Black Dragons

Poor Bela Lugosi. Just another day at work. A group of saboteurs attempting to disrupt the American war effort from the inside. It's pretty hard to figure out at first because, while we know these guys are up to something, their method of operation just isn't very clear. I won't spoil it, but the ending in pretty amazing. There are a series of murders perpetrated by our hero. A police force that doesn't know what is going on. What a coincidence that all the victims seem to come and go from the same house. There are comments like, "A true patriot would do this or that." It's obvious while suspicion abounds most of the world wouldn't know a spy or a subversive if it jumped up and bit them. I also was surprised to see Clayton Moore (the Lone Ranger) in a romantic role. I never realized that he ever did anything other than sit on a horse. There is, of course, the smugness of the criminals as they think that they are immune from the killer's guest list. Anyway, Bela is sort of a good guy and a bad guy rolled into one. The best scene in the movie is at the end, but I won't spoil it. As a curiosity, and a period piece, it may be fun to watch for some people.

With a budget of, say, over $100 (which is what Republic appears to have spent on this) this could have been a much more intriguing film. Potential plot of sabatours being removed from this world (ie, getting killed) doesnt come close to fullfilling its promise. Still, it has its moments, and Mr Lugosi is real fun to watch. Not highly recommended, but there are worse ways to fill an hour.

This piece of tacky WW2 propaganda has Bela Lugosi kill off various fith columnists and leave their corpses outside the Japanese embassy in Washington (with a prominently placed "Closed" sign on its door). Most of the film has Bela darting in and out of various "hidden" rooms in his main foe's rather small house and sneaking up on people from behind them. For example, everyone enters the cellar by going round the side of the house and through some front doors above the cellar; Bela, however, appears to get in via some inside door (so he doesn't have to leave the house). In a scene near the end he drags one of his victims through a previously unseen curtain in the living room and into some huge, medieval-type room with a long table that had previously not featured in the house at all and had somehow been missed by the large contingent of FBI men. Another scene has him sneak into a small room below the stairs, as hero and heroine ascent the stairs, so he can somehow get into the upstairs room of his Doctor victim before the others. These momentary pleasures, though, are outweighed by the ludicrous climatic flashback plot revelation in which it is revealed that Lugosi is a Nazi plastic surgeon who has transformed Japanese agents into these American-looking fifth columnists. The daftest moment, in a thoroughly daft film, comes when Lugosi is double-crossed by the fiendish Orientals and thrown into a cell into which, conveniently, is another prisoner who looks exactly like him (but sans beard) and is about to be released. The Great Man gives a chuckle and takes out his beard-trimming kit (that the Japanese have helpfully left him with). Welcome to Monogram; a Universe all of its own. See also The Ape Man and The Corpse Vanished for more of the same.

A very strange poverty row production from the period where horror star Bela Lugosi was resigned to taking whatever roles he could get. However, this entry in what we might safely call Bela's "Monogram Nine Series" is really far-out! He plays a strange visitor who first arrives at a reputed doctor's home in the guise of a patient, and then starts to take over the place, holding the doctor prisoner in his own house, and also killing a group of other important men who are associated with him. Lugosi has an old score to settle with these well-to-do types, and it involves his former association with the Nazis and the Japanese. By the time the 61 minutes are over, all will be explained (sort of!). If you're expecting too much sense out of a crazy movie like this, you can forget about watching it. This is not a horror film (though the ending may qualify) but it's a strange one and a rather offbeat curiosity for Bela Lugosi fans. He's also got a few really absurd lines which are a lot of fun. ** out of ****

IF only I had read :"A cabal of American industrialists, all fifth-columnists intent on sabotaging the war effort, are methodically murdered by the malevolent Monsieur Colomb. It is only until detective Dick Martin is assigned to the case that everyone's true motives and identities are revealed.", I might have had a clue as to what was going on. Maybe.

Truly awful even for a Z grade Lugosi movie. True, Clayton Moore is in it BUT he is not recognizable - he wears no mask and his voice isn't Lone Rangerish enough to catch more than occasionally when actively listened for.