Plot
After a sensational bank robbery, the ringleader of the gang, Leonard O'Shea—nicknamed The Terror—is still at large. His old accomplices, Soapy Marks (Otto Hoffman) and Joe Connors (Matthew Betz), have completed prison sentences, but O’Shea remains missing with a fortune in stolen gold.
Dr. Redmayne (Alec B. Francis), the proprietor of Monkshall—an eerie English abbey turned rest home—lives in fear. Unknown to his guests, he is being blackmailed by a mysterious figure named Goodman (Holmes Herbert), whom he has promised his daughter Olga (May McAvoy) in marriage. Olga is horrified by this unwanted engagement.
Monkshall becomes a gathering place for various odd guests. Among them are the eccentric spiritualist Mrs. Elvery (Louise Fazenda), the timid amateur criminologist Alfred Katman (John Miljan), and the silent but observant butler Cotton (Frank Austin). One night, a strange man named Ferdinand Fane (Edward Everett Horton) arrives, claiming his car broke down. Though he appears drunk, Fane soon becomes entangled in the mystery.
Shortly after Fane’s arrival, another mysterious guest, Mrs. Ajax arrives. A series of increasingly strange and dangerous events proceed to unfold. After the guests retire they report hearing ghostly organ music, though there is no organ in the house. Next, Olga is attacked by a mysterious figure in her own room. Mrs. Elvery then proposes a séance hoping thereby to get to the bottom of the strange occurrences. During the séance, while the lights are off, Goodman is struck on the head, and when the lights are turned on Mrs. Ajax is found to have been stabbed to death. As the body is inspected it is revealed that Mrs Ajax is actually a man to everyone's surprise! He is eventually identified as Soapy Marks. Fane becomes a suspect to the murder when Olga witnesses him picking up and concealing the murder weapon. From this point, Olga begins to doubt Fane, despite their growing attraction.
Eventually, the famed Scotland Yard detective Superintendent Hallick (Joseph W. Girard) arrives. He identifies Joe Connors, who had also turned up at Monkshall, and insists the real danger is still at large.
Fane, revealing himself to be Bradley of Scotland Yard, orchestrates a trap using Soapy’s corpse as bait. When the killer returns, Fane narrowly avoids being murdered and chases the figure—who abducts Olga—into a secret chamber beneath the house.
In a climactic confrontation, Fane battles the masked assailant near a pit lined with knives. Just as Fane is nearly pushed in, Hallick and the others break through a panel and shoot the attacker, who falls to his death. He is revealed to be O'Shea, alias Goodman, The Terror himself.
With the threat eliminated, the missing bank loot is recovered in the underground lair. Dr. Redmayne confesses he had been coerced by O’Shea, who had posed as his benefactor and manipulated him through threats and fear—including pressuring him into forcing Olga's engagement. Redmayne admits he once attempted to kill Goodman to protect his daughter.
As the dust settles, Olga and Fane (now revealed as a true Scotland Yard man) are seen beginning a romance, with the horrors of Monkshall behind them. [1]
Reception
The Terror received mixed reviews upon initial release. In August 1928, Time said the film is "better than The Lion and the Mouse , [an] all-talk picture of which May McAvoy, Alec Francis, two of the terrorized, are veterans." [8] Three months later, John MacCormac, reporting from London for The New York Times upon the film's UK premiere, wrote:
The universal opinion of London critics is that The Terror is so bad that it is almost suicidal. They claim that it is monotonous, slow, dragging, fatiguing and boring, and I am not sure that I do not in large measure agree with them. What is more important, Edgar Wallace, who wrote the film, seems to agree with them also. "Well," was his comment, "I have never thought the talkies would be a serious rival to the stage." [9]
Box office
According to Warner Bros records the film earned $1,221,000 domestically and $243,000 foreign.
