Horror Classic 36 of 50: THE WORLD GONE MAD

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The World Gone Mad from 1933 is pretty obscure. It's so obscure, in fact, that I couldn't find an image of the poster online. So I made this one. It's the world going mad.

Remember last week's movie from the "50 Horror Classics" DVD set, Swamp Women, and how it wasn't really a horror movie? Well, guess what? The World Gone Mad is even less of a horror movie! I'm not sure what genre I'd put it... probably the "men in suits talking a lot" genre. Honestly, I had a hard time following the whole mess, but I'll try my best to sum it up for you.

Synopsis
Oh heck, where to begin? Okay, so there's this guy named Christopher Bruno, a crooked businessman who works in the Empire State Building. He has a meeting with his buddy Graham Gaines, and he has a very important assignment for Graham: Kill the District Attorney.

See, the DA, Avery Henderson, is about to start an investigation that would uncover all the corrupt dealings they and their cohorts have been involved in, dealings connected to the Suburban Utilities company and the Cromwell company. So Graham calls a guy, who calls another guy, who first calls Ronco to order an amazing new juicer not sold in stores, and then calls another guy, who kills DA Henderson.

How am I doing? Does it make sense so far?

So, it's pretty sad that Henderson is dead, because he had a wife, and a young son with an unruly mop of hair. Not that the kid's hair makes it any sadder; I just thought I'd mention it. Anyway, before long, the fast-talking, drinkin', smokin', hittin'-on-other-guys'-girlfriends reporter Andy is on the case. (Man, there were a lot of commas in that sentence.)

The new Distrcict Attorney is Lionel, played by an actor who really reminds me of somebody, but I never did figure out who. He's determined to pick up where Henderson left off, and get to the bottom of these corporate fraud shenanigans. Also, his girlfriend is the daughter of Mr. Cromwell, who just happens to be one of the major forces in said shenanigans. Whoops.

And then... hmm. I know I stayed awake the whole time. What happened next? Some other guy got killed. There were three men with nearly identical moustaches, whom I could never tell apart. Andy did some pretty good forensic work, figuring out whose gun fired the bullet that killed Henderson. And then, yada yada yada, as Andy and Lionel get closer to unravelling the web of scandal, blah blah blah, their very lives are in danger, oogly oogly oogly.

Is It Scary?
I'm not even going to dignify that question with a response. You should be ashamed for asking.

Lessons I Learned

  • Never get in a car with a guy who plans to crash into a train.
  • 73 minutes is still too long for this movie.
  • The world has gone MAD!
My Favorite Lines
  • Newspaper Guy: "How do you spell Poughkeepsie?"
    Andy: "Poughkeepsie. P-O... P... Ah, just make it Yonkers and let it ride."
  • Andy: "[You're reading] Casanova?"
    Moustache Man: "It's literature, my friend."
    Andy: "Yeah, with a capital 'sewer'!"
Body Count
Six! Isn't that MAD?

Comments
• It's possible that this story could make for a good movie with a different script and different direction and different actors. Corporate corruption thrillers can be quite entertaining if they're actually... thrilling. Which is not to say this film doesn't have action. Why, one scene featured Andy dialing a phone. And when he got no answer... DIALED AGAIN!

• Andy is played by Pat O'Brian, but it's not the guy who hosts Access Hollywood. That would just be weird... especially because he hadn't been born yet when this movie was made.

• There was a lot of filler. One scene featured Andy sitting on a bed with Chris Bruno's girlfriend for what seemed like ten minutes... in the dark! We couldn't see them at all! Maybe this was supposed to be artistic, but it just looked like somebody forgot to turn on the lights.

• There was a constant noise in the background of every scene... I'm sure it's a product of the poor condition of this print of the film, but it sounded like somebody was taking a shower on the set, or playing an accordian made of cellophane.

• This movie was made in 1933, so it's about selfish, greedy executives profiting at a time when all the normal people in the country were struggling. Good thing that would never happen today!

• In one scene, the characters stood in front of a poster for the movie The Vampire Bat. Hey, I've watched that movie for the very classic horror movie blog you're reading now! Would you believe that both films were made by the same studio? I bet you would.

Letter grade for The World Gone Mad: D
Next film in the 50-movie: The Little Shop of Horrors. The Roger Corman movie, not the Frank Oz version of the off-Broadway musical version of the Roger Corman movie.

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