The Phantom Creeps

The original serial was released in 1939 and consisted of 265 minutes. This thing was released in 1949 and was stitched together as a movie and the running time became 78 minutes. So, if you are wondering what the heck is going on and if it feels like something missing, there most certainly is something missing. I remember watching episodes of the serial and then I watched this and was like, what is going on!

The story, well a mad scientist and his henchman Monk that constantly betrays the doctor, but someone keeps his life are doing things! Making exploding spiders that creep up on you! Making giant robots who are not good at combat and turning things invisible! Meanwhile, Bob the officer is trying to piece things together while a woman reporter tries to get the scoop. There are spies who wear strange masks and an battle in the skies too, but a lot of things just seem to happen randomly due to the aforementioned editing.

Bela Legosi plays the made doctor and he is okay, does what he usually does in a film. It seems as if the lady reporter is not in this thing much at all, I remember seeing her more in the serial version. Just too many quick edits and jumps to new scenes really makes you scratch your head, but it all ends with a plane crash so at least that much is clear.

So, it is entertaining in a fever dream kind of way. I mean, you just get a snippet sometimes of a scene before it simply moves on. I am sure the full serial is a bit better as far as story, but a bit more boring too. I mean, they are not going to be cutting out the most entertaining set pieces, but probably more exposition and romance with the reporter. Still, they may have wanted to at least have this thing be a bit more coherent...

The Phantom Creeps is everything an old classic B sci-fi thriller is supposed to be. It features Bela Lugosi (as Dr. Zorka), a mad megalomaniac genius with a utility belt and a sack of gadgets that would make Batman and James Bond blush, against a team of CIA-types, a reporter, and local law enforcement. Lugosi hams up a storm and really seems to enjoy himself in this immensely silly role. His somewhat untrustworthy and dull side kick, played by Jack Smith is a great foil to his overbearing stage presence, and he makes a truly great sadist! The film is replete with clever and creative (for its time) special effects (plane crashes, all sorts of random electrical currents, cloaking technology) and a lot of technobabble reminiscent of some of the less palatable Star Trek series.

For an added bonus, the creators threw in a plot, and a cast of well developed, if stereotyped, characters. This film is an edit-job of the old classic serial with the same title, and it is essentially a highlight reel - compressing all the pivot points on the winding road followed by the serial.

Ultimately, it's mindless, kinda trashy entertainment, but it's also a damn good time.

This film is a cannibalisation of a series of twelve episodes cut (not particularly skilfully) into just under 80 minutes. As such, there are some glaring holes in the storyline as Bela Lugosi portrays a scientist who has discovered a new meteorite element and is determined to convert it into a whole range of useful things including explosives; a deadly Z-ray, a lethal gas; an invisibility contraption; a machine that can heal wounds and... the most astonishing and hysterical looking Inca-esque robot you've ever seen - as he strives for world domination and to stay ahead of the investigating G men. It's a hoot, and should be viewed as such - for heaven's sake don't try to make sense of it - it's just there to be enjoyed.

Death rays, radioactive meteors, deadly gas, invisibility belts, mechanical men, robot spiders... all in one secret lab! What more could anyone want? Despite these schlocky riches, "The Phantom Creeps" (at least in its 80 minute movie incarnation) is largely underwhelming. Evil genius Dr. Zorka (an unsubtle Bella Lugosi) and ex-con henchman Monk (Jack C. Smith ) battle a couple fedora'ed G-man (Bob West and Jim Daley) while enemy agents lurk in the background and a 'plucky' girl reporter (Dorothy Arnold) noses around (you know that she's 'plucky' because that's how she's described on the front page of the newspaper that breaks the story of Zorka's bid to destroy the world). Being a glommed-together 12-part serial that is compressed to about a quarter of its original running time, "The Phantom Creeps" seems pretty dis-articulated at times (although it's easy to pick out the cliff-hanger endings that would have demarked the original chapters). The lurching, scowling hydrocephalic robot is the best part (as could be guessed by its prominence in all of the advertising material). Watchable only by people who want to add this silly Lugosi serial to their life-lists but don't want to invest 4+hours into watching the entire serial.

Bela a mad scientist with a giant iron robot, an invisibility belt, some sort of explosive discs that blows up when spiders go near them (I'll get back to you on that one), a treacherous sidekick and enough megalomania to run a fair sized media empire! All he needs to do in order to rule the world is get rid of the cops, some spies, and eventually the army. Will he succeed? He's hitting barriers right from the outset when his wife goes to rival Doctor Mallory and the next thing you know Bela's having to fake his own death using a tramp who vaguely looks him. As this is a condensed version of those serials they use to show back in the day (and I can still remember Flash Gordon getting shown in the early eighties) what you here is Bela getting into various scrapes every twenty minutes or so.

All he wants to do is rule the world, what's everyone's problem? In order to get there, Bela's going to have to employ that giant robot, use a secret laboratory with enough secret passages to fill a dozen Gialli, and put up with that damn sidekick who's always trying to scupper his plans. Things naturally lead to Bela flying about in a plane dropping those exploding discs on everyone, including the Hindenburg zeppelin! Not sure about that one.

For me, Bela works best when he's given the most insane material to work with (like being half Ape in the Ape Man or basically everything he does in Black Dragons), so I'm fairly happy with this one, as he goes invisible quite a lot, use a ray gun to knock people out, and generally portrays a soulless madman convinced of his genius (or genius, if you're posting anything on Youtube). I'm not sure if I'd be able to handle the full version of this mind you.

The special effects, I thought, were rather groovy too!