PRC Murder

 

 (imdb)

THE LADY CONFESSES-1945-Larry Craig's wife Norma (Barbara Slater) returns after disappearing 7 years before. Larry (Hugh Beaumont) had planned to marry his girlfriend Vicki (top billed Mary Beth Hughes; I ACCUSE MY PARENTS) but Norma says that will never happen while she's alive. A few hours later she's murdered. Police Captain Brown (Emmett Vogan) investigates with his prime suspects being Harry, Vicki and club owner Lucky (Edmund McDonald) who may have been having an affair with Mrs. C. Later after a nightclub singer is killed, we learn who the murderer is. 

This small budget kind of clever PRC murder mystery was one of 11 movies directed by Sam Newfield in 1945. He also made WHITE PONGO the same year.

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George Sanders

 

BLUEBEARD'S TEN HONEYMOONS-1960-Antique dealer Henri Landru (George Sanders) falls for cabaret singer Odette (Corinne Calvet). She says she needs 3000 francs to help her sick mother (yeah right). He tries to borrow money from another dealer (George Coulouris) and sell his watch but to no avail. Odette dumps him but he's persistent. He meets widow Vivian (Patricia Roc) and woos her to get her money and accidentally kills her but makes it look like suicide. He gives Odette the money even though he finds her with another man. Vivian's sister Giselle (Ingrid Hafner) goes to the police but they can't help. He then romances Juliette Gullin (Jean Kent) and eventually takes her to a secluded villa where he poisons her, cuts up her body and burns it. He repeats this process several more times just to make the ungrateful Odette love him. When one woman stalls their marriage plans he strangles her in a bathtub. 

Then he meets Jeanette (Greta Gynt) and after stabbing her to death, pretends to be her dead husband to get the contents of a safety deposit box. He also tries to bamboozle Mrs. Boyer (Selma Vas Diaz) about her dead husband being alive but then he catches Odette with another man. He takes her to the villa and gives her the kill, chop and burn treatment. Then Giselle discovers his identity and pays him a visit. They almost miss each other but when they meet he nearly kills her. Fortunately the police arrive and after a brief chase arrest him. In the final scene he is guillotined for his crimes. 

This is not a half bad little thriller made essentially better by the presence of George Sanders in the lead role. It could be the best film made by director W. Lee Wilder (KILLERS FROM SPACE). It was written by his son Myles.

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Vanishing Bride

THE CORPSE VANISHES-1942-Somebody is killing then kidnapping the corpses newlywed brides. 

A young headstrong reporter named Pat (Luana Walters) and her older comic photographer Sandy (Vince Barnett) try to investigate. It's all a fiendish plot by Dr. George Lorenz (Bela Lugosi) who extracts bodily fluid from the dead brides to keep his ungrateful wife, The Countess (Elizabeth Russell) young and vital. Dr. Foster (Tris Coffin) assists Lorenz in a cure for The Countess. Lorenz uses drugged orchids and gets help from “my little family” which includes little Toby (Angelo Rossitto), tough guy Mike (George Eldredge), housekeeper Fagah (Minerva Urecal; also in THE APE MAN with Bela) and her brutish son Angel (Frank Moran) who Lorenz whips. He and his wife also like to sleep in coffins. When Pat is forced to stay at the doc's place for the night she snoops around and sees Angel talking to a dead bride. When Foster sees Lorenz strangle Angel he decides to help Pat by setting up a phony marriage but instead Lorenz drugs and kidnaps her. Before he can make the lethal injection Fagah stabs him to death (he killed her son). When the Countess tries to make the injection Fagah stabs her too. 

This is a typical outrageous Monogram studios Lugosi melodrama with Bela being a pretty cruel guy. Luana Walters is good as the noisy wisecracking lead. Too bad she didn't get better roles. Wallace Fox directed Lugosi in THE BOWERY AFTER MIDNIGHT the same year. He also made several “East Side Kids” comedies. Later he made a bunch of westerns and went into TV. He died in 1958. Sam Katzman was the producer...

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They Got The Clap!

DAMAGED LIVES-1933-The great Edgar Ulmer made this cautionary exploitation drama a year before his horror masterpiece THE BLACK CAT. 

Donald Bradley, a young businessman (Lyman Williams) gets a venereal disease from a one night stand with a woman he meets at a party. He gets married to his fiancee, Joan (Diane Sinclair) and passes it on to her. 

He visits the famous doctor Leonard (Murray Kinnell) who gives him a tour of patients who have long term disabilities from the effects of untreated VD. Madness, blindness, body sores are some of the results. Their family doctor (Jason Robards Sr.) tries to cheer them up but then he won't even let his young son kiss Joan. After she tries to commit suicide and take hubby with her they realize everything will be ok (the medical treat to cure them will take two years) and they live happily ever after. It's based on a French play. 

You can read more about the author of the play here:

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eug%C3%A8ne_Brieux

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