The session: "Give Me My Rondo!"
Four weeks of films starring the unique Rondo Hatton
Week 2: House of Horrors (1946)
Directed by Jean Yarbrough
My Level of Prior Knowledge
Never heard of it.
Plot:
A misunderstood artist saves a disfigured man from drowning and befriends him. He then proceeds to manipulate the man into murdering art critics.
Reaction and Other Folderol:
Again, it's fun to watch Rondo Hatton as a brutish figure. He says very little, and he says it in a monotone, but it works. The Creeper, as portrayed by Hatton is a compelling antagonist -- one who you can simultaneously hate and sympathize with. The plot is compelling -- almost noirish, though the dialogue lacks the speedy crispness of a film noir. It's efficient; there's no time wasted.
What bothers me most about House of Horrors, though I really shouldn't hold it against the movie, is something Keith told us a week earlier when he showed us The Brute Man. Apparently The Brute Man, though it was made later, was (in part) an attempt at creating an origin story for The Creeper. It doesn't really make sense, given the settings. I'm probably obsessing too much over continuity.
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