SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Three happy tourists are sunning themselves in France : a young man called Gerald, his fiancee Kitty and Kitty's aunt. Although Gerald is a pretty easy-going and relaxed young man, he has Great Expectations, since his baronet uncle owns a whopping big castle in Scotland, complete with gardens and maze. Unexpectedly, he receives a telegram begging him to travel to Scotland as soon as possible. Obeying the summons, he interrupts his holiday. Kitty and her aunt impatiently await his news. They wait in vain...I like mazes and I like horror movies, so how could I resist watching "The maze" ? However, the movie left me with mixed feelings. In many aspects it's a well-made movie, with a slow-burning and atmospheric build-up which would grace any decent horror or thriller movie. Sadly for all concerned the central mystery, which also constituted the big reveal, was.. how to put it politely... silly. Almost everything or anything would have been more scary or more impressive : a circus poodle walking on a ball, a little boy dressed in a Thanksgiving costume, five Protestant elders discussing Predestination, a sketch of a dinosaur egg, a package of chips, a gospel choir rehearsing "Amazing Grace".It is possible that the late and great Lovecraft might have pulled this off, but "The maze" certainly didn't... 7 stars may be overly generous but I do like a nice maze.

The Maze is directed by William Cameron Menzies and adapted to screenplay by Daniel Ullman from a story by Maurice Sandoz. It stars Richard Carlson, Veronica Hurst, Katherine Emery, Michael Pate, John Dodsworth and Hillary Brooke. Music is by Marlin Skiles and cinematography by Harry Neumann.Scotsman Gerald MacTeam (Carlson) suddenly breaks off his engagement to Kitty Murray (Hurst) and moves to his recently deceased uncle's castle in the Scottish highlands. Kitty wonders why and decides to travel to Craven Castle with her auntie Edith (Emery). Upon arriving they find Gerald a changed man, prematurely aged and acting in a most peculiar way. Just what is going on at this mysterious castle? What is the secret of the big maze out in the grounds?One of the early ventures into stereoscopic filming, The Maze is a delightfully off-kilter movie. As pretty much anyone who has seen it can attest, the ending, the culmination of great building by Menzies, is so far off the scale it borders on the preposterous, and for many it ruins the picture. Certainly myself had to rewind to check what I had just seen, for I felt like I must have nodded off and slipped into some sort of bad liquor induced dream!That said, for an hour this is a triumph of atmospherics and set design. Menzies and Neumann cover the story with foggy exteriors and murky shadows, while the interior of the castle is a classic case of Gothic horror textures, with Skiles' musical accompaniments are perfectly evocative. The narrative smoothly moves along with the air of mystery hanging heavy, where the visitors to Craven are locked in their rooms at night, thus at night from the gap under the doors of the bedrooms a slow moving shadow is glimpsed roaming the corridors. What is it? What is it in the distant maze that is shuffling around? Leaving weird footprints around the grounds?The characters are a stock group for the story, with intrepid girls investigating, shifty servants (naturally), well intentioned friends and lord of the manor harbouring a secret. Menzies fluidly uses the castle and grounds for atmospheric effects, neatly placing the characters within the palpable sense of dread and tragedy, and there truly are some striking scenes, especially the build up sequence to the revelation at film's climax. Then it's that ending...On reflection the makers missed a trick, the chance to really create a terrifying shock, but you have to say it's also a product of its time and budget. And whilst I understand fully the groans and laughs that derail what has gone before, there is a sadness right there in the reveal, a touching tragedy that bears thought even if the ludicrousness of it all is practically impossible to forgive. 7/10

Moody, atmospheric and beautifully lensed Gothic thriller about an ancestral castle and its dark secret. A man about to be married (Richard Carlson) is abruptly called away to his ancestral estate. He breaks off his engagement to the delectable Veronica Hurst and she and her aunt (Katherine Emery) then travel to the castle to find out what's going on. There is a maze out back and someone or something prowls its corridors late at night. Excellent storyline and quite suspenseful, at least until the shadowy creature is finally revealed. Then it's off to MST3K territory, unfortunately. Up to that point, a very good ride that may remind some of 1960's "The Haunting." The focus is often on Hurst, and justifiably so. She looks terrific, even with her 1950s perm and makeup. Definitely not one of Carlson's best, and the film is largely forgotten today.

"The Maze" is a lot of fun and a great example of a certain type of B-movie. It has remained firmly stuck in my mind for two reasons:First, the ending is just totally bizarre and out of left-field. Some of the other reviewers have mentioned it, but I don't really think that they have conveyed just out strange it is. I never saw it coming. It's also hilarious, though the movie plays the situation with a straight face.Second, once the movie ended (and it actually wraps up very quickly once the "solution" is presented), I could not help but start thinking about what had been said. For one thing, the Baronet describes the original master (who is basically a 203-year-old giant frog...seriously...not somebody with a frog-like face, but a real frog) as enjoying the chance to take off his cloak and swim in the pond. The whole frog with a cloak image still sticks in my mind. Then there's the question of how the frog manages to convey his wishes to the servants and his heirs, since he apparently runs the place. And why do the heirs all die at a relatively young age? The stress of caring for their great-great-great-grandfrog? Inquiring minds like mine want to know. In short, this film leave a lot of unanswered questions. Don't miss it.