This is a very unusual, interesting and even pioneering horror and
having read a number of negative comments about this film I can't help feeling people are missing the point almost as much now as audiences did in 1933.
MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD
Try to see this as not a Carol Lombard film but a bigger budgeted follow up from the guys who made White Zombie. It's a beautifully shot and decidedly unusual story which actually takes it's subject matter quite seriously, while providing some genuinely shocking moments and a chilling ending when the real killer returns. Whilst it's true that Lombard is pretty bland through most of this she does okay in her possessed scenes.
But the performance that really stands out for me is that of little Beryl Mercer as the landlady of the faker who attempts blackmail. Mercer, most familiar as James Cagney's simple minded mother in Public Enemy, excelled at playing downtrodden yet naively positive types and always brought a touching quality of innocence to her performances. Even here, as a seedy and unscrupulous character that warmth is evident and it makes you not want to see her hurt. So her terror and disbelief when she realizes her tenant has poisoned her, makes for a very chilling and heartbreaking moment, one of the most powerful pieces of acting I've seen in an early talkie.
That scene alone lifts this film far above the normal, and since then I'm always pleased to see her in any supporting cast.
having read a number of negative comments about this film I can't help feeling people are missing the point almost as much now as audiences did in 1933.
MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD
Try to see this as not a Carol Lombard film but a bigger budgeted follow up from the guys who made White Zombie. It's a beautifully shot and decidedly unusual story which actually takes it's subject matter quite seriously, while providing some genuinely shocking moments and a chilling ending when the real killer returns. Whilst it's true that Lombard is pretty bland through most of this she does okay in her possessed scenes.
But the performance that really stands out for me is that of little Beryl Mercer as the landlady of the faker who attempts blackmail. Mercer, most familiar as James Cagney's simple minded mother in Public Enemy, excelled at playing downtrodden yet naively positive types and always brought a touching quality of innocence to her performances. Even here, as a seedy and unscrupulous character that warmth is evident and it makes you not want to see her hurt. So her terror and disbelief when she realizes her tenant has poisoned her, makes for a very chilling and heartbreaking moment, one of the most powerful pieces of acting I've seen in an early talkie.
That scene alone lifts this film far above the normal, and since then I'm always pleased to see her in any supporting cast.