Terror (film)

Terror is the name of a criminal whose identity is not known. He committed many murders and robberies, which were characterized by devilish ingenuity and characterized by terrifying violence, but he always managed to leave. According to rumors, Terror is hiding in the vicinity of an old country house called Monkhall, which is rented by Dr. Redmayne ( Alec B. Francis ) with his daughter Olga ( May Makeva ), who turned it into a boarding house for the rehabilitation of the mentally ill.

To capture the Terror, two prisoners, Joe Connors ( Matthew Betz ) and Soopy Marx ( Otto Hoffman ), who vowed to take revenge on the Terror for robbing them, were brought from a local prison under the supervision of Superintendent Hallick to Monknoll. Among the guests of the house, an unexpectedly awkward detective Ferdinand Feyn ( Edward Everett Horton ), who turns out to be much smarter than she seems, and a certain Mrs. Elvery ( Louise Fazenda ), who is fond of occultism and impersonating a medium, also unexpectedly appear.

At night, all the inhabitants of the house are frightened by strange noises and mysterious organ music, and can not do without murders. In the end, it turns out that the criminal cheated on everyone with a simple but witty technique.

• May Makeaw - Olga Redmayne
• Louise Fazenda - Mrs. Alvery
• Edward Everett Horton - Ferdinand Fane
• Alec B. Francis - Dr. Redmayne
• Matthew Betz - Joe Connors
• Otto Hoffman - Soopy Marx
• Holmes E. Herbert - Goodman
• Joseph Gerard - Superintendent Hallick
• John Myljan - Alfred Catman
• Frank Austin - Cotton

The credits are read by actor Conrad Nigel in a cloak and mask.

The film received controversial criticism. So, in August 1928, Time magazine wrote that this film is “better than“ The Lion and the Mouse ”(1928), it is a completely voiced picture in which experienced actors May Makeva and Alec Francis are only two of a whole group of people, who are subjected to night terror ” ^[9] .

Three months later, John McCormack, who covered the London premiere of the film for the New York Times , wrote that “London critics have such a general consensus that Terror is so bad it’s almost suicide.” They claim that it is monotonous, slow, barely stretching, tiring and boring, and I can not say that I largely disagree with them. More importantly, Edgar Wallace , who wrote the play, also agrees with them. “Well,” he said, “I never thought that sound films would become a serious rival to the stage” ” ^[10] . Then McCormack writes: “English critics speak of the film’s“ exorbitant boredom ”, branded its dialogues as either stupidly banal or as tautly playful, and see no reason to constantly interrupt the film’s action with unnecessary conversations that are painful to listen to, and pronounced the final sentence that "Terror" has become a "never-ending chatter without imagination and charm" ... Americanisms , anachronisms and language errors that can be forgiven in the silent film, blatantly evident in the spoken remarks, and perhaps that proves the truthfulness evidence supporting attributed to one of Hollywood's bosses that the advent of sound film internationalism means death " ^[10] .

The film was made in two versions, since by the time of its release most cinemas had not yet switched to sound. As film critic John T. Soyster notes, “there was a completely dumb version of the film, but Terror was mostly sold and criticized as a second fully sound film. There was no interest in the mute version prepared for movie theaters not equipped with special sound equipment. ” He continues: “Earlier in 1928, the Warner Brothers studio had already released the gangster melodrama Lights of New York, advertising it as the first fully sound film. But it still had several caption cards, and therefore “Terror” was another step forward, removing all the subtitles, including the list of actors and members of the creative group, which the masked man read from the screen ” ^[11] . The “fully voiced” version, with the soundtrack recorded on the Waitaphone disc, was released on September 6, 1928, and the silent version was released on October 20, 1928, in which the most significant actor’s replicas were transmitted using subtitles ^[12] .

In 1934, the film "The Return of Terror " was released, which was staged on the same play by Edgar Wallace and is a continuation of this film ^[13] .

• Terror on the IMDB website  
• Terror on the American Film Institute website
• Terror on Turner Classic Movies