Phantom Killer

This independent B film which had a few familiar faces in the cast had some interesting elements, but in the end doesn't quite make it.

John Hamilton known better to early television fans as Perry White in the Superman series is a well known philanthropist who is seen at the scene of several murders of other people in the financial field. But he's got a nice alibi. Every time one of those murders takes place Hamilton is also seen at some public event.

Nevertheless and I think rather stupidly ace prosecutor Dick Purcell proceeds with an indictment against him with only janitor Mantan Moreland as a witness to Hamilton at the scene of a murder. No way in real life or on Law And Order would Purcell take such a flimsy case to trial.

But even when he loses Purcell continues on with the investigation even with his girlfriend, reporter Joan Woodbury giving him the horse laugh.

This film had some potential to be better than it was. But there were too many loose ends in the plot and bizarre behavior by some of the characters in the story line of Phantom Killer.

However Mantan Moreland on the witness stand is hilarious. Would that the rest of Phantom Killer was as good.

This is not great film art. However, I found it fun. It does its job: It is breezy at times. It has romantic elements between Joan Woodbury and Dick Purcell. And it is frightening: The central concept, that a man who can neither hear nor speak and is never at the scene of the crime is a ruthless killer, has a nightmarish quality.

Ms. Woodbury gets several costume changes. They aren't always logical. She plays an ambitious newspaper reporter. In one sequence, we find her interviewing a central character while wearing an evening gown! (Yes, it's in the daytime.) Discovering films from Monogram is generally fun. Sometimes they don't pan out. This one, whether or not it is a remake of "The Sphinx," does. It held my attention without fail.

Remake of the Linoel Atwill thriller the Sphinx has been rethought so its now a jokey romance between an Assistant District Attorney and a reporter. Its not bad, but where the original was a creepy thriller, this is too light to be truly gripping, especially if you've seen the original.

The plot has ADA Dick Purcell investigating the murder of a wealthy individual. The one suspect, a known deaf mute played by John Hamilton was seen to talk by a janitor (Montan Moreland) at the crime scene, while he was seen by dozens of witnesses, including the reporter, at a dedication ceremony. The solution here is so clumsy as to be obvious well before its revealed making the film unexciting. The result is we're left with the not a great deal to hold our interest, and the feeling that once again a very good original should not have been remade.

Billy "B-Movie" Beaudine Directed this Monogram Movie with about as Much Creativity as His other 300 Films. Competent and Quick the Man who went on to Helm..."Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter" (1966) and "Billy the Kid vs Dracula" (1966) along with many Others that "Bad Movie" Archaeologists have Dug Up and Poked Fun.

This is a Transparent Plot Paraded Out for Non-Discerning Wartime Audiences. There are some Amusing Cultural References about Sinking the Japs and a Reference to "Superman" that made His Comic Book Debut only Three Years Earlier.

Pop-Eyed and always Poking Fun at Himself and His Race, Mantan Moreland is On Hand for a while, "Feets don't fail me now!", but is Surprisingly Absent after a Brief Gin Guzzling Opening.

John Hamilton (TV's Perry White) is the "Villain" along with Three Leading Actors that no one can or Should Remember, because They basically Show Up, Read Lines and Annoy the Audience.

The Title is Better than the Movie and the Movie is Better than Being on the Bottom End of a Bomb Run.

Note...A Title Card shown at the end of the Movie asks for 80,000,000 Theater Patrons to "Buy Bonds Now", and many did. Movie goers were generous Patriots throughout WWII and helped the War effort substantially.

Note 2…Someone on IMDb should remove the poster on this title page. It is almost as embarrassing as this Movie.

This is directed to the guy who gives the kudos in "Phantom Killer" to Jack Benny's valet/chef/chauffeur/right-hand-man Eddie "Rochester" Anderson. You got it wrong, fellow. That was not Rochester playing Nicodemus, the janitor who sees a man talk who can't talk. Nope. It was the great Mantan Moreland.

BTW, this low budget Monogram 2-reeler is fun, especially if you're a fan of the dozens of Old Dark House mysteries that were produced in the 30s & 40s.

Mantan, who died in 1973 at age 71, is probably best remembered these days as Birmingham Brown, Charlie Chan's driver and cohort to Charlie's Numbers One, Two & Three sons in 14 Charlie Chan movies from 1944-1949.

Mantan also had solid roles in "King of the Zombies" (1941), "Dressed to Kill" (1941) with Lloyd Nolan as shamus Mike Shayne, "The Strange Case of Dr. RX" (1942) with another great, Lionel Atwill and many other fun films. He acted into the 1970s when he appeared in such TV series as "Love, American Style" and "Adam-12."

Mantan has deservedly been remembered in beloved fashion by many and needs to be recognized here.