Sometimes, it’s a lot of fun to sit down and watch a movie for
which one knows nothing – I mean absolutely nothing – about.
Such an opportunity afforded itself this weekend when I sat
down to watch a VHS tape of “The Ghost Camera” (1933). I didn’t know a thing
about it save that it starred Ida Lupino.
I picked up the VHS of “The Ghost Camera” from a local store
which is liquidating its entire stock of VHS tapes for $1 each or three for $2.
The store also carried tapes from those underground labels that catered to the
movie buff with oddball titles the studios themselves would never think of
releasing. It came in a generic cardboard box illustrated with old movie
posters but no information on the film itself. The only information on the box
was a typewritten label on spine, reading “The Ghost Camera” (1933) with Ida
Lupino. As the faux advertising in
“Robocop” (1987) says, “I’d buy that for a dollar.” And I did.
To my very pleasant surprise, the English-made “The Ghost
Camera” turned out to be an engaging 63-minute thriller, with the picture
quality being well above average. The film is loaded with inventive camera
movements and editing techniques that belie its period. In one of his first
screen credits, David Lean is listed as the editor.
The film is an early credit for others too. It was the
second film for Ida Lupino and the third for John Mills. Director is Bernard
Vorhaus, who also gave us the neat film noir “The Amazing Mr. X” (1948) and the
intriguing John Wayne Dust Bowl immigrant drama “Three Faces West” (1940).
Despite its title, “The Ghost Camera” is not a supernatural
thriller, though it gives the air of one during the opening credits and scenes
showing some ruins in the English countryside. John Gray (Henry Kendall) is
driving past the ruins in his open-seated roadster when a camera drops
mysteriously in the back seat.
Gray finds the camera in his car and has no idea how it got
there. He sees there is film in the camera and when he gets home, develops the
pictures to find a clue as to the camera’s owner. The first picture he develops
shows a murder being committed at the site of the ruins. He leaves the dark
room for an instant and while away, a thief sneaks through the window and grabs
the incriminating photo.
When Gray returns to his dark room, he discovers the murder
negative is missing. He develops the other pictures, some of which show a
nearby address and another showing an attractive blonde waving at the camera.
Said blonde is Mary Elton (Ida Lupino) whose brother Ernest
(John Mills) has been reported missing. Gray and Mary join together to track
down Ernest and solve the murder.
The film’s low point is Henry Kendall, who I am unfamiliar
with save for his starring role in Hitchcock’s “Rich and Strange” (1932). Kendall is an annoyingly irritating twit in the worst
English fashion and it’s inconceivable he can find his way out of his own
neighborhood, let alone solve a murder and win the affections of Ms. Lupino.
It’s akin to making Charles Butterworth the romantic lead in a mystery movie
and having him solve the crime and get the girl. Nothing against Charles
Butterworth, but you know what I mean.
We often hear about how staid and conventional British movie
making was at the time, with the exception of the budding talent of Alfred Hitchcock.
I don’t know if that’s true or not, but a lot of film history has been
re-written over the years thanks to the emergence of home video, and while
there’s likely some truth to that sentiment, I’m sure there are many films, or
sequences, which belie that.
In the marvelous David Lean biography by Kevin Brownlow,
published by St. Martin’s Press in 1996,
director Vorhaus fondly remembered the editorial contributions Lean made to his
films.
“In our second film, Ghost Camera, for instance, there was one
scene of a trial and reporters rush to the telephone. I wanted some fast
cutting – you had a close-up of one journalist saying, ‘M for mother’ then a
cut to the next – ‘U for Uncle – and the next – ‘R for Red’ and at the end a
close-up of the telephone operators reaction, ‘MURDER!’ What I wanted done was
bang, bang, bang and he wasn’t afraid to cut very fast. Usually cutters at that
time thought it couldn’t be done. David did it superbly.”
Lean later said he learned a lot editing these potboilers
and helped point the way to him becoming a director. “I worked on a lot of bad
pictures, and bad pictures are very good for one’s ego, because the worse they
are, the more chance you have of making them better. And I started to think, as
numerous people who work with me think, that I could do better than they could
– and that gave me a real urge to do something in the way of direction.”
He would not take that challenge for another 10 years.
With the exception of Kendall,
the rest of the cast is fine. Ida was really attractive in her starlet days,
and acts far beyond her age (as does John Mills).
During their hunt for clues at the ruins, it turns late in
the day and Mary and Gray check into a local inn for the night. Separate rooms
of course, but a loud noise causes Mary to race from her room in silky lingerie
into the arms of Gray. While watching this, I was thinking about how cute she
was, and boy, she has terrific legs. While researching for this piece, I
learned she was only 15 when she made
this. 15!!!. John Mills was the same age when he made this. Did they grow them
older over there in England?
They’re playing young adults in this, and I didn’t doubt it for a minute.
Though Lean was only the editor, “The Ghost Camera” marks
the first teaming of John Mills and David Lean. While making this quota
quickie, they likely had no idea they would one day form one of the finest, if
unheralded, teamings in cinema history.
Ida made a few more British films before leaving for America the
next year.
The only other familiar face, and happily looking the
appropriate age, is Felix Aylmer, playing the coroner. This was his fourth
film.
“The Ghost Camera” is no worldbeater, but it’s pretty good.
I thought it was a rare film, but a
quick Internet search shows me its available for viewing at the Internet
Archive site (www.archive.org). The
quality isn’t as good as the VHS tape I have, but I’m still happy I bought it.
It was well worth the $1.
9 comments:
I love finding bargain treats like this! Thanks for sharing - I'll check it out.
Nothing against Charles Butterworth, but yes, we do know what you mean. "The Ghost Light" sounds like something you catch once on television in the wee hours and then think you imagined the whole thing.
CW, that's very good about the wee hours. I wish I had thought of that.
Kevin, sorry it's taken me so long to read this and react to it, but recently I've been quite busy. Anyway, I found your post on this movie a delightful and informative read. The movie sounds delightful, and the background you provided on it, including the way you ran across it, most interesting. I knew that Ida Lupino, a favorite of mine from the 1940s, began acting at an early age, but I didn't realize she'd already made a movie at this tender age. The way you described the beginning of the movie made me think of "Blow-Up," although I doubt there's any further resemblance!
R.D., thanks for writing. I find some of these early 1930s movies very interesting. On both sides of the pond it seems like once the initial problems of sound was licked, directors embraced what could be done and there was this amazing burst of creativity. Just look at the movies that came out in 1932 and how fresh they must have been, and remain so today.
"The Ghost Camera" has a couple of short sequences that reflect this.
Kevin,
Being a big fan of Ida's work on screen and later behind the camera I have seen this film but not recently.
It really does have amazing potential to be reworked and modernized for today's audience in my opinion. I'm not a fan of the slasher films or these scary movies today but a good thriller I'm always down for. Please, someone do a quality remake of The Ghost Camera! Ha Ha
Thanks for giving us another look back at a film I had totally forgotten about. Dang! I hope I can find it to watch again.
Have a great weekend Kevin!
Page
Hi! Great site! I'm trying to find an email address to contact you on to ask if you would please consider adding a link to my website. I'd really appreciate if you could email me back.
Thanks and have a great day!
Madison: Glad to help out. I can be reached at kdeany@lake-effect.com. Would be happy to post a link to your site. Thanks for reading.
A very nice film.
Post a Comment