''The House of a Thousand Candles'' is a 1936 American

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...

directed by

Arthur Lubin Arthur Lubin (July 25, 1898 – May 11, 1995) was an American film director and producer who directed several ''Abbott & Costello'' films, '' Phantom of the Opera'' (1943), the '' Francis the Talking Mule'' series and created the talking-horse TV ...

and starring

Phillips Holmes Phillips Raymond Holmes (July 22, 1907 – August 12, 1942) was an American actor. For his contributions to the film industry, he was posthumously given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. Early life, education and career Born in ...

Mae Clarke Mae Clarke (born Violet Mary Klotz; August 16, 1910 – April 29, 1992) was an American actress. She is widely remembered for playing Henry Frankenstein's bride Elizabeth, who is chased by Boris Karloff in ''Frankenstein'', and for being o ...

and

Irving Pichel Irving Pichel (June 24, 1891 – July 13, 1954) was an American actor and film director, who won acclaim both as an actor and director in his Hollywood career. Career Pichel was born to a Jewish family in Pittsburgh. He attended Pittsburgh Cent ...

. It is based on the 1906 novel by

Meredith Nicholson Meredith Nicholson (December 9, 1866 – December 21, 1947) was a best-selling author from Indiana, United States, a politician, and a diplomat. Biography Nicholson was born on December 9, 1866, in Crawfordsville, Indiana, to Edward Willis Nic ...

. The novel had been filmed twice before, once in 1915 (as '' The House of a Thousand Candles'') and again in 1919 by Henry King (under the title '' Haunting Shadows''). A British secret service agent is sent to try to prevent a plot to derail a peace conference in

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

and threaten international peace.

Plot

Unscrupulous casino owner Anton Sebastian secretly runs a network of spies out of his hotel and casino, "The House of a Thousand Candles". After killing one of his spies, Victor Demetrius, via poison, he sends a secret message over the radio to a dancer, Raquel. Sebastian orders him to intercept a British intelligence agent Tony Carleton and steal some top-secret documents. British intelligence officer Sir Andrew McIntyre instructs agent Carleton to pick up some opera tickets in an envelope which contains secret information, and then to go to Geneva. Tony gets the envelope and boards a train, but is followed by his American admirer, Carol Vincent. On the train, Raquel slips Tony a drugged drink, steals all of his papers and then escapes to meet Sebastian at the hotel. Tony jumps off the train and Carol follows. They arrive at the hotel and register as brother and sister. Carol hides in Raquel's room when Sebastian plants a microphone. She goes to his study and sees his storage place for stolen papers. Then she listens in to Tony and Raquel. Raquel is about to tell Tony who she works for when she is killed by her maid Marta, who is loyal to Sebastian. Tony and the envelope are captured by Sebastian, who plans to kill him and make it look like an accident. Tony agrees to decode the information on the envelope to protect Caroo but she tries to stop him by burning it. The flames reveal the real information. Sebastian leaves with the message, and Alf and Barrie, other secret agents, rescue Tony and Carol. They find Sebastian's secret codes, after which Tony sets out in pursuit of Sebastian. Barrie uses the codes to broadcast to Sebastian's men, saying Sebastian is a murderer who stole Sebastian's car – and they drive him off the road. Tony and Carol get married.

Cast

as Carol Vincent *

as Anton Sebastian *

as Tony Carleton *

Rosita Moreno Rosita Moreno (born Gabriela Victoria Viñolas; March 18, 1907 – April 25, 1993) was a Spanish film actress who worked in cinema in Hollywood, Argentina, Mexico, and in her native Spain. Biography Born in Madrid, Spain, Moreno was the daug ...

as Raquel * Fred Walton as Alf *

Hedwiga Reicher Hedwiga Reicher (Born Hedwig Reicher; 12 June 1884 – 2 September 1971) was a German actress. Her performances on Broadway were credited with the original spelling of her first name. Reicher was christened Hedwig, but she altered the spelling ...

as Maria *

Lawrence Grant Percy Reginald Lawrence-Grant (30 October 1870 in Bournemouth, Hampshire, England – 19 February 1952 in Santa Barbara, California, USA) was an English actor known for supporting roles in films such as ''The Living Ghost'', '' I'll Tell ...

as Sir Andrew McIntyre * Frederick Vogeding as Travers * Michael Fitzmaurice as Keith Barrie * Rafael Storm as Jules Gregoire * Mischa Auer as Demetrius * Paul Ellis as Agent * Keith Daniels as Steward * Charles De Ravenne as Radio Attendant *

Olaf Hytten Olaf Hytten (3 March 1888 – 11 March 1955) was a Scottish actor. He appeared in more than 280 films between 1921 and 1955. He was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and died in Los Angeles, California from a heart attack, while sitting in his car ...

as Sergeant * John Sutton as Young Man *

Max Wagner Max Wagner (November 28, 1901 – November 16, 1975) was a Mexican-born American film actor who specialized in playing small parts such as thugs, gangsters, sailors, henchmen, bodyguards, cab drivers and moving men, appearing more than 400 ...

as Henchman

Production

''House of a Thousand Candles'' had been previously filmed before in 1919 as an American silent film, as '' Haunting Shadows''. It was directed by Henry King and starred H. B. Warner, Edward Piel Jr., Charles Hill Mailes and Florence Oberle. Filming of this version took place in December 1935.

Reception

The ''New York Times'' called it "lively... briskly directed... effectively played." ''Diabolique'' magazine called it "creaky and is hampered, as many Lubin films would be, by a lack of star power in the lead roles, which really should be played by stars, but it is quick and light and Lubin clearly has affection for his characters." Lubin himself said he thought the picture was "charming".

References

External links

''The House of a Thousand Candles''
at

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

''The House of a Thousand Candles''
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House of a Thousand Candles
at Letterbox DVD
House of a Thousand Candles
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Review of film
at Variety
Text of original novel
at

Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital libr ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:House of a Thousand Candles 1936 films 1930s action thriller films 1930s spy films American action thriller films American spy films Films directed by Arthur Lubin American black-and-white films Republic Pictures films 1930s English-language films Films set in Switzerland Films based on American novels Remakes of American films Sound film remakes of silent films 1930s American films