HAUNTED HOUSE

US, 1940, 70 minutes, Black-and-white.

Jackie Moran, Marcy Mae Jones, George Cleveland, Christian Rub, Henry Hall, Clarence Wilson, Mary Carr.

Directed by Robert F. McGowan.

A curiosity item of 1940, what might be called a Young Adult story of the time, an appeal to teenagers.

In a middle American town, a woman is murdered. A Swedish labourer is accused, tried, found guilty. But Jimmy, the young apprentice at the local newspaper, believes his friend is innocent. The editor of the paper, gruff, writes articles about the case. Then, his niece Mildred arrives for a holiday, a very forthright young lady, attracted to Jimmy, persuaded that the accused man is innocent, the two going to all kinds of lengths to solve the mystery.

First, they target the dead man did woman’s nephew and confront him, only to find that he does have an alibi. Jimmy wrapped is fired, upset at the house with Mildred.

Another situation arises, the accusation that the town’s respectable lawyer is the murderer, with the couple looking for evidence in the house of the dead woman, in the office of the lawyer, building up to a confrontation in the old dark house, the lawyer’s assistant confronting him with guilt, the police arriving, the youngsters persisting – with the result that the lawyer is the guilty party.

There was some appeal for younger movie audiences in the 1940s with this kind of cast – thinking of the Andy Hardy stories with Mickey Rooney, the musicals with Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney, the Our Gang short films – and Nancy Drew, Detective.

Very slight but a reminder of some popular movies for younger audiences at the time.