What Do You Think?

Years before he explored the supernatural in The Cat People (1942) and I Walked with a Zombie (1943), Jacques Tourneur brought style and intelligence to a series of shorts at MGM. In this piece, the first of a short-lived series about unexplained phenomena, he creates a chilly atmosphere for the tale of a Hollywood writer whose life is changed when he thinks he hears his mother calling him. The piece is entirely narrated by writer Carey Wilson, who would be heard on all four series entries, leaving Tourneur to create his effects entirely through expressive pantomime. Yet he manages to capture perfectly the banter at a Hollywood party, and the writer's growing dread as he tries to figure out why he heard his mother's voice. Leading man William Henry may not have gotten to speak in this short, but he had scored as an obnoxious teenager in The Thin Man (1934), his best role at MGM. After leaving the studio, he went into B-movies before a small role in What Price Glory (1952) earned him a place in director John Ford's unofficial stock company.

By Frank Miller