The Terror – 1938 | 73 mins | Crime | B&W

Plot Synopsis

The Terror is a suspenseful thriller adapted from the Edgar Wallace play about a master criminal who betrayed his colleagues to the police, in an allegedly haunted monastery. There’s little subtlety to this stagy tale of vengeful crooks but plenty of ‘Old Dark House’ atmosphere. The strong ensemble cast includes Alastair Sim, Linden Travers, Wilfrid Lawson, Arthur Wontner, Linden Travers, Bernard Lee and Richard Murdoch.

Two petty-crooks, Marks (Alastair Sim) and Connor (Henry Oscar) are betrayed to the police by master criminal Michael O’Shea, with whom they carried out a £300,000 gold robbery. The two are sentenced to ten years in jail and swear revenge upon their release. Ten years later, at the Monk’s Hall Priory guest house, an organ is heard at night and the ghostly spectre of a monk wanders the grounds leading to the belief that the house is haunted. The estate is owned by Col. Redmayne (Arthur Wontner), who seems to cherish his privacy and oddly for a guesthouse proprietor seems happy with his select few lodgers and turns away many potential guests.

A number of people arrive at the priory, including Redmayne’s daughter Mary (Linden Travers), Marks posing as a member of the clergy, Connor and perpetually drunk Ferdy Fane (Bernard Lee). When Marks is found murdered in one of the Priory rooms, the police assign Superintendent Hallick to the case. The following evening Mr. Goodman (Wilfrid Lawson) is murdered, and it comes to light he was owed £10,000 by Redmayne. The case becomes clearer but the police must still discover who the murderer is and his connection to the ghostly occurrences in the Priory.