80 The Undying Monster ( 1942 )

  This  werewolf  film  is  well-made  , with  some  interesting  arty  camera  angles  , but  it's  seriously  lacking  in  real  chills  especially  when  it's  obvious  so  early  on  who  the  culprit  is.

It  centres  around  a  family  called  Hammond  who  have  a  Gothic  mansion  and  a  history  of  strange  deaths. A  police  scientist Curtis  ( James  Ellison )  and  his  female  assistant  investigate  the  latest  incident.

Heather  Angel  ( as  Helga  Hammond )

Sex  : No

Death : Survives

Heather  came  from  Oxfordshire  originally  and  her  first  film  roles  were  in  British  pictures. She  went  to  Hollywood  in  the  early  thirties. Her  career  mainly   ended  in  1944  but  she  did  some  voice-overs  for  Disney  in  the  fifties. In  1970  her  husband  Robert  Sinclair  was  murdered  by  a  burglar  in  her  presence. She  died  in  1986  aged  77.

Heather  Wilde  ( as  Millie )

Sex :  No

Death : Survives

Heather  was  a  bit  part  actress  often, as  here, playing  maids.

Valerie  Traxler  ( as  Kate  O' Malley )

Sex : No

Death : Dies  of  a  head  injury  sustained  in  an  attack  by  the  werewolf

Valerie  was  also  a  bit  part  actress  with  barely  a  credited  role  to  her  name. She  died  in  1963  aged  47.
 

79 Night Monster ( 1942 )

This  one  sets  itself  up  well  with  some  arresting  scenes   but  the  exposition  is  botched  with  too  many  characters  acting  illogically  and  an  ending  which  doesn't  account  for  everyone  involved.

Ralph  Morgan  plays  Curt  Ingston , a  quadruple  amputee  planning  revenge  on  four  doctors  he  holds  responsible  for  his  condition. The  members  of  his  household  are  all  in  some  way  complicit  and  include  Bela  Lugosi  in  a  bafflingly  small   role  as  butler  Rolf .  A  female  psychiatrist  and  horror  novel  writer  arrive  at  the  house  just  as  the  final  phase  is  about  to  begin.

Irene  Hervey  ( as  Dr  Lynne  Harper )  

Sex  :   No

Death  : Survives

Irene  was  originally  Beulah  Herwick  from  L.A. She  was  a  successful  actress  from  1933  onwards  but  a  serious  car  accident  in  1943  put  her  out  of  action  for  five  years. From  the  mid-fifties  she  was  mainly  employed  in  TV  but  still  made  the  odd  film  , her  last  role  being  in  Play  Misty  For  Me. She  died  in  1988  aged  89.

Fay  Helm   (  as   Margaret  Ingston ) 

Sex : No

Death :  Perishes  in  the  fire  she  starts  to  expiate  her  guilt  taking  evil  housekeeper  Miss  Judd  with  her

Fay  had  a  10  year  film  career  that  ended  on  her  third  marriage  in  1946. She  died  in  2004  aged  94.

Janet  Shaw  ( as  Milly )

Sex : Grabbed  by  creepy  chauffeur  Lowrie  for  a  forced  kiss  but  she  fights  him  off

Death  :  Strangled  by  Ingston  for  whistle-blowing  when  she  inexplicably  returns  to  the  house  at  night  time  to  collect  her  things.

Janet  was  originally  Ellen  Stuart  from  Nebraska . She  had  a  long  career  as  a  supporting  player  with  many  of  her  roles  uncredited. She  died  in  2001 aged  82.

78 The Mad Monster ( 1942 )

George  Zucco  plays  almost  exactly  the  same  part  in  this  one  as  a  mad  scientist  injecting  his  slow-witted  servant  ( Glenn  Strange )  with  wolf  serum  to  turn  him  into  a  killing  machine.
He  wants  revenge on  the  scientists  who  discredited  him  as  explained  in  a  chilling  early  scene  where  he  hallucinates  they're  all  in  his  cellar  listening  to  his  ravings.

Alas  the  film  fails  to  live  up  to  this  excellent  start  and  becomes  slow-moving  and  repetitive  with  characters  failing  to  see  clues  that  are  as  plain  as  the  nose  on  your  face.

Anne  Nagel  ( as  Lenora )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

The  lovely  Anne's  completely  wasted  in  this  one  as  the  doc's  innocent  daughter  who's    peripheral  to  the  plot.

77 Dr Renault's Secret ( 1942 )

This was pretty much a B-movie but in fact it's a well-acted, engaging film.

Shepperd  Strudwick  plays  young  Dr  Forbes  who  plans  to  marry  the  neice  of  respected  anthropologist  Dr  Renault  ( George Zucco ). He  meets  the  doctor's  assistant  Noel  ( J Carrol  Naish )  a  slow, simian  lunk   and  then  murders  start  happening. It's  fairly  predictable  all  the  way  through  but  still  worth  watching.

Lynne  Roberts  ( as  Marilyn )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Lynne  started  her  film  career  as  a  teenager  billed  as  Mary  Hart. She  mainly  appeared  in Westerns.  She  retired  in  the  mid -50s  and  died  in  1978  aged  55.

76 Bowery at Midnight ( 1942 )

This  is  far  more  of  a  crime  thriller  ; the  horror  content  is  very  small  and  seems  tacked  on  to  expand  the  potential  audience.

Bela  Lugosi  plays  Professor  Brenner , an  expert  in  psychology  but  also  a  criminal  mastermind. Without  any  attempt  at  disguise  he  calls  himself  Carl  Lenz  and  runs  a  soup  kitchen  the  Bowery, where  he  recruits  criminal  henchmen  to  carry  out  his  raids  who  are then  killed  once  they've  served  their  purpose. What  he  doesn't  know  is  that  his  drunken  doctor / accomplice  is  ( somehow ) reanimating  them  and  keeping  them  in  the  cellar.

It's  rubbish  to  be  honest  with  a  completely  inexplicable  ending.


Wanda  McKay  ( as  Judy  Malvern ) 

Sex :  She's  about  to  do  it  with  her  beau  at  the  end  of  the  picture  without  explanation  of   how  he's  been  re-converted  from  a  zombie.

Death : Survives

Wanda  ( originally  Dorothy  Quackenbush )  was  a  former  model  ( Miss  American  Aviation  in  1938 )  who  was  building  her  career  after  many  uncredited  appearances  in  the  late  thirties. She  worked  in  TV  in  the  fifties. Later  in  life  she  was  married  to  Hoagy  Carmichael. She  died  of  cancer   in  1996   aged  80.

Anna  Hope  ( as  Mrs  Brenner )

Sex : No

Death : Killed  ( probably  by  strangulation )  by  her  husband  to prevent  her giving  evidence  against  him

Anna  made  few  films  and  I  can't  tell  you  anything  more  about  her.

75 The Corpse Vanishes ( 1942 )

I  think  I'm  right  in  saying  that  this  was  the  first  film  to  base  its  story  on the  Countess  Bathory  legend . That  doesn't  mean  it's  much  good  though.  The  characters  are  cardboard  cliches  and  you  could  drive  a  train  through  the  many  plot  holes.

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.

74 King of the Zombies ( 1941 )

This  one  was  originally  meant  for  Bela  Lugosi  but  he  couldn't  fit  it  into  his  schedule  so  the  workmanlike  Charles  Victor  played  the  villainous  Dr  Sangre  instead.

The  plot  is  a  weird  cross  between  The  Island  of  Dr  Moreau  and  Notorious.  Bill  Summers  ( Dick  Purcell ), his  pilot  and  black  manservant  Jefferson  ( Mantan  Moreland ) crash  land  on  a  remote  island , being  vaguely  aware  that  a  senior  admiral  had  disappeared   in  the  vicinity  not  long  before. They  are  rescued  by  Sangre  and  his  family. Sangre  claims  to  be  an  Austrian  refugee  but  is  really  a  Nazi  using  voodoo  to  try  and  unlock  the  secrets  in  the  kidnapped  admiral's  head.

The  film  never  manages  to  tie  the  supernatural  and  espionage  threads  together  because  it's  too  busy  trying  to  be  funny  with  Jefferson  bantering  with  the  maid  and  trying  to  steer   clear  of  the  titular  zombies. Moreland  has  by  far  the  most  screen  time  and  some  of  it  is  genuinely  amusing  but  the  narrative   goes  hang  while  he's  entertaining  us. The  film  is  also  thoroughly  un-p.c.  with  some  overtly  racist  jokes.

Joan  Woodbury  ( as  Barbara )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Joan  was  a  very  busy  actress  from  1934  onwards  but  never  became  a  star. Nevertheless  her career  lasted  until  the  mid-sixties. She  died  in  1989  aged  73.

Patricia  Stacey  ( as  Alice  Sangre )

Sex : No

Death : Her  body  is  discovered  by  Summers  and  Jefferson  but  there's  no  real  explanation  of  how  she  met  her  end  or  what  her  function  in  the  plot  is.

This  is  Patricia's  only  film  credit  and  I  can  tell  you  nothing  more  about  her.

Marguerite  Whitten  ( as  Samantha )

Sex :  Samantha  has  a  formidable  cleavage  and  a  lot  of  screen  time  in  which  to  display  it.

Death : Survives

Marguerite  appeared  with  Moreland  to  act  as  his  comic  foil  in  a  number  of  films  between 1938  and  1943. She  died  in  1990  aged  77.



 

73 Invisible Ghost ( 1941 )

This  Bela  Lugosi  film  is  such  a  pile  of  nonsense  he  deserves  a  medal  just  for  keeping  a  straight  face.

He  plays  Mr  Kessler  whose  wife  ( Betty  Compson )  has  driven  off  with  her  lover; every  anniversary  he  arranges  an  anniversary  dinner  and  talks  to  her  as  if  she's  there. Unknown  to  him  they  crashed  and   brain damaged , she  is  living  in  the  cellar  tended  by  Jules  the  gardener  ( Ernie  Adams ). Whenever  she  goes  for  a  nocturnal  ramble  and  Kessler  spots  her,  he  turns  into  a  homicidal  maniac  with  no  memory  of  his  actions  the  next  day. When  one  of  his  killings  leads  to  the  execution  of  his  daughter's  lover  Ralph  , the  man's  twin  brother  ( John  Dickson )  pops  up  to  investigate  what  happened.

If  you  think  none  of   that  makes  sense  you'd  be  right  and  Lugosi  apart, the  acting  is  terrible. Dickson  is  wooden  in  both  roles  and  George  Pembroke   as  the  detective   plays  his  scenes  with  a  ridiculous  unlit  cigar  in  his  mouth.

Polly  Ann  Young  ( as  Virginia  Kessler  ) 

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Polly  Ann  was  the  eldest  of  the  Young  sisters. She  had  been  a  busy  actress  in  the  thirties  but  this  was  her  final  film  as  she  retired  on  marriage. She  died  in  1997  aged  89.

Terry  Walker  ( as  Cecile  Mannix )

Sex : Cecile  is  the  former  lover  of  Ralph

Death :  Strangled  by  Mr  Kessler  in  what's  a  very  nice  bedroom  to  say  she's  just  a  housemaid.

Terry  was  originally  Teresa  Norberg  from  Alaska. She  too  was  nearing  the  end  of  her  career, She  died  in  1977  aged  64.

72 Horror Island ( 1941 )

This  tongue-in-cheek  old  dark  house  chiller  is  obviously  B-movie  material  but   has  a  couple  of  decent  shocks  and  would  have  been  better  if  given  a  bit  more  time  to  let  the  story  develop.

Bill  Martin  ( Dick  Foran )   owns  a  deserted  island  and  a  boat  but  not  much  else. He  and  his mate  Stuff  ( Fuzzy  Knight  )  bump  into  a  peg-legged  sea  captain  Tobias  Clump  ( the  very tires with  half  a  treasure  map  pointing  to  the  island. Though  believing  it's  a  fake, Bill advertises  a  treasure  hunt  on  his  island   as  an  "experience"  and  attracts  a  motley  bunch  of thrill-seekers,  mostly  with their  own  agendas. The  plot  then  unwinds  at  a  breakneck  pace  that leaves  you  breathless  but  unsatisfied.

Peggy  Moran  ( as  Wendy  Creighton )

Sex : Peggy's  not  the  prettiest  actress  we've  come  across  but  she  certainly  fills  her  nightdress impressively.

Death : Survives

Peggy  ( originally  Mary )  married  film  director  Henry  Koster  and cut  short  a  promising  career  to  raise  a  family. Koster  made  a  bust of  her  and included  it  in  all  his  pictures  as  a  consolation. She  died  in  2002  aged  84  after  sustaining injuries  in  a  car  accident.

Iris  Adrian  ( as  Arleen Grady  )  

Sex : No

Death : Survives

By  contrast , Iris  had  a  long  career  as  a  supporting  player and then  character  actress  in  Disney  films  of  the  seventies. She  died in  1994  aged  82  after  sustaining  injuries  in  an  earthquake.

71 Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde ( 1941 )

This  is  not  so  much  another  adaptation  of  Stevenson's  morality  tale  as  a  faithful  re-make  of  the  1931  film  with  an  absolutely  A-list  cast.  Victor  Fleming,  on  a  white  hot  streak  after  Gone  With  The  Wind  and  The  Wizard  of  Oz, directed.  MGM  actually  bought  the  rights  to  the  previous  film  and  set  about  destroying  copies  to  keep  it  out  of  circulation.

Spencer  Tracy  plays  Jekyll  and  Hyde  with  both  leading  ladies, neither  of  whom  you'd  generally  associate  with  horror  films ,  playing  against  type. The  acting  is  all  top  notch  with  a  special  mention  for  Peter  Godfrey  as  Jekyll''s  knowing  butler  Poole.

Ingrid  Bergman  ( as  Ivy )

Sex  :  Ingrid  wanted  to  play  the  bad  girl  to  avoid  typecasting  and  persuaded  Fleming  to  let  her  switch  roles. Ivy  tries  to  seduce  Jekyll  after  he  rescues  her  from  a  would-be-rapist  then  herself  is  seduced  by  Hyde's  apparent  wealth  and  becomes  his  mistress.

Death : Ivy  is  attacked  by  Heath. The  back  of  a  couch  hides  the  exact  manner  of  her  death  but  she  is  most  likely  strangled.

This  was  one  of  Ingrid's  earliest  English language  films  and  her  accent  is  quite  strong. One  of  Hollywood's  best-loved  actresses, Ingrid  never  really  returned  to  horror  ( Spellbound  is  a  psychological  thriller  rather  than  a  horror  movie ) . She  died  of  cancer  in  1982  aged  67.

Lana  Turner  ( as  Bea  Emery )

Sex :  Lana  had  to  accept  the  smaller  role  of  Jekyll's  virginal  fiance  instead. However  both  she  and  Ingrid  appear  wearing  just  stick-on  bra  cups  in  a  very  risque  hallucination  sequence.

Death  :  Survives

Lana  ( originally  Julia  )  Turner  was  a  bit  younger  than  Ingrid  and  had  an  eventful  life  involving  seven  husbands  and  the  killing  of  her  gangster  lover  by  her  daughter.  Best  remembered  for  her  femme  fatale  roles  such  as  the  wife  in  The  Postman  Always  Rings  Twice, she  too  died  of  cancer,  in  1995 aged  74

Frances  Robinson  ( as  Marcia )

Sex : No

Death  :  Survives

Frances  was  originally  Marion  Ladd  from  New  York. She  was  a  busy  actress  with  a  c.v.  going  back  into  the  silent  era  as  a  child  but  never  broke  out  of  supporting  roles. From  1950  onwards  she  worked  almost  exclusively  in  TV. She  married  a  nephew  of  Mary  Pickford  and  died  in  1971  aged  55.

70 The Devil Commands ( 1941 )

Boris  Karloff  stars  again  as Dr  Blair , a  mad  scientist  trying  to  establish  contact  with  his  dead  wife  aided  by  a  sinister  fake  medium. That's  about  the  gist  of  the  plot  really  , even  with  a  voiceover  narration  from  his  daughter,  it's  all  a  bit  hazy  what  he's  actually  doing  apart  from  putting  corpses  in  robot  suits  and  unsettling  the  local  villagers.

Amanda  Duff  ( as  Anne  Blair )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Anne  was  more  of  a  stage  actress  than  a  movie  star  and  this  was  her  last  film. She  died  in  2006  aged  92.

Anne  Revere  ( as  Mrs  Walters )

Sex : She  possibly  becomes  Blair's  mistress  but  there's  no  direct  evidence  for  this

Death :  She  dies  as  a   willing  participant  in  Blair's  great  experiment  probably  through  heart  strain

Anne  too  was  more  of  a  stage  actress  at  this  point  in  her  career  but  she  became  much  in  demand  as  a  character  actress  in  film. She  won  a  Best  Supporting  Actress  as  Liz  Taylor's  mum  in  National  Velvet  and  was  nominated  on  two  other  occasions. As  an  open  communist  her  film  career  was  largely  cut  short  in  1951  but  she  found  plenty  of  work  on  television. She  died  in  1990  aged  87.

Dorothy  Adams  ( as  Mrs  Marcy )

Sex : No

Death :  Killed  when  she  accidentally  activates  the  equipment  in  Blair's  laboratory  while  spying  for  the  local  sheriff. She  is  probably  electrocuted.

Dorothy  was  another  successful  character  actress  who  moved  into  television. She  died  in  1988  aged  88.

Shirley  Warde  ( as  Helen  Blair )

Sex : No

Death : Killed  in  a  collision  while  parking  the  car.

This  is  Shirley's  only  credited  role. She  later  wrote  an  episode  of  Fireside  Theatre.  She  was  only  13  years  older  than  her  screen  daughter. She  died  in  1991  aged  90.

69 The Black Cat ( 1941 )

This   film  is  not  a  re-make  of  the  1935  classic  we've  already  discussed. The  only  things  it's  got  in  common  with  that   are  Bela  Lugosi  (  in  a  much  smaller  role )  and  an  equal  distance  from  the  Edgar  Allen  Poe  story  implied  by  the  title. The  film  is  much  closer  to  The  Cat  And  The  Canary  and  wastes  a  very  impressive  cast  list  by  playing  it  for  laughs  most  of  the  time.

An  elderly  woman,  Henrietta  Winslow  ( Cecilia  Loftus  ), who   maintains  a  household   full  of cats  is  thought  to  be  dying  and  greedy  relatives  descend  on  her  mansion. When  they  get  there  she  reads  out  her  will  with  the  proviso  that  none  of  them  will  get  anything  until  the  last  cat  perishes. When  she  is  bumped  off , it  falls  to   the  local  estate  agent  Gil  Smith   ( Broderick  Crawford )  and  most  likable  beneficiary  Elaine  to  piece  together  what's  going  on. Lugosi  plays  the  creepy  manservant  Eduardo  and  Basil  Rathbone  plays  the  old  woman's  avaricious  nephew.

The  film  has  too  few  casualties  - although  the  villain's  demise  is  spectacular -  and  too  much  of  Hugh  Herbert's  clowning   as  the  antiques  expert  who  tags  along  with  Gil. You  dearly  want  him  to  be  the  next  victim  but  sadly  he  survives.

Anne  Gwynne  ( as  Elaine  Winslow  )

Sex : No

Death : Survives  

Anne's  character  is  described  as  the  old  lady's  selfish  granddaughter  but  she's  actually  the  heroine.

Claire  Dodd  ( as  Margaret )

Sex : She's  having  an  affair  with  Rathbone's  character  but  the  action  is  offscreen

Death  :  Survives

 Claire  was  originally  Dorothy  Dodd  and  made  many  films  in  the  thirties  , rather  typecast  as  a  mistress  or  blackmailer. This  was  one  of  her  last  films  as  she  retired  on  her  second  marriage. She  died  from  cancer  in  1973  aged  61.