Monday, November 5, 2018

The House of Secrets (1936)

Americans have always seem to have been obsessed with English heritage and ye olde history, it plays a big part in this film. Happy-go-lucky Barry (Leslie Fenton) is a broke American who makes it to England - after he saves young lady Julie (Muriel Evans) from a fresh guy on the ferry. When he reaches London he finds he is the sole heir to an old estate and he has to sign an ancient agreement to take over the estate in blood.

Only when he reaches his estate he finds it already occupied, including by the girl on the ferry Julie (what a coincidence eh?) For some reason they are very keen to buy his estate and keep him away...

Barry begins to investigate the mysterious goings on and gets entangled with gangsters, hidden treasure, secret formulae and screams in the night at the mysterious house. This is a fairly entertaining film with a good story and some snappy dialogue, though at times is a bit slow and frustrating and you just wish they could have progressed the plot a bit faster. The stiff old English lawyer being bamboozled by Barry's American slang is very amusing.