Unexpected Guest (1947)
* 1/2 (out of 4)
Tired blend of the Horror and Western genres has William Boyd in his famous Hopalong Cassidy role. He plays one of seven relatives who are invited to a will reading where a fortune is to be divided among them. If someone dies their portion will be divided among the living and sure enough a masked phantom starts killing them off one by one. Before renting this movie I had heard a lot of negative things about it with most of the bad comments coming from fans of Boyd's and this character. Many complained that there are more "old dark house" moments than Western ones, which is certainly true so I'm sure many will be upset that Boyd isn't playing with his gun more. This was my first Hopalong movie so I can't compare this to previous ones but I certainly hope they're better than this. The movie is about as boring as something can get even though it remains mildly entertaining as one of those films that you keep watching and waiting for something to happen and before you know it the thing's over with and nothing has happened at all. Cassidy seems too laid back here and the supporting cast doesn't add much and that includes fan favorite Una O'Connor (BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN) as a red herring. Andy Clyde delivers a few good moments as the sidekick. Fans of the slasher series Friday THE 13TH will certainly remember its score and it's interesting to note that there's a sequence around the twenty-minute mark here where the two scores sound almost the same for a few brief seconds. With that said, I doubt too many people will find much entertainment in this film. It moves along rather well but in the end you'll be scratching your head as to why you just wasted your time.
* 1/2 (out of 4)
Tired blend of the Horror and Western genres has William Boyd in his famous Hopalong Cassidy role. He plays one of seven relatives who are invited to a will reading where a fortune is to be divided among them. If someone dies their portion will be divided among the living and sure enough a masked phantom starts killing them off one by one. Before renting this movie I had heard a lot of negative things about it with most of the bad comments coming from fans of Boyd's and this character. Many complained that there are more "old dark house" moments than Western ones, which is certainly true so I'm sure many will be upset that Boyd isn't playing with his gun more. This was my first Hopalong movie so I can't compare this to previous ones but I certainly hope they're better than this. The movie is about as boring as something can get even though it remains mildly entertaining as one of those films that you keep watching and waiting for something to happen and before you know it the thing's over with and nothing has happened at all. Cassidy seems too laid back here and the supporting cast doesn't add much and that includes fan favorite Una O'Connor (BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN) as a red herring. Andy Clyde delivers a few good moments as the sidekick. Fans of the slasher series Friday THE 13TH will certainly remember its score and it's interesting to note that there's a sequence around the twenty-minute mark here where the two scores sound almost the same for a few brief seconds. With that said, I doubt too many people will find much entertainment in this film. It moves along rather well but in the end you'll be scratching your head as to why you just wasted your time.