The Haunted House (1928 film)

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The Haunted House
The Haunted House (1928) Window Card.jpg
1928 Window card advertisement
Directed by Benjamin Christensen
Written by
  • Lajos Biro
  • Benjamin Christensen [1]
Based onThe Haunted House
by Owen Davis
Produced byWid Gunning [2]
Starring
Cinematography Sol Polito [3]
Edited byFrank Ware [3]
Production
company
Distributed byFirst National Pictures, Inc. [3]
Release date
  • November 4, 1928 (1928-11-04)
Running time
65 minutes [3]
CountryUnited States
Languages Sound (Synchronized)
(English Intertitles)

The Haunted House is a 1928 American mystery film directed by Benjamin Christensen. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using the sound-on-disc Vitaphone process. The film stars Larry Kent and Thelma Todd and is based on Owen Davis's 1926 Broadway play of the same name. [3] [2] UCLA Film and Television Archive has copies of the Vtaphone sound discs but not the film, which remains lost. [4]

Contents

Plot

A group of heirs to a family fortune are summoned to an old dark house to attend the reading of a will. Weird events occur, leading the group to believe the house is haunted. The house features sliding panels, hidden rooms, weird attendants and even a mad scientist. It turns out to be just a gang of crooks trying to scare them off before they can inherit their money.

Cast

Background

After his success in Europe with his 1922 film Haxan , director Christensen relocated to Hollywood in 1926, where he directed Thelma Todd in The Devil's Circus who would appear again in The Haunted House. [2] The screenplay for the film was written by Lajos Biro and Benjamin Christensen who used the name Richard Bee. [1] Production started on the film on July 26, 1928. [3] The Haunted House was Christensen's first attempt at using sound in film with the feature containing sound effects and a music score, in addition to Eve Southern mouthing two songs in the film which according to an article in Variety , were added in post-production. [1] Variety also noted that the synchronization of the songs was "badly handled, with the player and the sound always out of kilter and neither starting out for finishing together." [1]

Release

The Haunted House was released on November 4, 1928. [3] The film was released as both a silent feature and a feature with the sound additions. [1]

Reception

From contemporary reviews, Variety felt the film "played legitimately and with no attempt to get a tongue-in-the cheek laugh. It holds every form of sliding panel and rainstorm mystery material, as did the play, but holds it all with deadly seriousness." [5] The review felt overall it was not as "good a film as another recent boogy-man thriller, The Terror ." [5] A review in Photoplay commented that the film was "Too much Chester Conklin and not enough mystery" [5] Film Daily praised camera work by Sol Polito, declaring him "a genius on atmospheric effects" concluding that the film had "thrills and laughs" in "abundance" despite "the plot standing still for several reels." [5] The film was reviewed twice in The Film Spectator, with the first reviewer stating that The Haunted House was "a resume of all the mystery thrillers ever done, but it can be heartily recommended as entertaining, since its undoubtedly the best to burst fort in all its horror". [5] The second review found the film to be "a clever picture" with Christensen giving "an eerie quality to his characters, an intelligent treatment of a story that is designed to give brave men goose-flesh and make cowards shriek". [5] Harrison's Reports found the reviewer would be "held in tense suspense. Here and there the action shows some tendency to lag for those that are hard-boiled, but the general public seemed to enjoy it immensely. Children may get scared out of their wits by the mysterious happenings." [5]

See also

Related Research Articles

This is an overview of 1929 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.

The following is an overview of 1928 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths. Although some films released in 1928 had sound, most were still silent. This year is notable for the introduction of the official mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey Mouse, in the animated short Steamboat Willie, the first film to include a soundtrack completely created in post production.

The following is an overview of 1926 in film, including significant events, a list of films released, and notable births and deaths.

<i>The Last Performance</i> 1929 film

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<i>The Haunted Bedroom</i> 1919 film

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<i>While London Sleeps</i> 1926 film by Howard Bretherton

While London Sleeps is a 1926 synchronized sound Warner Bros. film about a police-dog, Rinty, who helps Scotland Yard defeat a dangerous criminal organisation known as the Mediterranean Brotherhood that operates out of the Limehouse district of London. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using both the Vitaphone sound-on-disc process. Walter Morosco wrote the screenplay. It was the first of many films directed by Howard Bretherton, and one of several created for Rin Tin Tin, a German Shepherd dog used in films during the 1920s and 1930s. Only the sound discs to the film survive today with the visual film portions being lost. The British release prints censored the more horrific aspects of the film.

<i>Seven Footprints to Satan</i> 1929 American mystery film

Seven Footprints to Satan is a sound part-talkie 1929 American mystery film directed by Danish filmmaker Benjamin Christensen. Based on the 1928 story of the same name by Abraham Merritt, it stars Thelma Todd, Creighton Hale, William V. Mong and Sheldon Lewis. In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects along with English intertitles. The film survives at the Cineteca Italiana in an alternate sound version known as an International Sound Version. The sound disks for this foreign sound version are apparently not extant.

<i>The Midnight Taxi</i> 1928 film

The Midnight Taxi is a 1928 American early sound part-talkie thriller picture from Warner Bros. directed by John G. Adolfi and starring Antonio Moreno, Helen Costello, and Myrna Loy. In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects along with English intertitles. The soundtrack was recorded using the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system.

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House of Horror is a 1929 American sound part-talkie comedy mystery film directed by Benjamin Christensen. In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects along with English intertitles. The soundtrack was recorded using the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system. The film stars Louise Fazenda and Chester Conklin. The film portion of the House of Horror is now presumed lost while the sound survives on Vitaphone discs.

<i>Something Always Happens</i> (1928 film) 1928 film

Something Always Happens is a 1928 American silent horror film directed by Frank Tuttle and starring Esther Ralston. The plot was the work of director Frank Tuttle, from which the screenplay was written by Florence Ryerson and Raymond Cannon, and the subtitles were provided by Herman J. Mankiewicz. The supporting cast features Neil Hamilton, Sôjin Kamiyama, Charles Sellon, Roscoe Karns, Lawrence Grant, and Mischa Auer. The picture was released on March 24, 1928, by Paramount Pictures. It is not known whether the film survives, or who holds the rights.

<i>Ham and Eggs at the Front</i> 1927 film by Roy Del Ruth

Ham and Eggs at the Front is a 1927 American synchronized sound comedy film directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring Tom Wilson, Heinie Conklin and Myrna Loy - all in blackface. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using the Vitaphone sound-on-disc process. Long thought to be a lost film, a print was screened at the Pordenone Silent Film Festival in 2021 courtesy of the Cineteca Italiana.

The Charlatan is a 1929 sound part-talkie film directed by George Melford for Universal Pictures. In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects along with English intertitles. The soundtrack was recorded using the Western Electric sound-on-film system. The film starred Holmes E. Herbert, Margaret Livingston and Rockliffe Fellowes. The film is based on the 1923 play The Charlatan by Leonard Praskins and Ernest Pascal.

The House of Secrets is a 1929 American mystery film directed by Edmund Lawrence and starring Joseph Striker, Marcia Manning and Elmer Grandin. The screenplay was written by Adeline Leitzbach, based on the 1926 novel of the same name by Sydney Horler. The film is considered lost. It was remade in 1936.

<i>Naughty Baby</i> (film) 1928 film by Mervyn LeRoy

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<i>Vamping Venus</i> 1928 film

Vamping Venus is a 1928 American synchronized sound comedy film directed by Edward F. Cline, written by Howard J. Green and Ralph Spence, and starring Charles Murray, Louise Fazenda, Thelma Todd, Russ Powell, Joe Bonomo and Guinn "Big Boy" Williams. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using the sound-on-disc Vitaphone process. It was released on May 13, 1928, by First National Pictures.

<i>Trial Marriage</i> 1929 American drama film directed by Erle C. Kenton

Trial Marriage is a 1929 American Synchronized sound pre-Code drama film directed by Erle C. Kenton from a story by Sonya Levien. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film process. Produced by Harry Cohn for Columbia Pictures Corporation, the film was released on March 10, 1929. Charles C. Coleman was assistant director. As was the case for the majority of films during the early sound era, a silent version was prepared for theatres who had not yet converted to sound.

References

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Pitts 2018, p. 113.
  2. 1 2 3 Workman & Howarth 2016, p. 324.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "The Haunted House". American Film Institute . Retrieved November 28, 2019.
  4. ↑
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Pitts 2018, p. 114.

Sources

  • Pitts, Michael R. (2018). Thrills Untapped: Neglected Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy Films, 1928-1936. McFarland. ISBN   978-1476632896.
  • Soister, John T. (2012). American Silent Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy Feature Films, 1913-1929. McFarland. ISBN   978-0-786-48790-5.
  • Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era. Midnight Marquee Press. ISBN   978-1936168-68-2.
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