Bluebeard

 

 (imdb-)

BLUEBEARD- 1944-Paris is gripped by the murders of several young women. The killer has been dubbed Bluebeard by police. Gaston Morel (John Carradine), the puppeteer puts on puppet operas in the park. He takes a liking to Lucille (Jean Parker), a dress designer. After he kills his jealous assistant Renee (Sonia Sorel), it's obvious he's Bluebeard, dumping victims in the Seine after painting their portraits. He hires Lucille to make dresses for a new puppet show he wants to create. A police ispector (Nils Asther) deduces that a recently purchased painting is one of the murdered women. Lucille's sister Francine (Teala Loring) helps the police set a trap to catch Morel. Things don't go as planned. Morel kills Francine, then his lackey (Ludwig Stossel) who he thinks betrayed him. When Lucille suspects Morel is the murderer, instead of going to the inspector, she visits Morel who relates a flashback and his relationship with Jeanette (Anne Sterling) which inspires him to paint an award-winning painting. However, when he visits her place, he finds her a “low, coarse, loathsome creature”. So, he killed her and now must kill every woman he paints. 

Moody thriller with a great performance by Carradine and excellent direction by Edgar Ulmer despite the low PRC budget. Also with Iris Adrian, Harry Cording and Bess Flowers. In the same year, co-star Parker was in DEAD MAN'S EYES with Lon Chaney and ONE BODY TOO MANY with Bela Lugosi!

According to an interview John Carradine gave to Dick Cavett around 1981, the actor said director Edgar Ulmer let him direct a scene.

To read about the story this film is based on:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluebeard

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Red Herring Bela Again

 

 (imdb)

ONE BODY TOO MANY-1944-Insurance agent Albert L. Tuttle (Jack Haley) gets involved with the reading of a millionaire's will and his greedy relatives when he visits the dead guy's home (he doesn't know about the death). The butler Merkle (Bela Lugosi) and the maid (Blanche Yurka) think about poisoning everyone. The relatives mistake Tuttle for a private investigator. The running gag is no one wants to drink their poisoned coffee. Relatives include Lyle Talbott, Douglas Fowley, Dorothy Granger and Lucien Littlefield. The one nice relative is the dead guy's niece (Jean Parker). Meanwhile, Prof. Hilton (William Edmunds) fools around with a telescope in the observatory. A clutching hand threatens Tuttle who manages to wind up in the millionaire's coffin underwater! Later he roams around in the dark with just a towel on. 

Not half bad comedy/horror/murder mystery although once again Lugosi is wasted in a red herring role. Director Frank McDonald also made another murder mystery with Haley called SCARED STIFF (1945).

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 (imdb)

TOMORROW WE LIVE-1942-Julie (Jean Parker) lives in the desert with her cafe owner father Pop (Emmett Lyn). He's involved in some shady deals with a club owner known as "The Ghost" (Ricardo Cortez). He doesn't like Bob (William Marshall), Julie's soldier boyfriend. One night Pop goes to the cafe and demands Julie stop seeing Bob. It turns out The Ghost is blackmailing dad because he's a wanted criminal. After The Ghost kills Pop at the cafe, he runs into trouble with rival gangster Kohler (Frank Hagney). 

A weird compact little film noir by Edgar Ulmer with an interesting performance by Cortez. Star Parker was later in Ulmer's BLUEBEARD.

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