Can anything released in 1936 be considered "contemporary." In the eyes of history of the world, 1936 was hardly a tick of the clock ago. In our modern worldview, 1936 is as ancient as the pyramids. Even more ancient than 1936 is...1925! In 1925, Lon Chaney turned in a magnifecent performance in the title role of "The Phantom of the Opera." Ironically, this silent film dropped the same year as Hollywood's first talkie, "The Jazz Singer." So in 1936, with silents now belonging to a bygone era, Hollywood makes a "Phantom" themed thriller...set in L.A. Our film today is 1936's "A Face in the Fog," directed by Robert F. Hill.
The Paris Opera House? Nonsense. Our feature is set in L.A., in and around a local theater. A local theater troupe, putting on a Peter Fortune (Lawrence Gray) play is decreasing in size. Many actors have mysteriously been murdered...but by who? The show is about to close but fake-news reporterette, the sultry Jean (June Collyer) has an idea. She erroneously reports that she saw the killer and can identify him, figuring this lie will draw him into the open. Bad move...the killer reads this. Now there is a dark-clothed hunchback pursuing Jean. He will try to kill her with a weird gun, but instead misses and murders bystanders. Her lover, reporter Frank (Lloyd Hughes) is determined to protect his love and to try to identify and capture the mysterious hunchback. This won't go well. Every plot he tries, the killer is not caught and someone else has died mysteriously.
The killer? Apparently it is a dark hunchbacked figure. He has a gun that shoots a special type of bullet. The bullet does not leave a mark or a wound but instead spreads a poison on his victim. Now he is trying to murder Frank and Jean...and anyone else who has a relationship to the theater troupe performing the Peter Fortune play. Stepping up to help is the star of the show, Reardon (Jack Mulhall). He has some ideas and claims he knows a guy who would have the know how to commit murders in this manner. Too helpful? Maybe, but this is just too easy. As the theater is on the verge of closing down and ending the Peter Fortune drama, Frank comes up with his own theories.
Why is our hunchbacked killer so intent to destroy the theater and this drama? Where did Jean learn to lie and pas sit off as journalism? Probably the Columbia University School of Journalism...just like today. Will our killer improve his aim and finally be able to take out the fake news? This is a good atmospheric one and a nice tribute to "The Phantom of the Opera." See "A Face in the Fog," and get back in tuned with ancient times from before the Berlin Olympics.
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