporter named Jimmy (Jackie Moran) believes in Olaf's innocence but has absolutely no evidence to back this up. Into town comes Mildred Henshaw (Marcia Mae Jones), who is the daughter of Albert Henshaw (George Cleveland of Pillow of Death), the editor of the paper. Jimmy and Millie are immediately attracted to one another, and set out to find out who actually murdered Olaf's elderly employer. The two young people prove to be very lousy detectives, but they sort of stumble into a solution. There is no actual Haunted House in Haunted House, only the now-deserted domicile of the murdered woman. Moran [Let's Go Collegiate] is charming, full of that breathless boyishness so typical of the period, and Jones is fine, with some good supporting actors helping things along. Clarence Wilson and Mary Carr [The Sea Fiend] are notable as, respectively, the gas station owner named Eph, and the old lady everyone calls "Grandma."

Verdict: Minor if smooth Monogram filler. **1/2.

THE SEA FIEND/ DEVIL MONSTER

Barry Norton as Robert

THE SEA FIEND/ DEVIL MONSTER (1936/1946). Director: S. Edwin Graham.

For inexplicable reasons, somebody decided it might be a good idea to take an unmemorable film entitled The Sea Fiend and ten years later fiddle with it a bit, overdub all the dialogue with new actors -- retaining the same basic plot -- and re-release it as Devil Monster. No matter what you call it, it's hard to sit through despite some interesting aspects. Jose (Jack Del Rio) and his crew went missing while sailing the south seas, and Jose's mother (Mary Carr) importunes Robert (Barry Norton) to go look for him, as does Jose's gal, Louise (Blanche Mehaffey). Robert is no sailor, but he goes along on his father's tuna boat so he can convince his old man to search for Jose. Along the way there are seals, a fight between a moray eel and an octopus, and native girls with naked breasts making dinner, not to mention a chubby ship's cook named Tiny. The heavy musical score does all the work, doing its darnedest to make the movie seem exciting even though it rarely is. Late the in the film a "devil fish" or manta ray shows up -- a real manta inter-cut with a prop -- but it seems ridiculous that this thing could have scuttled a ship and killed an entire crew. There's a lot of narration and stock footage. Some of the acting is decent. Barry Norton, who was born in Argentina as Alfredo Biraben, played the David Manners role of Jonathan [Juan] Harker in the Spanish-language version of Dracula. He had many credits, but was mostly in bit parts.

Verdict: Don't watch it and say that you did. *.