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Menace
Menace
Directed by	Ralph Murphy
Written by	Chandler Sprague ; Anthony Veiller
Based on	Menace by Philip MacDonald
Produced by	Bayard Veiller ; Emanuel Cohen
Starring	Gertrude Michael ; Paul Cavanagh ; Henrietta Crosman
Cinematography	Ben F. Reynolds
Edited by	Anne Bauchens
Production; company	Paramount Pictures
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	November 22, 1934;
Running time	58 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Menace is a 1934 American mystery film directed by Ralph Murphy and starring Gertrude Michael, Paul Cavanagh and Henrietta Crosman.^[1] The emerging star Ray Milland billed fifth. It was produced and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It is based on the 1933 novel Menace by British writer Philip MacDonald.^[2] Mitchell Leisen was originally intended to direct the film before being replaced by Murphy.^[3] A review in the New York Times considered "it ranks several notches higher than the average murder film".^[4]

Plot

In Kenya in British East Africa socialites Helen Chalmers and Norman Bellamy as well as British Army colonel Leonard Crecy need a fourth for bridge. They persuade engineer Freddie Bastion to leave the dam he is supposed to be supervising to join them. On his plane journey back a thunderstorm destroys the damn, drowning Bastion's two sisters, and causing his plane to crash. In London Timothy Bastion, the dead man's brother, is driven mad with grief and sent to a lunatic asylum.

Escaping, Timothy sends threatening letters to the three people he considers responsible for the tragedy, promising to kill them. Two years after the disaster, the three are all gathered at a country estate in California owned by Helen. Timothy has managed to conceal himself either amongst the servants and guests to the house, seeking murderous revenge.

Cast

Gertrude Michael as Helen Chalmers
Paul Cavanagh as Col. Leonard Crecy
Henrietta Crosman as Sybil Thornton
John Lodge as Ronald Cavendish
Ray Milland as Freddie Bastion
Berton Churchill as Norman Bellamy
Halliwell Hobbes as Skinner
Robert Allen as Andrew Forsythe
Forrester Harvey as Wilcox
Montagu Love as Police Inspector
Arletta Duncan as Gloria Chalmers
Gwenllian Gill as Alison Bastion
Doris Llewelyn as Cynthia Bastion
Desmond Roberts as Underwood
Blue Washington as Kenyan Manservant
Arthur Clayton as Police Officer

References

^ Bryan Senn (1996). Golden Horrors: An Illustrated Critical Filmography of Terror Cinema, 1931-1939. McFarland. pp. 454–56. ISBN 978-1-4766-1089-4.
^ Goble p.298
^ McKay p.47
^ McKay p.48

Bibliography

Goble, Alan. The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film. Walter de Gruyter, 1999.
McKay, James. Ray Milland: The Films, 1929-1984. McFarland, 2020.