Richard_Harland_Smith

Greed is the key in Christy Cabanne's ONE FRIGHTENED NIGHT, which begins with the heirs of elderly Jasper Whyte (THE WIZARD OF OZ's Charley Grapewin) assembling to learn the division of his $5,000,000 estate. Among the expectant are Jasper's wastrel nephew Tom (Regis Toomey), flighty daughter Laura (Hedda Hopper, in DRACULA'S DAUGHTER the following year), ambitious son-in-law Arthur (Arthur Hohl), family doctor Denham (Lucien Littlefield) and scornful housekeeper Elvira (Rafaela Ottiano, later of Tod Browning's THE DEVIL-DOLL). The crotchety Jasper surprises his relations by promising them all $1,000,000, barring the return of wayward granddaughter Doris Waverly before midnight-- but come the witching hour, Jasper finds he must choose between two young women claiming to be the grown up Doris, one demure and polite (Evalyn Knapp) and the other (Mary Carlisle, later in DEAD MEN WALK) sharp-tongued and accompanied by pesky variety magician The Great Luvalle (Wallace Ford, billed as Wally). When one of the Dorises turns up dead by poison, local sheriff Jenks (Fred Kelsey) and deputy Abner (Adrian Morris, brother of Chester), have their hands full trying to keep the survivors from either killing one another or falling victim to a masked fiend dealing death through the business end of an Amazon blow gun.

Former D. W. Griffith protégé Cabanne kicks off this Mascot Pictures quickie with a credit sequence promising a fun sixty minutes plus: as lightning flashes and rain pelts a miniature mockup of an old dark house, the shutters burst open to reveal titles written on window shades drawn down by a bare, pallid arm. After the introduction of the cast via a series of cute vignettes, the camera (cinematography is credited to both Ernest Miller, who later shot Sam Fuller's THE STEEL HELMET, and William Nobles) pushes in through the drawing room windows, upsetting the drapes and telegraphing the dark and stormy atmosphere that will prove `a swell night for a murder.' The script by Wellyn Totman (from a story by mystery writer Stuart Palmer) thwarts expectations by allowing the crusty Jasper Whyte to survive beyond the anticipated expiration date of a cinematic septuagenarian with his fingers curled around a multi-million dollar fortune. Although Wallace Ford steals the show (`Stick around this morgue long enough and they'll be saying goodbye to you with flowers!'), Mary Carlisle proves his equal in doling out the jibes (`I've played tougher houses than this!')-- it's a pity that Totman's script requires her to manifest more romantic interest in Regis Toomey than Ford (who would appear for Cabanne again as the magic-obsessed Babe Hansen of THE MUMMY'S HAND).

Bruce `Lucky' Humberstone's THE CROOKED CIRCLE begins with that eponymous quintet of `counterfeiters and thieves deluxe' pledging their dark allegiance (`To do for each other, to avenge any brother, a fight to the knife and a knife to the hilt!'), drawing lots from a hinged skull for the honor of bringing to ground Colonel Wolters, leader of an affluent band of amateur criminologists known as The Sphinx Club. In its second half, the film adheres faithfully to the established spookhouse syllabus (sliding panels, trap doors, and an attic stuffed with skeletons, sarcophaguses and Oriental objets d'art), with director Humberstone maximizing the felonious, comic and preternatural possibilities, all nicely complemented by the amusing dialogue of playwright Ralph Spence (THE GORILLA) and Tim Whelan. Rounding out the roster of red herrings, henchmen and gawkers are WHITE ZOMBIE's Robert Frazer, the ever-quivery Zasu Pitts (`There's a ghost in this house and when he plays the violin, something always happens to somebody!'), James Gleason as a malaprop-prone New Yawk flatfoot, KING KONG's Frank Reicher, and `queer-acting hunchback' Raymond Hatton (later the sour Farmer Larkin of INVASION OF THE SAUCER MEN). It's corny and creaky and good old fashioned fun for those hip to the charms of Poverty Row whodunits. See for yourself!

Reminiscent of Piero Regnoli's THE PLAYGIRLS AND THE VAMPIRE and Jean Brismee's THE DEVIL'S NIGHTMARE, Leon Klimovsky's THE VAMPIRES' NIGHT ORGY finds a busload of disparate characters stranded in the middle of a desolate Carpathian countryside and forced to rely on the kindness of strangers... who turn out to be vampires under the domination of an Anne Ricean queen played by veteran Euro-cult actress Helga Line (the ill-starred foreign agent in Eugenio Martin's HORROR EXPRESS). Eschewing fangwork and the usual Gothic trappings of the vampire mythos, Klimovsky and his screenwriters (Antonio Fos had co-written Eloy de la Iglesia's CANNIBAL MAN and CLOCKWORK TERROR) return to European folklore to present shabby, homely revenants whose attacks, while relatively bloodless, effectively communicate a vibe of disgust and dread.

Rounding out the stellar international cast is American expatriate actor Jack Taylor (recently seen in Roman Polanski's THE NINTH GATE), Dianik Zurakowska (CAULDRON OF BLOOD, THE HANGING WOMAN), Manuel de Blas (ASSIGNMENT: TERROR, THE HUNCHBACK OF THE MORGUE), Luis Ciges (HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB, VENGEANCE OF THE ZOMBIES and Pedro Almodovar's LABYRINTH OF PASSION) and Fernando Bilbao (FANGS OF THE LIVING DEAD, DRACULA PRISONER OF FRANKENSTEIN).

Known mostly for war films and westerns, the Argentina-born Leon Klimovsky directed THE VAMPIRES' NIGHT ORGY during a period of exclusive horror filmmaking, which included the popular Paul Naschy vehicles THE WEREWOLF VS. THE VAMPIRE WOMAN, DR. JEKYLL AND THE WOLFMAN and the superior THE SAGA OF THE DRACULAS (which also featured Helga Line).

A Euro-cult classic, and well worth seeking out.