Superstition, Perhaps. Baloney, Perhaps Not

(alarmy)

 

THE BLACK CAT-1934-Peter Allison (David Manners) and his wife Joan (Jacqueline Wells aka Julie Bishop) are on their way to Vichgrad, must share their honeymoon rail card with Dr. Vitus Werdeghast (Bela Lugosi) who's on a mission of vengeance after having spent 15 years in a POW camp. When the talkative driver (Herman Bing) smashes up their cab, the newlyweds are forced to seek shelter in the art deco home of the sinister Hjalmar Poelzig (Boris Karloff), the very man Werdeghast (who has a fear of cats) has come to see. Joan is injured in the crash. Poelzig is a traitor who has built his domain on a killing field. Besides that, he stole Werdeghast's' wife and daughter. Unfortunately, both are now dead. Poelzig even has her preserved dead body. But Karin, the daughter is now actually Poelzig's lover/wife/prisoner. Still, he seems to lust for Joan. When the couple wants to leave, they are prevented by Werdeghast's servant (Harry Cording). Later, Joan meets Karin and Poelzig punishes her. Poelzig is a devil worshiper who plans to have a black mass with Joan as the special guest sacrifice. Werdeghast rescues Joan and tells him his daughter is still alive. With the help of his servant Werdeghast overcomes Poelzig and skins him alive. But when he tries to help Joan, dummy Peter mortally shoots him. Husband and wife escape as Werdeghast blows up the castle. 

This sometimes-disturbing pre-code, Universal horror film shows director Edgar Ulmer at his finest. He seems to be pushing the envelope with some of the situations that are only implied. This is also one of Karloff's best villainous roles with Lugosi giving a good performance, but his demise is kind of a letdown (couldn't he or Karloff had lived at the end of at least one of their movies?!). 

John Carradine has a small role as a satanic organist. Some of the other uncredited cult members include King Baggott, Symona Boniface (from 3 Stooges shorts), Michael Mark and Andy Devine.

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Hall-Montez

 

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COBRA WOMAN-1944-Ramu (Jon Hall) & Tulia (Maria Montez) are to be married. On their wedding day she's kidnap by Hava (Lon Chaney), a sinister looking guy pretending to be blind. Ramu's friend McDonald (Moroni Olsen) says Tulia has been taken back to the treacherous "Cobra Island" where she was born. Ramu journeys to the island to rescue her accompanied by a local talkative young guy Kado (the one and only Sabu). Once there Ramu spies Tulia swimming and goes to her. They embrace but she seems rather distant. After they part, he's captured and sentenced to die. Kado meets up with Tula and the Queen of the island (Mary Nash).

It turns out the woman Ramu met was not Tula but her evil sister Narja who rules the island using sacrifices to a volcano and the help of evil fiancée, Martok (Edgar Barrier). It turns out Hava is not bad but a servant of the Queen who brought Tulia back to rule.

Universal made several of these Technicolor tropical adventures with Hall & Montez. Mostly considered camp, they do have a cult following. A dance in front of a cobra is kind of funny and Chaney is once again wasted in a mute role. Directed by Robert Siodmak, a year after making SON OF DRACULA with Chaney.

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The First Wolf

 

 (imdb)

WEREWOLF OF LONDON-1935-An English botanist Wilfred Glendon (Henry Hull) is bitten by a werewolf while searching for a rare plant in Tibet. Back in London his unhappy wife Lisa (Valerie Hobson; the same year as BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN) is courted by an American (Lester Matthews; in THE RAVEN the same year). Glendon is visited by Dr. Yogami (Warner Oland; well into the Charlie Chan series), who tells him of two cases of “werewolfery” in London. It seems Yogami is the werewolf that bit the Glendon in Tibet. When his hand turns hairy Glendon uses the plant, Moonlight Bloom to stop the transformation but he's warned by Yogami that the plant is not a cure but a temporary antidote. When Yogami steals another plant, the doc turns into a scary wolf man and goes hunting for the thing he loves the most. He almost kills his wife's aunt (Spring Byington) but kills a prostitute instead. Later he goes after the missus and is shot by the police inspector. 

WEREWOLF OF LONDON is a classic 1930's horror film from Universal pictures. The wolf man himself (Jack P. Pierce's make-up though he's uncredited) is quite scary even when he's wearing a hat and coat and there's a lot of spooky nighttime scenes. Director Stuart Walker only made 12 movies. Others include GREAT EXPECTATIONS (1934) (also with Henry Hull) and THE MYSTERY OF EDWARD DROOD (also 1935). He also did work on Paramount's “Bulldog Drummond” series around this time too.

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Rondo Returns

  (wikipedia)

THE BRUTE MAN-1946-When a string of brutal murders credited to "The Creeper" hit town, a police chief (Donald McBride) and his Lieutenant (Peter Whitney) suspect a guy named Hal Moffat whose face was disfigured in a college chemistry experiment. He's out for revenge on the people he blames for his predicament especially classmates Clifford Scott (Tom Neal; in DETOUR the year before) and his wife Virginia (Jan Wiley). While killing and stalking potential victims Hal (the unforgettable Rondo Hatton in his last movie) meets Helen (Jane Adams), a blind piano teacher and they kind of bond. 

Helen needs money for an eye operation so Hal goes to Scott and demands money. Scott shoots Hal but he kills Scott and takes Virginia's jewels and gives them to Helen. When she has them appraised she learns all about her mysterious benefactor. She helps trap him and he's arrested. The movie actually ends on a comic note. 

This was originally a Universal Pictures production which was suppose to introduce Rondo Hatton as their new horror star (“the monster without make-up”) but Hatton died before the movie was released. Though the studio made no bones about their plan to exploit Hatton's looks while he was alive, it seems after his death they were a little more than embarrassed by presenting an actor with a real physical condition (acromegaly) as a guy who was a monster and his character in the film had once been “normal” before an explosion.

 Cutting their loses, controversy and questionable taste, Universal sold the film to Monogram who released it on a double bill. Work horse director Jean Yarbrough had already worked with Rondo Hatton earlier in the year in HOUSE OF HORRORS and made SHE-WOLF OF LONDON and three other features in 1946. Fred Colby plays Hal before "the accident" and Tris Coffin, Pat Costello and John Hamilton have un-billed roles. 

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Mummy Time!

 

(IMDB)

THE MUMMY'S TOMB-1942-Stephan Banning (Dick Foran in old age makeup) relates his tale from 30 years before of the search for Egyptian princess Ananka (events told in the previous THE MUMMY'S HAND). Also present are his son John (John Hubbard), John's girlfriend Isobel (Elyse Knox) and her mother Mrs. Evans (Virginia Brissac). Banning takes satisfaction in knowing he destroyed the mummy, Kharis. 

However in Egypt Prof. Andoheb (George Zucco) did not die and neither did Kharis. Andoheb clues his new discipline Mehenet (Turhan Bey) in on to how to control the mummy with tana leaves. Mehenet and Kharis head to the US for revenge. The bandaged monster's first victim is Ban-ning. The sheriff invest⁹igates because strange dust marks are found on his throat. Then Babe (Wallace Ford as an old man) arrives but Kharis comes back and kills Banning's elderly sister (Mary Gordon). Babe is the next victim. John finds a torn bandage and takes it to Prof. Norman (Frank Reicher) who confirms it comes from a mummy. Then John gets a draft notice and proposes to Isobel. Mehenet hangs around and clearly desires Isobel. He wants to make her his wife and commands Kharis to kidnap her. The mummy is not happy about it but does it anyway. A posse is formed to find her. Mehenet plans to make himself and Isobel immortal. The posse confronts him and he's shot by the sheriff. Kharis and Isobel are trapped in the burning Banning house but John rescues her (and is almost strangled by Kharis). The poor mummy burns up again and John and Isobel get married.

TOMB is arguably the best of the Lon Chaney Mummy series but did they really have to kill off the characters from the previous entry? Director Harold Young had made THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL with Leslie Howard in 1934 but later on was mostly a B-movie director. In 1945 he worked with Chaney again on one of the “Inner Sanctum” series, THE FROZEN GHOST and made THE JUNGLE CAPTIVE, the last entry into the “Paula, the Ape Woman” series.

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Sondergaard and Hatton

 

THE SPIDER WOMAN STRIKES BACK-1946-Jean Kingsley (Brenda Joyce) returns to her hometown after a career somewhere else to be a companion to Zenobia (Gale Sondergaard), a blind woman who lives in a dark house with her mute manservant Mario (Rondo Hatton). 

Zenobia seems a pleasant sort while Mario seems rather sinister. One night while Jean is asleep (obviously drugged) Zenobia comes to Jean's bedroom and draws blood from her. She then meets Mario in the basement where she feeds her carnivorous plants with Jean's blood! After some cattle and a little girl die, Z draws more blood from Jean. 

From a talk between her and Mario we learn Z killed the other girls who came to work for her. She promises Mario, who's sweet on Jean, that Jean won't die. Hal (Kirby Grant), a guy who once asked Jean to marry him, brings agricultural agent Moore (Milburn Stone) in to investigate. Later Jean discovers Z isn't blind and she's making the poison that's killing the cattle. Her mad plan is to drive all the farmers away and buy up all the land that once belonged to her family. In a frenzied effort to burn all the plants when suspicion is thrown on her, she and Mario die. Hal rescues Jean. 

This Universal quickie is like a TV movie running less than an hour. Since it was not a hit, some critics feel this movie signaled the end of the classic Universal Pictures horror run. 

Director Arthur Lubin directed 5 of Abbott & Costello's classic Universal films and THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA remake with Claude Rains. Later did most most of the "Francis The Talking Mule" series and in the '60's made THE INCREDIBLE MR. LIMPET. 

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The Mummy!

 

THE MUMMY'S HAND-1940-An Egyptian high priest of Karnak (Eduardo Ciannelli) summons his fez wearing son Ab (George Zucco, round of applause) to an ancient tomb. Before he dies he tells the tale of princess Ananka who died and how grieving lover Kharis stole the secret of eternal life from Isis (tana leaves) but was caught and buried alive. For 3000 years Kharis has protected his former lover's tomb. Dad also gives son the lowdown on tana leaves and how they control the mummy. (3 keeps him alive, 9 brings him to life, more than 9 is a no-no). In Cairo, Steve Manning (Dick Foran) and Babe Jenson (Wallace Ford) meet magician Kim Sullivan aka The Great Solvani (Cecil Kellaway). Manning is an archaeologist who convinces Sullivan to invest in his expedition to discover Ananka's tomb. This upsets his daughter Marta (Peggy Moran) who had planned to go back to the US with Dad. Since Ab had visited her earlier to warn her of con-men she naturally suspects Steve and Babe. In the desert they find "The tomb of the seven jackals". They open up a sarcophagus but only find a male mummy. Ab brings the mummy (Tom Tyler) to life and the first victim is Dr. Petrie (Charles Trowbridge). Ab plans on killing everyone except Marta who Kharis kidnaps. Ab plans on making her his immortal high priestess. Babe puts a crimp in Ab's plans by shooting him. Steve finds Marta and sets Kharis on fire before he can drink his tana leaves. 

This sequel to THE MUMMY with Boris Karloff is the best and most entertaining of the sequels that followed. 

Journeyman director Christy Cabanne got his start in 1914 and was also a screenwriter and occasional actor. A few years later he directed SCARED TO DEATH (1947), Bela Lugosi's only color film.

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Bela, Basil and Broderick

THE BLACK CAT-1941-Rich cat loving Mrs. Henrietta Winslow (Cecilia Loftus) seems on the verge of death but still lives. Her relatives wait around. She has a spooky caretaker Eduardo (Bela Lugosi) and a spooky housekeeper Abigail (Gale Sondergaard). Mrs. Winslow is so nuts about cats she has her own feline crematorium. Relatives include niece Myrna (Gladys Cooper), her hard up for cash husband Monty (Basil Rathbone), her uncaring step-grandson Richard (Alan Ladd), granddaughter Margaret (Claire Dodd), grandson Stanley (John Eldredge) and granddaughter Elaine (Anne Gwynne). After Henrietta tells them what she's leaving them in her will, real estate agent Gil Smith (Broderick Crawford) stops by with antique dealer Mr. Penny (Hugh Herbert) to buy the house. He's allergic to cats. When Henrietta is stabbed to death everyone is a suspect. Even though Henrietta told everyone what they were getting Abigail and the cats get everything until her death.. Gil says to Rathbone's character "He thinks he's Sherlock Holmes". Later Abigail is killed and Eduardo becomes the chief suspect. But Elaine figures out who the real killer is. Gil arrives in time to save Elaine from being cremated. 

Director Albert S. Rogell had been making movies since the silent days and made a version of LIL ABNER around this time. Of course Lugosi and Karloff had starred in a movie of the same name back in 1934. Bela is good in his role but still kind of a wasted red herring. 

Basically this BLACK CAT is enjoyable but typical Universal “old dark house” murder mystery played mostly as a comedy. Some sources say Marlene Dietrich is standing in for Claire Dodd in one scene shot from the back with no dialogue.

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All Star Mash Up

THE GIFT OF GAB-1934-This ancient relic from Universal Pictures takes place in a radio station and features several musical numbers. Around the 45 minute mark Bela Lugosi shows up in a closet with a smoking gun and says “What time is it?”. About a minute later Boris Karloff shows up (billed “Karloff”) in top hat and cape, smokes a cigarette and laughs maniacally. The main leads are Edmund Lowe (who starred as CHANDU with Bela the year before) and Gloria Stuart (THE INVISIBLE MAN and SECRET OF THE BLUE ROOM the year before). Also appearing include the great Sterling Holloway, Ruth Etting, Chester Morris, Phil Baker, Paul Lukas, Ethel Waters and many others. Originally The 3 Stooges were supposed to be in the cast but they signed on with Columbia Pictures and were replaced by some clones.

https://moviemeltdown.blogspot.com/2019/08/the-blue-room.html

It's only one of three films the famous cinematographer Karl Freud directed (the other 2 are THE MUMMY and MAD LOVE). Gloria Stuart had starred with Boris two years earlier in THE OLD DARK HOUSE.

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In The Big Year Of 1931

EAST OF BORNEO-1931-In this early Carl Laemmle produced “talking picture”, a young woman Linda Randolph (Rose Hobart) comes to Borneo looking for her husband Dr. Allen Randolph (Charles Bickford). It turns out Randolph is now using a new name and 300 miles away. Since she's his wife she needs to make the journey despite the warnings that it's no trip for a white woman alone. Nevertheless she sets out with a kind of huge crew led by Hrang (Testu Komai) and sees stock footage of crocodiles, lions, hyena and an orangutan family. At night a giant python visits but does no harm. Then a leopard attacks and mauls one of the white crew. Hubby Dr. Randolph is a drunk chess playing companion to Hashim, the prince of Naruda. Randolph seems to be down on women and doesn't know his better half is searching for him. When Hashim (Georges Rentavent) learns a white woman is soon to arrive he decides to greet her even though Randolph asks him not to. Hashim welcomes Mrs. Randolph and invites her to dinner where she meets hubby who's plastered. 

Later the couple talk. Randolph doesn't want his wife because he believes she left him for another man, although she denies this saying that her relationship with this other man was merely platonic and only happened because of her husband's workaholic ways. Randolph has none of it and sends her away. Things don't go too well for the Mrs. after she sees a man eaten by crocodiles and a baby monkey killed by a tiger and she wants to leave. Then she accidentally ruins Randolph's experiment. He’s looking for an antitoxin for yellow fever. The prince seems desirous of the white woman and won't let her leave but in a fit of sober allegiance to his wife Randolph tries to help her escape. Of course they are recaptured and Randolph is set to become croc food but when the prince puts his moves on Linda she shoots him! He doesn't die and Randolph operates on him but the volcano erupts and Hashim is killed. The Randolphs get away. 

EAST OF BORNEO was made by Universal pictures the same year as the horror classics FRANKENSTEIN and DRACULA but is forgotten today. There is a tenuous connection between this jungle romance and Dracula as Randolph's slave is played by Luptia Tovar (who died in 2016 at the age of 106!) who would play Mina in the Spanish language version of Dracula that was shot at night after Tod Browning’s version wrapped up for the day.

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Ghost?

THE BLACK DOLL-1938-Forgotten murder mystery that goes from serious mystery to comedy murder case. A mean millionaire (C. Henry Gordon) with a second wife (Doris Lloyd) and a no good stepson (William Lunigan) also has a long suffering daughter (Nan Grey) who's in love PI Nick Halstead (Donald Woods). When the millionaire is killed Halstead and a dumb sheriff (Edgar Kennedy) and his deputy (Syd Saylor) investigate. It seems the millionaire and three cronies were responsible for the death of his wife's original husband years before. After every death a weird voodoo like black doll is found. Is the dead man still alive or is it his ghost? 

This average whodunit was the first of 11 features directed by Otis Garrett, a former film editor for Universal who produced this as an entry into their 11 part “Crime Club Mystery” series.

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The Last House of Universal

HOUSE OF DRACULA-1945-In his castle laboratory the kindly eminent Dr. Edleman (Onslow Stevens) conducts experiments with the assistance of two nurses Nina (Jane Addams) and Miliza (Martha O'Driscoll) a hunchback. One dark night Count Dracula using the alias "Baron Latos" (John Carradine) visits Edleman. The urbane count says he wants to be cured of his vampirism. He sounds sincere but almost immediately sets his hypnotic eyes on Nina. While doing blood tests on Drac, the doc also receives a visit from Lawrence Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr., now with a mustache looking none the worse for wear especially since he was killed by a silver bullet in HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN) who wants a cure for his curse of lacanthropy. Edleman thinks he can help Larry but he must first  attend to the count who's getting way too flirty with his nurse. Larry makes a big point about his condition by having the local police chief (Lionel Atwill in his last finished movie) lock him up during a full moon. and he transforms right in front of their eyes.

During a blood transfusion Drac makes Edleman and Miliza go to sleep. He then reverses the transfusion and injects his blood sucking blood into the doc's! He plans to fly away with Nina. Edleman is revived in time to thwart the count's plan but he becomes a paranoid power crazed vampire type creature intent on reviving the Frankenstein monster (he and Talbot found it early with the skeleton of the monster's last would be savior Dr. Niemann; this is the only connection to HOF that makes any sense). The new blood seeking creature has a scary leer, watches his mirror image fade and (thanks to scenes from previous entries in the series) has a weird dream with the monster helping him attack the local town. He occasionally snaps out of his curse and plans on helping Miliza but she insists he operate on Talbot first. He does and the operation is a success! The full moon doesn't affect him! After vampire Edleman kills one of his workers (Ludwig Stossel) he begins tinkering again with the monster (Glen Strange). Miliza discovers this and Edleman promptly strangles her. Talbot enters just as the monster awakens. Meanwhile an angry mob lead by the dead worker's brother (Skelton Knaggs) storms the castle. In a rather sad (in more ways than one) ending the just cured Talbot shoots the crazed Edleman who seems to have a relieved look on his face when he dies. The monster gets mad, flails around a bit and tries to attack Talbot who starts a fire which it would appear kills the mistreated monster for good.

Not counting the next film to feature the three classic Universal monsters (ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN), HOUSE OF DRACULA brings to a close the horror series that really began with the original FRANKENSTEIN in 1931. It's not exactly a fond farewell despite having Earle C. Kenton as director. He'd done ok with the previous entries (HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN; FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN) but the story here is rushed and the monster is wasted with just a couple of brief cameos before being destroyed. The acting is good especially from Stevens and O'Driscoll but the story is kind of mean spirited with Miliza after all her dedication to Edleman and his work winds up being strangled and her corpse thrown haphazardly aside. 

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All Star Horror From Universal

HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN-1944-In prison for his medical experiments, Dr. Niemann (Boris Karloff) shows his know how to his hunchback assistant Daniel (J.Carroll Nash) and promises to give him a new body. Lightning destroys the prison wall and the pair escape. They hook up with Prof. Lampini (George Zucco) and his horror exhibition which he claims includes the remains of the original Count Dracula. Niemann wants to go to his old lab in Visaria but Lampini has other plans. Too bad. Daniel kills him and Neimann takes over as Lampini. In town, Burgomaster Herr Hussman (Sig Ruman) questions Niemann about his identity while displaying Dracula's skeleton with a stake in it. He remembers it was the burgomaster who put him in prison for putting the brain of a dog into man. Overcome with vengeance Niemann pulls the stake out of the Count's skeleton planning to kill the burgomaster but an amazing thing happens. The skeleton transforms into Dracula who tries to hypnotize Neimann but his will is wrong and he resists. Niemann makes a deal: if Dracula will obey him he'll make sure there's always a coffin waiting for him. Dracula agrees. The count gets right down to work, integrating himself (under the guise of Count Lagos) into the burgomaster's small family unit: his son Karl (Peter Coe) and his American daughter in law Rita (Ann Gwynne). He does in the burgomaster just as the old guy figures out Lampini is Neimann but really has his sights set on Rita who he hypnotizes and plans to take away. Unfortunately  his plan runs into a stumbling block when the sun rises. Dracula makes a bee line for his coffin which Niemann has and dumps off his wagon while the police give chase. Dracula goes for his coffin but it's too late. The sun finds him and he turns to dust thus releasing Rita from his thrall.


This is like end of part one. Whew! The rest of the story begins with Daniel's rescue of a gypsy dancer Illonka (Elena Verdugo) after he sees her being whipped by her boss. Clearly infatuated with her Daniel begs his master to take her along. Niemann agrees and gives her the job of driving the horses. Though at first sight repulsed by Daniel's deformity, she feels sorry and they become friends. Later the troupe visit Castle Frankenstein where The Monster and the Wolf man had their battle in the previous entry FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN. Neimann and Daniel discover their frozen bodies. “The undying monster” Neimann exclaims. He and Danny un-freeze the monsters and this is when the trouble begins. Getting his hands on Dr. Frankenstein's “The Secrets of Life and Death”, Neimann agrees to help Talbot die by switching his brain with the monster's. Meanwhile Illonka falls for Larry which in turn makes Dan very jealous and in a rage spills the beans to gypsy about Larry's hairy curse. As usual Niemann becomes obsessed with reviving the monster and kind of forgets about his promise to fix friend Daniel's deformed body. Illonka figures the only way to help her beloved Larry is to shoot him with a silver bullet. She gets a gun but is fatally attacked by the wolf man who she kills before shortly dying herself. This doesn't sit with Daniel who attempts to strangle his former benefactor. This upsets the monster (who earlier had been whipped by Dan) and he breaks free and kills the hunchback. The angry villagers storm the castle (one of them is un-billed character actor Joe Kirk). The monster grabs the doc and hightails it out. Unfortunately despite the injured mad scientist's pleas, he takes them right into some quicksand where the are quickly swallowed up. The End.

It's nice to see all these monsters and classic actors together in one Universal horror movie but HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN could have been better. Dracula never appears with the wolf man or the monster. A lot of what Neimann does doesn't make sense. One scene where Niemann has kidnapped two men,  Strauss, his former assistant (Michael Mark) who betrayed him and a juror Ullman (Frank Reicher) who testified against him, he says he's going to put one of their brains into the wolf man and the other into the monster sort of contradicting his original plans. When this scene is over the two captives are never referred to again and he continues with his experiments. Also when he's ready to do an operation on Talbot, did he really have to do it on the night of a full moon? You'd think he'd know better. But then I guess he was a mad scientist! His was one of the last screenplays written by Edward T. Lowe who career started in 1912! He wrote HOUSE OF DRACULA the next year. Director Earle Kenton manages to pull off all the right moves to make this a very entertaining horror story despite it's small flaws. 

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The Big Showdown!

FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN-1943-Two grave robbers attempt to rob the grave of the deceased Lawrence Talbot. When they open the grave they find Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.) is alive and he grabs one of the robbers. Later Talbot is found on the streets of a town with a head wound. He's taken to a hospital run by Dr. Mannering (Patrick Knowles) but he's suspected of being an impostor when the police inspector (Dennis Hoey) discovers Lawrence Talbot died years ago. At night with the rise of the full moon, Larry becomes a werewolf and kills a policeman. Next day when he confesses to the crime, no one believes him. They think he's deluded. 

Later Larry escapes the hospital and finds the gypsy Maleva (Maria Ouspenskaya) also the mother of Bela, the wolfman who bite Larry originally. They go to Vasaria to find Dr. Frankenstein but he's dead. After the wolfman kills a woman, the town's people (including Dwight Frye) go after him/it. Seeking refugee in some old ruins he stumbles upon the frozen body of the infamous Frankenstein monster (Bela Lugosi). Larry thaws him out and the monster shows him where his creator kept his diary but alas it's not there. Desperate, Larry contacts Ilsa, The Baroness Frankenstein but she says she doesn't have the diary either. Never the less, the burgomaster (Lionel Atwill) invites the Baroness and Larry to “The Festival of the New Wine”. Larry freaks out when he hears a singer do a song about life being short. Dr. Mannering finds him and says he needs psychiatric care. Just then the monster invades the square but Larry helps him escape and they hide out at the ruined castle. 

Later Mannering, the baroness and Maleva go to the ruins and the baroness shows Larry where the diary is hidden. Unfortunately Mannering forgets all about helping Talbot and becomes obsessed with reviving the monster and wants to see it at “it's full power”. He botches things up completely when Ilsa tries to stop him. Talbot changes into the wolfman and the monster escapes and menaces Ilsa for a bit then the two monsters fight. During the tussle (in which Mannering and Ilsa escape) rotund bartender Vazec (Ray Evans) blows up the dam, flooding the castle and interrupting thefight. The end. Maleva is forgotten about.

The story behind FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN is that originally Universal wanted Chaney to play both monster roles. When that was scrapped Lugosi was hired to play the monster. His portrayal is often criticized heavily but once again there's a more to it. In the original story the monster had the ability to talk. However when the movie was finished nobody liked the dialogue. Some said it was laughable. It was re-cut with all of the monster's speaking parts taken out. Also the monster was blind but in the re-editing this was also taken out. They didn't shoot any additional scenes to explain any of it which left Lugosi's monster kind of looking like an arm waving buffoon at times. Although Franky's evil grin as he's being revived is the highlight scene. There's also stories of several stuntmen subbing for Lugosi. One scene of the monster in ice is definitely Eddie Parker. 

Of course back in the day, the studio wanted Lugosi to play the monster in the original FRANKENSTEIN. He fought against it and Boris Karloff got the role.  

FMTW is a sequel to both TTHE GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN and THE WOLFMAN. It was directed by Roy William Neil who was already into the work he would arguably best known for: the Universal Sherlock Holmes series starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. Since it's edited down it's hard to judge. The direction and acting are good but there's really not that much of the monster and when he does finally clash with the wolfman it's a brief duel ended prematurely. Screenwriter Curt Siodmak has said that he originally came up with the title as a joke. 

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Even A Man Who Is Pure In Heart....

THE WOLFMAN-1941-In England Lawrence Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.) returns home to Castle Talbot after spending 18 years in America, upon the death of his older brother. His dad Sir John (Claude Rains) wants him to become one of the family again. Cheerful Larry no sooner gets settled when he's fooling around with a telescope and spies Gwen (Evelyn Ankers) in her antique shop. When he visits she tells him about werewolves and the sign of the pentagram.

Larry wants his fortune told so he, Gwen and her friend Jenny (Fay Helm) visit a gypsy camp. There Bela (Bela Lugosi) reads Jenny's fortune and it's not good. He sees a pentagram on her palm. While Larry romances Gwen Bela turns into a werewolf and kills Jenny. Larry kills the werewolf with his silver cane but is bitten in the process. He's helped home by Maleva (Maria Ouspenskaya) . Later the chief of police (Ralph Bellamy) and Doctor Lloyd (Warren William) find Jenny and Bela (not a wolf anymore). The next day Larry recovers and his wolf bite has disappeared. Larry overhears Maleva talking to the dead Bela and finds out he was her son. Later Gwen introduces Larry to her fiance Frank Andrews (Patrick Knowles), game keeper for the estate. Maleva gives Larry the low down on his curse and the gypsies pack up and leave as Larry turns into the title character. His first victim is a gravedigger. Next time he goes out prowling he gets his foot caught in a trap planted by the constable. He passes out but doesn't get caught because Maleva finds him and somehow gets him to change back to human. Larry goes to Gwen for help but when he sees the sign of the pentagram on her palm he freaks out. He confesses his fears to his dad but Sir John doesn't believe it. He straps his son to chair in a locked room while everyone is out hunting the wolf. He transforms and escapes. Gwen winds up in the foggy woods being pursued by hairy Larry. He attacks her but Sir John confronts him and in an ironic twist beats him to death with Larry's cane. Larry turns human and Maleva declares “Your suffering is over”.

 THE WOLF MAN kind of ushered in the second era of Universal horror films. Director George Waggner also did MAN MADE MONSTER with Chaney the same year. He later made THE CLIMAX with Karloff. This has a great cast and the foggy scenes where the wolf man prowls are excellent despite being all done in the studio. Screenwriter Curt Siodmak went on to write several more in the series. Waggner later went into TV. His last work was on the BATMAN TV in the '60's.

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Finally The Third

THE JUNGLE CAPTIVE-1945-A scientist named Mr. Stendal (not Dr.) (Otto Kruger) brings a rabbit back to life through his new type of blood transfusion. Later his henchman Moloch (Rondo Hatton) kills a morgue attendant and steals the body of the now deceased Paula the ape woman. Detective Harrigan (Jerome Cowan) suspects Stendal's young assistant Dan Young (Phil Brown) who's engaged to Stendal's nurse Anne Forrester (Amelita Ward). Obviously mad, Stendal brings Paula back to life with the unwilling help of Anne who supplies her blood. “Don't be a fool. We're scientists, not sentimentalists!”. Paula escapes, kills a dog and Stendal has to control her with a whip. He turns her back into Paula DePuree (now played by Vicky Lane) but she's semi-catatonic. Despite not being a surgeon Stendal plans to put Ann's brain into Paula's head but Moloch has fallen for Ann. Stendal tells him: “No offense Moloch, but with that face you're not exactly a Casa-nova”. When Paula wanders away, Moloch tries to locate his boss and Paul becomes suspicious. He follows Moloch to their hideout where Moloch turns against Stendal and is shot and killed for his efforts. Paula reverts into an ape and kills Stendal. But before she can kill Anne, Harrigan arrives and shoots her.

Another unnecessary sequel to the “Paula, the ape woman” series started in 1943 with CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN and followed by JUNGLE WOMAN in 1944. It's not very good though not very long. It just seems like an excuse to bring Paula back to life just so she could be killed off again!

Vicky Lane was in only 6 movies in her brief career (plus one TV appearance). Her first husband was Tom Neal (DETOUR). Phil Brown was in many character and bit roles and much later on became a TV director. Director Harold Young also directed THE MUMMY'S TOMB (1942).

Of course once again I kind of screwed up and forgot all about this third installment. I reviewed the first two years ago!

https://moviemeltdown.blogspot.com/2015/08/

https://moviemeltdown.blogspot.com/2016/04/ape-sequel.html

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Senor Dracula

DRACULA-(Spanish Language Version)-1931-So much has been made of this once lost film and how “superior” it is to Tod Browning's classic English language version but let's face it. It's all bullshit. It's almost a scene for scene copy except the actors are speaking Spanish. The direction isn't any worse or better than Browning’s. The Spanish film crew which shot their scenes at night had access to Browning's dallies and took it from there. The acting of Carlos Villarias as Dracula and Pablo Alvarez Rubio as Renfield are so over the top and comical that they render the whole movie as one big laugh riot. I know in his own way Villarias was trying to imitate Lugosi but he fails miserably. Critics are quick to criticize the Lugosi version for it's flaws but this thing has gotten too much praise for too long!

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The Movie That Cried Wolf?

SHE-WOLF OF LONDON-1946-In jolly old (fake) England, heiress Phyllis (June Lockheart) is ready to marry her beau Barry (Don Porter) just as a series of murders plague the area, all credited. to a mysterious "she-wolf". While an inspector (Dennis Hoey; Lestrade in the Universal Sherlock Holmes series) and his assistant (Lloyd Corrigan) investigate, Phyllis comes to believe she is responsible for the murders due to a family curse. Her aunt Martha (Sara Hayden)), who'll lose her house if Phyllis marries, acts way too suspicious to be trusted and her daughter Carol (Jan Wiley) is always trying to sneak off to see her boyfriend Dwight (Martin Kosleck) who's attacked in a park.. Eventually it's revealed that it's all a plot by Martha to drive Phyllis insane but interference by their housekeeper (Elly Maylon) puts an end to it. 

Pretty standard Universal programmer by Jean Yarborough who made THE BRUTE MAN and HOUSE OF HORRORS (both starring Rondo Hatton) the same year although I was surprised by Corrigan's character's death. And there's no wolf!

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Inner Sanctum

CALLING DR. DEATH-1943-First of the "Inner Sanctum" series from Universal with Lon Chaney (who starred in all of them) as Mark Steele, a successful doctor who uses hypnotism to cure patients. Unfortunately his success doesn't extend to his marriage with his bitchy philandering wife Maria (Ramsey Ames). When wifey goes away for the weekend sans hubby he goes after her. Later he wakes up in his office and can't remember where he's been. Maria winds up dead and a smug police inspector Gregg (J. Carroll Nash) suspects the doc even when they pick up Maria's boy toy Duvall (David Bruce) for the murder. Much of Chaney's dialogue is stream of consciousness over dubbing. He is sweet on his nurse Stella (Patricia Morison) and she helps him hypnotize himself but that doesn't really help. After a while he and nurse Stella declare their love but doc seems to be losing his mind. Is it guilt? However Steele uses his hypnotism to find the real killer in a surreal dream induced flashback (with some clever effects). 

CALLING DR. DEATH tries hard to be a psychological mystery and director Reginald Le Borg sort of succeeds but despite some nice dreamy touches and good acting the short running time has the story going along a little too quickly. The most memorable scene though might be the opening where “the spirit of the Inner Sanctum” introduces the story. It's an actor's head (David Hoffman) in a crystal ball talking in a weird voice. 

Screenwriter Edward Dein wrote many murder mysteries in the 1940's and later directed THE LEECH WOMAN, SHACKOUT ON 101 and CURSE OF THE UNDEAD. Director Le Borg directed the next two in the series and later worked with Chaney on the “all star” low budget horror film THE BLACK SLEEP.

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Lon Frank

THE GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN-1942-In the wake of events that transpired in SON OF FRANKENSTEIN, the angry villagers blow up Castle Frankenstein despite the best efforts of Ygor (Bela Lugosi; also in BOWERY AT MIDNIGHT the same year) to dissuade them (the broken neck ex-assistant to Wolf Frankenstein seems to have recovered from being shot to death in the last installment). Their explosive blasts unleash the monster from his sulfur pit doom of the previous picture much to the delight of Ygor (“My friend!”). After being struck by lightening the monster becomes stronger. The duo decided to visit Vasaria where the baron's second song Ludwig Frankenstein (Sir Cedric Hardwicke) lives. Ludwig is a brain surgeon who studies “diseases of the mind” and is assisted by the cheerful Dr. Kettering (Barton Yarborough; later in the I LOVE A MYSTERY series of films) and the unhappy Dr. Bohmer (Lionel Atwill; also in PARDON MY SARONG with Abbott & Costello the same year) and his daughter Elsa (Evelyn Ankers; in the previous year's THE WOLFMAN). 

Igor and his friend walk right into the village square and scare children. The monster befriends a little girl (“Are you a giant?”) and takes her to the rooftops to retrieve her ball. After returning the girl to her daddy he's overpowered by the cops and townspeople. Cut to Ludwig's residence where town prosecutor Erik (Ralph Bellamy; also in THE WOLFMAN) tells the doctor about an imprisoned madman who killed 2 villagers. But unbeknownst to Erik, Ygor has already met with Ludwig to discuss helping fix his friend's “sick brain”. When he's put on trial the monster escapes and almost kills Ludwig but Ygor's horn playing pacifies him. Bringing him back to Ludwig's laboratory the monster kills Kettering and gas is used to subdue him. Ludwig plans to take the monster apart “piece by piece” but his father's ghost (also Hardwicke) intervenes and Ludwig decides to put Kettering's brain into the monster's head! Ygor convinces Bohmer (who feels his part in Frankenstein's experiments have been overlooked because of a mistake he made years before) to put his demented brain in the monster's skull. Erik accuses Ludwig of deception and the doc nearly 'fesses up but the monster kidnaps his little girlfriend and all that's put to the side. The operation is a success but of course the monster's evil brain has been replaced by one that is even eviler. It doesn't go as planned though. The monster, now talking with Ygor's voice plans on ruling the world but it turns out Ygor's blood doesn't match the monster's and he (they?) go blind. The monster kills Bohmer and starts a fire that burns down the house, killing him (for now) and Ludwig while Erik saves Elsa. 

SON OF FRANKENSTEIN director Earle C. Kenton made this fine if a little convoluted follow-up which although cheats on story continuity provides some good scenes and great performances. Cedric Hardwicke is excellent as the noble scientist who wants to do the right thing but once again falls victim to the “Frankenstein curse”. And having Lugosi back as the scheming Ygor (especially since he was killed at the end of SON) is a major plus. Though criticized a lot for his portrayal Lon Chaney (in the first post-Karloff role of the monster) does an acceptable job considering he's not given much to do! Atwill of course is at his best here, the seemingly co-operative assistant hiding a bitter vengeance driven other self. The screenplay is by W. Scott Darling, a prolific film writer before his death by drowning in 1953. GHOST of course features several actors in un-billed roles: Holmes Herbert, Richard Alexander, Harry Cording and Dwight Frye.

Director Kenton later worked with Abbott and Costello and also made two "sequels"  HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN and HOUSE OF DRACULA.

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