A mezzanotte corre il terrore

Bowery at Midnight is one of the many low budget chillers that Bela Lugosi made during the 1940's and is one of the better ones I have seen.

Bela has two roles in this movie, in the daytime he is a college lecturer and at night, he runs a Bowery where dropouts hang out. It's at the Bowery where killings start and he has an assistant who does these killings in the cellar where they revived as zombies. He uses an escaped murder to help him too.

Bowery at Midnight has some of the things you would expect in this type of movie: hidden doorways, secret rooms and a hunchback assistant.

Joining Bela in the cast is Wanda McKay (The Monster Maker) and John Archer (Destination Moon).

This movie is worth watching if you get the chance. Very creepy at times.

Rating: 3 stars out of 5.

Bowery at Midnight is a must see for fans of Bela Lugosi. His "lesser" films are is some ways more interesting than the ones he is best known for, since expectations are low and the Lugosi persona shines through inadequacies in the script etc. His acting is really put to the test here where he essentially has three roles: a kind soup kitchen manager, a professor of psychology and a sinister mass killer who can double cross anyone. All three roles are wonderfully done- a masterful job!!

Bowery at Midnight (1942)

** (out of 4)

Professor Karl Wagner (Bela Lugosi) is a highly respected man who helps run a food kitchen that feeds homeless and poor people. At night he's taking advantage of the same people forcing them to do his illegal crimes including murder. BOWERY AT MIDNIGHT is yet another low-budget quickie from Monogram and while the story itself is pretty lacking, the film remains watchable thanks to a fast pace as well as the performance from Bela Lugosi. It's really a shame that the film doesn't feature a tad bit more life because it could have been something rather good had more time with the story been done. Lugosi is very good in the lead role and it's funny that during the opening credits his name appears twice for playing the two characters. One of the biggest reasons that the film works as well as it does is because Lugosi is very believable as both the good guy and the bad guy. I really liked the way Lugosi played the good professor because he made you believe that this guy couldn't be doing anything wrong. That cheerful glee from the bad guy also comes across flawlessly and especially when he gets to show how cold blooded the character is. Wanda McKay is good in her supporting role as the woman helping Lugosi not knowing exactly what he's up to. The rest of the supporting players fit their roles nicely and certainly help keep the film moving. The biggest problem is that the story just needed a little bit more work to make it something more than just a routine "B" picture.

Next to "Invisible Ghost" and "The Corpse Vanishes", this is probably the best of the old Monogram series. ("The Devil Bat", my number one favorite of the "Poverty Row" thrillers was not Monogram, but PRC). Bela Lugosi plays a mad psychologist who moonlights in the dark of night as a master criminal who uses a charity mission as a front. In this film, Lugosi demonstrates not one, but three different personalities. Moreover, the plot gets slightly convoluted compressed into a quick 62 minute running time. Some scenes such as the basement graveyard and the undead zombie attack during the film's climax are very hair-raising indeed.

7/10.

Dan Basinger

A rather busy plot (for a 60-minute programmer, anyway) ensures that there's little padding other than the obligatory romantic interest between the highlights (my favorite being Lugosi's cold-blooded rooftop disposal) - not that the film reaches any particular heights, but it's certainly enjoyable and engaging while it's on. The dual nature of Lugosi's character and the 'mission' setting hark back to DARK EYES OF London (1939), and this one too can be chalked up among the star's better 40s efforts. There's even some smart dialogue to boot ("I wouldn't trust you with a bad case of dandruff" and Lugosi describing Fingers Dolan's use of criminal slang as "picturesque", etc) and the poster for THE CORPSE VANISHES (1942) on a theater marquee was a cool 'in-joke'.