The Terror (1928 film)

The Terror
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Roy Del Ruth
Produced by	Darryl F. Zanuck
Written by	Harvey Gates Joseph Jackson
Based on	The Terror by Edgar Wallace
Starring	May McAvoy Louise Fazenda Edward Everett Horton Alec B. Francis
Cinematography	Chick McGill[1]
Edited by	Thomas Pratt Jack Killifer[1]
Production company	Warner Bros. Pictures
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release dates	September 6, 1928 (1928-09-06) (Sound version)[2] October 28, 1928 (1928-10-28) (Silent version)[1]
Running time	80 minutes (Sound version)[2] 85 minutes (Silent version)[1] (7,674 feet)
Country	United States
Language	English (Sound version)

The Terror is a 1928 early American slasher film^[1] written by Harvey Gates and directed by Roy Del Ruth, based on the play of the same name by Edgar Wallace.^[1] This was the second "all-talking"^[3] motion picture released by Warner Bros. (The first was Lights of New York) This film was also the first all-talking horror film made, using the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system.^[4]

Plot

"The Terror", a killer whose identity is unknown, occupies an English country house that has been converted into an inn. Guests, including the spiritualist Mrs. Elvery and detective Ferdinand Fane, are frightened by strange noises and mysterious organ music. Connors and Marks, two men just released from jail, have sworn revenge upon "The Terror". Following a night of mayhem that includes murder, the identity of "The Terror" is revealed.^[1]

Cast

• May McAvoy as Olga Redmayne^[5]
• Louise Fazenda as Mrs. Elvery, a spiritualist^[1]
• Edward Everett Horton as Ferdinand Fane, a Scotland Yard detective^[1][6]
• Alec B. Francis as Dr. Redmayne
• Matthew Betz as Joe Connors, a just-released criminal^[1]
• Otto Hoffman as Soapy Marks, a just-released criminal^[1]
• Holmes E. Herbert as Goodman
• Joseph Gerard as Supt. Hallick
• John Miljan as Alfred Katman
• Frank Austin as Cotton

Cast notes

• The credits are spoken by a caped and masked Conrad Nagel.

Reception

In August 1928, Time said the film is "better than The Lion and the Mouse, [an] all-talk picture of which May McAvoy, Alec Francis, two of the terrorized, are veterans."^[7] Three months later, John MacCormac, reporting from London for The New York Times upon the film's UK premiere, wrote:

The universal opinion of London critics is that The Terror is so bad that it is almost suicidal. They claim that it is monotonous, slow, dragging, fatiguing and boring, and I am not sure that I do not in large measure agree with them. What is more important, Edgar Wallace, who wrote the film, seems to agree with them also. "Well," was his comment, "I have never thought the talkies would be a serious rival to the stage."^[8]

Preservation status

Two versions of the film were prepared, as most theaters had yet to convert to sound. The "all-talking" sound version, featuring a Vitaphone sound-on-disc soundtrack, was released on September 6, 1928, and a silent version, which used screen-filling printed "titles" (as they were then commonly called) to supply the essential dialog, was released on October 20, 1928. Both versions are now considered lost films since 1970s, though a complete set of the soundtrack discs still exists and is preserved at the UCLA Film and Television Archive.^{[2][9][10][11]}

Remake

The Terror was partially re-made by First National as Return of the Terror (1934).^[12][13]

See also

• Films based on Edgar Wallace works
• List of incomplete or partially lost films
• List of early Warner Bros. talking features

References

External links

• The Terror (1928) at the American Film Institute Catalog
• The Terror (1928) at the Internet Movie Database
• The Terror (1928) at the TCM Movie Database
• Archive for Edward Everett Horton
• The Terror at Virtual History