Nuit d'épouvante

Forget the much vaunted Val Lewton "Cat People" as a classic horror film from the early 40s. "Night Monster" is a glittering gem of chilling beauty that supplies the juice and frission and performances that make "Cat People" look like "Ishtar." Veteran director Ford Beebe had only two weeks to whip his crew of Grade A technicians and Hollywood's greatest B actors into shape. Cult B-Actress, Fay Helm, is fantastic as the emotionally unstable Margaret Ingstom who claims she sees a hideous night monster creeping around her mansion at night. Irene Hervey is attractive and warm as the psychiatrist. Leif Ericson (former husband of tragic-prone actress Frances Farmer)is hilarious as the lecherous, over-sexed chaffeur. Bela Lugosi is here, too, but he mostly leers and raises his brows. There's plenty of mist, beautifully lit and photographed scenes of fire places and wavering shadows.The great character actress, Doris Lloyd, is wonderfully intense and lethal. She and Helm also starred together in "The Wolf Man." A great Hollywood mystery is whatever happened to Fay Helm? Not even film historians know. Although filmed on a low budget, "Night Monster" shows what can be done with great talent--before and after--the camera, in post-production and editing. H.J. Salter does the music which is mostly the much beloved excerpts from "Son of Frankenstein" in l939. This is a great movie to watch on a wintry night. Now, just to get it on DVD. Come on MCA/Universal Home Video--get with it. Put this one and "Captive Wild Woman" on the same disc and give us all a thrill!

Forde Beebe was a longtime writer and director who doesn't get much love -- the Buck Rogers serials excepted; most of his sound work was in the serial and B westerns, which usually don't impress. However in 1942 he shot Night Monster in less than two weeks for Universal. And it's a fine creepy-crawly with a good slow build-up and some fine atmospheric lighting by Charles van Enger. Bela Lugosi and Lionel Atwill were top-billed for marquee value, though Lugosi has few lines as the servant of the house, Rolf, and Atwill is the first person killed inside the house, so there really is no truth in advertising here.

Three doctors are summoned by wealthy Kurt Ingston (Ralph Morgan) to spend a few days at his mansion for possible endowments for their research. That's odd since the three doctors could not stop Kurt from ending up in the state he is in now - an arm and both legs partially amputated. Kurt's sister has summoned a fourth doctor, Dr. Lynn Harper, for completely separate reasons. Harper is a psychiatrist. A mystic, Agor Singh (Nils Aster), is a resident of the Ingston home, helping Kurt deal with the reality of his condition. And then guests as well as some of the servants are found strangled, usually in their rooms but sometimes outside. So the search is on to discover who the murderer - the titular night monster - might be.

This is a well-done horror film that, despite not having any big names who have many lines or who are onscreen for very long, was quite engaging with an interesting and unusual angle. With Leif Ericson as a big galoot chauffeur who could be the poster boy for the Me Too movement 70 years ahead of schedule. 15 minutes in I was rooting for the Night Monster to get this creep he was so awful!

1942's NIGHT MONSTER was a staple of Universal's SHOCK! package of classic horrors issued to television in the late 50s, showing up 6 times on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater from 1966 to 1983. This was the only Universal to grant Bela Lugosi top billing since the 1931 Dracula, with even 1932's MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE listing him below not-so-virginal ingénue Sidney Fox (a triumph for the casting couch!). For the record, other servant/butler roles Lugosi played can be found in 1933's NIGHT OF TERROR, 1939's THE GORILLA, 1944's ONE BODY TOO MANY, 1945's THE BODY SNATCHER, 1946's GENIUS AT WORK, and 1956's THE BLACK SLEEP. His Rolf has little to do, but he was still a regular participant in the studio's horrors, and always a welcome presence. 'A scream in the night through the fog on Pollard Slough,' hiding something so hideously terrifying that even the frogs stop croaking whenever its shadow passes by (if that doesn't set the proper mood, nothing will!). The opening credits are presented in front of the same forest set built for THE WOLF MAN, featuring music identical to the credits for THE GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN. Second billed Lionel Atwill also plays a small role, but it's the one doctor he's best suited for, getting good scene stealing mileage out of his exasperated reactions to Francis Pierlot's gland obsessed fellow physician. Kudos to beloved character actor Frank Reicher, best remembered for KING KONG, whose sensitive realistic portrayal of Dr. Timmons is vastly different from the bombastic Atwill. Tending the wealthy and powerful Kurt Ingston in his time of illness, the three have left him 'a helpless cripple, a misshapen thing that must hide even from the servants in the house.' Ralph Morgan is in top form as the wheelchair bound owner of Ingston Towers, with hilarious support from Leif Erickson as the lecherous chauffeur Laurie, even daring to flirt with Doris Lloyd's icy housekeeper, whom he refers to as 'old frozen face.' Little used actress Janet Shaw enjoys one of her few major roles, as Millie Carson, the suspicious maid who abruptly quits without notice, but makes the fatal mistake of returning for her belongings after nightfall, becoming the first on screen victim of the prowling horror, to the eerie silence of the fog shrouded darkness. Director Alfred Hitchcock was preparing SHADOW OF A DOUBT at Universal that summer, and screened this picture because he wanted to cast Janet as a burned out waitress in his film ('I'd just die for a ring like that'). Hitchcock was duly impressed by what he saw in NIGHT MONSTER, and was amazed that it was shot with great style and pace in just 11 days by producer-director Ford Beebe, who had just graduated from serial work. Despite the disappointment for some Lugosi buffs, this fan has long championed its qualities to remain genuinely frightening even today, receiving its long awaited due as a Universal horror classic, a real ensemble piece where the entire cast stands out, a genuine chiller that featured prominently on Chiller Theater, perfect viewing in the dark at 2:00 in the morning.

Tho Bela Lugosi and Lionel Atwill are the big name draws here, they are in fact only supporting actors within the story. But don't let that detract from this being the entertaining murder mystery spooky house picture it is. Basically we are at a house in the South in the swamp region. It is the home of Kurt Ingston, a recluse who is wheelchair bound. Here on this evening are a number of doctors invited by Ingston, who start to be killed off one by one. So who is responsible? The butler {Lugosi}, the weird housekeeper, the chauffeur, the mentally ill daughter? Or could it have something to do with the mystical Agor Singh who has been teaching Ingston the fabled art of mind over matter? Either way the mystery holds tight throughout and nothing is ever quite as it seems.

For sure it's a Universal Pictures B movie, but it's the kind of effective creeper that gets in and does its job with the minimum of fuss. High on atmosphere and containing a ream of interesting characters, it's acted professionally and finishes on a high. It may not be "And Then There Were None", and those who wish to solve the mystery before the reveal will not find it hard to do so. But this is a decent entry in a lovely sub-genre of horror, so turn off the lights and listen out for those frogs. 6.5/10

During the 1940's decade, Universal Pictures attempted to continue making horror films as they did the previous decade but did try to re-invent and package them a bit differently. Their financial success never mirrored that of its earliest successes, but films like The Night Monster showed that they still had the wherewithal to make classic, good horror yarns. This film is different from most Universal horror films for a number of reasons. Yes, Bela Lugois and Lionel Atwill are in the film. Lugosi is yet again wasted playing a butler - a role I sometimes tire of seeing him relegated to for a man of his considerable talents. Atwill does better as a pompous(can he be any other way?) doctor called with two other doctors to the home of the rich man their medicine was not able to save - he was now paralyzed from the waist down. Ralph Morgan plays the crippled man hosting the doctors, another doctor called in by his sister who believes she is crazy, a hypnotist, and a couple of other servants who act and expect better than their positions might suggest. Swirling around this is a series of murders, secretive looks and discussions, and the sighting by several of a monster that comes out at night. The Night Monster is really more of a mystery than a true horror film though the eerie, foggy atmosphere helps convey significant menace. The story isn't really particularly hard to figure out, but all the actors do a very good job playing their roles. Bela is really wasted unfortunately. He certainly could have been better utilized. Atwill as always is very, very smart and clever as he delivers his dialog. Frank Reicher, of King Kong fame, gives a nice turn as a fellow doctor caught in some terrible plot. While maybe not one of Universal's brightest stars, The Night Monster is a good, entertaining film.