FACE AT THE WINDOW 1939 (SINISTER CINEMA)

I know this is hard to believe, but this was the first Tod Slaughter film I ever saw.

This is set in the 1880's and is thick with gothic atmosphere.

There has been a series of brutal knifings attributed to a mysterious killer called "The Face" but it's also called a wolf man. The face that appears at the windows of victims is indeed all messed up.

Chevalier del Gardo (Tod Slaughter) is madly in love with Cecile de Brisson (Marjorie Taylor) and will do anything to obtain her as his bride. This includes setting up her lover to have him fired from his job and then framed for a murder.

However, the intended victim Lucien Cortier (John Warwick) is hard to pin anything on, so Gardo has him tied and thrown in the river, but that fails as well.

While all this is going on the Face is still killing and his bizarre howls are still heard in the village. Finally Cortier gets even with the madman Gardo, and all ends well.

Slaughter is always perfect for melodramatic overplaying of a character. This was a fast moving one hour film, and one I really liked. I guess I'll have to check out other Slaughter films as well.