The Phantom Creeps

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!

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.

There are two versions of THE PHANTOM CREEPS. There is the movie serial that lasts 265 minutes and a severely truncated version that lasts only 78 minutes and was released as a full-length movie. This review is for the 78 minute version and in no way is indicative of the overall quality of the longer film.

Bela Lugosi is a mad scientist and unlike many crazed scientists, he is a man of many talents. Not only has he developed a cool giant killer robot but he's got his hand in many other experiments--the most exciting of which is his invisibility formula. When his wife and a friend learn of his work AND hear that he's willing to sell his work to anyone who is willing to pay, they threaten to go to the authorities. Doing this was a good idea--TELLING this insane and amoral scientist before you do it isn't! And, after disposing of them, Lugosi decides to use his new 'toys' to threaten mankind and all the usual junk you'd expect from such a film.

Because the full-length film was so savagely chopped to pieces, the film was very hard to follow and was very disjoint. It looked at times like a serial (which usually have tons of holes to begin with) but was practically impossible to care about. My advice is skip this one and look for the serial IF you have 4-1/2 hours to spare!!

The Phantom Creeps (1949) is an edited down serial from 1939, a dozen episodes (total runtime: 4 hrs 25 minutes) chopped down to 78 minutes for broadcasting on TV; this goes a long way to explaining the messy and often incomprehensible plot, the numerous cheesy cliffhanger scenarios, the hokey performances, and the dated Flash Gordon-style scene transitions.

Bela Lugosi slums it as Dr. Alex Zorka, a scientist whose many inventions (a giant robot, an invisibility belt, a ray gun, and spiders that are controlled by small explosive discs!) are a threat to world safety. Out to stop him from selling his creations to the highest bidder are G-man Capt. Bob West (Robert Kent) and Lt. Jim Daley (Regis Toomey), aided by spunky reporter Jean Drew (Dorothy Arnold).

Although this severely truncated version obviously features the best bits of the serial, the choppy, repetitive nature of the story makes it a real challenge to sit through (although undoubtedly nowhere near as difficult as sitting through the whole 4 hrs 25 minutes). Despite the unforgettable sight of Lugosi bombing the Hindenberg from a biplane, this doesn't warrant a rating any higher than 3/10.

Edited-down serial which, science fiction disbelief aside, remains pretty lame by any reasonable standard, another in a long line of inept vehicles wasting the great Bela Lugosi's acting talent. Here he plays a demented scientist who, after inhaling a rare meteor gas, develops (among other things) a power source which can cure the world of its ills, or, destroy it depending on his mood. When his wife is killed in a plane crash, he elects to use his prowess to destroy those who sought to contain him, but is seemingly cornered at every turn by relentless G-men (Kent and Toomey).

Lugosi isn't as hammy as he's been known to get, more-so his endless array of inventions (giant headed robot, invisibility, magic potions, ray guns etc etc) becomes tired and clichéd very quickly. The cast has depth with Toomey and Van Sloan in particular, while vivacious blonde Dorothy Arnold has some sizable screen-time as a tenacious reporter.

The picture is frenetic, racing from one catastrophe to the next with much repetition and little in the way of sophistication. The climax seems hackneyed and unimaginative, with spy rings and stock footage of burning blimps and battleships apparently substituting for any coherent or realistic attempt at a conclusion. Even at eighty minutes (the original serial is listed as more than four hours), it's overlong and underwhelming.