The Phantom in the House (1929) ** (out of 4)Peggy (Grace Valentine) accidentally kills her lover just as her husband Boyd (Henry B. Walthall) walks in. Boyd agrees to say he did the crime and spends the next fifteen-years in prison. When he's released he meets back up with the wife but both agreed not to tell their now adult daughter Dorothy (Nancy Welford) that he's really daddy. Soon she wanting to marry Paul (Ricardo Cortez) but he's accused of a murder he didn't really commit. This leads Boyd with a decision to make.If you watch enough of these early sound pictures then you'll notice a few things. For starters, there's usually some sort of musical number for no reason. Second, there's usually a lot of boring dialogue that means absolutely nothing to the story. The third thing you'll notice is that there's usually enough plot for ten different movies. All of this can be understood because sound was something new and people wanted to hear it.With that said, those three things usually make these early talkies rather difficult to watch today and there's no question that this here is one of the silliest I've ever seen. The entire plot is just downright crazy and stupid. What makes matters even worse is that the love affair, the murder, the lie and the prison term is all handled in the first seven minutes of the movie. From here we get on to the new stuff with the daughter getting involved with a man her mother doesn't approve of. This here leads to another murder and we're off on a whole new storyline.The best thing about this picture is Walthall who really was a very good actor. He was perfectly capable of handling silent pictures and he made the transition to sound very well. He's very low-key here but he's certainly easy to follow and you can't help but enjoy the performance and the character Cortez gets the top-billing but the picture certainly belongs to Walthall as he's the actual lead. The supporting performances are mixed to say the least with Valentine coming off the worst with her overacting.THE PHANTOM IN THE HOUSE is a pretty routine drama and for the most part it's very boring. The over-the-top nature of the story and the fact that it was an early sound picture help keep it mildly interesting but for the most part it's a dud.

Some rather stilted acting characterizes this melodrama about a man who confessed to a murder his wife did and got life in prison for it. Henry B. Walthall who played a lot of noble and self sacrificing characters on the silent screen and in talkies was at the top of his game in both those categories. The title of the film is a misnomer because there are no ghostly apparitions here, simply Walthall hanging around his family under an alias. But his daughter Nancy Welford bonds with him and can't explain the connection she feels.Walthall was an inventor and his patents were assigned over to his wife Grace Valentine which has made her a most wealthy society dame. She wants a title for Welford to marry and there's some silly English earl played by Rolfe Sedan hanging around probably looking to give some woman his title for her money. That's not what Welford wants, she wants to marry earnest young Ricardo Cortez. But Valentine threatens to ruin him if he marries her.Into this mess walks Walthall back into their lives, given parole after 15 years. He's traveling incognito at first as the daughter has been given a whole different story about a father who died in the late World War. I won't go any farther except that in the end both the women come to a radical reassessment about things. And Walthall once again thinks of others.I doubt we'll ever see a remake of this old fashioned story. The Phantom Of The House was written for a different with different tastes in literature and different ideas about what constitutes a hero. Also it is plain the players were getting used to sound and both Walthall and Cortez did much better work in sound very shortly.It's a real museum piece of a film.

During the twenties Ricardo Cortez was talked of as a successor to Rudolph Valentino and was even billed over Greta Garbo in "The Torrent" but in 1929 he was just one of many stars running scared of the microphone. He didn't have to worry as he had a voice perfectly suited to talkies but that's where the small independent studios came in. While the majors scrambled around wondering if talkies were just a fad, studios like Continental and Tiffany just kept plodding along hiring sound stages and luring actors like Cortez who wanted to prove that talkies held no fear for them and their contracted studios could rest easy. His co-star Nancy Welford was a British actress who had just scored a hit in "Gold Diggers of Broadway" but it seemed if you made your mark in an early sound singie you were given short shrift if you wanted to go dramatic. Poor Nancy only made a couple of films including a "Broadway Brevitie" before disappearing into the shadows!!Even though Cortez and Welford were top billed the film really belonged to Henry B. Walthall in the type of role that was soon to be a staple for him in the talkies - he plays Boyd Milburn, a "genius" inventor who takes the blame when he arrives home and finds his wife standing over a man's body. Little does he realise that Peggy had offered herself to the man for her husband's advancement in the scientific world. Peggy's character is pretty questionable throughout the movie - the first scene shows her as saintly, willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for her husband's fame. She seems to forget about him when he is in prison, then when he is released he finds that she has transferred all his patents to her name and she is reaping the benefits and wealth while he is now impoverished.And what a house she lives in!! For a little studio (Continental) they must have lavished most of their budget on the very stylish Art Deco sets. From the beautiful Tiffany style lamps to the gorgeous tapestries to the very futuristic wall decorations.Only the nearness of his beautiful daughter, Dorothy (Welford), who of course thinks he is just an old family friend, keeps him sane. She has her own romantic woes, she loves and is beloved by Paul (Cortez) but her mother is desperately trying to foist a blithering stuffed shirt onto her. Even though Boyd steps in to fight for the young couple's happiness, Peggy is livid and threatens to ruin Paul - she has given him access to all of Boyd's patents. When the old judge who was instrumental in sending Boyd to prison is found murdered and Paul had been summoned to a meeting with him it seems logical that he will be arrested for murder. But Boyd has seen everything from his hiding place in the garden and, with Dorothy playing a big part, everything is able to end happily.Nancy Welford proves that as an actress she makes a great singer - all big eyes and funny little quips, she even warbles the theme song "Forgotten".

When a male friend tries to take advantage of a woman she kills him in order to protect her honor. Her husband rushes her way just as the police arrive and ends up taking the rap for her. 15 years later he returns home, his wife rich with the money from his inventions, and his daughter believing he's dead. As he tries to get his life back complications arise which threaten the lives of his wife and child.Slow melodrama this film suffers from being made in the early early days of sound. Scenes are often static (though not as static as some other films of the period) with the result the movie feels like its moving at a snails pace. The script isn't bad but it feels more like a mannered play than anything thats real. The dialog is either a pronouncement or an attempt at witticism which more often falls flat. The cast is a mixed bag. To be certain stalwarts like Henry Walthall and Ricardo Cortez show every reason why they had long careers, others clearly were hired because they could speak. This is not the sort of thing one really needs to see unless you are in need of sleep.