(1941)
Dir - Walter Forde
Overall: MEH
Director Walter Forde had previously directed an adaptation of Arnold Ridley's play The Ghost Train in 1931, revisiting the exact same material again ten years later. This version is systematically ruined by the atrociously obnoxious and unfunny Arthur Askey who garnishes the most screen time endlessly pestering every other character and never once saying or doing anything even remotely amusing. He even bursts into a spontaneous song at one point, Satan help us. There are other problems with the movie besides its erroneous lead casting choice. Being a dated comedy, the first hour is excruciatingly dull, with an entire train station full of people going around in circles complaining about being there while Askey does everything in his power to make all of them want to punch him in the mouth. Finally after what seems like an eternity, things start getting a wee-bit hair-rasing and interesting, only for the supernatural elements to of course be proven as a red herring with a very abrupt ending.
(1947)
Dir - Francis Searle
Overall: MEH
An adaptation of the stage play The Poltergeist by Frank Harvey, (who also wrote the screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps amongst others), Things Happen at Night has an innocent enough premise and execution, but is not particularly funny or spooky in any adequate measures. Revolving around an insurance agent and a ghost hunter trying to rid an uppity, posh household of a mischievous spirit whose most fiendish crimes are levitating vases and furniture, cackling and closing doors, and possessing their privileged daughter into getting kicked out of school for pulling pranks, we are hardly talking about malevolent, evil forces here. Being of a lighthearted nature is fine, but the humor is dull and the characters are just kind of huffy and puffy, "Now listen here good fellow" stereotypes who are rather interchangeable for the most part. Since the stakes are never raised above harmless, supernatural tomfoolery, (which also would have been an accurate title for the movie), and you are only going to laugh if the occasionally silly musical cues trick you into doing so, it all quickly gets mundane.
(1948)
Dir - Norman Lee
Overall: MEH
This lackadaisically-paced adaptation of the well-known W.W. Jacob short story The Monkey's Paw was the first sound version to still exist. Produced by the long-defunct, low-budget production company Butcher Empire Films and only running sixty-four minutes, director Norman Lee and "associate director" Barbara Toy, (both of whom are also credited with the screenplay), stage a few evocative and eerie set pieces, the final, supernatural one being particularly strong. Unfortunately the bulk of the film is uneventful though, introducing a number of characters speaking about the mysterious talisman of the movie's title, then handing it off to other characters with no one actually using the thing until way into the third act. So little transpires that the budgetary issues become too apparent as it is mostly a series of rudimentary dialog transactions made worse by the fact that some of the actor's accents are troublesome to understand. The source material would become a staple of horror cinema, either getting directly adapted or inspiring numerous other works in later decades, but this particular version is barely worth taking notice of.
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