Charles Laughton stars as the wealthy head of a huge estate. As the film begins, he's already imprisoned his own brother (Paul Cavanagh) for stealing the woman of his dreams (now deceased) and is moving on to phase two of his plan, where he intends to marry off his now-grown niece (Sally Forrest) to a drunken lothario (Richard Stapley). Boris Karloff's also on hand as Laughton's creepy manservant.
Unfortunately for Laughton, Stapley turns out to be a pretty stand up guy, as far as drunken lotharios go, and Forrest takes a shine to him. Together, the two plot to escape Laughton's booby-trapped estate.
The silly plot doesn't matter mostly thanks to Laughton's performance. He's always great, but he's especially well suited for playing an insane, spoiled and childish villain. Just watching him is a joy as he clearly seems to take joy in his own evil.
There are also several great set pieces that allow the plot comfortably take a back seat, including a cliffhanger in which our heroes are imprisoned in a room where the walls are closing in, threatening to crush them.
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