Veteran ghoul Boris Karloff was coming to the end of his time at Columbia, and 'The Devil Commands' proves a good cut above it's predecessors.
Framed like 'Rebecca' by a woman narrator, in many ways it resembles a a film noir rather than a conventional horror film, showing early promise by later master of the genre Edward Dmytryk.
Karloff plays one of his less eccentric roles, boasting both a charming wife and daughter played by Shirley Warde and Amanda Duff. The resemblance of the former to Anne Revere (like Dmytryk also a blacklistee) who plays a crazy old medium, may not be entirely coincidental.
Framed like 'Rebecca' by a woman narrator, in many ways it resembles a a film noir rather than a conventional horror film, showing early promise by later master of the genre Edward Dmytryk.
Karloff plays one of his less eccentric roles, boasting both a charming wife and daughter played by Shirley Warde and Amanda Duff. The resemblance of the former to Anne Revere (like Dmytryk also a blacklistee) who plays a crazy old medium, may not be entirely coincidental.