... as well as the second all talking feature film ever made, and yet it is lost. The first all talking feature film was "Lights of New York" released in July 1928, and it still survives. Warner Brothers, which pioneered talking films, had a pretty disposable attitude towards their early talking films.
The film is based on a mystery play written in 1927 by Edgar Wallace. The play had more details. Three men pulled off a big heist, but then the master mind betrayed his two henchmen to the police and made off with the gold. Neither mastermind nor treasure were ever heard from again. Years later, the haunting of a rented house begins.
The movie picks up at this point with guests at the house being scared by strange noises in the night and mysterious organ music. And soon an unseen force begins murdering people. Guests include a spiritualist and a Scotland Yard detective played by Edward Everett Horton, if you can believe such casting. This was one of May McAvoy 's rare leading roles in a sound film. Conrad Nagel appears to speak the credits just so Warner 's could claim the film was truly "all talking".
The film made good money, bringing in 1.2 million dollars in North America and another 250K worldwide, seventh for the year. Reviews were not so good, however. London critics panned it badly as being slow, creaky, and even boring. Author Edgar Wallace himself said - " "I have never thought the talkies would be a serious rival to the stage."
Warner Bros. Records for the film 's negative indicate that it was intentionally destroyed in December 1948, probably due to nitrate decomposition. Warner Brothers never saw much value in their very early sound films and destroyed many of them, figuring they 'd never be of interest to anybody. In spite of this, five reels survive in France. The Vitaphone sound discs survive at the UCLA Film and Television Archive.
This film has been particularly elusive as far as tracking down any associated elements. Many of the sound discs of lost Warner Brothers films are available for listening at the internet archive, but this one is not. A kind of sequel to this film was made in 1934 by Warner Brothers, but it too survives only in an archive. It has never played on Turner Classic Movies. The same is true of the British remake made in 1938.
