Friday, June 8, 2012

THE CROOKED CIRCLE / Sono Art-World Wide Pictures - 1932

It's Friday Night Fright with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. We have a fun little flick from 1932, it's all about a group of amateur detectives who set out to expose a secretive group of hooded occultists that call themselves The Crooked Circle. Get this... The first television broadcast of this film was on June 18, 1940 over WCBS in New York and was also remade in 1957!

Eegah!! has given us a nice staticy lil' soundclip for our listening pressure! Funny, the sound recordings were done by the Western Electric Noiseless Recording company!!.. Anywho, letz git 'dis potty goin'... Sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there in front of you, NOW, Rufus The Gnat! Here's some noise from... THE CROOKED CIRCLE!

Here're the hooded members of The Crooked Circle, convening their weekly meeting...

That's where they plot their next round of mischief and murder! In the soundclip, you can hear them pledge their allegiance. Notice, one is a woman.

It looks like a band of amateur sleuths, The Sphinx Club, have matched wits with The Crooked Circle and come out on top!

What a face!! The very distinctive looking C. Henry Gordon plays the mystic Yoganda, member of The Sphinx Club. In most of Gordon's roles he played greasy villains, which is easy to visualize with a mush like that!

Love those cryptic clues!

Here're top billed James Gleason with bottom billed Tom Kennedy playing motorcycle driving police officers, Arthur and Mike. The familiar looking James Gleason was in movies like DUMBELLS IN ERMINE, THE DEVIL IS DRIVING, THE MEANEST GIRL IN TOWN, HELLDORADO, HOT TIP, FORTY NAUGHTY GIRLS, TANKS A MILLION, A DATE WITH THE FALCON, ARSENIC AND OLD LACE, HOLLYWOOD THRILL-MAKERS and ROCK-A-BYE BABY.

What a great interior shot of the old dark house!

Ben Lyon plays family friend Brand Osborne. Here, he explores the 'haunted' parts of the old house!

Arthur searches for clues in the cemetary. The headstone on the left says 'died of fright' and the one on the right says 'murdered!'

This coffin is actually a secret entrance into the house.

Here's pretty Irene Purcell, who plays Brand's girlfriend Thelma Parker.

The lady in the back is Zasu Pitts, she had 217 acting credits and her last movie was IT'S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD. Mae Questel caricatured Zasu's voice for her Olive Oyl character at Fleischer Studios.

And now, the moment we've all been waiting for! Drum roll please!....... Ta da! Roobie, Roobie Doo!!

It turns out that freakin' Thelma works for the Department of Justice, so, justice gets served!! James and Ben seem to be curious about Thelma's chestalogical area. This is a good little flick, catch it if you can!

3 comments:

Douglas McEwan said...

My favorite fact about James Gleason is this: He was Boris Karloff's best friend.

Also, he was a founding member of the Screen Actor's Guild.

TABONGA! said...

Can you imagine, Boris Karloff's best friend?.. Wow!

Christopher said...

so that would have to mean..Gleason was a right reg'lar fella!

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