Bela Lugosi is Professor Lorenz, something of a renaissance man , a surgeon, expert botanist, hypnotist and criminal mastermind. He is kidnapping young brides who apparently die at the altar, through a special orchid he sends them and using their glandular fluid to keep his elderly wife looking youthful. A hard boiled female reporter gets on their case with the occasional assistance of a not very bright young doctor ( Tristram Coffin - I wonder if that was his real name ? )
Luana Walters ( as Patricia Hunter )
Sex : No
Death : Survives
Luana was a Californian who came to Hollywood's attention through her riding skills. Hence she appeared in a lot of Westerns. This is one of her few leading roles. She made her last film in 1956 and became an alcoholic. She died of liver failure in 1963 aged 50.
Elizabeth Russell ( as Countess Lorenz )
Sex : No
Death : Stabbed by the vengeful servant Fagah
Elizabeth was the sister-in-law of actress Rosalind Russell. Her film career petered out in the late forties. She died in 2002 aged 85.
Joan Barclay ( as Alice Wentworth )
Sex : She is fondled by brutish servant Angel when either dead or cataleptic ( see below ) but we don't see him go beyond stroking her hair.
Death : ? Lorenz intimates that Alice will live to provide more than one transfusion but there's nothing to indicate she's been rescued at the end of the film. This is one of the innumerable plot holes.
-Joan was originally Mary Greear from Minnesota. She was very busy in B-movies in the decade from 1936 to 1946 but she disappeared thereafter. She died in 2002 aged 88.
Gwen Kenyon ( as Polly )
Sex : No
Death : Survives
Gwen was active in bit parts ( like this one ) between 1937 and 1945. She died in 1999 aged 83.
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