The Phantom of Crestwood

Beautiful courtesan Jenny Wren [Karen Morley] intends to retire to Europe, sailing first class and alone, for once. To make the plan stick, she gathers four wealthy, powerful former lovers—Priam Andes [H.B. Warner], Will Jones [Gavin Gordon], Eddie Mack [Richard ‘Skeets’ Gallagher], and Herbert Walcott [Robert McWade]—along with Walcott’s wife and Jones’ fiancée, for an improvised weekend gathering at Andes’ seaside ranch. Jenny makes it clear that the point of the retreat is not fancy leisure but leverage: she has a hand in their affairs, and she wants them to fund her future. She also informs Andes that his nephew and heir, Frank Andes [Matty Kemp], is engaged to her younger sister, Esther Wren [Anita Louise], a detail that will complicate loyalties as the night unfolds. Esther and Frank themselves arrive at Jenny’s apartment and decide to join the others at the ranch, adding another layer of family ties to the web of interest that surrounds Jenny.

A shadowy figure, Farnsbarns, has been tailing Jenny, hinting at danger that may not be far behind. Once the group reaches La Casa de Andes (1804) near Crestwood, the guests settle into a tense, uneasy atmosphere as they play a few darts and exchange guarded small talk. Andes introduces a mysterious Mr. Vayne [Ivan F. Simpson], a guest with secrets of his own, while Andes’ sister Faith Andes [ Pauline Frederick] arrives unexpectedly, carrying her own fixation on the family’s bloodline and a protective eye on the engagement between Esther and Frank. The skies gather dark clouds, and a storm begins to thunder overhead, setting a claustrophobic stage for what Jenny has planned—and for what may unfold when the weather breaks.

The mood shifts as Jenny makes her demand: money from each man in accordance with his means—Jones must ante up $50,000, Andes $100,000, Mack $25,000, and Walcott a staggering $250,000. Andes warns that Vayne plans to pursue Jenny as a lover or kept mistress; Jenny, however, is intent on ending such entanglements. In a disturbing delivery, her maid Carter interrupts with a small box containing a fraternity pin, a symbol that attacks Jenny’s sense of control. Disturbed, she reveals another, more personal reason for her fear: a flashback to a Adirondack winter, when a young man from a wealthy family offered her a fraternity pin with a grim condition—marriage before 25 would deprive him of his father’s fortune. She returns the pin and warns him to stay away from the “hungry Mama bears,” but the memory of the man haunts her. The pin’s delivery is said to be a chilling reminder of death, and the image of the young man’s face locks in her memory as the storm rages outside.

Midnight arrives with a clatter of fear, as Farnsbarns is seen prowling downstairs. Jenny screams and staggers from her room, a dart protruding from her neck. He catches her; she murmurs a single, chilling line: > “That face.” He lays her body on the sofa and departs, but a landslide blocks the road, trapping the house in a web of weather and secrets. Faith calls Crestwood’s police, but Farnsbarns—who has introduced himself to Esther as Gary Curtis, a New York private detective—quickly interrupts. He has joined forces with Pete Harris [Sam Hardy] and his henchmen to recover a set of love letters Jenny supposedly possesses. Curtis initiates his own investigation, knowing that if the police arrive first, they may pin the crime on him; he must uncover the truth before they can.

Curtis and Frank locate Esther unconscious in Jenny’s room, and she recalls having spoken to Faith before she went to Jenny’s apartment. Esther was struck with a candlestick, a deliberate attempt to eliminate a witness. Curtis presses suspects, including Mr. Vayne, who eventually confesses that his real name is Henry T. Herrick. The house is plunged into darkness again as a disturbing white face flickers in and out of sight. Herrick dies of a heart attack after a desperate blackout of memory, and Esther cries, “Wait, I remember now!” only to be struck anew when the lights return and a second dart narrowly misses her neck.

Morning comes, but the fear endures. Esther sleeps, locked in her room, and Faith is left tending her sister’s wounds and fears. Curtis grows more frustrated: if Esther had been killed, Faith would be the obvious suspect, and that line of thinking would not easily clear the air. Carter disappears, and Curtis and Harris descend into the grounds to inspect a tunnel at the cliff. They discover Carter’s body and the death mask she carried, a macabre connective thread to the earlier threat Jenny faced. Back inside, Curtis stands in the place where Jenny’s killer stood and repeats the fatal dart throw with his body, knocking a hidden wall with his hand. A ruby ring chip is found embedded in the wall, revealing the motive that had driven the entire gathering.

Faith Andes realizes that she mistook Jenny for Esther, and, with a calculated resolve, uses a tunnel to guide Esther to the cliff’s edge. The confrontation culminates as Faith confesses her deception before Esther, Frank, Curtis, and Harris, with a patrol plane overhead as the evidence of motive and opportunity closes in. Curtis, facing Faith, tips a stone over the edge with his toe, a final act that seals the confession and ends her scheme. “Thank you,” Faith says softly, and she follows it into the void. Esther and Frank cling to one another as Curtis and Harris walk away, leaving behind a night of manipulation, danger, and the slow, careful unmasking of a deadly family ruse.

This layered tale blends glamour and menace, showing how wealth, reputation, and old loyalties can become weapons in the hands of a schemer. As the storm passes and the morning light arrives, the characters are left to reckon with who survives, who deceives, and who finally chooses honesty over the enticing but perilous pull of power.

Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 12:33