Item: Temple Tower
Rating: 5.6
Author: Archivist John

Is it worth a watch?

Honestly, you should only watch this if you really love old-school pulp or if you are trying to see every single version of Bulldog Drummond ever made. If you hate slow movies where people talk in very loud, deliberate voices because the microphones were new, you will probably want to turn this off after ten minutes.

It is definitely for the crowd that enjoys dusty mansions and secret passages. It is not for anyone looking for a fast-paced action thriller. 🕵️‍♂️

I sat down with this one on a rainy afternoon, which is probably the only way to actually enjoy it. The movie feels like it was filmed in a basement, but in a way that kind of works for a mystery.

Kenneth MacKenna plays Drummond here. He is okay, I guess, but he lacks that magnetic charm that usually makes the character fun to follow.

He feels more like a guy who wandered into the wrong house and just decided to stay. He spends a lot of time looking at things with a confused expression.

The plot is about jewel thieves hiding out in a place called Temple Tower. But then there is this Masked Strangler character who is hunting them down because they did him dirty in the past.

The mask is hilarious. It looks like a lumpy potato sack with holes cut out for eyes. 🥔

Whenever the Strangler shows up, the music gets all dramatic, but the guy just kind of waddles around. It is hard to be scared of a villain who looks like he is struggling to see where he is walking.

There is a scene early on where a character is just staring at a wall for what feels like a full minute. I think they were waiting for a cue, or maybe the director just forgot to yell cut.

The sound quality is pretty rough too. You can hear the actors' feet clomping on the floorboards like they are wearing lead boots.

It reminds me a bit of the clunky pacing in The Tangle, where everything feels a bit stiff. But Temple Tower has more secret doors, which always helps.

Henry B. Walthall is in this as Blackton. He was a big star in the silent era, and you can tell because he acts with his entire soul even when he is just sitting down.

He has this way of widening his eyes that makes everyone else in the scene look like they are asleep. It is a bit much, but it kept me awake.

The sets are actually the best part. The house feels huge and empty and genuinely creepy in a few shots.

I liked the way the shadows hit the walls when they were sneaking through the hallways. It has that early 1930s gothic vibe that is hard to fake now.

One weird thing is how they handle the romance. Marceline Day is the leading lady, and she mostly just stands there looking vaguely worried while the men argue about jewels.

Her and Drummond have zero chemistry. They talk to each other like they are reading a grocery list.

It is not quite as bizarre as The Ouija Board, but it has its moments of total confusion. Like when a character disappears and nobody seems to care for twenty minutes.

There is a lot of talk about "the code" and "the jewels," but I honestly stopped following the specifics halfway through. I was just waiting for the next time the potato-sack killer would jump out of a closet.

The ending is very abrupt. It just... happens.

One minute they are fighting, and the next, everyone is basically shaking hands and the movie is over. I felt like I missed a page of the script. 🤷‍♂️

If you want a polished cinematic experience, look elsewhere. Maybe check out Redemption if you want something with a bit more weight to it.

But if you want to see a guy in a bad mask sneak around a big house, Temple Tower is a perfectly fine way to waste an hour. It is woodden, it is creaky, and the audio will make your ears ring, but it has a weird kind of heart.

It is the kind of movie that makes you appreciate how much better films got just a few years later. It is a relic, plain and simple.