The Mad Ghoul

"The Mad Ghoul" deserves to be as well known as the majority of Universal genre product of its time. Granted, it IS a little light on horror elements, but its mad scientist, played by the incomparable George Zucco, is right up there with the maddest of the bunch. On the way to the big finale, we get repeated scenes of grave robbing, and a mad scientist lab full of equipment.

Zucco plays Dr. Morris, an ambitious professor / scientist who's managed to replicate the poison gas used by an ancient culture (just which culture that is, is never explained). He uses it to manipulate his impressionable student / guinea pig Ted Allison (David Bruce) into a career of, well, ghoulish activities. Also, the fiendish Dr. Morris wants Teds' girlfriend Isabel Lewis (gorgeous Evelyn Ankers), a successful singer, all to himself. This, despite the fact that Isabel has actually fallen out of love with Ted and is involved with her piano accompanist Eric Iverson (Turhan Bey).

"The Mad Ghoul" is devilish fun, in large part thanks to this great cast (also including Robert Armstrong of "King Kong" fame as an aggressive reporter, Milburn Stone, Andrew Tombes, Rose Hobart, Addison Richards, and a young Charles McGraw). Zucco is just a deliciously evil bad guy, spurring his unfortunate assistant to action; Ted is a young man who's as much a victim as other characters in the story. The film is not as thickly atmospheric as the best films in the Universal catalogue, but it does have decent graveyard scenes.

Bruce is a sympathetic instrument of destruction, covered in typically good - but not overdone - makeup by that master of Universal horror effects, Jack P. Pierce. And Ankers is a luminous leading lady. (She would have liked to do her own singing, but producer Ben Pivar dubbed her with old recordings by Lillian Cornell.)

Worth a look for fans of this studios' famed genre output.

Seven out of 10.

Of all the Universal stars and stock character actors, the one that seems to get lost in the shuffle the most is George Zucco. It is a shame as I can never say I saw him give a bad performance despite the lack of depth in the cinematic vehicle he was appearing in. Zucco is the star of Mad Ghoul and does a wonderful job playing a man obsessed with a pretty singer played by Evelyn Ankers. Zucco works with the fiancee of Ankers, both scientists working on what keeps life after death..in a zombie form at least. Ankers, however, is not quite sure she loves David Bruce still, and is having a relationship with the pianist touring with her, Turhan Bey, who has little to do in his role. Zucco somehow induces Bruce to become a zombie/ghoul at times...thus telling his pretty fiancee things that cool down the relationship so old George can have a crack at her..or so he thinks she might be so inclined toward him(not knowing about Bey of course). The Mad Ghoul is a wonderful film because it has some great scenes and dialogue for George Zucco. Zucco shines as a sinister man with a battle between moral conscience losing to his base desires. The rest of the cast is good(look for Robert Armstrong of King Kong fame), the scenes and graveyard sets in particular are very appropriate. Don't forget the Mad Ghoul when catching up with your list of Universal horror films. It is worth seeing if for no other reason than seeing Zucco in one of his finest performances.

Another Universal pleasure, spinning out a horror framework behind a story of three men in love with the same woman. Evelyn Ankers is the beauteous object of affection, playing a concert singer engaged to a handsome college student (David Bruce), but she's fallen for her pianist (Turhan Bey), while the student's mad scientist mentor (George Zucco) is hopelessly smitten. The scientist achieves a "living death' syndrome to his unwilling student, eventually using it as a tool to rid the pianist. The stars are great, earnest and engaging, particularly Bruce and Zucco. Grand soundtrack and fog-shrouded, shadowy scenes abound. A fun, time-capsule flick from the masters.

George Zucco plays University professor Dr. Alfred Morris, who has discovered an ancient Mayan gas that was used to control the human sacrifices made in their rituals. David Bruce plays his student Ted Allison, who is recruited to be his assistant for the summer. Unfortunately for Ted, his professor is quite ruthless, and uses him as an experiment to try his recreation of the Mayan gas on. He succeeds, but Ted turns into the "mad ghoul" who helps the doctor rifle graves to cut out their hearts for more experiments in overcoming the gas, though this won't do poor Ted much good... Evelyn Ankers has a small role as his girlfriend. Good "ghoulish" premise, but film is strangely meandering and unconvincing, not to mention overly talky and dull. Good cast makes it semi-watchable, but film still fails, though does have a poetic final fade-out.

"The Mad Ghoul" is the only one of its kind. George Zucco gives the best performance in this film as a mad professor. (how often did he play those??)

David Bruce as the luckless student is OK, Evelyn Ankers does her usual and Turhan Bey is about as wooden as they get. Not longer after "The Mad Ghoul," his career came to an end and he was forgotten. Robert Armstrong as the journalist is good and he livens up the proceedings. A shame he couldn't have had more screen time.

The production values are pretty much what you would expect. The make-up used to make David Bruce look ghoulish works very well. The film has a fair bit of incident and being only on for about 65 minutes, works to the films advantage.