Phantom Killer

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.

Quite average even by Monogram standards, this mystery (a remake of The Sphinx) has an oddball plot which is not unraveled to much effect -- you'll see through it after about ten minutes. The two leads have some nice breezy dialog at the outset, but John Hamilton is hopelessly dull as the villain (perfectly cast Lionel Atwill originated the role) and Warren Hymer's nitwit shtick is pretty annoying. However, it's worth sitting through for a five-minute appearance by the incomparable Mantan Moreland as Nicodemus the janitor, who gets the better of the defense attorney during a hilarious courtroom appearance. You've got to hand it to Bill "One-Take" Beaudine; he wasn't much of a director, but he would always punch up a routine programmer with some goofy vaudeville.

John Harrison (John Hamilton) is a well respected philanthropist. He's also known for begin deaf and a true mute...born with paralyzed vocal cords. However, shortly after the film begins, Harrison (or a guy looking exactly like him) talks to a janitor (Mantan Moreland) as he leaves an office building. Soon, the janitor finds a dead body. It seems that again and again, when Hamilton is at big public charity events, men from finance companies die in the same cities he's in....but it can't be him, as he is seen at the charity events when the murders are occurring. So what gives? How can this be explained away?!

When the assistant DA (Dick Purcell) tries to prosecute Harrison for murder, doctors verify he IS unable to talk and it couldn't have been Harrison as he has alibis. And, as a result, the DA is laughed out of court...and determined to somehow proved Harrison is a killer...one who sure takes a lot of trouble to establish these alibis if this is true!

The solution to this mystery certainly is no mystery....and most folks watching the film will guess it early on in the film. I think having the man assumed to be mute when he isn't could have worked....but being in two places at once...well, unless he's perfected cloning, there's only one obvious answer! Still, it is entertaining and a decent time-passer...even if it all doesn't make sense.

Some things in the film don't make a lot of sense when it comes to deafness. Rarely is a deaf person unable to talk because of any paralysis....and the term 'deaf mute' really doesn't make sense for nearly all deaf people, as they can talk or make vocalizations....just not all that well in most cases. Also in one scene a person says that deaf people ALL can read lips (also called 'speech reading')...which is definitely NOT true! However, what the film did get right is the sign language. It looks as if they have a person who knows sign language do the closeup scenes showing just the hands....although in a few cases, Hamilton obviously had been taught a few signs. I do appreciate this....as, in the original version of the movie, 1933's "The Sphinx", the signing was all a lot of gibberish and they made no attempt to do real American Sign Language or anything approximating it.

Oh, and finally, Warren Hymer played comic relief as a dumb cop. Interestingly, he wasn't ALL dumb and actually was quite competent at the end of the film!

As expected from Monogram, the sets are cheap, the comedy broad, and the acting erratic. Still, the premise is engaging. That is, how can deaf-mute Harrison (Hamilton) manage to be in two places at once. If we're to believe our eyes, he's emceeing big public events in one part of town, while in another part, he's wringing people's necks. Pretty good trick. So the movie's more a howsitdun than a whodunit.

Hamilton's excellent in the pivotal role. Looks like he's been doing sign language for years. Plus there's that unblinking stare, while we wonder what's behind it. Happily, Woodbury (Barbara) injects needed spark as a girl Friday, while Moreland enlivens with his bug-eyed comedic bit. Too bad he soon disappears (as another reviewer points out). Now, if casting had kept Moreland and dumped the unfunny cop Hymer, things would have improved—but then Moreland probably had to get over to the Charlie Chan set. And who is Dick Purcell, the supposed leading man. I kept looking for him, but he's so recessive, he's hard to spot. I guess all the good B-leading men were away at war, but then neither the script nor director Beaudine throws much Purcell's way.

Anyway, despite the drawbacks, there's enough suspense-- especially around the piano-- to keep up interest and maybe even reaffirm the laws of physics.

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.