The Case of the Frightened Lady (1940)

Simply A Masterpiece

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

The second highly enjoyable British Edgar Wallace adaptation I've seen in recent weeks, following on from the exemplary Dark Eyes of London. THE CASE OF THE FRIGHTENED LADY is more of a traditional old dark house style mystery, in which a young woman is being assailed by mysterious goings-on in a rambling old ancestral pile, leading the police to investigate.There's little to dislike about this oft-filmed tale, which takes all of the clichés and somehow breathes life and vigour into them. Where THE CASE OF THE FRIGHTENED LADY particularly excels is in the efforts of the cast members, many of whom give fine performances, particularly those in support.Marius Goring is fine as the likable heir, attempting to get to the bottom of the mystery; George Merritt matches him as the dogged detective. Felix Aylmer plays the mysterious family friend and Helen Haye the scheming mother. Penelope Dudley-Ward is the titular character and slightly weaker, but she doesn't really have much screen time anyway. The best two actors in the film are Ronald Shiner, who adds hilarious comic relief as the wisecracking sergeant, and Roy Emerton as the delightfully sinister manservant, complete with glass eye and stern demeanour.For fans of old mystery flicks this has it all: secret passages, inexplicable murders, shadowy figures, strangulations, dark pasts, familial secrets, confuddled detectives, a dark and oppressive atmosphere, and plenty more besides. It's a delight.

This Edgar Wallace mystery got two versions of which this is the second one. In addition one for experimental television was also made of The Case Of The Frightened Lady.The case is set in Mark's Priory the ancestral estate of the Lebanons who apparently down through the years have had a habit of marrying their cousins. Right down to today the Dowager Lady Lebanon Helen Haye wants another cousin Penelope Dudley Ward to marry her son Marius Goring the current Lord Lebanon. But she's got eyes for architect Patrick Barr who is visiting the estate to make renovations.Ward is the frightened lady of the title. For some reason she's got some bad vibes about the place and the people that inhabit it. But she's practically being kept a prisoner. That will change when the family chauffeur who seems to be one of the few normal people on the place is murdered. All signs point to a disgraced doctor Felix Aylmer who has a strange hold on the Lebanon family. Then he gets murdered and Scotland Yard is once again starting from scratch.Haye is some piece of work. She's so desperate to have Ward marry Goring that she's even willing to overlook a lot to get Ward to marry Goring and continue the family line.This is a good murder mystery as only the English can do them. It all leads up to a shocking climax where one of the principals steps way out of character or more like takes off a mask.

Penelope Dudley-Ward (Isla) is the frightened lady of the title. From the first shots of the film when she screams at the shadows that are following her in the house, you can't help but laugh and fear for your oncoming experience. It doesn't say much when the comedy detectives are the best thing about the film. It is woefully acted by all the main players who deliver their lines in that clipped English which is just plain fake – the word "exactly" becomes "exectly" – it's just nonsense. The film does keep you watching to see how things pan out but it ends just as badly as it started with some laughably crass dialogue being spouted by the appalling Helen Haye (Lady Lebanon) accompanied by a hysterical closing head shot of her. It's not meant to be funny, though. A nice, spooky venue is wasted in this badly acted effort.

This film, based on a stage play by Edgar Wallace, is one of those traditional British murder mysteries set in an enormous aristocratic mansion with all kinds of supercilious people, suspicious servants, stupid detectives, and maidens in distress. But it is by no means as corny as it sounds. The film is dominated by the powerful presence of Helen Haye, an actress with the cutting edge of a diamond blade, who lashes everyone in sight with her reproving tongue. She is Lady Lebanon, the matriarch of the establishment, and don't you forget it! Her friend is Dr. Amersham, played by Felix Aylmer, and he even outdoes her in supercilious arrogance. What a pair! Between them, they so dominate the screen that there is barely space for the other players to make their presences known much of the time. The maiden in distress (the one who is 'frightened') is played by Penelope Dudley-Ward (1914-1982, sometimes credited only as Penelope Ward), who only appeared in 12 films between 1935 and 1944, retiring after that. From 1948 to 1976, she was married to Sir Carol Reed, and during the time that I knew him towards the end of his life, I met her, though I only ever exchanged a few polite words with her, as she never joined me and Carol for our chats over gin and tonic in their vast living room with the enormously high ceiling in their splendid house in Kings Road. (They had removed the floor above that room so that the room was two storeys high rather than one.) Alas, I retain little impression of her, so must make do with what I see in these old movies instead. Now they are all gone, even Tracy Reed, Lady Reed's daughter, who died in 2012. Sic transit gloria mundi, I suppose. Helen Haye is so outstanding in this film that it is worth recalling some of her other notable film performances, of which there were 60 altogether. One particularly remembers Hitchcock's THE 39 STEPS (1935), THE SPY IN BLACK (1939), THE REMARKABLE MR. KIPPS (1941), THE MAN IN GREY (1943), ANNA KARENINA (1948), and HOBSON'S CHOICE (1954). What a career! However, the truly inspired performance in this film is by Marius Goring as the young Lord Lebanon, Helen Haye's son. He really outdoes himself in this one. (He had already appeared with Helen Haye the year before this in THE SPY IN BLACK (1939, see my review).) The reasons why the Lebanon family are called Lebanon in this story is that they 'go back a thousand years' and were active in the Middle East at that time as crusaders. Helen Haye is determined to 'continue the line' and keeps urging her bachelor son, who is obsessed with composing music, to marry Penelope Dudley-Ward, which he, unlike Carol Reed in real life, is strangely loathe to do. George King does an excellent job of directing this tale, which could easily have been creaky, but does not creak. King never rose to be one of the famous British directors, despite directing 54 titles, retiring in 1949. Many or most of his films are unavailable and no one alive has seen them, which makes it rather difficult to evaluate his contribution to the cinema. Certainly this film has countless twists and turns and surprises and never drags. Considering that it started out framed by a proscenium (as a stage play), King got it moving and avoided the claustrophobic feeling we often get from stage plays adapted for the screen. When watching this, be careful not to become 'a frightened lady'!