THE UNHOLY NIGHT (1929)

The fog in London is so thick, people are advised not to go out after dark. Lord Montague is mugged but escapes. At Scotland Yard, he says he heard a hard tapping sound just before the attack, and learns that four men killed recently were former members of his WWI regiment. He tries to be whimsically humorous but can't hide his fear. Sir Rumsey talks Montague into inviting the remaining men of the regiment to a reunion at his house the next night. As they arrive, we see a seance being conducted by Montague's sister, Lady Violet, and her lover Dr. Ballou. (It’s noted that a green ghost might haunt the house though nothing is really done with this detail.) Rumsey thinks Ballou's input as a psychiatrist might be helpful. The men all arrive in their old uniforms and mostly in good spirits except for Mallory, a man with shellshock whose face was horribly scarred in the war. Most of the men drink and sing and try to have a high old time, but when Mallory is found strangled to death in a small sitting room, a chill descends. Lady Efra shows up, the daughter of a member of the regiment who was deemed a traitor and is now dead. His will leaves his money to her and to the living members of the regiment, and of course, for every one who dies, that means more money for the rest. The men of the regiment all spend the night at the house, and the next morning Mallory's body is missing. More horrific, however, is that the other men are all found dead in their bedrooms, leaving only Montague and Lady Efra alive. Another seance is planned by Lady Violet in the hopes that at least one of the dead soldiers will show up and solve the case.

For a modern audience, the problem with this early talkie will be the single set (almost all of it takes place in a couple rooms in the house) and the primitive camera moves and staging. But for film buffs, the pluses outweigh the minuses. For a start, the atmosphere is nicely creepy, and a tracking shot late in the movie of all the dead men remains startling. The acting is also good. Roland Young (Lord Montague) is one of those actors whose presence is always welcome. He is so charming and likeable, it's difficult to imagine that he's the villain, which makes it all the more effective when suspicion falls heavily on him. He has a weakness for brandy and soda ("First one today," he says every time he pours one). The men of the regiment (including John Loder and Philip Strange) for the most part are not individualized much, and Dorothy Sebastian (pictured with Roland Young) gives a somewhat overwrought performance as Lady Efra. Ernest Torrence (Ballou) and Boris Karloff in the relatively small but important role of Efra's lawyer are OK. Both of the seance scenes are memorable—the first one involving a floating head. Trigger warning: a dog is killed (off-camera). Directed in journeyman fashion by Lionel Barrymore; at least one flubbed line is left in. Undistinguished as a director of talkies, Barrymore switched to full-time acting a couple of years later. Though aspects of the climax are predictable, it's still fun to see it play out. [YouTube]