As Madame Saturnia in the murder-mystery Castle in the Desert, the distinguished Ethel Griffies definitely steals the show. The last Charlie Chan film produced by 20th Century Fox Studios, this adventure finds Chan (then Sidney Toler) investigating a poisoning at the titular establishment. Beckoned there by a note that no one claims to have written, Chan is soon joined by his overeager son (Sen Yung) and Saturnia.
While Griffies, as previously reported here, has such projects as The Birds and Stranger on the Third Floor on her resume, Saturnia is probably her most horror-ready role. In commune with the supernatural elements, she spends the majority of the picture popping around a ruinous basement facility. Seemingly completely off kilter, she actually accurately predicts what is about to happen as every shady plot twist comes to life.
Giving fully into the wily witchery of the role, the actress is a perfect foil for Toler and one wishes that these two characters had been brought together more often.
Nicely, while Griffies had often played up the archness of her persona in other projects, here she is all heroine – although a perfectly strange and completely unusual one.
Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!
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