The Face at the Window (1939)

The Face at the Window is a 1939 Tod Slaughter melodrama and if you’ve never seen a Tod Slaughter melodrama I can assure you that it’s a unique experience. And, in my opinion, a wonderful experience.

Tod Slaughter (1885-1956) had had a long career on the stage and was managing his own theatre company as well as acting when in the early 30s he came up with the brilliant idea of reviving Victorian melodrama. At that time everybody had heard of Victorian melodrama but most people had never actually seen one. It was a successful move by Slaughter.

It was obvious that movie adaptations had potential and in 1934 Maria Marten, or Murder in the Red Barn gave Slaughter his first starring film role. It was the first of a string of cinematic Tod Slaughter melodramas. These were popular in Britain and were shown on American television in the 50s.

It is important to understand that The Face at the Window (based on an 1897 play by F. Brooke Warren) is pure unashamed out-and-out melodrama. The title card at the beginning makes that clear. It also makes it clear that we are not expected to take the movie too seriously - we are expected to enjoy ourselves.

This is a crime melodrama and a horror melodrama with even a slight hint of science fiction.

It is Paris in the 1880s. M. de Brisson’s bank has been robbed. A member of the bank staff was killed. The knife in the back indicates that the killer was The Wolf, a notorious madman who had been terrorising the city. His crimes are always preceded by the appearance of a hideous face at a window and by the sound of a wolf howling. M. de Brisson faces ruin, until the Chevalier del Gardo (Tod Slaughter) steps in to restore the bank’s credit.

The Chevalier demands a price for this assistance - he wants to marry M. de Brisson’s pretty daughter Cecile (Marjorie Taylor).

Cecile is horrified and in any case she in love with a nice young man, Lucien Cortier (John Warwick), a teller at her father’s bank.

Now we see the first indications of the Chevalier’s villainy. He frames Lucien for the robbery and murder, in the belief that with his rival out of the way he will be able to persuade Cecile to marry him.

More villainy follows and the love between Lucien and Cecile seems doomed. Only one thing can save poor Lucien from the guillotine and it’s such a fantastic idea that it seems unbelievable.

There are thrills and scares. There are a couple of slightly ghoulish moments. There is romance and of course there is a lovely young girl who may be forced to marry a sinister and sleazy (and lecherous) villain.

You cannot judge a movie such as this by conventional standards. This is not 1930s melodrama. This is melodrama of the Victorian age, done in the manner of the Victorian age. It is supposed to be contrived and outrageous. It is supposed to be over-the-top.

You also cannot judge Tod Slaughter’s acting by conventional standards. He knew exactly what he was doing. He was not trying to do film acting. He was giving the kind of performance you would have seen on the stage in 1897. It’s an artfully contrived and calculated performance. He wants to provoke delicious shudders. He would not have been disturbed had cinema audiences booed and hissed at his character’s perfidious villainy.

It’s all huge amounts of fun. It was clearly done on a limited budget but that works in the movie’s favour. It doesn’t matter that this movie is stagey. That is actually what director George King and star Tod Slaughter wanted.

The Face at the Window is highly recommended.

For years the Tod Slaughter melodramas were available on DVD but in awful public domain releases. The Kino Lorber Blu-Ray on the other hand looks pretty good and there’s an audio commentary.

I’ve reviewed quite a few of the Tod Slaughter melodramas - Maria Marten, or The Murder in the Red Barn (1935), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1936), Crimes at the Dark House (1940) and The Greed of William Hart (1948).