Jenny Wren (Karen Morley) forces Priam Andes (H.B.Warner), an ex-lover
of hers, to hold a social function in her honour, where she blackmails him
and three other ex-lovers (Richard 'Skeets' Gallagher, Robert McWade,
Gavin Gordon), all prominent society figures, into paying her large sums
of money.
Why ?
Jenny has always been a gold digger, but then she fell in love with a
man who decided to give up his family fortune in favour of her. She
ditched the poor chap but he didn't take it lightly and threw himself off
a cliff before her very eyes. Jenny can't forget that image so she decides
her golddigging days are over - but needs quite a sum of money to live on,
and who better to pay than her ex-lovers ?
Thing is, Jenny won't survive that night, after seeing the ghost of her
dead lover, she is killed by a throwing dart ... and dies in the hands of
Gary Curtis (Richard Cortez), a crook who soon enough realizes he has to
find the real killer before the police arrives otherwise they will save
themselves the trouble of investigating and just hang him for one of the
few crimes he didn't commit.
In the house there are suspects aplenty, asides the four blackmailed
men, like Mr Vayne (Ivan F.Simpson), the father of Jenny's dead lover who
eventually admits to having staged his son's ghost appearance - but who
eventually dies from a heart attack. Then there's Carter (Hilda Vaughn),
Jenny's maid, who disappears shortly after the crime - but who eventually
turns up dead as well. How about Frank Andes (Matty Kemp), who wants to
marry Jenny's sister Esther (Anita Louise), and who tried to force Jenny
to stop her blackmail scheme in her sister's favour - but he turns out to
be innocent as well when someone tries to kill Esther too.
In the end, Curtis figures out that the killer didn't plan to kill
Jenny at all but her sister Esther, and the only one who bears a grudge
against Esther is Faith Andes (Pauline Frederick), Frank's aunt and
Priam's sister, who simply can't allow Estehr to marry Frank and tarnish
the family name - but by the time Curtis finds that out, he is almost too
late already because Faith has taken Esther to some nearby cliffs to throw
her down. Only in the last minute can the girl be saved. Faith, seeing she
has lost everything, throws herself off the cliff instead.
Actually this film was made as the last chapter of a radio serial,
which is an early example of cross-marketing: To find out who the killer
of the radio serial was, you had to go to the movies ...
Despite that though, the film works rather well on its own since it
does recount the serial and bring those who have not heard it (and who
has, 75 years after it aired) up to date. Of course there are several
plotholes and elements that would need clarification, but by and large
they are neglectable. In all, The Phantom of Crestwood is a very
nice old dark house-style murder mystery with all the usual genre
trappings, not the most original film maybe, but totally watchable and
enjoyable nevertheless.
|