The Maze (1953) IMDB
When we discuss maze movies we have to include The Maze from 1953 for 2 main reasons: 1) The title is The Maze so it definitely qualifies 2) The movie starts with shots of the hedge maze that is central to the entire story. That story is of a Scotsman, called Gerald, who moves into a castle that has an adjoining hedge maze. It seems his uncle has died and left him the large castle and the servants that come with it (we should all be so lucky). Gerald’s ex-fiancé, Kitty, travels to the castle with her aunt to see why he broke off the engagement with a letter. Gerald is acting strangely and has aged since she last saw him. Kitty and her aunt try to figure out what has happened to Gerald.
The hedge maze is key to the story and plot. There is only one rule for the maze - do not enter it, which means of course you are going to enter it. I’m sure everything will be fine…right ? I mean the rule was just meant to be a recommendation. Overall, the atmosphere and tone of the movie is well done and the acting is fine. Unfortunately, the problem with the movie comes in the final act with the big reveal which is disappointing and makes no sense. Maybe we can get AI to remake the last 8 minutes of the film ??? I would compare this to an M Night Shyamalan film that has a nice premise but misses the landing.
Random note: There is an Intermission just over 49 minutes into this 80 minute film. Can we all agree that we need these to come back for today’s 3 hour films ? Who can sit in a theater that long without a break ?
You can give the full movie a watch at the link below. From a historical note the very first 3D color movie came out April 10, 1953, Vincent Price‘s The House of Wax. This film followed shortly after in July of the same year, or as it says on the movie poster “3 DIMENSION” but was filmed in black and white. A few slight changes and this may have been historically significant.
I would give this a 5.7/10.
You can watch the entire movie here: