Nazis in America

 

 (imdb)

NO ESCAPE-1943-Nazis in America break a forger Torgut Lane (Dean Jagger) out of jail. A guy named Gerard (Ian Keith) makes a deal with him and has his death faked. He's taken to a secret hideout inside a carnival run by Martin (John Carradine; in REVENGE OF THE ZOMBIES the same year) and Bergen (Sidney Blackmer). When he finds out they are Nazis he doesn't want to do their dirty work. He tries to escape but is whipped and his mother's life is threatened. He tries to convince his young “watchdog” Gordon (Bill Henry) to help him. He uses a woman named Helen (Mary Brian) to soften Gordon up. 

Small Monogram production with good cast directed by Harold Young (THE FROZEN GHOST, THE JUNGLE CAPTIVE (both 1945)). Spanky McFarland has a small role. Carradine also played a mean Nazi in HITLER'S MADMEN the same year. Aka I ESCAPED THE GESTAPO.

Thanks for reading!

Vampire?

THE VALLEY OF THE ZOMBIES-1946-Dopey Dr. Evans (Robert Livingston) romances nurse Susan Drake (Adrian Booth aka Lorna Gray) . Their boss Dr. Maynard (Charles Trowbridge) tells them blood is missing from their supply. Later that night Maynard is visited by an ex-patient Oraman Merks (Ian Keith) who says he takes some kind of voodoo drug that brought him back from the dead and now he needs blood to survive. He kills the doctor. Then we learn that Maynard's chemist (Earle Hodges) is Merks' brother who'd been stealing the blood. Merks kills him too and embalms both bodies. Detective Blair is sure Evans and Susan are the killers. The pair go to the old Merks home and discover Merks' coffin empty. Eventually Merks kidnaps Sarah making her his hypnotized slave. Just when it looks like Sarah will kill Evans, Blair shoots Merks and he falls to his death. 

This crazy little Republic studios short film (57 minutes) directed by Phillip Ford doesn't make much sense. Ian Keith was one of the handful of actors considered for the title role in the original DRACULA before Lugosi.

Oh yeah...and no zombies!

Thanks for reading!

Zucco & Atwill!

FOG ISLAND-1945-Gail (Sharon Douglas) lives on an isolated island with her step-father Leo (George Zucco), a disgraced financier who blames his former clients for his downfall and the murder of his wife and a jail sentence. To get revenge he invites them to his gloomy old home and also engages the services of his former cellmate Doc Lake (Ian Keith) to help him. The butler Allerton (George Lloyd) spies on them the whole time from behind a suit of armor. Alec Ritchfield (Lionell Atwill), phony psychic Emilline (Jacqueline daWit), John Kavanaugh (Jerome Cowan) and his secretary Sylvia (Veda Ann Borg) are the guests/suspects/victims. 

Also aboard is Jeff Kingsley (John Whitney), the son of a now dead associate who seems to have had a “relationship” with Gail prior to coming to the island. She plays the ice princess (and also an organ) while Jeff tries to break her down. Leo talks very mysteriously and gives each of his guests a small token (a skull, a key, a pen,a  knife) to keep them guessing. Everyone is suspicious of each other and we learn butler Allerton is really an escaped con who Lake kills. Meanwhile a short seance is held and Jeff finds a secret passage. He meets Gail in the fog and once again unsuccessfully tries to woo her. Their scenes together really drag. 

Things pick up a little when Leo accuses Ritchfield of murdering his wife and Ritchfield kills Leo. He disposes of the corpse, putting it in a secret floor space where there's a skeleton. Unknown to Ritchfield, Lake has been watching the whole thing. After Ritchfield kills Emiline, Kavanaugh and Sylvia go looking for him and Jeff and Lake have a fist fight. Lake subdues Jeff and goes after the others who are looking for Leo’s fortune in an underground cave. Gail revives Jeff and they find her mom's jewels hidden in a weird desk. Meanwhile the four greedy survivors meet a watery death in a cave Leo booby trapped. Seems to take place in one night. Everyone talks about going to bed but no one ever takes off their evening clothes! 

Another very low budget but enjoyable mystery from PRC directed by Terry Morse (who was later credited with directing the added US scenes in the original GODZILLA). 

https://moviemeltdown.blogspot.com/2016/12/charlie-again.html

https://moviemeltdown.blogspot.com/2014/02/pre-super-reeves.html

It's based on a 1937 stage play.

Thanks for reading!

Happy New Year!

ABRAHAM LINCOLN-1930-This was the first sound film made by the legendary DW Griffith but for years inferior copies missing some scenes had been the only ones in circulation. A few years ago Kino put out a version with the missing scenes restored but the soundtrack for these parts seems to be lost and are shown with subtitles.

Walter Huston plays Honest Abe. The prologue shows a horrifying slave ship (though the African slaves seem mostly to be made up white actors) where some slaves are thrown overboard. The episodic biography begins with his log cabin birth, rail splitting, courting of Ann Rutledge (Una Merkel) and his subsequent pining after her death, meeting and marrying Mary Todd (Kay Hammond), his debates with Stephen Douglas and his election to the presidency and of course The Civil War. It all happens at a fairly brisk clip with each period dealt with just a couple of scenes (although the War is more detailed). It ends with his assassination by fanatical John Wilkes Booth (Ian Keith). Jason Robards Sr. plays his friend Billy.

Like many early "talkies" however it suffers from a mediocre script, stilted acting and stage play like direction. In an earlier scene Huston is wearing a ridiculous amount of make-up but his performance when Lincoln becomes president is heartfelt. Stephan Vincent Benet is credited with the adaptation. Griffith made only one more film after this.

Thanks again to my pal Tony for finding this and thanks for reading!