Golden Age Horrors 1931-'39 - Borderline Titles
As listed in 'Golden Horrors', by Bryan Senn
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71 titles
- DirectorOtis GarrettStarsDonald WoodsNan GreyEdgar KennedyDishonest mine owner Nicholas Rood finds a Black Doll on his desk and knows that vengeance is about to overtake him for murdering his former partner. He is knifed as he talks to his daughter Marian. She summons her fiancé Nick Halstead, a private detective. He finds that six people had a motive for the murder: Rood's sister Mrs. Laura Leland; her son Rex; Rood's associates Mallison and Walling; Esteban, a servant; and Dr. Giddings. Sheriff Renick and his deputy Red get the clues all mixed up, but Nick finally narrows the search down to one suspect.
- DirectorRoy William NeillStarsJack HoltFay WrayDorothy BurgessA young girl who lives on a tropical island loses her parents to a voodoo sacrifice, but although she manages to escape the island, a curse is put on her. Years later, as an adult, she feels a strong compulsion to return to the island to confront her past. Her husband, her daughter, and her nanny go with her, but once back on the island, the woman finds herself elevated by the locals to the stature of a voodoo goddess, and she begins her inevitable descent into madness, with disastrous results for her family.
- DirectorElliott NugentStarsBob HopePaulette GoddardJohn BealWhen an eccentric family meets in their uncle's remote, decaying mansion on the tenth anniversary of his death for the reading of his will, murder and madness follow.
- DirectorRay TaylorStarsBela LugosiMaria AlbaClara Kimball YoungOn the mystic island of Lemuria, the cult of Ubasti seek the Egyptian Princess Nadji to sacrifice so that their goddess Ossana, whose soul resides in Nadji's body, may be resurrected by Black Magic.
- DirectorWilliam Cameron MenziesMarcel VarnelStarsEdmund LoweIrene WareBela LugosiWhen delusional madman Roxor kidnaps a scientist in hopes of using his death ray to achieve world dominance, he is opposed by Chandu, a powerful hypnotist and yogi.
- DirectorMaurice ElveyStarsClaude RainsFay WrayMary ClareA fake music-hall clairvoyant meets a woman, and suddenly his predictions seem to come true ...
- DirectorGeorge KingStarsTod SlaughterMarjorie TaylorD.J. WilliamsA crazed killer known as "The Spinebreaker" is terrorizing London with a series of grisly murders. The police seem powerless to stop him.
- DirectorH. Bruce HumberstoneStarsZasu PittsJames GleasonBen LyonA group of amateur detectives sets out to expose The Crooked Circle, a secretive group of hooded occultists.
- DirectorLloyd CorriganStarsAnna May WongWarner OlandSessue HayakawaPrincess Ling Moy, a young and beautiful Chinese aristocrat lives next door, unbeknownst to her, to Dr. Fu Manchu, a brilliant but twisted genius who is out to rule the world. She is involved with Ah Kee, a handsome young man, who also unbeknownst to her, is a secret agent out to thwart the heinous plots of Fu Manchu. As it turns out, Fu is not only her next-door neighbor, he is also, (unbeknownst to her), her father. When she finds out, will she take her father's part and fight the men out to get Fu, or will she become a brave heroine and save the world even if it is from the devious doings of her own Dad? Yes, it's dated, and there isn't nearly enough of Warner Oland in it; but it moves along well, has a lot of action, Wong and Hayakawa were fine actors, and if you're a Charley Chan fan, it's worth it to how much, if any, of Fu Oland used when creating Charley Chan.
- DirectorArthur H. LeonardStarsNina Mae McKinneyJack CarterIda JamesSylvia Walton returns from Harlem to take over a Jamaican plantation from her vindictive half-sister, amid the growing sound of drums.
- DirectorCharles VidorStarsEvelyn VenableMary MorrisAnne RevereIn New York in 1910, wealthy spinster Victoria Van Brett controls with an iron hand both the family fortune and the lives of her younger sister Caroline and half brother Rip. When Rip marries Anne Darrow, a nurse who saved his life, Victoria does everything in her power to ruin the marriage, asserting that Anne only loves Rip for his money. First, Victoria steals Rip's wedding present to Anne, his mother's pearls, which Victoria claims are not his to give. Next, she secretly writes Rip out of the family will, then calls him home early from his honeymoon to make him executor of the family millions, which leaves him little time for his bride. Victoria then restricts Anne's use of the family's Fifth Avenue mansion and only addresses her indirectly as "that woman." Meanwhile, Victoria tells Caroline that unless she cooperates with her treatment of Anne, she will lock her in the secret soundproof vault where their father died. Caroline's own romantic happiness was spoiled by Victoria years earlier, and she lives in daily terror of her sister's malicious manipulations. After many months of constant battering and humiliation, Anne goes to her friend, Dr. John Lucas, whom she was going to marry before she met Rip, for help. John suggests that Anne fight Victoria's tyranny and start inviting her own friends to the Van Brett home. That night, Anne invites John to dinner, and in the presence of family lawyer Mortimer Neff, Victoria accuses Anne of having an affair with him. Earlier in the day, Anne was forced to lie to Rip about visiting John unchaperoned. Under the weight of Victoria's present accusations, however, she admits her lie, swearing that John has not betrayed Rip's friendship. Finally overcoming Victoria's lifelong tyranny, Rip promises to take Anne from the house that night, forfeiting what he believes is his inheritance. When Anne comes downstairs with her suitcase, however, Victoria lures her into the vault by promising to give her the pearls and shuts the door. Caroline wakes at Anne's cry, but Victoria tells her it was only a dream and threatens to consign her to a mental institution. Victoria then tells Rip that Anne has eloped with John and dismisses the servants, planning to close up the house for a year. When John appears the next morning without any word from Anne, Rip becomes suspicious. The dog then barks at the wall that conceals the vault, and Caroline confesses that she heard a scream the night before and reveals the vault. Rip bends Victoria's arm to make her open the safe and discovers Anne, who has fainted. Although Victoria tries one last time to lure Caroline into the safe, Mortimer stops her, threatening to put her in prison unless she writes Rip back into the will. Caroline leaves the house with Anne and Rip, and after Mortimer leaves, Victoria goes into the safe to get the pearls, and the door locks behind her.
- DirectorGeorge MelfordStarsCarlos VillaríasLupita TovarBarry NortonCenturies-old vampire Dracula preys upon the innocent Eva and her friends.
- DirectorMichal WaszynskiStarsAvrom MorewskiAjzyk SambergMojzesz LipmanThe mystical love story between Chonen, a poor Talmud student, and Lea, a girl from a wealthy family, depicts the traditional folk culture of Polish Jews before WW2.
- DirectorLeslie S. HiscottStarsRaymond MasseyIsla BevanClaude HulbertA crime story about a detective's efforts to expose a Paris nobleman as a bank robber.
- DirectorGeorge KingStarsTod SlaughterJohn WarwickAubrey MallalieuSet in France in 1880. A series of murders is attributed to a Wolf Man.
- DirectorRobert F. HillStarsJune CollyerLloyd HughesLawrence GrayA mysterious killer known as The Fiend uses an unusual bullet as his trademark for his murders.
- DirectorFrank WisbarStarsSybille SchmitzAribert MogCarl de VogtA beautiful young drifter comes to a small village and battles Death itself to save the man she loves.
- DirectorRobert FloreyStarsDonald WoodsMargaret LindsayC. Aubrey SmithJuan Cesare, a descendant of the Borgia's of Vienna, thinks he may have a murder streak in him acquired from his long-dead relatives, is is love with Florence Ballau, but her father lodges a strong protest. Papa Ballau is later found dead with a Florentine dagger of the Borgia type stuck firmly in him. Juan is all wrought up and tortured by thoughts he may have been the killer. But there is also a disfigured housekeeper on the premises who may or may not have had a motive.
- DirectorFrank R. StrayerStarsJohn MiljanJune CollyerRichard CarleDuring a stormy night at an old dark mansion, people who claim to see ghosts roaming the halls are later found murdered.
- DirectorJulien DuvivierStarsHarry BaurRoger KarlCharles DoratThe Golem, a giant creature created out of clay by a rabbi, comes to life in a time of trouble to protect the Jews of Prague from persecution.
- DirectorBryan FoyStarsJoe FriscoHarry GribbonWalter PidgeonA series of murders that take place in an old, dark mansion are suspected of being committed by an ape.
- DirectorAllan DwanStarsThe Ritz BrothersJimmy RitzHarry RitzWhen a wealthy man is threatened by a killer known as The Gorilla, he hires the Ritz Brothers to investigate. A real escaped gorilla shows up at the mansion just as the investigators arrive.
- DirectorAlan CroslandStarsEdmund LoweValerie HobsonWera EngelsBaron Leopold von Ragastein impersonates his noble lookalike Sir Everard Dominey at the vast Dominey Hall, where strange things are afoot in pre-WW1 England.
- DirectorLouis SonneyStarsJohn DillingerRoy GardnerEdward HickmanA series of scenes that comprised both new material (featuring frontal nudity), and old footage from an Italian version of Dante's Inferno (also featuring frontal nudity) and vignettes from the March of Crime series.
- DirectorJoe MayStarsWilliam GarganIrene HerveyDorothy ArnoldA detective goes undercover as a producer to investigate an actor's murder, which occurred during the performance of a play. The actor's body disappeared shortly after the crime, and his ghost is rumored to be haunting the theater.