The Face at the Window (1939 film)

Last updated

The Face at the Window
FaceAtTheWindow1939.jpg
Directed by George King
Written by A. R. Rawlinson (scenario and dialogue)
Randall Faye (treatment)
Based onthe "Famous Melodrama", The Face at the Window by F. Brooke Warren
Produced byGeorge King
Starring Tod Slaughter
Cinematography Hone Glendinning
Edited by Jack Harris
Music by Jack Beaver
Production
company
George King Productions
Distributed by British Lion Film Corporation (UK)
Arthur Ziehm (U.S.)
Release date
  • April 1939 (1939-04)
Running time
65 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The Face at the Window is a 1939 British horror film directed by George King. [1] It was the second sound film adaptation of the 1897 stage melodrama by F. Brooke Warren after the 1932 version. [2] [3] [4] [5]

Contents

Plot

In Paris in 1880, a series of murders involving a grotesque face appearing at victims' windows, is attributed to a mysterious Wolf Man. After being accused of being the perpetrator, bank clerk Lucien Cortier (John Warwick) seeks to uncover the true identity of the murderer. Chevalier Lucio del Gardo seems determined to successfully prosecute Cortier for the murders.

Cast

Critical reception

In a contemporary review, Film Weekly called the film "a vintage thriller, put over in the right, rich spirit of years ago"; [6] while more recently Britmovie praised "a sinister Tod Slaughter hamming it up marvellously." [7] and the Radio Times wrote, "As with any film featuring the outrageously operatic antics of early horror star Tod Slaughter, this slow, stagebound murder-mystery would be completely unwatchable without the producer-star's presence." [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dennis Price</span> English actor (1915–1973)

Dennistoun Franklyn John Rose Price was an English actor. He played as Louis Mazzini in the Ealing Studios film Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) and the omnicompetent valet Jeeves in 1960s television adaptations of P. G. Wodehouse's stories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clive Swift</span> English actor and songwriter (1936–2019)

Clive Walter Swift was an English actor and songwriter. A classically trained actor, his stage work included performances with the Royal Shakespeare Company, but he was best known to television viewers for his role as Richard Bucket in the BBC sitcom Keeping Up Appearances. He played many other television and film roles.

<i>Horrors of the Black Museum</i> 1959 British film by Arthur Crabtree

Horrors of the Black Museum (1959) is a British-American horror film starring Michael Gough and directed by Arthur Crabtree.

<i>Brass Monkey</i> (film) 1949 British film

Brass Monkey is a 1948 British comedy thriller with musical asides, directed by Thornton Freeland. It stars Carroll Levis, a radio variety show host and talent scout and American actress Carole Landis in her last film. Also known as The Lucky Mascot, the film features an early appearance by comic actor Terry-Thomas, playing himself.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tod Slaughter</span> English actor

Norman Carter Slaughter, also known as Tod Slaughter, was an English actor, best known for playing over-the-top maniacs in macabre film adaptations of Victorian melodramas.

<i>Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street</i> (1936 film) 1936 British film

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a 1936 British drama film produced and directed by George King, and written by Frederick Hayward, H. F. Maltby, and George Dibdin-Pitt. The film features actor Tod Slaughter as the barber Sweeney Todd.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Warwick</span> Australian actor

John McIntosh Beattie, known professionally as John Warwick, was an Australian actor, and television dramatist.

<i>The Case of the Frightened Lady</i> (film) 1940 British film

The Case of the Frightened Lady is a 1940 British, black-and-white, crime, drama, mystery thriller, directed by George King and starring Marius Goring as Lord Lebanon, Helen Haye as Lady Lebanon, Penelope Dudley Ward as Isla Crane, George Merritt (actor) as Detective Inspector Tanner, Ronald Shiner as Detective Sergeant Totty and Felix Aylmer as Dr Amersham. It was produced by Pennant Picture Productions and presented by British Lion Film Corporation. The film is based on the 1931 play by Edgar Wallace.

A Window in London is a 1940 British thriller film directed by Herbert Mason, written by Brigid Cooper and Ian Dalrymple for Greenspan & Seligman Enterprises Ltd and distributed by General Film Distributors. The cast includes Michael Redgrave, Patricia Roc, Sally Gray, Paul Lukas and Hartley Power. It is a remake of the French film Metropolitan (1939). The plot focuses on a man who becomes drawn to the wife of a jealous magician - after spotting what appears to be a murder in their flat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vernon Sewell</span> British actor and film director (1903–2001)

Vernon Campbell Sewell was a British film director, writer, producer and, briefly, an actor.

The Face at the Window is a 1932 British drama film directed by Leslie S. Hiscott and starring Raymond Massey, Claude Hulbert and Isla Bevan. It was made at Twickenham Studios as a quota quickie. It is based on a play of the same name by F. Brooke Warren first performed in 1897.

The Face at the Window is a melodramatic detective play written by F. Brooke Warren and first produced in 1897.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mario Zampi</span>

Mario Zampi was an Italian film producer and director. A co-founder of Two Cities Films, a British production company, he is most closely associated with British comedies of the 1950s.

<i>Murder Without Crime</i> 1950 film

Murder Without Crime is a 1950 British crime film directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Dennis Price, Derek Farr and Patricia Plunkett. J. Lee Thompson also wrote the screenplay adapted from Double Error, his own successful West End play.

<i>The Greed of William Hart</i> 1948 film by Oswald Mitchell

The Greed of William Hart is a 1948 British horror film directed by Oswald Mitchell and starring Tod Slaughter, Henry Oscar, Aubrey Woods, Patrick Addison, Jenny Lynn, Winifred Melville and Arnold Bell. The film depicts two Edinburgh bodysnatchers closely modeled on the real Burke and Hare.

<i>Madness of the Heart</i> 1950 British film

Madness of the Heart is a 1949 British drama film directed by Charles Bennett, produced by Richard Wainwright for Two Cities Films and starring Margaret Lockwood, Paul Dupuis and Kathleen Byron. The screenplay was written by Charles Bennett, adapted from the novel of the same name by Flora Sandström.

<i>They Drive by Night</i> (novel)

They Drive By Night is the second novel by British author James Curtis published in 1938. It is a crime thriller set in 1930s London and the North of England dealing with working-class themes in a Social realism style.

Maria Marten is a 1928 British silent drama film directed by Walter West starring Trilby Clark, Warwick Ward and Dora Barton. It is based on the real story of the Red Barn Murder in the 1820s, and is one of five film versions of the events. The film shifted the action to fifty years earlier to the height of the Georgian era. This was the last of the silent film adaptations of the Maria Marten story, and its success paved the way for the much better 1935 sound film remake starring Tod Slaughter. A 35mm print of the 1928 silent film exists in the British Film Institute's archives.

The Face at the Window is a 1920 British silent crime film directed by Wilfred Noy and starring C. Aubrey Smith, Gladys Jennings and Jack Hobbs It is based on a play of the same name by Brooke Warren first performed in 1897. Its plot concerns a British criminologist who helps the French police to solve a murder in Paris.

The Face at the Window is a 1919 Australian silent film about a master criminal and serial killer sought by the police. It was based on the popular 1897 play that opened to positive reviews and remained a stage hit for three decades. The play's success led to its being adapted several times as a film, this Australian production being the first. It was later remade three times in England...a 1920 film directed by Wilfred Noy, a 1932 film directed by Leslie Hiscott and the 1939 Tod Slaughter production, which is considered the best.

References

  1. "The Face at the Window (1939)". Archived from the original on 23 November 2016.
  2. Pitts, Michael R. RKO Radio Pictures Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy Films, 1929–1956, pp. 100-01 (2015)
  3. Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 48. ISBN   978-1936168-68-2.
  4. "F. Brooke Warren". Archived from the original on 23 November 2016.
  5. 1 2 "The Face at the Window (1939)".
  6. "BFI Screenonline: Face at the Window, the (1939)".
  7. "The Face at the Window | Britmovie | Home of British Films". www.britmovie.co.uk. Archived from the original on 26 November 2009.