Bowery at Midnight

Bowery at Midnight is one of the many low budget chillers that Bela Lugosi made during the 1940's and is one of the better ones I have seen.

Bela has two roles in this movie, in the daytime he is a college lecturer and at night, he runs a Bowery where dropouts hang out. It's at the Bowery where killings start and he has an assistant who does these killings in the cellar where they revived as zombies. He uses an escaped murder to help him too.

Bowery at Midnight has some of the things you would expect in this type of movie: hidden doorways, secret rooms and a hunchback assistant.

Joining Bela in the cast is Wanda McKay (The Monster Maker) and John Archer (Destination Moon).

This movie is worth watching if you get the chance. Very creepy at times.

Rating: 3 stars out of 5.

Lugosi plays a kind psychology teacher at a local college. He also runs a mission in the bowery where he gets criminals to pull off robberies for him. There's also a silly incidental subplot about raising the dead! This is pretty involved for an hour long movie. Being a Monogram picture it has all their trademarks--tacky sets; mostly atrocious acting; a plot that really doesn't make a whole lot of sense and one of the most unexciting gunfights in screen history.

The acting veers from OK to just embarrassing. Wanda McKay easily gives out the worst performance. Lugosi, always a pro, gives this the best performance possible. And it is nice to see Tom Neal three years before he did the cult classic "Detour".

Not bad--not good but one of the better Monograms Lugosi did. LOVE the clearly marked graves in the basement! I give it a 5.

Bowery at Midnight (1942)

** (out of 4)

Professor Karl Wagner (Bela Lugosi) is a highly respected man who helps run a food kitchen that feeds homeless and poor people. At night he's taking advantage of the same people forcing them to do his illegal crimes including murder. BOWERY AT MIDNIGHT is yet another low-budget quickie from Monogram and while the story itself is pretty lacking, the film remains watchable thanks to a fast pace as well as the performance from Bela Lugosi. It's really a shame that the film doesn't feature a tad bit more life because it could have been something rather good had more time with the story been done. Lugosi is very good in the lead role and it's funny that during the opening credits his name appears twice for playing the two characters. One of the biggest reasons that the film works as well as it does is because Lugosi is very believable as both the good guy and the bad guy. I really liked the way Lugosi played the good professor because he made you believe that this guy couldn't be doing anything wrong. That cheerful glee from the bad guy also comes across flawlessly and especially when he gets to show how cold blooded the character is. Wanda McKay is good in her supporting role as the woman helping Lugosi not knowing exactly what he's up to. The rest of the supporting players fit their roles nicely and certainly help keep the film moving. The biggest problem is that the story just needed a little bit more work to make it something more than just a routine "B" picture.

A rather busy plot (for a 60-minute programmer, anyway) ensures that there's little padding other than the obligatory romantic interest between the highlights (my favorite being Lugosi's cold-blooded rooftop disposal) - not that the film reaches any particular heights, but it's certainly enjoyable and engaging while it's on. The dual nature of Lugosi's character and the 'mission' setting hark back to DARK EYES OF London (1939), and this one too can be chalked up among the star's better 40s efforts. There's even some smart dialogue to boot ("I wouldn't trust you with a bad case of dandruff" and Lugosi describing Fingers Dolan's use of criminal slang as "picturesque", etc) and the poster for THE CORPSE VANISHES (1942) on a theater marquee was a cool 'in-joke'.

Bela Lugosi, both a wonderful actor and very fine gentleman, comes across perfectly in this role. Things like body language, eye contact, voice inflection, all of it done beautifully. The plot, containing as many little surprising twists and turns as the Bowery mission contains secret panels and hidden doors, is a neat story and it flows well. The other players fit their roles very well. The continuity is good. And then there are those other added attractions, like thinking you just saw Lou Costello playing a Bowery bum. Nope, you didn't, but you're close. Its his older brother, and almost twin, Pat Costello. Things like that make this movie great fun. Add a pretty nurse, a crazy doctor, and what do you have? A "B" movie that deserves at least a B+.