The Haunted House

The Haunted House is a 1928 American mystery film directed by Benjamin Christensen. The film stars Larry Kent and Thelma Todd and is based on Owen Davis's 1926 Broadway play of the same name. As of 2020, UCLA Film and Television Archive has a copy of the film. Plot A group of heirs to a family fortune are summoned to an old dark house to attend the reading of a will. Weird events occur, leading the group to believe the house is haunted. The house features sliding panels, hidden rooms, weird attendants and even a mad scientist. It turns out to be just a gang of crooks trying to scare them off before they can inherit their money. Cast Background After his success in Europe with his 1922 film Haxan, director Christensen relocated to Hollywood in 1926, where he directed Thelma Todd in The Devil's Circus who would appear again in The Haunted House. The screenplay for the film was written by Lajos Biro and Benjamin Christensen who used the name Richard Bee. Production started on the film on July 26, 1928. The Haunted House was Christensen's first attempt at using sound in film with the feature containing sound effects and a music score, in addition to Eve Southern mouthing two songs in the film which according to an article in Variety, were added in post-production. Variety also noted that the synchronization of the songs was "badly handled, with the player and the sound always out of kilter and neither starting out for finishing together."