Movie review - "The Monster Maker" (1944) **

Horror entry from PRC which feels like its cobbled from elements of other, earlier successful films, including The Raven, The Phantom of the Opera and Mad Love. J Carroll Naish adds some class in the lead, a mad doctor (the type usually played by Bela Lugosi) who falls for the daughter (Wanda Mackay) or a pianist (Ralph Morgan).

The fresh (ish) gimmick here is the doctor experiments in acromegaly, a form of excessive growth - people like Richard Kiel, Rondo Hatton and Anthony Robbins have/had it. (Rondo Hatton appeared in The Pearl of Death in 1944, so the disease must have been "in the air" in Hollywood, so to speak.)

Naish wants to get Mackay into the sack so injects dad with the disease, which is pretty full on. There's also a gorilla on the rampage and a girl who loves Naish.

This wasn't bad - the story is nasty, but production values (for a low budget flick) aren't bad and the acting surprisingly good. With a bit more care it could've been a lot better, but then I say that a lot about PRC films.

Movie review - "Dead Men Walk" (1943) **

As pointed out by Tom Weaver in his book Poverty Row Horrors, its a mystery why the poverty row studios made so few vampire movies - vampires are cheap, effective, well known. Maybe they were scared tackling Universal head on. This is a rare poverty row item from PRC. It rehashes the story of Dracula with George Zucco, that solid second tier horror star, playing dual roles of the Dracula type vampire and his twin brother, the Van Helsing character.

Vampire Zucco is after young Mary Carlise, the Lucy character - who has a dull Jonathan Harker fiancee played woodenly by Ned Young. Dwight Frye livens up things considerably reprising his Renfield performance as the vampire's helper. The idea of having the vampire and nemesis as identical twins was a good one.

Like so many low budget horrors, it starts with a bang and tails off, being unable to develop momentum. The filmmakers make the mistake of having a mob march on Zucco (they think the good brother is the killer) without having money for extras. For some reason they don't embrace the vampire mystique that much either eg Zucco became a vampire through black magic not being bitten. It's not particularly well directed either. However fans of Zucco and Frye will get a lot out of it.

Movie review - "The Mad Monster" (1942) ** (re-viewing)

PRC seems to have splashed out a little more than usual for this werewolf movie - or maybe it was just better designed and shot. The production values seem relatively high, as George Zucco tries to breed a race of killer werewolves to help win the war (good on you, George!). He does experiments in the basement on Glenn Strange, who when non-werewolf-y, runs around imitating Lon Chaney Jnr in Of Mice and Men - but when the serum hits he turns into a werewolf.

Like so many of these low budget horror films this starts off with a bang, but then slows down, and struggles to sustain interest whenever the action switches to the inexperienced supporting players. Part of the reason why the Universal horror films held up so well was the quality of the support cast and subplots - these struggled on poverty row.

At 77 minutes it feels long. They should have ditched the support cast and focused more on Zucco and his patriotic monsters - that's a genuinely different aspect not really developed. It does have one other shocking aspect - the monster kills a kid. Not bad, but eventually disappointing after a strong beginning.

Movie review - "The Devil Bat" (1940) **1/2 (re-viewing)

Bela Lugosi made nine films for Monogram of which this is not one - however it is often regarded as such because it was made for the similarly impoverished outfit PRC. The budget is limited an it has plenty of flaws but it does put Lugosi - so often wasted in red herring support roles - front and center.

He's a mad scientist on a rampage but a well motivated one - he works for a cosmetics company and wants revenge against the executives who made a fortune from his formula (he sold it outright instead of holding out for a percentage); so he trains a bat to attack a particular type of cream. Now that's a solid idea for a horror movie, a lot better than you often found at PRC and Monogram.

And the film delivers on deaths - unlike The Ape where Karloff only knocked off one or two Lugosi chalks up a decent death toll here, not that anyone seems to notice. The bat attacks are occasionally laughable but they are deadly.

I actually liked the reporter character more on second viewing - it was his sidekick who annoyed me. Some decent acting from the older actors and Lugosi delivers a solid, hammy star performance utterly perfect for the part.

Movie review – “Corregidor” (1943) **

The story of this siege and battle is one of the great American epics of the war – they didn’t make that many films about it, because Americans don’t like to concentrate on defeat, but there was a period when stories about defeat were the only contemporary tales they ould tell: Air Force, Wake Island, Bataan, So Proudly We Hail, Cry Havoc. 

Corregidor was a moving story in real life - or, rather, a thousand moving stories, and the fact a lot of the people spent much of their time in cramped bunkers and dug outs meant it was ideal for low budget treatment from PRC. But this is a very mediocre film, despite some decent actors and Edgar Ulmer as one of the writers (but not a director).

The main story is a love triangle between three doctors - one of whom is, surprisingly, a woman (Elissa Landi, who in the 30s looked as though she might be a star; she died of cancer not long after this, her last film). She marries an old pal (Otto Kruger) despite being in love with a young spunk (Donald Woods) who dumped her back in the day because she was too rich. But guess who is working at Corregidor? 

There's some rallying speeches and explosions, plus the odd Filipino character is actually given some screen time and Dorothy Dandridge's mother plays a maid. But on the whole this is dull stuff and a waste of an amazing story.

Movie review – “Bluebeard” (1944) ***

One of Edgar Ulmer’s best known features (probably only exceeded by Detour and The Black Cat), it is also one of John Carradine’s most famous starring roles. He doesn’t play the real Bluebeard, but rather a 19th century puppeteer/artist/murderer. I’m not a massive fan of Carradine the star – he always seemed more effective in supporting roles – but he’s quite dashing and attractive, and he grew on me. Jean Parker is very likeable as the girl who falls for him but the romantic leading man is another PRC 4F type.

This is one of those films you really need to know was shot in 6 days to enjoy – within those confines you appreciate Ulmer’s artistry and attempts to do something decent. Imaginative touches – some interesting murders, the opera puppet show, a sexy scene of Parker’s sister getting changed behind a screen.

Tom Weaver did an excellent piece on this film in his book Poverty Row Horrors, pointing out Bluebeard today is more a film for critics than horror movie fans. But it’s still one of the best movies made by PRC.

Movie review - “Dead Men Walk” (1943) **

Entertaining, if creaky, low budget combination of vampire and evil twin film – George Zucco plays two identical brothers, one a nice doctor, the other a vampire twin. The nice Zucco killed his brother in self defence and now the brother is back fro the dead to get revenge by making it seem like the nice Zucco is a killer. It gets off to a bright start – the bad Zucco is already dead by the time the opening credits roll (there’s a whole film – or at least a first act – in the backstory); but it slows down during the middle section, before recovering for a decent enough finale.

Additional interest is provided by Dwight Frye, looking very old and haggard, as the Renfield-like hunchback assistant for the vampire Zucco; the romantic male lead is Ned Young (very wooden), who later became an Oscar-winning blacklisted screenwriter.

Movie review – “The Mad Monster” (1942) **

If you couldn’t get Belga Lugosi or Lionel Atwill to play your mad scientist during the 1940s, George Zucco was always willing to step into the breach. This film is a sort of remake of Lugosi’s The Devil Bat with a werewolf instead of a bat. Zucco spends his days in the basement transporting his gardener into a werewolf; originally his intention was to make a super army but now he’s after his former colleagues who laughed at him. (I remember growing up the main impressions I had of academia was of squabbling mad scientists in old horror films.)

Zucco was a different sort of mad scientist, Zucco – more soft spoken, gentle looking. But there’s no denying the gleam in his eye; he’s having a high old time and is the best thing about this movie. It’s also fun to see Glenn Strange, who played Frankenstein’s monster a number of times, in a sort of Lon Chaney Jnr part as a simpleton unknowingly experimented on by Zucco.

Some neat touches – Zucco arguing with imagined versions of his old uni colleagues, the spooky country setting, the fact the werewolf actually kills a little girl. The wolf make up isn’t bad. On the debit side – this is relative, the whole thing is a low budget cheapie – it drags a bit around the two third mark, is a bit long (75 minutes, which is long for this sort of movie)

Movie review - "Detour" (1946) ***1/2

Highly regarded film noir from director Edgar G Ulmer, perhaps his best known film, loved by film buffs for a variety of reasons: Ulmer's culti-ness, the fact is was shot in a very short period of time, the lead Tom Neal later went to prison, the atmosphere of doom and fate, Ann Savage's electrifying portrayl as Vera - the scowling, hard voiced femme fetale who is dying of consumption but actually reading the subtext just wants to be hugged.

I think it's been over-hyped a little but once Vera comes into the film (around half way though) it really flies. Neal is handsome and gives a good performance - you wonder why he didn't become a bigger star. (Maybe his loser face - so wonderfulyl appropriate here, watch how he gets increasingly pathetic as the film progresses - didn't work in other films). The big where the guy he gives a lift falls and conks his head doesn't look very realistic (I know it's the point, but still...); ditto his decision to pick up Vera as a hitchhiker when he's supposed to be keeping a low profile.

There is still much to admire: the terrific atmosphere, with its roadside diners and cheap motels, the consistently strong acting, Vera's death, the feeling of pessimism and fate.

Movie review - "The Devil Bat" (1941) **

Son of Frankenstein helped bring back Bela Lugosi, albeit in low budget films and he stars in this PRC effort which at least has a bright idea; he's a scientist who invents perfumes and cold cream and has made a fortune for a company but has missed out. To get revenge he breeds a massive bat which attacks people who wear a certain cologne.

Lugosi is in fine form and there is a strong scene where the head of the company tells him he's lucky he hasn't made any money so he can concentrate on experiments. The hero, an investigative reporter, is irritating and the bat attacks laughable, though it is all watchable.