“The Terror”

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 708, 6 July 1929, Page 9

“The Terror”

EDGAR WALLACE TALKIE

Warner’s Thriller at the Plaza

THRILLING scenes and sounds are packed into every sequence of “The Terror,” Warner Bros.’ full talking picture from the Edgar Wallace play, now being screened at the Plaza. This film roused immense interest on its appearance in England recently, partly because of its talking achievement and partly because of May McAvoy’s performance. The season in Auckland is bound to be a memorable one.

“The Terror” as a play was outstanding. Its popular “creepyness,” its high dramatic value and its , strength of interest combined to make . it one of Edgar Wallace’s big successes. i As a picture “The Terror” becomes , broadened in scope, enriched in detail, and embellished in scenic effect. —Every Edgar Wallace situation can be used in the author’s own setting. But, as a talkie, the film reaches still greater fields o f realism. The scene is there, the voices are there, and the May McAvoy audience i s left to shiver or laugh as the case may be. May McAvoy, who has risen to an enviable position as a talkie star, is magnificent in the leading part, while Louise Fazenda supplies comedy relief with her usual brilliance of study, and speaks well.

"The Terror” runs its thrilling course in an ancient English manor house, where a group of people—crooks, detectives, crazy people and hysterical women —seek hidden treasure and try vainly by spiritualistic seances and other unusual means to solve the mystery of the cloaked fiend who haunts the house, bearing this and that one to his underground torture chamber. At the close there comes a startling denoument brought about by the genius of a Scotland Yard detective who, himself suspected as the cunning madman, takes his part in the terrifying happenings. It is safe to predict that no one in ignorance of the plot of “The Terror” will solve the mystery until the solution is offered on the screen, while even those familiar with the tale will find their knowledge forgotten in the excitement that grows steadily as the reels wind through the projector. Roy Del Ruth directed “The Terror,” which includes besides the women principals, Edward Everett Horton, Alec B. Francis, Holmes Herbert, Mathew Betz, John Miljau, Otto Hoffman, Joseph W. Girard and Frank Austin.