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The Case of the Frightened Lady (1940)

1940 · Feature film · 80 min · dir. George King

  • Mystery
  • Thriller
  • Crime
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Synopsis

"Mark's Priory," the Lebanons' family seat, is a house of terror to Ilsa Crane, Lady Lebanon's niece and secretary. The strange behavior of two sinister footmen, Gilder and Brooks, adds greatly to her fear, and her sole consolation lies in the sympathy extended her by young Lord William "Willie" Lebanon. A young architect, Richard Ferraby, arrives from London to inspect the ancient home in regards to renovations, and he and Isla are immediately attracted to each other. Lady Lebanon tells her son that he must marry Isla to carry on the family name but Lord Willie tells her he has no intentions of marrying. Later, the family physician, Dr. Amersham, arrives and it is evident he has some hold over Lady Lebanon. The chauffeur, Studd, hints that he knew Amersham in India and that Amersham was discharged from the Indian Army under unsavory circumstances. Isla and Richard find Studd murdered and suspicion falls on the gamekeeper, Tilling, whose wife had been more than a little friendly with Studd. But Chief Inspector Tanner and Deputy Sergeant Totty arrive from Scotland Yard and uncover evidence that points to Dr. Aversham as the killer, and Lord Willie substantiates the clue by telling them that Aversham had strangled a young Eurasian girl in India by using a red scarf--and Studd was found strangled with a red scarf. Back to the drawing board.

Synopsis from OMDb

Details

Director
George King
Writer
Robert Stevenson
Cinematography
Hone Glendinning
Studio
George King Productions, British Lion Films
Released
1940-09-28
Running time
80 minutes
Language
English
Collection
Feature Films

Subjects on the Internet Archive

Cast & crew

Reviews on the Internet Archive

★★★★★ · A very British murder mystery · surfvh · 2011-03-25

Reminds me of '39 steps' for some reason, though I don't know why. Good actors, solid dialog, rather neat plot twists, and some nifty spooky stuff. A rather fun movie, in a gruesome sort of way. I rather enjoyed it. Possibly you will too, if you like that sort of thing.

★★★★ · Edgar Wallace again · accalaurie49 · 2010-06-24

Wonderful film, a typical Edgar-Wallace-plot as far as I know. British aristocracy with a secret. Well acted and well written. A small part as a jealous husband is played by Torin Thatcher, whom I foremost remember as magician Sokura in "The 7th Voage of Sinbad" and as Humble Bellows in "The Crimson Pirate". Again I can compare this one to remembrances of my youth: The german movie "Das indische Tuch" (The indian Scarf) from 1963 has as basis the same Edgar Wallace story. I like both movies very much. Some plot details are different in the german one. Klaus Kinski, who later would be of…

★★★★ · Case of the Frightened Lady · PurpleTurtle · 2011-03-02

Some Hitchcock, some Laurel and Hardy, some German Gothic imagery. This is an excellent mystery, with culpability revolving from one person to another. Suspects seem plausible, for a time, but who has enmity enough to have killed all of them? The guilty one becomes recognizable before the final scene. Yet it is believable and satisfying for the most part. The murderer is a little too over the top at the conclusion, but a really decent film of the sort

Dialogue But No Film... · classicsGma · 2015-03-24

Disppointing to say the least.