Return of the Terror

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Return of the Terror
Return of the Terror poster.jpg
theatrical release poster
Directed by Howard Bretherton
Screenplay by Peter Milne
Eugene Solow
Based on The Terror (1927 play) by Edgar Wallace [1]
Produced by Samuel Bischoff
Starring Mary Astor
Lyle Talbot
John Halliday
Frank McHugh
Cinematography Arthur L. Todd
Edited by Owen Marks
Music by Bernhard Kaun
Production
company
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date
  • July 7, 1934 (1934-07-07)
Running time
65 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Return of the Terror is a 1934 American mystery film directed by Howard Bretherton and written by Peter Milne and Eugene Solow. The film stars Mary Astor, Lyle Talbot, John Halliday, and Frank McHugh, and features Robert Barrat and Irving Pichel. The film was released by Warner Bros. on July 7, 1934. [2] [3] It was a loose remake of the 1928 film The Terror , based on Edgar Wallace's play of the same name, rather than a sequel. [4] It shifted the setting from England to America.

Contents

Plot

Doctor John Redmayne, on trial for the death of four patients at the sanatorium he ran and branded "The Terror" by the press, claims insanity on the advice of his lawyer and is sent to the lunatic asylum. Six months later, fearing he really is going mad, he escapes and returns to his sanatorium. There he encounters again his former lover Olga and his colleague Doctor Goodman, who may have had a hand in the original deaths.

Cast

Reception

A.D.S. of The New York Times said, "The Return of the Terror has been managed with the usual Hollywood skill in the physical properties, but its structure has a carpentered look. As the suspicious reporter, Frank McHugh creates a few laughs, but the writing is strictly routine and the necessary humor is largely absent. Robert Emmett O'Connor is excellent as a hard-boiled detective, and the other principals, John Halliday, Mary Astor, Lyle Talbot and Robert Barrat, are entirely satisfactory." [5]

Preservation status

A 35mm print has been preserved by the Library of Congress, [6] and a 16mm [7] print of this film survives at the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research. It was transferred onto 16mm film by Associated Artists Productions [8] in the 1950s and shown on television.

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References

  1. ↑ "Screenplay info" on TCM.com
  2. ↑ "Return of the Terror (1934) - Overview". TCM.com. Retrieved 2015-08-12.
  3. ↑ "Return of the Terror". Afi.com. Retrieved 2015-08-12.
  4. ↑ Pitts p.213
  5. ↑ A.D.S. (1934-07-11). "Movie Review - Return of the Terror - THE SCREEN; Who Killed Whom, and Other Violent Questions, in "The Return of the Terror," at the Rialto". The New York Times . Retrieved 2015-08-12.
  6. ↑ Catalog of Holdings The American Film Institute Collection and The United Artists Collection at The Library of Congress p.209 c.1978 published by The American Film Institute
  7. ↑ Return of The Terror (1934)
  8. ↑ 1957 MOVIES FROM AAP Warner Bros Features & Cartoons SALES BOOK DIRECTED AT TV

Bibliography

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