The Secret of the Loch (1934)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Milton Rosmer

Writers:

Charles Bennett (writer)
Billie Bristow (writer)

Release Date:

May 1934 (UK)

Genre:

Adventure | Fantasy | Comedy

Plot:

A batty Scottish professor attempts to prove the existence of the Loch Ness Monster, but everyone thinks he's crazy...

Cast

Seymour Hicks	...	Professor Heggie
Nancy O'Neal	...	Angela Heggie
Gibson Gowland	...	Angus
Frederick Peisley	...	Jimmy Andrews
Eric Hales	...	Diver
Ben Field	...	Piermaster
Hubert Harben	...	Prof. Fothergill
Stafford Hilliard	...	Macdonald
Rosamund John	...	Maggie
Robb Wilton	...	Reporter
John Jamieson
Elma Reid	...	Bit Role

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Ray Wyndham Productions

Trivia:

First film of Rosamund John.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Mysterious Britain (1997)

No secret and not much of a monster either!

Amateurishly inept in all departments, but you keep watching it, hoping it will improve—especially when it's time for the special effects people to finally have their innings. Alas, it gets worse. Mind you, there are one or two redeeming features, namely Rosamund John and Nancy O'Neil. In fact, it's great to see the lovely Australian actress (born in Sydney in 1911) Nancy O'Neil in her prime. Gibson Gowland is also worth our time, but the rest of the players, including hammy Hicks and pallid Peisley, are strictly from hunger. As for the tepid, treated-for-the-most-part-as-a-silly-comedy story and the absolutely woeful special effects, the less said the better.

Film editor David Lean no doubt had an uphill battle trying to give a bit of pace and credence to Milton Rosmer's lethargic direction which misses out on just about every quality that makes a movie worth watching, including believability, atmosphere and pace.

Available on DVD through Sinister Cinema. Quality rating: seven out of ten.