The Corpse Vanishes

Wallace Fox' "The Corpse Vanishes" of 1942 starring his greatness Bela Lugosi, is certainly not one of the highlights of Lugosi's career, but it is certainly underrated and its reputation of being total garbage is, in my opinion, unfair. The plot is chaotic and the movie is certainly not very good and completely illogical in many parts, but is has a certain atmosphere and its creepy moments, as well as some very funny ones.

After several brides drop dead during their marriage ceremonies and their bodies are stolen, the police are unable to find any clues. When a female journalist (Luana Walters) decides to do some research, her investigations lead her to the sinister Dr. Lorenz (Lugosi) , who lives in an eerie mansion with his sardonic wife and a bunch of freaks...

It seems to me that director Fox actually didn't do a bad job bringing a completely messy script to screen. The movie's beginning is, admittedly annoying, and so fast-paced that hardly a scene lasts longer than half a minute. The movie improves after some time, however, and even though some parts are still incredibly cheesy (and therefore unintentionally funny), "The Corpse Vanishes" becomes quite atmospheric after some time. The atmosphere is aided by a pretty nice score (mostly violin music, which fits in very well), and I really liked some of the characters.

Bela Lugosi is, of course, always a pleasure to watch, this man knew how to bring eeriness to screen in a very special and unique way and his status as one of Horror's greatest icons is more than justified. Elisabeth Russel does a great job playing Lugosi's creepy wife, a malevolent and sardonic countess, whose spiteful character becomes great fun to watch at times. Luana Walters also fits well into her role and the cast furthermore contains Angelo Rositto (the midget from Tod Browning's masterpiece "Freaks" of 1932).

All things considered, "The Corpse Vanishes" is a movie that is certainly illogical and incredibly cheesy at times, but it has a certain atmosphere, and Bela Lugosi, as well as some of the other cast members make a good effort making up for the messy script. Certainly not a must-see, but amusing and recommended to Lugosi fans. 5/10

Bela plays a doctor who raises orchids and gives them to girls about to be married....when they smell them, they go into a comatose state, and appear dead. Lugosi & henchmen steal the "bodies" with a hearse, and draw out the girl's spinal fluid, which is used to keep Lugosi's wife looking youthful.

This is Lugosi at his finest....and the dungeons of his home are positively creepy with Minerva Urecal and her two sons, Angelo Rossito (a dwarf) & (ex-boxer) Frank Moran. Together, with Lugosi's "wife", it makes for some nightmarish scenes.

BTW...the actress who plays Lugosi's Wife was morbidly afraid of lying in a coffin, so a "double" was used for that scene!

See It!

While I had pre-conceived notions of what this film would be like, I must confess that I was pleasantly surprised with this nice little old-fashioned horror story about a doctor who kidnaps "dead" brides only to remove spinal fluid in them to inject in his wife who is really 70 some odd years but looks thirtyish. Whew! Well I never said it was a great story, but it is a fine feature in which the great Lugosi can steal any scene he is in. The rest of the cast is adequate or below...some of the cast are just plain awful as with the female lead Luana Walters and the fella that plays her boss(Boy! They stink!). Yet, the story creates enough suspense to make this film very watchable and entertaining. I think the fact that it is barely over an hour in length also helps it create its zippy pacing. Minerva Urecal(from The Ape Man with Bela) and Angelo Rossitti(from Freaks) are in here, and they are fine as mysterious mother and dwarf-son Toby. The sets are pretty good considering the budget of the film and its Poverty Row Production. The fact Bela is in it is enough reason to see it, but at least with this film you get pretty good entertainment in the old traditional horror way.

Bela made 9 pics for Monogram, but it was only at THIS one, the 4TH, that things started to come together. All the rest in the series would use this one as the essential template for production, writing and character development. From here on, better or worse, the series would also deal with one essential theme: a scientist (usually Bela) makes experiments in the basement or the old house (sometimes IN the basement in the old house) that causes things to go blooey. This was also the first time that Art Director Dave Milton got a chance to spread his wings. He came on board for BLACK DRAGONS, the flick before, but THIS one is where he gets to make his craft start to click. Lewis made great atmosphere for next to nothing, and was around for all the rest of the Monograms. Casting is key in these, and it's a pretty good one B movie wise, here. You get Barclay and Harlen (also from BLACK DRAGONS),along with Russell, who would star in Lewtons' CAT PEOPLE movies..and Rosetto, from SPOOKS RUN WILD...a nice slice of Poverty Row talent. If you have limited time and budget, start with this one...it sums up everything they had learned up to this point, and gives you something to compare the rest to. The plot? Bela steals gland juice to keep his nasty wife young. They both like to sleep in coffins. If you can read that and smile, the rest will be easy.

Modest, insignificant but nevertheless amusing black & white horror that stars Bela Lugosi as a (surprise surprise!) sinister doctor who kidnaps young girls on their wedding day. Not for the cause of science this time, but to donate eternal youth and beauty to his wife, the countess. He breeds a special type of orchids (that's right, he's also a horticulturist) that paralyzes the girls and he picks up the bodies with a fake hearse. The screenplay doesn't really bother to explain what exactly happens to these girls afterwards and neither are we informed about Bela's relation with the family of misfits that lives in his mansion and works for him. In fact, "The Corpse Vanishes" is one giant incoherent mess yet I can't bring myself to bash it entirely. The basic plot idea is good, there are some moments of creepiness (when the female journalist discovers the dungeon, for example) and the acting performances are overall decent. Lugosi is on automatic pilot here but I especially liked the countess character! She's a hostile and egocentric shrew and I loved how she got so hysterical all the time. What can I say…I have a thing for evil women.