Boy! It took me quite some time to track down a copy of this film that I remembered seeing on HBO in the early 80's. I saw it then and remembered I rather liked the film as a small(OK not so small) young man. The film is obviously a remake of a film that has been done by the same title at least twice - really three times. Paul Leni's silent masterpiece from 1927. The Bob Hope version that is easily the most fun. Those two used the same title but John Willard's play was also used in 1930's The Cat Creeps. Let us not be naive; however, that this is it. The Willard ply has been the basis for any and all haunted house pictures since the 1927 version(The Old Dark House and James Whale owe it immensely). Creaky doors. Hidden panels. Masked killers. A will reading at night. A hand from a hidden panel. Eyes moving in pictures. All these and many more are due to the many versions of this wonderful play. Now, I digress with a brief history of the play to say that I do not agree with those that this film, the 1978 version, was unnecessary and trivial. Having just watched it again, I found it withstands the test of time rather well. Is it as good as the silent film or the Hope film? Probably not(definitely not the silent), but it is an enjoyable film nonetheless. The plot has been changed a bit here, but the general spirit is basically the same. What I do think is that this film clearly has the best acting. We get a nice array of British acting stalwarts: Dame Wendy Hiller as the lawyer Allison Crosby(Is it just me or did anyone else find her quite alluring in that well-tailored business suit?) I love Hiller's vocal intonations and think she is a might good actress and, even though she is an Oscar-winner, a generally forgotten actress. Anyway, she is in top form here. Then there is Daniel Massey playing what he plays best: irritating, gruffy, huffy-puffy men. Lovely, and I mean just lovely Carol Lynley. She looks like an angel in this film. She is an adequate actress as well and does a pretty good job with the comedic by-play she has with Michael Callan as the Bob Hope funny person. Callan desperately tries to be funny but mostly misfires. He is not horrible though. Honor Blackman and lovely Olivia Hussey(somewhat wasted I thought) play a "couple" in every sense of that word. Strangely I do not remember that at all in the 1927 or 1939 film versions. Spooky Beatrix Lehmann looks like she just walked out of her sarcophagus. She definitely has an air about her. Then we get Edward Fox chewing up the scenery in his small role as only he can, and Wilfred Hyde-White stealing the show, so to speak, as the deceased who talks to his relatives contemptuously through a film. He is always wonderful. The director Radley Metzger does a good job working with his cast(it is actually his screenplay being used here). Metzger uses his own vision for many things in the play - I mean he changes things quite a bit but the general spirit of the Willard play remains intact. There are some very creepy scenes from Hiller's body being found to the closing one with Fox, Lynley, and Peter McEnery. There is also a plethora of wonderful images from the icy vault that kept the secret films in tact for twenty years to the set pieces, costumes, etc... Producer Richard Gordon obviously used what financial resources he had well as this film looks very stylish. It is a stylish, fun film. Really its only real flaw was when it came out. Audiences were really not looking for stylish film in 1978. After all it was the dawn of the 1980's - what for me is the least stylish decade in all film history.

This had nice British cast and a remake of an old film that had been remade several times after the original silent production.Just look at the names: Edward Fox, Wendy Hiller, Olivia Hussey, Carol Lynly, Daniel Massey, Wilfrid Hyde White, Honor Blackman, Michael Callan - maybe not huge names, but all fine actors.This adaptation was too talky for me, especially for a murder story. It starts off promising in the first half hour but really peters out with all the gab and not nearly enough suspense or action. It looked like a modern English TV drama with a little profanity added. I was disappointed to see two very pretty faces of the 1960s, Lynley and Blackman, not look very good on the facial closeups. All the makeup they had on looked almost grotesque.

If drawing-room-type murder mysteries with a comic touch are your cup of tea, then you can't go wrong with this one. It's not as good as, say, "Murder by Death" or the best Agatha Christie adaptations, and there are some overly talky sequences that exist mainly to showcase the actors and lead nowhere. But it holds your interest, and has some very good acting, especially by Wilfrid Hyde-White in a most unusual cameo. (**1/2)

This old theatrical warhorse gets another outing in what is (to date) the only colour version of a classic play.There are some pleasantly swish performances from a good cast and neat direction from Metzger. Film takes a while to get going but the last reel packs in the action.Wilfred Hyde-White's appearance on film is a nice touch and he even gets to "host" the end credits. But the best moment is Edward Fox's spectacular entrance and his scene-stealing thereafter : a moment to treasure, especially his delivery of the line "We're just up the road"! (It'll make sense when you watch it).