Darkened Rooms
1929 film
- November 23, 1929 (1929-11-23)
Running time
Darkened Rooms is a 1929 American pre-Code mystery film directed by Louis J. Gasnier and starring Evelyn Brent.[2] It was an early talking picture. This film is preserved at the Library of Congress.[3] The film tried to cash in on the interest in spiritualism caused by the then-popular Harry Houdini, but critics felt the film couldn't quite decide whether it was debunking the supernatural, or embracing it.[1]
Plot
A down-on-his-luck photographer named Emory Jago teams up with a phony fortune teller named Ellen in a scheme to cheat naive people out of their cash with phony predictions. But as time goes on, Jago begins to believe that Ellen really does possess supernatural powers.
Cast
- Evelyn Brent as Ellen, the fortune teller
- Neil Hamilton as Emory Jago
- Doris Hill as Joyce Clayton
- David Newell as Billy
- Gale Henry as Madame Silvara
- Wallace MacDonald as Bert Nelson
- Blanche Craig as Mrs. Fogarty
- E. H. Calvert as Mr. Clayton
Criticism
Critic Troy Howarth writes "Like many early talkies, Darkened Rooms suffers from primitive staging and technique, though studio technicians managed some spooky sound effects for the seance sequences....Reviews of the day praised leading lady Evelyn Brent."[1]
See also
- List of early sound feature films (1926–1929)
References
- ^ a b c d e Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era. Midnight Marquee Press. p. 339. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
- ^ Hal Erickson (2012). "Darkened Rooms". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Baseline & All Movie Guide. Archived from the original on November 5, 2012. Retrieved September 25, 2011.
- ^ Catalog of Holdings The American Film Institute Collection and The United Collection at The Library of Congress (<-book title) p.40 c.1978 by The American Film Institute, c.1978
External links
- Darkened Rooms at IMDb
- v
- t
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Films directed by Louis J. Gasnier
- The Perils of Pauline (1914)
- The Exploits of Elaine (1914)
- The New Exploits of Elaine (1915)
- The Shielding Shadow (1916)
- The Seven Pearls (1917)
- Hands Up (1918)
- The Tiger's Trail (1919)
- Kismet (1920)
- Good Women (1921)
- A Wife's Awakening (1921)
- Silent Years (1921)
- The Call of Home (1922)
- Rich Men's Wives (1922)
- Thorns and Orange Blossoms (1922)
- Maytime (1923)
- Daughters of the Rich (1923)
- The Hero (1923)
- Mothers-in-Law (1923)
- Poor Men's Wives (1923)
- Poisoned Paradise: The Forbidden Story of Monte Carlo (1924)
- Wine (1924)
- White Man (1924)
- The Triflers (1924)
- The Breath of Scandal (1924)
- The Parasite (1925)
- Parisian Love (1925)
- Faint Perfume (1925)
- The Boomerang (1925)
- Out of the Storm (1926)
- That Model from Paris (1926)
- Sin Cargo (1926)
- Pleasures of the Rich (1926)
- Lost at Sea (1926)
- Streets of Shanghai (1927)
- The Beauty Shoppers (1927)
- Should Tall Men Marry? (1928)
- Fashion Madness (1928)
- Darkened Rooms (1929)
- Slightly Scarlet (1930)
- Mysterious Mr. Parkes (1930)
- The Virtuous Sin (1930)
- The Lawyer's Secret (1931)
- Silence (1931)
- The Strange Case of Clara Deane (1932)
- Forgotten Commandments (1932)
- Gambling Ship (1933)
- Downward Slope (1934)
- Fedora (1934)
- The Last Outpost (1935)
- Reefer Madness (1936)
- The Gold Racket (1937)
- Bank Alarm (1937)
- Sunset Murder Case (1938)
- The Marines Come Thru (1938)
- Murder on the Yukon (1940)
