The House of Fear
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Joe May
William Gargan
Irene Hervey
Dorothy Arnold
Alan Dinehart
Harvey Stephens
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
The murder of actor John Woodford during the performance of a Broadway play closes the house when reports begin to circulate that Woodford's ghost haunts the theater. To solve the mystery, police detective Arthur McHugh poses as a producer and reopens the theater to present the play. His hunch that the real murderer will reappear proves correct when Carleton, the actor playing Woodford's part, is murdered during rehearsal. As the company is besieged by a barrage of death threats from the ghost of Woodford, McHugh coerces Richard Pierce, an actor he suspects of the crimes, into playing the dead man's part, which requires him to stand in front of a microphone where the other two murders have taken place. On opening night, McHugh discovers a cable lead that leads to a poisoned needle in the microphone, and captures the masked murderer as he is poised to shoot the lethal missle. The murderer confesses that he is in the employ of Robert Morton, the brother of domineering theater owner Joseph Morton, and McHugh expounds that the murders were part of Robert's scheme to lower the value of the theater and thus insure him profits on a crooked real estate deal, which would enable him to marry the fortune-hunting actress, Gloria DeVere. Gloria then reveals that she is actually McHugh's wife, who has been helping her husband with the investigation by posing as one of the cast members. With Morton's arrest, Woodford's "ghost" is laid to rest and the case is solved.
Director
Joe May
Cast
William Gargan
Irene Hervey
Dorothy Arnold
Alan Dinehart
Harvey Stephens
Walter Woolf King
Robert Coote
El Brendel
Tom Dugan
Jan Duggan
Donald Douglas
Ben Lewis
Stanley Hughes
Raymond Parker
Crew
Bernard B. Brown
John Ewing
R. A. Gausman
Edmund Grainger
Frank Gross
Phil Karlstein
Milton Krasner
Joseph Lapis
Peter Milne
Jack Otterson
Charles Previn
George Thomas Jr.
Vera West
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title of this film was Backstage Phantom. Universal produced two other films based on Thomas F. Fallon's play. In 1929, Paul Leni directed Laura La Plante and Montague Love in The Last Warning (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1921-30; F2.2987.) In 1938, Universal produced The Last Warning also based on the play (see below). For additional information about the series, see entry for The Westland Case (below) and consult the Series Index.
