When the film begins, Sir Gerald is engaged to a lovely woman, Kitty. However, when Gerald receives work that his uncle is dying, he immediately leaves to see the man. Within a short time, the uncle has died and Gerald has inherited the family estate. Here's where it starts to get odd. Instead of returning to Kitty or inviting her to his new home, she heard NOTHING from Gerald. Naturally she's concerned and goes to his new home in Scotland. Surprisingly, he' not happy to see her and tells her the engagement is off and she should go!! But it's late at night and she cannot...so he reluctantly allows her and his aunt to stay one night only...and on the condition they stay locked in their rooms at night! Well, with no further explanation, Kitty absolutely refuses and comes up with excuses not to leave and soon invites Gerald's friends to come and see for themselves what's happened to Gerald. The once nice guy now looks old and haggard and isn't the least bit friendly or hospitable. What IS going on here...and what does the maze in the yard have to do with all this?
This film was originally shown in 3-D but I saw it on TV without the old fashioned 3-D. Director/producer William Cameron Menzies does a really good job in keeping the film suspenseful and brooding. You don't know WHAT is going on...but you know it won't be good! The music sure helps with this as well--especially when Kitty and Aunt Edith get lost and separated in that dreaded maze!
So is all this wonderful suspense worth it? Well, yes and no. Yes because you'll never guess the awful secret. No, because the secret is incredibly stupid!! But despite all this, the film is so well made up until the REALLY dumb ending that it's worth seeing. And, oddly, the film does feature a happy ending after all! Weird beyond belief at the end...really!
This film was originally shown in 3-D but I saw it on TV without the old fashioned 3-D. Director/producer William Cameron Menzies does a really good job in keeping the film suspenseful and brooding. You don't know WHAT is going on...but you know it won't be good! The music sure helps with this as well--especially when Kitty and Aunt Edith get lost and separated in that dreaded maze!
So is all this wonderful suspense worth it? Well, yes and no. Yes because you'll never guess the awful secret. No, because the secret is incredibly stupid!! But despite all this, the film is so well made up until the REALLY dumb ending that it's worth seeing. And, oddly, the film does feature a happy ending after all! Weird beyond belief at the end...really!