THE GHOST CAMERA (1933)

John Gray is driving through the English countryside on his way home from a vacation. When he passes a hillside castle, we see (but he doesn't) someone throw a camera from the castle cliff which lands in his back seat. At home, he complains to his valet Sims that he's tired of boring vacations, then is excited to discover the camera, thinking he has a mystery to solve, as in, how did it get there and who does it belong to? He exposes one picture, thinking it will be beach vacation shots of "proud parents and vacuous progeny," but it seems to show a man stabbing another man. Distracted by the doorbell, Gray leaves his darkroom and someone enters and takes the negative and the camera. When he discovers the theft, Gray thinks he might be in the middle of an adventure, though he tempers that somewhat by suggesting that he and Sims are talking "like characters in a mystery melodrama." He develops another picture which shows a young woman in a doorway; he recognizes the neighborhood, finds the house and meets the woman, May Elton. The camera belongs to her brother Ernest who took a road trip through the countryside to take some "snaps" to enter in a competition and hasn't come back. With May as his sidekick, adventure is officially afoot, especially after they learn that Ernest is wanted by the police as being an accomplice in connection with a robbery at a jewelry store where he worked. They stay the night at an inn where Ernest stayed before he went missing and they trace his trail to the castle ruins, Norman Arches, which we saw at the beginning of the film. Soon enough, one of the jewel thieves turns up dead, Ernest is found and arrested for the murder, and John and May keep playing detective as they slowly fall in love. Despite its title, this is not a horror movie, nor is there anything supernatural going on, though the scenes in the darkroom and later in the castle are nicely creepy. It's a romantic comedy hidden in a traditional mystery, and it's entertaining. Directed by busy B-filmmaker Bernard Vorhaus, the most striking things about it are the camerawork (by Ernest Palmer) and the film editing (by the future director David Lean) with jump cuts and some intended shakiness, breaking the film out of the early sound rut of static shots and leisurely pacing. Henry Kendall is fine as John, the somewhat nerdish hero, and Ida Lupino, who was only fifteen at the time, is good—and unrecognizable—as May. British stalwart John Mills, 25 at the time, is Ernest, and Victor Stanley has a couple good moments as the valet. One of the better of the British B-movie quota quickies of the era. Pictured are Kendall and Lupino. [Streaming]