Sinister Cinema No. 3 | POTLUCK (1936)

(1936) Tom Walls, Ralph Lynne, Robertson Hare, Diana Churchill, Gordon James, and Marita Hunt.

Here’s a comedy-laced old dark house thriller that few horror film fans know about. Walls is a retired police inspector who tracks a gang of art thieves to a sinister old abbey that’s surrounded by high stone walls and from which the gang operates without the owner’s knowledge. At stake is a priceless ancient Chinese vase, which the gang has smuggled out of an art gallery. There are lots of tongue-in-cheek moments as the sophisticated Walls and the bumbling Lynne do their best to foil the criminals. Not strictly a horror film, but a delightful old dark house comedy-thriller with many of the usual horror trappings—a musty old dungeon, secret doorways and passages, trapdoors, winding stone staircases, and a mysterious well that’s not quite what it seems. There’s even a bat or two flying about. You’ll also be treated to a decaying gothic set that would seem more at home in a Universal Frankenstein film than a British farce. A creepy music score compliments the proceedings. James is wonderful as Cream, a sinister butler who slinks about the abbey. “These blood-red sunsets bode no good!” Hunt is great as the equally sinister housekeeper in a role normally reserved for the likes of Minerva Urecal. A great little film. From 35mm.

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