THE COCKEYED MIRACLE (1946/MGM.) 92mins. BW. US.
Aka: MR. GRIGGS RETURNS (UK).
Credits: Dir: S. Sylvan Simon; Sc: Karen de Wolf. From a play by George Seaton.
Cast: Frank Morgan, Cecil Kellaway, Gladys Cooper, Audrey Totter, Marshall Thompson, Leon Ames.
A pair of ghosts return to help the loved ones they left behind sort out their problems.
An aimiable cast try their best in this inane Topper-styled comedy.

THE COFFIN MAKER (1928) BW. Silent. US.
Credits: Prod & Sc: Robert Florey.
Death and the undead are explored.

LA COLONNE DE FEU (1899) see La Danse de Feu

THE COMET'S COMEBACK (1916) BW. Silent. US.
Cast: John Steppling, John Sheehan, Carol Halloway, Dick Rosson.
A passing comet emits gases that induces lethargy and slow everything down.
A fantastic comedy.

THE CONDEMNATION OF FAUST (1903) see Faust Aux Enfers

CONDEMNED MEN (1940/PRC.) BW. US.
Credits: Dir: William Beaudine.
Cast: Mantan Moreland, Dorothy Dandridge, Neil Webster.

CONDEMNED TO DEATH (1932/Twickenham) 75mins. BW. UK.
Credits: Dir: Walter Forde; Prod: Julius Hagan; Sc: Bernard Merivale, Harry Fowler Mear & Brock Williams; Ph: Sidney Blythe & William Luff; Ed: Jack Harris; Art: James Carter. From the 1931 play "Jack O'Lantern" by George Goodchild & James Dawson.
Cast: Arthur Wontner, Gillian Lind, Edmund Gwenn, Gordon Harker, Jane Welsh, Cyril Raymond, Bernard Brunel, Norah Howard, Griffith Humphries, H. St. Barbe West, Gordon Blythe, James Cunningham, Gilbert Davies.
Before his execution for murder, Lantern, (Brunel), hypnotises the judge, Sir Charles, (Wontner), to kill the people responsible for his conviction. To fulfill the mesmeric task, Sir Charles assumes a dual personality and masquerades as a mysterious figure who hires two hoodlums, (Gwenn & Harker), to do his bidding.
A grim, but lively crime drama from the "quota quickie" school of filmaking, of which no prints seem to have survived.

CONJURE WIFE (1944) see Weird Woman

THE CONSCIENCE (1905/Pathe) 176feet. BW. Silent. France.
A servant murders his miserly master for his cache of gold, but after burying the body the corpse seemingly rises from the grave to point accusingly at him. The frightened servant also sees the miser's moneybag transforming into a skull, and his master's portrait also seems to point at the murderer. The figure of the miser emerges from a cupboard, so the servant takes refuge in a park only to find he is surrounded by a group of menacing figures.

CONSCIENCE (1917/Fox) 6 reels. BW. Silent. US.
Credits: Dir: Bertram Bracken; Sc: Adrian Johnson. From a story by J. Searle Dawley & E. Lloyd Sheldon.
Cast: Gladys Brockwell, Marjorie Daw, Eugenie Forde, Eve Southern, Genevieve Blinn, Douglas Gerrard, Edward Cecil, Harry G. Lonsdale, Colin Chase, Bertram Grassby.
Lucifer's consort Serema, (Brockwell), is barred from entering paradise by Archangel Michael, who commands conscience to enter human souls so that mankind may be judged and punished.
An allegorical melodrama with Brockwell also portraying Ruth Somers, Conscience, Lust, Avarice, Hate, Revenge and Vanity.

CONSCIENCE, OR THE CHAMBER OF HORRORS
(1912/Vitagraph) 800feet. BW. Silent. US.
Credits: Dir: Maurice Costello; Prod: Albert E. Smith.
Cast: Rose Tapley, Maurice Costello.
A woman suffering from financial dificulties after her husband deserts her and their child, steals a bottle of milk, but she is seen by a policeman and hides in the Chamber of Horrors wax exhibit. Meanwhile, her husband has accepted a wager from dissolute friends that he will spend the night there, but on seeing his wife he is filled with horror and falls down dead.
This cautionary moral tale is still in existence and makes use of the wax museum, asetting that was to become a horror film staple.

THE CONTACT MAN (1949) see Alias Nick Beal

CONVICTED BY HYPNOTISM (1912/Eclair) 3 reels. BW. Silent. France.
Aka: A DOUBLE LIFE.
Cast: Cecil Guyon, Charles Krauss.
A wife, hypnotised by her husband, accidentally kills her father.

THE COOK IN TROUBLE (1904) see Sorcellerie Cullinaire

LE CORBEAU (1943/Continental/Westport) 92mins. BW. Germany. Aka: THE RAVEN.
Credits: Dir: Henri-Georges Clouzot; Sc: Louis Chavance & Henri-Georges Clouzot; Ph: Nicolas Hayer; Art: Andre Andreiev & Hermann Warm; Mus: Tony Aubain.
Cast: Pierre Fresnay, Pierre Larquey, Ginette Leclerc, Helena Manson, Micheline Francey, Noel Roquevert.
Poison pen letters in a small French town causes tension and suicide.
Remade as THE THIRTEENTH LETTER in 1951.

CORRIDOR OF MIRRORS (1948/Apollo Films) 105mins. BW. UK.
Credits: Dir: Terence Young; Prod: Rudolph Cartier; Sc: Rudolph Cartier & Edana Romney; Ph: Andre Thomas; Ed: Douglas Myers; Art: Terence Verity; Mus: Georges Auric. From a novel by Chris Massie.
Cast: Eric Portman, Edana Romney, Joan Maude, Barbara Mullen, Hugh Sinclair, Bruce Belfrage, Alan Wheatley, Leslie Weston, Lois Maxwell, Valentine Dyall, Christopher Lee, Mavis Villiers, Hugh Latimer, John Penrose, Gordon McLeod, Noel Howlett, Thora Hird.
Paul Mangin, ( Portman), is an artist obsessed with the past who falls in love with a judge's daughter named Mifanwy Conway, (Romney), who he believes is the reincarnation of a woman that appears in a 400 year old portrait. Mifanwy is disturbed by Paul's attentions and runs away from him leaving the portrait cut to ribbons. A friend of Paul's named Caroline, (Maude), who loves Paul unrequitedly is found strangled and Paul is sentenced to death by Mifanwy's father. Years later, Mifanwy, now married receives several threatening letters which lead her to visit Paul's wax effigy in Madame Tussauds where she overhears Paul's housekeeper, (Mullen), pleading with the wax figure to forgive her for killing Caroline who she had mistaken for Mifanwy. The housekeeper leaves and is killed when she dashes into the street. Mifanwy's secret past is dead.
A confused melodrama that loses itself in it's own pretentions, but remains memorable for the stunning sets, music and photography.
Christopher Lee's first genre appearance.

THE CORSICAN BROTHERS (1898/G.A.S.Films) 75 feet. BW. Silent.
Credits: George Albert Smith. From the novel by Alexander Dumas.
The ghost of a man's twin brother shows him a vision of how he was killed in a dual.
Smith realised the potential of the effect after an accident with the film stock he was using caused a double exposure. This is now a commonly used method of "spirit" photography.

THE COUGHING HORROR (1924) see The Further Mysteries of Dr. Fu Manchu

THE COUNT OF CAGLIOSTRO (1924) see Der Graf von Cagliostro

COUNTESS ANKARSTROM (1910/Deutsche Bioskop) 2 reels. BW. Silent. Germany.
After a gypsy tells a Duke that the next hand he shakes will cause his death, the prophecy comes true.

CRAGMIRE TOWER (1924) see The Further Mysteries of Dr. Fu Manchu

CRAZY KNIGHTS (1944/Monogram) 63mins. BW. US. Aka: GHOST CRAZY.
Credits: Dir: William Beaudine; Prod: Sam Katzman & Jack Dietz; Sc: Tim Ryan; Ph: Marcel le Picard.
Cast: Shemp Howard, Billy Gilbert, Tim Ryan, "Slapsie" Maxie Rosenbloom, Minerva Urecal, Jayne Hazard, John Hamilton, Bernie Sell, Art Miles.
Two con men who travel with a caged gorilla, (Miles), stay at a creepy old house and witness ghosts popping out of a passageway that leads to a graveyard. The gorilla breaks loose and adds to the chaos.
A terrible slapstick comedy vehicle for Shemp Howard who later became one of "The Three Stooges" in 1946 replacing his brother Curly.
"Slapsie" Rosenbloom was a former prizefighter.

THE CRAZY RAY (1923) see Paris Qui Dort

CREATURE OF THE DEVIL (1943) see Dead Men Walk

THE CREEPER (1948/Reliance/TCF.) 63mins. BW. US.
Credits: Dir: Jean Yarbrough; Prod: Bernard Small & Ben Pivar; Sc: Maurice Tombragel.
From a story by Don Martin.
Cast: Ralph Morgan, Eduardo Ciannelli, June Vincent, Onslow Stevens, Richard Lane, Philip Ahn, Julie Morgan, Janis Wilson, John Baragrey.
"What is the secret of The Creeper...is he Man...Beast...or Both?!"
Dr. Borden (Stevens), uses himself as a human guinea-pig with a new serum derived from West Indian cats, transforming himself into a clawed killer, but he is shot by the fiancee, (Baragrey), of a young woman, (Vincent), suffering from nightmares after accompanying her father, (Morgan), to collect the serum from the cats. Her father and his two assistants die in mysterious circumstances.
An absurd attempt by 20th. Century Fox to replicate the success of Val Lewton's RKO. chillers. The cast try their best and Cianelli appears as the obligatory red-herring Dr. Van Glock. June Vincent is the heroine who possesses a morbid fear of cats.

CREEPING SHADOWS (1931/BIP.) BW. UK. Aka: THE LIMPING MAN.
Credits: Dir: John Orton. From a play by Will Scott.
Cast: Lester Matthews, Valentine Dyall.
Three former convicts try to scare the man, (Matthews), who was responsible for their conviction and has just inherited a large estate. A detective, (Dyall), tries to solve the mystery.
A very British and spooky mystery melodrama.

CRIME AND THE PENALTY (1916/Martin) 3400 feet. BW. Silent. UK.
Credits: Dir: R. Hartley West.
Cast: Alesia Leon, Jack Lovatt, Louis Nanten.
A crook hires a scientist to kidnap his cousin's wife with the aid of a chimpanzee taught to strangle under hypnosis.

CRIME DE LORD ARTHUR SAVILLE (1921) BW. Silent. France.
Aka: LORD ARTHUR SAVILLE'S CRIME.
Credits: Dir: Renee Hervil.
A palm reader predicts that a man will commit murder.

CRIME DOCTOR'S COURAGE (1945/Columbia) 66mins. BW. US.
Credits: Dir: George Sherman Sc: Eric Taylor Ph: L.W. O'Connell Art: John Datu.
From the popular radio crime drama "Crime Doctor" by Max Marcin.
Cast: Warner Baxter, Hillary Brooke, Lloyd Corrigan, Anthony Caruso, "King Kong" Kashay, Jerome Cowan, Robert Scott, Emory Parnell, Charles Arnt, Stephen Crane, Lupita Tovar.
Criminal psychologist Dr. Ordway, (Baxter), investigates the murder of a man whose two wives also died mysteriously and encounters the Spanish dance team, Caruso and Tovar who are suspected of being 300 year old vampires.
One in a short series of CRIME DOCTOR films all starring Baxter who solves crimes after suffering from amnesia and then realises he was once a gangland boss.

CRIME OF VOODOO (1935) see Ouanga

CRIMES AT THE DARK HOUSE (1940/King/Pennant) 69mins. BW. UK.
Originally titled: THE WOMAN IN WHITE.
Credits: Dir: George King & David MacDonald (uncredited); Prod: Odette King; Sc: Edward Dryhurst, Frederick Hayward & H.F. Maltby; Ph: Hone Glendinning; Ed: Jack Harris; Des: Bernard Robinson; Mus: Jack Beaver.
From "The Woman In White" by Wilke Collins.
Cast: Tod Slaughter, Sylvia Marriott, Hilary Eaves, Geoffrey Wardwell, Hay Petrie, Margaret Yarde, Rita Grant, David Horne, Elsie Wagstaffe, David Kier.
"I'll feed your entrails to the pigs!" - Slaughter.
During 1850, in the gold fields of Australia, Sir Percival Glyde is murdered, and the culprit, (Slaughter), assumes his identity. Arriving at Sir Glyde's estate in London, he discovers it is mortgaged to the tune of £315,000, forcing the imposter to scheme a marriage to Laurie Fairlie, (Marriott), the daughter of wealthy man. He later kills his wife and substitutes her with the deranged and dying daughter of the real Sir Glyde, but his true identity is revealed. While attempting to set fire to the last incriminating records to his real identity, the imposter is trapped in a fire and burnt to death.
Slaughter's delicious portrayal in this classic tale is one of his best. For the opening scene set in Australia, Slaughter robs the sleeping Sir Glyde of his gold and then hammers a tent peg into his ear accompanying the evil deed with a hearty, maniacal laugh.

THE CRIMES OF DOCTOR MABUSE (1933) see Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse

THE CRIMES OF STEPHEN HAWKE (1936/George King/MGM.) 69mins. BW. UK.
Aka: STRANGLER'S MORGUE (US).
Credits: Dir. & Prod: George King; Sc: Frederick Hayward, Paul White, Jack Celestin & H.F. Maltby; Ph: Ronald Neame; Ed: John Seabourne; Art: Phillip Bawcombe. From a story by Jack Celestin.
Cast: Tod Slaughter, Marjorie Taylor, D.J. Williams, Eric Portman, Ben Soutten, Gerald Barry, George M. Slater, Charles Penrose, Norman Pierce, Flotsam & Jetsam.
Stephen Hawke, (Slaughter), has a reputation for being a kindly money lender, but he is actually a mass murderer who enjoys snapping people's spines. Matthew Trimble, (Portman), is engaged to Hawke's daughter Julia, (Taylor), and discovers the moneylender's murderous activity when his father is killed. Bound by his love for Julia, Matthew gives Hawke and his crippled assistant Nathaniel, (Soutten), a day's start before he hunt's them down and kills them.
A barnstorming melodrama with Slaughter in all his fiendish glory.

CRIMINAL AT LARGE (1932) see The Frightened Lady

THE CRIMSON CANDLE (1934/Mainwaring/MGM.) 67mins. BW. UK.
Credits: Dir., Prod. & Sc: Bernard Mainwaring.
Cast: Derek Williams, Kynaston Reeves, Eve Gray, Arthur Goullet, Eliot Makeham, Audrey Cameron, Kenneth Kove, Eugene Leahy.
Leonard Duberley, (Williams), is afraid he will fall victim to a family curse, but Inspector Blunt, (Reeves), believes the man's stepmother, (Gray), her son, (Goullet), and family Dr. Gaunt, (Makeham), are plotting to scare the man to death. The next morning his body is discovered and the curse has seemingly come true. Inspector Blunt eventually proves that Leonard's former mistress, the maid, (Cameron), was responsible.
A routine murder mystery heightened by good camerawork and settings.

THE CRIMSON GHOST (1946/Republic) BW. Serial. 12 Chapters. US.
Credits: Dir: William Whitney & Fred C. Branno n; Prod: Ronald Davison; Sc: Alfred DeMond, Basil Dickey, Jesse Duffy & Sol Shor; Ph: Bud Thackarey; Ed: Cliff Bell & Harold R. Minter; Art: Fred A. Ritter; Sets: John MacCarthy & Emil Wooden; Sfx: Howard & Theodore Lydecker; Mu: Bob Mark; Mus: Mort Glickman.
Cast: Charles Quigley, Clayton Moore, Linda Stirling, I. Stanford Jolley, William Whitney, Fred C. Brannon, Stanley Price, Kenne Duncan, Forrest Taylor, Emmett Vogan, Sam Flint, Joe Forte, Wheaton Chambers, Tom Steele, Dale Van Sickel, Rex Lease, Fred Graham, Bud Wolfe, Bud Geary, Eddie Parker. Voice of I. Stanford Jolley.
The Crimson Ghost, (Geary), plans to turn his dreaded electrode on Earth's population. To make it easier he develops a "control-collar" that turns helpless victims into zombie slaves. A criminologist tries to prevent the Crimson Ghost from obtaining the anti-atomic Cyclotrode.
An effective serial cliffhanger. The Crimson Ghost's voice was dubbed by Jolley even though he appears in the film as another character who occasionally has a scene with the fiendish "Ghost" .
A condensed feature version was released in 1966 as CYCLOTRODE X.

THE CRIMSON MOTH (1914/Biograph) 2 reels. BW. Silent. US.
Cast: Jack Drumier, Louise Vale.
A family suffers under a curse that causes the death of one of their number every time the "Crimson Moth" makes an appearence.

THE CRIMSON STAIN MYSTERY
(1916/Erbograph/Consolidated Film Corp.) Serial. BW. Silent. 16 Chapters. US.
Credits: Dir: T. Hayes Hunter; Sc: Albert Payson Terhune; Ph: Ludwig G.B. Erb.
Cast: Maurice Costello, Ethel Grandin, Thomas J. McGrane, Olga Olanova, Eugene Strong, William H. Cavanaugh, John Milton, N.J. Thompson.
Dr. Burton Montrose's, (McGrane), use of an enzyme to develop beings with superior intelligence go awry, resulting instead in the creation of horrible mutated freaks who initiate a reign of terror against society. A young detective, (Costello), aided by the doctor's daughter, (Grandin), eventually unmasks their leader, the mysterious "Crimson Stain" to be none other than the doctor himself who has been experimenting on himself.

THE CROOKED CIRCLE (1932/World Wide Pictures) 70mins. BW. US.
Credits: Dir: H. Bruce Humberstone; Prod: William Sistrom; Sc: Ralph Spence & Tim Whelan; Ph: Robert B. Kurrle; Ed: Doane Harrison; Art: Paul Roe Crawley; Mus: Val Burton.
Cast: Zasu Pitts, Ben Lyon, James Gleason, Irene Purcell, C. Henry Gordon, Raymond Hatton, Roscoe Karns, Berton Churchill, Spencer Charters, Robert Frazer, Ethel Clayton, Frank Reicher, Christian Rub, Tom Kennedy, Paul Panzer. Presented E.W. Hammons.
"To do for each other, to defend any brother - a fight to the knife and a knife to the hilt!" - The pledge of the "Crooked Circle".
Five hooded members of the secret "Crooked Circle" come up against the "Sphinx Club", an amateur detective organisation. Mysterious events at Melody Manor lead to a confrontation of the two groups.
A strange combination of horror, drama and comedy.

A CRY IN THE NIGHT (1915/New Agency) 1200 feet. BW. Silent. UK.
Credits: Dir: Ernest G. Batley.
Cast: James Russell.
A detective proves that a winged gorilla, (Russell), controlled by a mad scientist is responsible for the death of a girl's father.

THE CRY OF THE NIGHTHAWK (1923) see The Mystery of Dr. Fu Manchu

CRY OF THE WEREWOLF (1944/Columbia) 65mins. BW. US.
Shooting title: DAUGHTER OF THE WEREWOLF.
Credits: Dir: Henry Levin; Prod: Wallace MacDonald; Sc: Griffin Jay & Charles O'Neal; Ph: L.W. O'Connell; Ed: Reg Brown; Mus: Mischa Bakaleinikoff.
Cast: Nina Foch, Stephen Crane, Osa Masen, Blanche Yurka, Barton MacLane, Ivan Triesault, Fritz Leiber, John Abbott, Fred Graff, John Tyrell, Milton Parsons.
"When the bell tolls at midnight...you will hear...The Cry Of The Werewolf!"
"That wolf used to be a beautiful gypsy girl, a princess who worshipped evil. You can tell your grandchildren about it Ed." - Police Officer.
A museum curator in New Orleans is murdered. His son, (Crane), tracks the killer to a tribe of Trioga gypsies where the queen of the gypsies, Celeste La Tour, (Foch), has inherited the curse of lycanthropy from her mother whose remains she watches over.
All transformation scenes were achieved off camera. This disappointed audiences, but pleased the censor who gave this average murder mystery an "A" certificate.

CRY WOLF (1947/Warner) 83mins. BW. US.
Credits: Dir: Peter Godfrey; Prod: Henry Blanke; Sc: Catherine Turney; Ph: Carl Guthrie; Mus: Franz Waxman. From a novel by Marjorie Carleton.
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Errol Flynn, Geraldine Brooks, Richard Basehart, Helene Thimig, Jerome Cowan.
When a widow returns to the home of her recently deceased husband she uncovers a horrific secret.
A plotless old-dark-house thriller that relies solely on the talents of the stars to carry the film.

THE CRYING WOMAN (1933) see La Llorona

CUDOTVORNI MAC (1949/Zvezda/Avala) Yugoslavia. Aka: THE MAGIC SWORD (US).
Credits: Dir: Voislav Nanovic.
Cast: Rade Markovich, Milvoye Zhivanovich, Vera Ilich Djukovich, Marko Marinkovitch.
A demon terrorises the lands around it's castle.
A fairytale fantasy that features a witch, a talking fish and a Golem-like giant named Bas-Chelik who is ultimately destroyed by a shepherd.
Not released in America until 1952.

LA CUISINE DE L'OGRE (1908/Star Film) 350 feet. BW. Silent. France.
Aka: IN THE BOGEY MAN'S CAVE.
Credits: Georges Melies.
The Bogey-man fries a young boy for his dinner. A fairy and some gnomes also feature in this short film with ground breaking effects from the illusionist and film pioneer Melies.

THE CURSE OF THE ALLENBY'S (1946) see The She-Wolf of London

CURSE OF THE CRIMSON IDOL (1914/Phoebus) 4 reels. BW. Silent. US.
A disappearing Hindu attempts to reclaim an idol belonging to his faith.

THE CURSE OF THE HINDU PEARL (1912/American Standard) 4 reels. BW. Silent. US.
A valuable pearl brings death to its owners.

THE CURSE OF THE SCARABEE RUBY (1914/Gaumont/Eclipse/Urban) 4 reels. BW. Silent. France.
An evil spirit transforms into a young girl.

THE CURSE OF THE WANDERING MINSTREL (1911/Walturdaw) 1 reel. BW. Silent. UK.
A minstrel curses a castle which is later invaded and the Lord of the Manor is crushed to death under the gateway.