Never theatrically released and never broadcast in the U.S.A. U.K. release through Gaumont British: February-March 1935. Australian release through Gaumont British: 26 June 1935. 75 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: A new lighthouse keeper has to contend with wreckers, zombies, superstitious locals, a pushy girl and a mysterious yet overly persistent "reporter".
COMMENT: Binnie Hale's performance may be a bit over the top so far as theatricality goes - as some critics have complained - but you must admit she's a most fetching heroine just the same. And she isn't in the movie all that much anyway. Gordon Harker has the star part, and a sterling job he makes of it, delivering his sharp Cockney lines with his usual witty relish and amusingly expletive exasperation. Yet he can be seriously practical when the going gets rough. It's a tailor-made role which will delight his fans.
The fine support cast includes Herbert Lomas (a "must" for this sort of spooky affair), Donald Calthrop, Milton Rosmer, many others, and last and certainly least Ian Hunter - though even he is bearable.
A lighthouse of course is an ideal setting for murder, mystery and mayhem. Director Powell not only makes the most of his setting, but he has done more. The background not only becomes an integral part of the action, not only an atmospheric adjunct, but a fascinating vista in itself. Powell's eye for the pictorial effectiveness of his real locations and the dramatic possibilities of real people employed as background extras, is constantly apparent. In fact it's not going too far to say that the movie is often semi-documentary in approach, effectively anticipating this 20th Century-Fox style of the middle and late 40s.
Aided by superlative camerawork, The Phantom Light is a most entertaining comedy-chiller, limited only by a few obvious budgetary constraints during its action climax
SYNOPSIS: A new lighthouse keeper has to contend with wreckers, zombies, superstitious locals, a pushy girl and a mysterious yet overly persistent "reporter".
COMMENT: Binnie Hale's performance may be a bit over the top so far as theatricality goes - as some critics have complained - but you must admit she's a most fetching heroine just the same. And she isn't in the movie all that much anyway. Gordon Harker has the star part, and a sterling job he makes of it, delivering his sharp Cockney lines with his usual witty relish and amusingly expletive exasperation. Yet he can be seriously practical when the going gets rough. It's a tailor-made role which will delight his fans.
The fine support cast includes Herbert Lomas (a "must" for this sort of spooky affair), Donald Calthrop, Milton Rosmer, many others, and last and certainly least Ian Hunter - though even he is bearable.
A lighthouse of course is an ideal setting for murder, mystery and mayhem. Director Powell not only makes the most of his setting, but he has done more. The background not only becomes an integral part of the action, not only an atmospheric adjunct, but a fascinating vista in itself. Powell's eye for the pictorial effectiveness of his real locations and the dramatic possibilities of real people employed as background extras, is constantly apparent. In fact it's not going too far to say that the movie is often semi-documentary in approach, effectively anticipating this 20th Century-Fox style of the middle and late 40s.
Aided by superlative camerawork, The Phantom Light is a most entertaining comedy-chiller, limited only by a few obvious budgetary constraints during its action climax