PHENOMENALITY: *uncanny*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *drama*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTIONS: *psychological*
I've not seen the 1937 British movie THE FROG, to which this work is a sequel, but like many works based on Edgar Wallace thrillers, this one uses some of the "mystery mastermind" tropes that were also popular in both American and continental serials.
The crime-chief "The Frog" evidently wasn't captured in the first film, though once again he's being pursued by a fifty-something Scotland Yard sergeant named Elk (Gordon Harker, who played the same part in the first film). The opening is the most memorable scene, as a gang of toughs lounge around a seedy pub taking their marching orders from a frog-- a big porcelain frog with blinking eyes, through which the hidden mastermind communicates to his followers. The evildoer's main agenda is to get rid of a dangerous witness, and when Elk gets in his way, the Frog hops after the phlegmatic policeman as well.
The YouTube version of the film I watched had terrible sound, so I can't comment in detail on any of the mystery angles of the plot. Una O'Connor of BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN fame plays the role of a fence, and Elk plays a paternally protective role toward a young woman getting mixed up with gangsters, though I couldn't suss out Elk's relationship to the girl. For some reason Elk and the young woman are together when the Frog tries to kill them by flooding a room with poisonous gas. I also didn't follow how Elk just happened to have two gas-masks on his person to meet the emergency, but it's a fun scene even without the explanations.
Maurice Elvey, whose biggest credit these days might be for a bunch of silent Sherlock Holmes adaptations, directs in a fusty, stage-bound style, so that even a couple of fight-scenes prove boring. The Frog's identity is revealed at the end and he's captured, though I believe he gets at least one more appearance in a 1959 remake of the Wallace novel, FACE OF THE FROG.
No comments:
Post a Comment