The first of the "Monogram nine", nine films Bela Lugosi made for Sam Katzman at Monogram. It's one of the best known and benefits from some very good direction from Joe Lewis. It starts with a bang: Bela is having dinner for his dead wife, then we find out the wife is alive, then we find out Bela is a murderer without knowing, then an innocent person dies...
It's got elements of Jane Eyre (crazy wife locked away) and Poe (man not knowing he's man going on killing sprees). Then things go a bit haywire - the story becomes repetitive instead of developing, the story becomes increasingly silly/illogical, and it got dull. Lugosi is in good form, particularly his touching moments - it's a different sort of role for him, a killer who doesn't know he's a killer. But this never becomes as good as you hope it'll be.
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