While One Frightened Night is definitely not the kind of movie that you would call a classic or the kind that introduced new ideas or added new twists to the murder mystery genre, still it is a perfect little B movie in its own simple way.
Really, there is nothing new here: we have the usual set of characters (the cute blonde, the dumb police guy, the grumpy but wise old man, the maid and a clumsy magician as comic-relief), the usual settings (old dark house, complete with hidden corridors) and a somewhat loose plot concerning the old guy's fortune that he plans to give away either to his relatives and employees OR to his long lost daughter. But still, everything works so fine, the characters are played out so well, the dialogues are excellently written and the film moves at such a fast pace that you will just have to sit back an enjoy the fun.
The amusing title sequence already sets the mood for the spooky, but fun atmosphere and the story kicks into high gear when the aforementioned daughter shows up... and not one, but two of them! And from that moment it just does not let down, we have great plot twists, witty dialogue, lots of action and even a masked killer, hiding in the shadows. If you like murder mysteries OR old dark house movies OR comedies OR just the typical, well made '30s B-movies then you simply can not go wrong with this little gem.
Really, there is nothing new here: we have the usual set of characters (the cute blonde, the dumb police guy, the grumpy but wise old man, the maid and a clumsy magician as comic-relief), the usual settings (old dark house, complete with hidden corridors) and a somewhat loose plot concerning the old guy's fortune that he plans to give away either to his relatives and employees OR to his long lost daughter. But still, everything works so fine, the characters are played out so well, the dialogues are excellently written and the film moves at such a fast pace that you will just have to sit back an enjoy the fun.
The amusing title sequence already sets the mood for the spooky, but fun atmosphere and the story kicks into high gear when the aforementioned daughter shows up... and not one, but two of them! And from that moment it just does not let down, we have great plot twists, witty dialogue, lots of action and even a masked killer, hiding in the shadows. If you like murder mysteries OR old dark house movies OR comedies OR just the typical, well made '30s B-movies then you simply can not go wrong with this little gem.