The Maze (1953)

A curious film which always seems to be building toward some big revelation, but which ultimately disappoints.  Part of The Maze's problem is that it never really seems sure what kind of film it wants to be: Gothic romance, straight up horror, old dark house mystery, it has elements of all of these, but never settles on one of them as a main theme.  All of which makes for a listless narrative, which stutters along, turning one way, then another, a little like the titular maze.  The narrative structure comes on like a Gothic novel, opening - after a brief sequence in a creepy Scottish castle - with an onscreen narrator(the heroine's aunt) telling us that the preceding scene was the beginning of  series of events that eventually led to her extraordinary experience in the maze.  The story then flashes back a year, to Cannes, where Kitty, the heroine, her aunt and some friends meet Gerald MacTeam (Richard Carlson).  Kitty and MacTeam get engaged, but the latter abruptly departs for Scotland, breaking the engagement, after receiving news from Craven Castle (the creepy old pile seen in the prologue) that his uncle has died and that he has inherited the family title and estates.  Kitty and her aunt eventually decide to travel to Scotland and arrive at the castle unannounced.

At which point, the moves into old dark house territory, as they find Carlson prematurely aged and acting extremely brusquely, doing his best to get them to depart the castle.  The latter comes complete with a pair of shifty servants, cold and gloomy corridors, no electricity, telephone or other modern conveniences and a garden maze that the guests are forbidden from entering.  In fact, they find themselves forbidden from going anywhere in the castle, especially the tower room, where someone, or something sleeps on a bed of straw.  Oh, and they are locked into their rooms overnight.  Now, this part of the film is quite atmospheric and suspenseful, with all of the usual creepings around torch-lit musty corridors, secret passages and strange midnight excursions to the maze by Carlson, the servants and, something, which they keep hidden behind a sheet.  These trips culminate in strange splashing sounds from the pond in the middle of the maze and weird wet footprints leading back up the stairs to the tower room.  It all culminates with the aunt getting a fright when she glimpses the something in the tower room.

Unfortunately, the expectations built up by this middle section can't be fulfilled.  The tension is somewhat dissipated as Kitty manages to get word to her friends and persuades them to join her at the castle.  One of them is a doctor, who proceeds to try and diagnose Carlson as suffering from some kind of psychological malady.  The castle feels less threatening with the addition of so many characters, all apparently intent upon spreading cheer and bonhomie.  Of course, it all ends badly, with Kitty and her aunt penetrating the maze in dead of night and discovering the big secret:  MacTeam's two hundred year old anecesetor is still alive and is a giant frog.  That's right, a frog.  He was apparently born in frog form after his development in the womb halted at the 'amphibian' stage, (this element of the plot was inspired by a totally discredited idea that the human foetus goes through every stage of evolution during its development in the womb).  Seeing that others were repulsed by his appearance, he chose to live as a recluse, with a string of descendants and servants sworn to keep the secret and look after him.  His one indulgence, apparently, is to bathe in the maze's pond by night.  So all the secrecy was intended to protect him from prying eyes, rather than to protect anyone else from a monster.  This non-monster is so startled by the sudden appearance of these interlopers in his maze that he rushes back into the castle, up the stairs to the refuge of his room, only to fall to his death from the window.

All utterly ludicrous and something of a damp squib after all tat build up and hints of a Lovecraftian 'something nasty in the attic'.  While it was undoubtedly a bold move to make a horror movie (of sorts) where the monster turns out not to be the real threat, (and, ultimately, becomes the victim), it just doesn't really work.  The manner of his death makes you end up feeling, at he very least, resentful of the main characters and their happy ending, which has come at the cost of the frog man's life.  Indeed, it is a real downer to have the film climax with a character frightened out of his wits as he finds his home, his sanctuary, in fact, invaded by a bunch of noisy and nosey socialites.  But there are compensations along the way: the film is very well shot, with lots of atmosphere, by William Cameron Menzies.  At some points he manages to create an agreeably dream-like atmosphere of unreality, (although not to the extent he managed in the incredible Invaders From Mars, which has helped by that film being related from a child's perspective).  Bearing in mind that the film was originally presented in 3-D, Menzies engages in mercifully few shots of objects, characters or fingers being thrust directly at the audience. In the final analysis, one can't help but suspect that Carlson's admonitions in the trailer that audiences shouldn't spoil the film by giving away the 'surprise' ending, were down to the fact that Allied Artists knew that the film's final revelations were such a disappointment that they had to keep it under wraps for as long as possible.  They were quite right - despite a promising start, The Maze just peters out, leaving the viewer feeling somewhat cheated.