After the death of a gangster, those familiar with his million dollar stash start mysteriously dying. Police detectives with the help of a clairvoyant try to determine who, living or dead, is responsible.
Acting
Warner Oland's deliciously shady doctor-psychic.
Production
Secret rooms and death masks in a proper spooky mansion.
Writing
Pre-Code snappiness before the Hays Code neutered Hollywood.
Director
Irving Pichel
Stuart Erwin
Dwight Wilson
Dorothy Wilson
Patricia Merrick, also known as Mlle. Mystera
Warner Oland
Dr. Paul Cornelius
Dudley Digges
Horace Merrick
Gertrude Hoffmann
Mattie (as Gertrude W. Hoffman)
Oscar Apfel
Chief of Detectives John F. O'Hara
Frank Reicher
Joe Valerie
Jane Darwell
Mrs. Marble
Stanley Blystone
Police Car Driver (uncredited)
Ed Brady
Paddywagon Cop (uncredited)
Tom Brower
Detective Schultz (uncredited)
Pat O'Malley
Detective Brady (uncredited)
Irving Pichel
Police Radio Announcer (voice) (uncredited)
Max Wagner
Policeman in Car (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Warner Oland filmed this between his first two Charlie Chan movies, perfecting his 'mysterious Asian' typecasting that would define his career.
This is peak 'old dark house' cycle — Universal had essentially invented the template two years earlier, and everyone was copying the spooky-mansion-plus-secret-passage formula.
US
