Menace

Plot

Not to be confused with Universal's 1932 The Menace, Paramount's 1934 Menace does however included a "revenge" motif similar to the plotline of the earlier film. A mental patient, who has sworn vengeance on the wealthy British family he holds responsible for his brother's death, escapes on a dark and stormy night. His intended victims are holding a party at the time of the escape. No one knows what the mental patient looks like, so each of the male guests falls under suspicion. For a while, it looks as though the butler (Halliwell Hobbes) is the murderer, but we can write him off under the category of "obvious red herring." The menace of Menace reveals himself in a finale rich with thunderclaps, lightning strokes, and hideous maniacal laughter. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Cast

• Gertrude Michael - Helen Chalmers
• Paul Cavanagh - Colonel Crecy
• Henrietta Crosman - Mrs. Thornton
• John Lodge - Ronald Cavendish

Ray Milland - Freddie Bastion; Berton Churchill - Norman Bellamy; Robert (Tex) Allen - Andrew Forsythe; A.S. Byron - English Police Sergeant; Arthur Clayton - Police Officer; Arletta Duncan - Gloria Chambers; Forrester Harvey - Wilcox; Halliwell Hobbes - Skinner; Montagu Love - Police Inspector; Des Roberts - Underwood; Gwenllian Gill - Alison Bastion; Rita Carlyle - English Landlady

Credit

Ralph Murphy - Director, Benjamin F. Reynolds - Cinematographer, Chandler Sprague - Screenwriter, Anthony Veiller - Screenwriter, Philip MacDonald - Short Story Author

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