HAUNTED HOUSE (1940)

In the small town of Brownsville, the Blake murder trial is big news. The rich Mrs. Blake was murdered in her home, and her caretaker, the kindly Olaf, is on trial and based on the testimony of one woman, is about to be found guilty. Jimmy (Jackie Moran, at left), a young office assistant at the local newspaper who'd like to be a cub reporter, is sure that Olaf is innocent, and holds a bit of a grudge against the paper's editor, Henshaw, for just reporting on the trial and not digging deeper into the case. When Henshaw's young niece Millie (Marcia Mae Jones) comes to stay for the summer, Jimmy enlists her to help him clear Olaf and soon falls for her, despite having a sort-of girlfriend already. Their first suspect is Eph, the gas station owner, who doesn't seem to have an alibi for the night of the murder, but Jimmy's grandma ends up unknowingly giving him one. Next up is Mrs. Blake's lawyer Cy, who was in a ideal position to have been embezzling from the old lady and may have a motive for murder if she became suspicious. When they learn of some missing money, they break into Mrs. Blake's house hoping to find it, or other clues that might point to Cy's guilt. But time is a-wasting if they hope to exonerate Olaf.

You will notice I did not mention a haunted house in my summary. That’s because there isn't one. Granted, there is an "old dark house" (Mrs. Blake's) that is spooky looking, but no one assumes it's haunted, not even our young heroes. If you're looking for ghosts here, you'll be disappointed, but if you adjust your expectations, you’ll enjoy this B-movie as a juvenile detective story, as if Nancy Drew, on summer vacation in a small town, met up with a Hardy boy (or, more precisely, the Hardys' plump buddy Chet) and solved a crime. Jackie Moran is a bit stocky in build but has a charming, twinkly-eyed innocence—he reminds me of the Macy's stock boy in Miracle on 34th Street; Marcia Mae Jones is every bit a Nancy Drew type, maybe even more than Bonita Granville who played Drew in a handful of 30s movies (I should re-watch some of those to review here soon). The adult cast is a little more second-rate, though some familiar faces (Christian Tub as Olaf, Clarence Wilson as Eph) help brighten the proceedings. Some fun is had as the kids try to figure out a clue in the form of a quote from a poem by James Whitcomb Riley with the word "hassock," which neither of them know. Mostly for fans of B-movies and teen detectives, but with just enough atmosphere to make this potential October/Halloween viewing. [YouTube]