Old Creaky House

THE CAT AND THE CANARY-1939- Old house mystery turned into a vehicle for Bob Hope. 10 years after the death of millionaire Cyrus Norman, his remaining relatives gather for the reading of his will in his spooky Louisiana bayou mansion, watched over by the equally spooky caretaker Miss Lu (Gale Sondergaard). The heir most likely to gain the inheritance is Joyce Norman (Paulette Goddard) but if she is proven insane before a certain period of time the money goes to the second heir. Only the family lawyer (George Zucco, a busy actor in 1939) knows who that will be but when he's killed weird things happen to Joyce to make her seem unstable. Hope is a wisecracking actor and relative who helps Joyce find out what's really happening in a story that features secret panels, strange sounds, a clutching hand and a search for a rare necklace. John Beal, Douglas Montgomery, Elizabeth Patterson and Nydia Westman are the other relatives. Charles Lane appears as a reporter.

 

This is actually a remake of a 1927 silent film directed by Paul Leni and there are at least 4 other versions including one made in 1979 directed by Radley Metzger.

 

Former actor Eliot Nugent (he'd direct Hope again in MY FAVORITE BLONDE) also worked with Danny Kaye and Harold Lloyd and made a version of THE GREAT GATSBY starring Alan Ladd in 1949. His career was hampered by alcohol and mental condition and he retired in the early '50's. Hope and Goddard would team up again a year later in GHOST BREAKERS.

 

Thanks for reading!

Bela's Baby Blues In Color

SCARED TO DEATH-1947-This very weird low budget murder mystery (filmed in "natural color") is Bela Lugosi's only color film! And it's narrated by a dead woman! 

Just before an autopsy is to be performed on her, murder victim Laura Van Ee (Molly Lamont) decides to relate a flashback to the audience. She's a paranoid wife who believes her husband (Roland Varno) and her father in law Dr. Van Ee (George Zucco) are trying to drive her crazy so she will give the husband a divorce. Nat Pendleton is a dumb house detective who's sweet on the comic maid (Gladys Blake). Lugosi shows up as Prof. Leonide, the doctor's European cousin! He's accompanied by Indigo (Angelo Rossitto in his third movie with Bela), "a dwarf, one of the little men". The characters all talk very mysteriously and a figure in a blue mask keeps poking it's head in a window once in a while. Since the plot has something to do with a dancer in a green mask I suppose the cheap color process used here wasn't working very well.

Later, a clichéd fast talking reporter (Douglas Fowley) shows up to try and help Laura. Leonide and Indigo creep around and Lugosi really hams it up. It all has to do with a green scarf, a spy, revenge, a cross dresser and a murder committed 20 years before. The funniest part is when the doctor who's going to do the autopsy comes up to the body and says to his assistant "Is this the body?".

Director Christy Cabanne was nearly at the end of his long career that had started in 1912! Some of his other movies included GRAFT, the 1934 version of JANE EYRE and THE MUMMY'S HAND.

Thanks for reading!

By Night but in America

LONDON BY NIGHT-1937-Murder mystery (with comic overtones) set in London but shot in an MGM studio with American actors (some with phony accents). Future US Senator George Murphy plays a newspaper reporter who gets involved with “The Umbrella Murderer”(Leo G. Carroll) but he just wants to go on vacation with his pet dog. The always entertaining George Zucco is Inspector Jones. Leading lady Rita Johnson (in her film debut) had roles in many films later on (EDISON THE MAN, HERE COMES MR. JORDAN, THE NAUGHTY NINTIES) but suffered brain damage from a blow to the head in 1948 and there after made only a few appearances. Also with Virginia Field, Eddie Quillen and Maontagu Love. Director William Thiele directed a couple of Tarzan movies then went into TV.

Thanks for reading!

Fly Like A Serpent...

Never one to waste a good idea twice basement budget movie studio PRC thought sufficent time had passed to re-make THE DEVIL BAT which starred Bela Lugosi in 1940. They put a little twist in the story just in case anyone thought it might sound familiar and re-titled it THE FLYING SERPENT (1946).

Dr. Andrew Forbes (George Zucco) is a crazy archeologist who has discovered an Aztec treasure and wants to keep it all to himself. To ensure his greedy tendencies he even has the legendary Mexican flying monster Quetzalcoatl guarding the treasure and dispatching locals who get in his way. Instead of using a skin lotion like Bela's mad doctor did, Forbes plants a feather on or near his intended victims. Two big city radio reporters (Ralph Lewis and Eddie Acuff) investigate the murders with the help of Forbes' step-daughter (Hope Kramer) and eventually Forbes is destroyed by his own creation.

THE FLYING SERPENT is an ok hour's deversion. No one played rationally insane villains better than George Zucco. He really seems demented in several scenes! He had an unusual career appearing in big Hollywood productions (SUDAN, JOAN OF ARK; was Moriarty in THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES) but seemed to make his mark as an evil scientist or eccentric doctor in Poverty Row productions like THE BLACK RAVEN, SCARED TO DEATH, FOG ISLAND and DEAD MEN WALK. His strangest credit though is in THE RETURN OF THE APE MAN in 1944. Although his name is in the credits he appears nowhere in the film! Also unexplained is how his character of Dr. Forbes got a hold of a mythological flying reptile!

None of TFS's other leads seemed to go on to much else but Western actor and low budget film regular Henry Hall is the local sheriff, an early victim.

To say Director Sam Newfield (here billed as Sherman Scott) was a fast worker is putting it mildly. THE FLYING SERPENT was one of 15 movies he directed in 1946!

Not letting any plot idea lay dormant too long this story was revised and re-made two years later as a Charlie Chan mystery called THE FEATHERED SERPENT! (Roland Winters was Chan)

Thanks for reading! Have a great weekend!

Aloha Charlie!

CHARLIE CHAN IN HONOLULU-1939-This is the first Chan portrayal by Sidney Toler who took over the role after the first series regular Warner Oland died in 1938.The murder mystery takes place mostly on a cargo ship full of circus animals. The story coincides with a sub-plot of the birth of Chan’s first grandchild. The opening scene features Charlie, his wife and their 13 children eating dinner. Victor Sen Young is No. 2 son Jimmy who tries to solve the ship board murder before “Pop” even gets there. He gets some help from No. 5 son Willie (Layne Tom Jr., who’s character should have been in more of the series). George Zucco is at his eerie and eccentric best as Dr. Cardigan, a mysterious scientist with a human brain in his cabin!

Phyllis Brooks (who’s also in the later CC in Reno), John “Dusty” King (who later became a Western star for Monogram), Eddie Collins, Claire Dodd and Marc Lawrence also star. Phillip Ahn (who was actually of Korean descent) plays Chan’s nervous son in law.

This was the only Chan/Toler film directed by H. Bruce Humberstone who had directed three previous ones with Oland.

Thanks reading!

The Fur Flies

WHO KILLED DOC ROBBIN?-(1948)-This is a Technicolor haunted house mystery produced by Hal Roach and starring a bunch of "Little Rascals" wannabes. There's a freckled face coward, a smart guy, the tough leader, 2 girls and two younger black kids "affectionally" called Dis & Dat which takes ethnic stereotyping to new heights (or depths). "The Gang" spends a lot of time in the haunted home of a dead scientist, where they are terrorized by an ape (guy in a costume ), trap doors and other nonsense. In a flashback we learn "Doc" is a suspicious doctor (George Zucco) who wants the invention of an old man who is a friend of the brats. Although it is dated 1948 some "war time" references to Japan seem to say it might have been made earlier.

If you want to see low budget color mysteries watch SCARED TO DEATH instead. Not only does it have Zucco but it's Bela Lugosi's only color film...and it's narrated by a dead woman!!!!

CATMAN OF PARIS-(1946)-Republic Studios was best known for their low budget westerns and serials but occasionally ventured into adventure, action or like this entry, horror.

Carl Esmond (a US actor born in Austria who had a short Hollywood career) plays author Charles Rene who may turn into a catman due to a bout with tropical fever. Douglas Dumbrille plays his friend. Lenore Aubert (later in ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN) is his fiance'. He has bouts of amnesia and can't remember where he was when a murder occurs (so you know right away he ain't the killer!).

He has a wild fight in a cafe with four guys (including Anthony Caruso and John Dehner). It turns out that the cat like creature appears every once in the while when the planets are aligned a certain way. Massacre of Christians, Middle East wars and the victims of Ivan The Terrible are all blamed on him! The wild police team of Gerald Mohr and Fritz Feld try to figure it all out.

A creature does show up at the end ("It really is a catman" declares Mohr) with furry face, fangs and pointy finger nails. Everyone has terrible French accents. Director Lesley Selander was an assistant director from 1925 to 1936 before he directed his first film. He made over 130 movies until his retirement in 1968. Star Esmond was later in low budget stuff like FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON and AGENT OF H.A.R.M. Douglas Dumbrille usually played villains or corrupt officials several times against The Marx Bros. and Abbott & Costello. Gerald Mohr was an actor and narrator who voiced "Reed Richards" in the first FANTASTIC FOUR cartoon show in the '60's.

Thanks fo reading!