The story is by Edgar Wallace, the leading journalist of his time, and it is brilliantly written with a twinkling eye and tongue in cheek in exploiting a corrupt doctor's passion in the macabre - he is a collector of ancient torture instruments and has a whole cabinet of scenes from the inquisition, including an iron maiden who is not to be trifled with. Leslie Banks is the leading character here giving a magnificent performance as doctor Manetta of Spanish origin, and his Spanish accent is perfect. He leads the conspiracy against the Selford family and weaves a very intricate web of intrigue involving a number of persons, who ultimately are all hoisted by their own petard. Lilli Palmer is still in the beginning of her long career here, very young and fresh, the perfect innocence, stumbling into a jungle of insidious traps and intrigues, which all get messed up with each other. It's actually a black comedy of the same kind as "Arsenic and Old Lace", but the laughs are more frequent here, and the exaggerated dark mood is actually very light. Who ever would have suspected the most honest man in the business to be the actual manufacturer of the plot? There are many fakes here, but when doctor Manetta finally goes down you will have to admit he is doing it with flying colours.
Review of Chamber of Horrors
