El cheapo Monogram effort complete with sets that wobble when the actor grips on to them too much and a plot familiar to The Amazing Dr Clitterhouse i.e. a respectable professor is also a master criminal. It features not one but two beloved cult tragic stars - Bela Lugosi and Tom Neal - both of whom are very effective (Neal had a great the-world-hates-me snarl), and there is a good moment when the nominal hero goes undercover to Lugosi's flophouse, recognises Lugosi, who tells him "have you ever wondered what people thought about just before they died" and gets Lugosi to shoot him. I also loved how the other doctor would revive Lugosi's victims and keep them in the basement! But its very confusing - I had trouble differentiating between the cop and the rich guy - with some amateurish acting from the ingénue and the female lead.
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Movie review - "Bowery at Midnight" (1942) **
El cheapo Monogram effort complete with sets that wobble when the actor grips on to them too much and a plot familiar to The Amazing Dr Clitterhouse i.e. a respectable professor is also a master criminal. It features not one but two beloved cult tragic stars - Bela Lugosi and Tom Neal - both of whom are very effective (Neal had a great the-world-hates-me snarl), and there is a good moment when the nominal hero goes undercover to Lugosi's flophouse, recognises Lugosi, who tells him "have you ever wondered what people thought about just before they died" and gets Lugosi to shoot him. I also loved how the other doctor would revive Lugosi's victims and keep them in the basement! But its very confusing - I had trouble differentiating between the cop and the rich guy - with some amateurish acting from the ingénue and the female lead.
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