The Silent House (1929 film)

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The Silent House
Directed by Walter Forde
Written by
  • John G Brandon (play)
  • George Pickett (play)
  • H Fowler Mear (screenplay)
Produced by Archibald Nettlefold
Starring
Cinematography
Edited byWalter Forde
Production
company
Distributed by Butcher's Film Service
Release date
January 1929
Running time
  • 9,376 feet [1]
  • 95 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
Languages

The Silent House (also released as The House of Silence) [2] is a 1929 British silent mystery film, directed by Walter Forde and starring Mabel Poulton, Gibb McLaughlin and Arthur Pusey. It was made in 1928 at the Nettlefold Studios in Walton-on-Thames and trade-shown in January 1929. [3] The film was written by H Fowler Mear, based on a hit stage play by John G Brandon and George Pickett, but it was not a success at the box-office. [4] A print of the film exists at the National Film Archive in London. [2]

Contents

Chan Fu, the Oriental character played by Gibb McLaughlin, resembles Sax Rohmer's then-popular Fu Manchu character. [2] Jonathan Rigby, in his book Studies in Terror, points out that "The film contains an almost de rigueur tribute to The Cat and the Canary when a corpse pitches forward from its concealment in a fireplace, as well as betraying a submerged uneasiness about Britain's colonial past that was to resurface in several British horrors of a later period." [5]

Plot

The film takes place in an 'old dark house' sporting hidden panels, clutching hands, a snake pit and a secret panel leading to a room used to conceal dead bodies. A Chinese mandarin named Chan Fu (Gibb McLaughlin) uses his Svengali-like powers to hypnotise a woman into revealing the hiding place of a cache of expensive bonds.

Cast

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References

  1. ↑ Low p.450
  2. 1 2 3 Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era. Midnight Marquee Press. p. 331. ISBN   978-1936168-68-2.
  3. ↑ Rigby p.29
  4. ↑ Low p.175
  5. ↑ Rigby p.29

Bibliography


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