THE POINTING FINGER

UK, 1933, 68 minutes, Black-and-white.
John Stuart, Viola Keats, Leslie Perrins, Michael Hogan, A.Bromley Davenport, Henrietta Watson, D. J. Williams.
Directed by George Pearson.

This is a small budget British supporting feature of the early 1930s. It blends quite a number of plotlines, opening with an abbey occupied by a wealthy family since the time of the Reformation and the takeover of the abbeys, a curse about the end of the lineage, a sinister rival who wants the title and ownership of the house. There is also an excursion to South Africa and some very colonial presentations of the African natives. There is also a scheme by the rival and some henchmen to kill the heir in Africa. But, when the heir returns, he seems to be a different person, suffering from memory loss, tested out by one of the plotters who are surprised to find him back in England.

There is the usual presentation of the British upper class, discussions about inheritance, discussions about marriage, cousins, uncles and aunts, and the death of the owner of the house.

The ending is a kind of Deus ex machina approach when the real heir suddenly returns to England, unwell with severe malaria and loss of memory. The rival then resorts to going into a secret passage, donning the robes of a monk, bringing to life a sinister portrait of the monk with the pointing finger to terrify the sick heir.

What the film introduces is another son, unknown to the father, his wife in South Africa having left him and not informing him – which means that the he is the real heir, despite his wishes to return to Africa, and the younger man succumbs in death.

Very creaky.