The Silent House (also released as The House of Silence)[2] is a 1929 British silent mystery film, directed by Walter Forde and starring Mabel Poulton, Gibb McLaughlin and Arthur Pusey. It was made in 1928 at the Nettlefold Studios in Walton-on-Thames and trade-shown in January 1929.[3] The film was written by H Fowler Mear, based on a hit stage play by John G Brandon and George Pickett, but it was not a success at the box-office.[4] A print of the film exists at the National Film Archive in London.[2]
| The Silent House | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Walter Forde |
| Written by |
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| Produced by | Archibald Nettlefold |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography |
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| Edited by | Walter Forde |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Butcher's Film Service |
Release date | January 1929 |
Running time |
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| Country | United Kingdom |
| Languages |
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Chan Fu, the Oriental character played by Gibb McLaughlin, resembles Sax Rohmer's then-popular Fu Manchu character.[2] Jonathan Rigby, in his book Studies in Terror, points out that "The film contains an almost de rigueur tribute to The Cat and the Canary when a corpse pitches forward from its concealment in a fireplace, as well as betraying a submerged uneasiness about Britain's colonial past that was to resurface in several British horrors of a later period."[5]
Plot edit
The film takes place in an 'old dark house' sporting hidden panels, clutching hands, a snake pit and a secret panel leading to a room used to conceal dead bodies. A Chinese mandarin named Chan Fu (Gibb McLaughlin) uses his Svengali-like powers to hypnotise a woman into revealing the hiding place of a cache of expensive bonds.
Cast edit
- Mabel Poulton as T'Mala
- Gibb McLaughlin as Chan Fu
- Arthur Pusey as George Winsford
- Gerald Rawlinson as Captain Barty
- Albert Brouett as Peroda
- Rex Maurice as Legarde
- Raston Medrora as Mateo
- Frank Perfitt as Richard Winsford
- Arthur Stratton as Benson
- Kiyoshi Takase as Ho-Fang
References edit
Bibliography edit
- Low, Rachel. The History of British Film: Volume IV, 1918–1929. Routledge, 1997.
- Wood, Linda. British Films, 1927-1939. British Film Institute, 1986.
- Rigby, Jonathan. Studies in Terror: Landmarks of Horror Cinema. Signum Books, 2011.
External links edit
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