68 The Invisible Man Returns ( 1940 )

This delayed sequel to the Claude Rains classic isn't as good as its predecessor but watchable.

 Geoffrey Radcliffe ( Vincent Price ) , heir  to  a  coal  fortune  is  due  to  hang  for  his  brother's  murder  but  before  the  sentence  is  carried  out  he  gets  a  visit  from  his  friend  Frank  Griffin  ( John   Sutton )  brother  to the  Invisible  Man  in  the  first  film. Griffin  injects  him  with  the  same  serum  to  effect  his  escape  and  he  is  harboured  by  his  fiance   Helen while  Griffin  works  on  a  cure . Unfortunately  Griffin  doesn't  want  to  wait  patiently  and  goes  after  the  man  who  framed  him .

It'  not  as  gripping  as  the  first  film  because  Geoffrey  only  talks  of  going  on  a  murderous  rampage like  the  first  guy. His  actions  are  considerably  less  horrific  so  the  film  doesn't  have  the  same  impact.

Nan  Grey  ( as  Helen  Manson )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Nice  to  see  Nan  again  after  her  demise  in  Dracula's  Daughter. See  that  post  for  biographical  details.

67 The Devil Bat ( 1940 )

Bela  Lugosi  is  the  star  here  and  still  in  good  shape.

He  plays  Dr  Carruthers  a  trusted  surgeon  and  chemist  in  the  small  town  of  Heathville  dominated  by  a huge  perfume  manufacturer  Heath  and  Morton. Their  empire  is  built  on  Carruthers'  work  but  he  took  cash  there  and  then,  instead  of  a  partnership. He's  now  brassed  off  and  planning  to  kill  them  and  their  families  off   using  a  secret  giant  bat  which  will  attack  anyone  wearing  his  new  aftershave.

The  bat's  not very  convincing  but  otherwise  this  is  reasonably  entertaining.

Suzanne  Kaaren ( as  Mary  Heath )  

Sex : No

Death  : Survives

Suzanne  was  a  B-movie  actress  who  appeared  in  several  films  with  The  Three  Stooges. She  died  in  2004  aged  92.

Yolande  Donlan  ( as  Maxine )

Sex : No  apart  from  a  bit  of  flirting  with  the  comic  relief  photographer

Death : Survives

Yolande  was  from  New  Jersey  originally. Starting  out  in  B  movies  she  moved  into  theatre  in the  late  forties  and  was  invited  to  England  by  Laurence  Olivier.  In  1954  she  married  film  director   Val  Guest  and  appeared  in  many  of  his  films. She  died  in  2014  aged  94.

66 Black Friday ( 1940 )

This  was  another  Karloff  / Lugosi  vehicle  but  neither  play  the  main  part. This  was  Karloff's  choice  but  when  he  chose  a  different  part   it  went  not  to  Lugosi  but  the  little  known  Stan  Ridges.

Ridges  plays  George  Kingsley  a   university  professor  who  is  run  down  after  being  caught  in  a  mob  shoot-out  which  also  leaves  a  wounded  gangster  Red  Cotton  at  the  scene. Kingsley's  friend  Dr  Kovacs  ( Karloff )  performs  some   remarkably  quick   solo  brain  surgery,   moving  part  of  Cotton's  brain  to  repair  the  damage  to  Kingsley's. When  he  realises  the  man  now   has  a  split  personality  he  becomes  Cotton's  ally  in  the  hope  of  recovering  some  stolen  loot. But  Cotton  and  Marnay  ( Lugosi ),  the  man  who  tried  to  kill  him,  have  other  ideas.

If  you  can  get  past  the  ludicrous  premise  and  its  very  obvious  logical  flaws  this  is  actually  a  very  entertaining  film  , tightly  plotted  and  wittily  scripted.

Anne  Nagel  ( as  Sunny  Rogers ) 

Sex :  Despite  the  complete  change  in   her  boyfriend  Cotton's  looks   she  goes  to  bed  with  him  ( offscreen )

Death :  Strangled  by  Cotton  after  he  realises  she  has  double  crosssed  him  with  Marnay.

 
Anne   whose  original  surname  was  Dolan  would  go  on  to  appear  in  quite a  few  horror movies. She  died  of  liver  cancer  in  1966  aged  50.

Anne  Gwynne  ( as  Jean  Kovacs  )

Sex  : No

Death : Survives

This  Anne  too  would  make  her  name  in  horror  films  in  the  forties  and  was  later  successful  in  television. Her  buxom  charms  made  her  a  popular  forces  pin  up  during  the  war.  She  was  the  grandmother  of  actor  Chris  Pine. She  died  of  a  stroke  in  2003  aged  84.

Ellen  Lowe  ( as  Hotel  Maid )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Ellen  was  a  bit  part  player  from  Canada. She  died  in  1984  aged  86.

65 Before I Hang ( 1940 )

This  one's  plot  is  all  very  familiar  but  at  least  it's  a  notch  or  two  above  The  Ape.

Boris  Karloff  is  once  again  a  mad  doctor ( Dr  Garth )  and  once  again  facing  execution  for  a  mercy  killing  while  exploring  a  way  to  beat  mortality. The  prison  warden  and  doctor  want  to  explore  his  ideas  further  before  offing  him. Garth  agrees  and  suggests  he  himself  be  injected  with  a  murderer's  blood. I  think  you  can  guess  where  the  story  goes  when  Garth  gets  a  last  minute  reprieve.

Evelyn  Keyes  ( as  Martha  Garth )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Evelyn  had  just  played  her  best -remembered  role  as  Vivien  Leigh's  sister  in  Gone  With  The  Wind .  She  was  married  to  John  Huston  for  four  years  in  the  late  forties. Her  film  career  ended  in  1955  but  she  was  active  in  TV  after  that. She  died  in  2008  aged  91.

64 The Ape (1940 )

This  is  not  one  of  Boris  Karloff''s  greater  moments. He  plays  Dr  Adrian  , a  small  town  doctor  who  is  secretly  working  on  a  serum  to  cure  Frances  , a  young  patient  crippled  by  polio. The  townsfolk  are  suspicious  of  him  but  soon  have  another  problem  when  a  marauding  killer  gorilla  escapes  from  a  circus. How  these  two  storylines  come  together  turns the  film  into  a  farce. It's  not  very  well  made  either  with  some  clumsy  editing  and  very  wooden  acting.

Maris  Wrixon  ( as  Frances )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

This  is  probably  the  best -remembered  film  of  Maris's  film  career  which  lasted  from  1939  to  1951. She  did  a  bit  of  TV  before  retiring  in  1963. She  was  married  for  almost  60  years  and  died  in  1999  aged  82.

Mary  Field  ( as  Mrs  Mason )

Sex : No

Death :  Presumably  survives  but  her  fate  is  left  up  in  the  air  by  the  edits

Mary  was  a  bit  part  actress  in  films  in  the  forties  but  had  more  success  on  TV  in  the  fifties. She  died  in  1996  aged  87.  

63 Torture Ship ( 1939 )

This  is  a  pretty  terrible  offering  from  Victor  Halperin.

 A  number  of  convicts  including  two  women  are  on  board  a  cruise  ship.  Dr  Stander  ( Irving  Pichel )  is  conducting  neurological  experiments  on  them. The  ship's  crew  includes  his  nephew  Bob  ( Lyle  Talbot )  who  falls  for  one  of  the  women  Joan  who  is  only  guilty  by  association.  Dr  Stander  has  plans  for  both  of  them.

It's  cheap, incoherent  and  badly  acted.

Julie  Bishop  ( as  Joan )  

Sex : No, two  rape  threats  are  not  carried  out

Death : Survives

Julie  was  originally  Jacqueline  Wells  and  the  films  she  made  as  a  child  actress  in  the twenties  were  under  that  name. She  had  most  success  in  the  forties  although  her career  lasted into  the  mid-fifties. She  died  in  2001   aged  87.

Sheila  Bromley  (  as  Poison  Mary )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Sheila  was  best  known  for  Westerns  but  she  too  had  a  lengthy  career  lasting  into  the  sixties. She  died  in  2003  aged  91.


  

62 The Man They Could Not Hang ( 1939 )

It's  Boris  Karloff  in  mad  scientist  guise  one  again  as  Dr  Savvard  pioneering  an  artificial  respirator. This  time  he  finds  a  willing  volunteer   for  death  and  resurrection  among  his  medical  students  but  the  young  man's  girlfriend  gets  cold  feet  and  the  police  interrupt  the  experiment  at  the  crucial  point. Hanged  for  murder , Savard  is  revived  by  his  assistant  and  is  out  for  revenge.

This  is  a  hotch  potch  of  familiar  elements   put  together  without  much  care  for  logic  and  the  ending  seems  rushed.

Lorna  Gray  ( as  Janet  Savvard )

Sex : No

Death :  Electrocuted  but  then  revived

Lorna's  original  name  was  Virginia  Pound  and  her  first  films  at  paramount  were  made  using  her real  name. At  Columbia  she  changed  it  to  Lorna Gray  then  to  Adrian (sic)   Booth   when  she moved  to  Republic. She  retired  shortly  after  getting  wed  in  1949. At  99, she  is  the  first  adult  actress we've covered  who  is  still  alive.

Ann  Doran  ( as  Betty  Crawford  )  

Sex : No

Death  :  Survives

Ann  had  a  long  career  as  a    bit  part  player  and  character  actress.  Her  most  famous  role  was  as  James  Dean's  mother  in  Rebel  Without  A  Cause.  In  the  latter  part  of  her  career  she  worked  mainly  in  television. She  died  in  2000  aged  89. 

61 The Face at the Window ( 1939 )

This  was  another  British  film  with  Tod  Slaughter  as  the  villain.

He  is  Chevalier  del  Gardo  a  Parisian  aristocrat  chasing  the  daughter  of  a  bank  director embarrassed  by  a  recent  robbery  attributed  to  an  infamous  supernatural  villain  the  Wolf-Man . She  loves  Lucien  ( John  Warwick )  her  father's  clerk  instead. Del  Gardo  decides  to  frame  him  but  handily  he's  friends  with   a  mad  scientist  who  can  revive  corpses  to  the  point  where  they   can  reveal  who  killed  them . As  the  film  progresses  it  becomes  clear  that  Del  Gardo  himself  is  behind  the   Wolf  Man  killings.

As  the  above  indicates  it's  a  rather  silly  film  but  Slaughter  makes  it  entertaining  enough.

Marjorie  Taylor  (  as  Cecile  de  Brisson ) 

Sex :   She  is  groped  and  briefly  imprisoned  by  Del  Gardo  but  escapes  intact.

Death : Survives    

 
 Marjorie   was  from  Blackburn  and  worked  on  several  films  with  Slaughter  in  the  1930s. Her  last  film  was  made  in  1940  and  she  died  in  1974  aged  66.

Kay  Lewis  (  as  Babette )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Kay  had  a  few  bit  parts  in  the  thirties  then  moved  into  costume design . She  made  a  film  comeback  after  28  years  in  the  biopic "Lady  Sings  The  Blues"  in  1972.