“A wonderful operation. Too bad it turned out as it did.”
A death row inmate called The Phantom escapes from prison. He climbs onto a passing train and is hoisted away by a biplane flying overhead. He sends a telegram to the District Attorney, John Hampton (Wilfred Lucas), telling him to be home at twelve thirty that night. He says he has a proposition for him. Believing the DA and his daughter Ruth (Allene Ray) are in danger the police assign body guards for them.
Ruth is a reporter working for the local paper. Her fiancé Dick Mallory (Guinn ‘Big Boy” Williams) also works there. That night while Ruth is in her bedroom a masked man appears through a secret passage that ends in her bedroom closet. His attempt to kidnap her is foiled.
Ruth hears the phantom mumbling about a Doctor named Weldon (William Gould). She tells her fiancé Dick. They decide to check out Dr. Weldon's insane asylum for clues. While Ruth is downstairs in the hospital’s lobby, Dick follows a man named Oscar (William Jackie) up to Dr. Weldon’s office. The masked man comes from a hidden passage and kidnaps Ruth. He takes her to an operating room where Dr. Weldon plans on experimenting on her by doing a brain transplant, although there are no other patients in the operating room.
“The Phantom” was released in 1931 and was written and directed by Alan James. The film was produced by Supreme Feature Films Company. A bottom of the barrel poverty row film company.
You’re going to have to cut this one some slack. Believe it or not it has stock footage. The main actress is Allene Ray. She did a lot of movies and serials during the silent movie age. She only did about three movies that were talkies. Unfortunately her voice was silent movie material. The film was done as a silent movie with sound added later.
I was a little disappointed with this one. I love old mysteries, and I don’t mind a few red herrings every now and then, but this movie seemed to be just about all red herrings. Everybody is a suspect and everybody acts suspicious. When that happens it makes the movie seem a little too scattered. It’s like there are a lot of little plot threads that go nowhere. When it’s not confusing it’s implausible. As for the acting the only actor that I really liked at all was Oscar the lunatic played by William Jackie. Yes, I was a little disappointed, but I didn’t hate it.
I would recommend it if you are a collector of rare old mysteries or early talkies. It may be hard to find but Alpha Video has it and, for such an old scarce movie, and for it being an Alpha Video, the quality is OK.