old film 1933?spooky figure has got into a house portrait on the wall, and is seen moving towards the house...

Question

there is a picture of the owners house on the living room wall, and the house owners notice a dark sinister figure has appeared in the picture.. which as the days progress, starts moving towards the house, they look at the portrait next day, and the figure is on the doorstep, and they hear knocking at their own front door....

Answer 1

A spin-off of this great idea was included in the Night Gallery series, I think. If you ever wanted to sit back and watch it from start to finish, I would have you begin by finding a listing of all Night Gallery episodes and I am sure the title for the episode would tell you which episode it most likely was. It's a great little short story, at least the one I recall, and it was very well told. I really hope someone can nail this question better than I have, because now I would really love to know exactly where it appeared, and if there is also a film from the 1930s, as you suggest, that is the original of this same story. Thanks for asking this question, by the way. - G. in South Portland, Maine, U.S.A.

Answer 2

The "Night Gallery" episode with similar plot is "The Cemetary", I think.
Then there's "The Mezzotint", a short story by M.R. James, also similar to this plot, but it was never included on a movie... There was a tv adaptation for the BBC in the 1950's...
And there's an episode with a sinister painting in "Dead of night" (1945)... and another one in "Three cases of murder" (1955)...

Answer 3

I agree, sounds like THE MEZZOTINT by M.R.James.
About 5 years ago in the UK, over the Christmas holiday, Robert Powell read ghost stories, in five (I think it was), 30 min episodes on television.
One of them was THE MEZZOTINT.

Answer 4

I know the film you mean, but for the life of me I can't think of the name, sorry.

Answer 5

Sorry, I don't know but it sounds really good.

Answer 6

I don't know,but,it sounds good!