The Undying Monster

In the 1930s and 40s, Hollywood made thousands of "B" movies--movies that had lower budgets and were made to run as the lesser of the two films at a double-feature. This little mystery-horror film is one of the better ones I've seen in some time--thanks to surprisingly decent performances and a novel and well-written script--things you don't normally find in Bs.

The film begins with an attack by what seems to be an animal on some rich folks at their country manor in Britain. While an inspector from Scotland Yard investigates, it soon becomes obvious that many people there are trying to hide the truth. Some claim the attack was the result of a mythical beast that has haunted this family for generations, though the inspector is naturally very dubious of this.

The film excels in that the script is lacking the usual holes and logical errors common to B-movies. Plus, while there is a horror element, the film really succeeds as a mystery and suspense film. About the only problem in the film, and it's a small one, is that one of the characters (the hot-shot female investigator) is a bit obnoxious and stupid from time to time. However, this is a tiny problem only and seeing the forensics employed in the film is really quite fascinating today.

"B material given A execution" is how film historian Drew Casper describes 20th Century Fox's first horror movie, 1942's "The Undying Monster," in one of the DVD's extras, and dang if the man hasn't described this movie to a T. The film, a unique melding of the detective, Gothic and monster genres, though uniformly well acted by its relatively no-name cast, features a trio of first-rate artists behind the camera who really manage to put this one over. And the film's script isn't half bad either. Here, Scotland Yard scientist Robert Curtis (James Ellison) comes to eerie Hammond Hall, a brooding pile on the English coast, sometime around 1900, to investigate some recent attacks ascribed to the legendary Hammond monster. Viewers expecting this legend of a voracious predator to wind up being explained in an anticlimactic, mundane fashion may be a bit surprised at how things play out. Ellison is fine in his no-nonsense, modern-detective role (he uses a spectrograph to analyze various clues!), and Heather Angel (who does have the face of one), playing the house's mistress, is equally good. But, as I've mentioned, it is the contributions of three men behind the scenes that really turn this little B into a work of art. Director John Brahm, who would go on to helm Fox's "The Lodger" and "Hangover Square," and DOP Lucien Ballard have combined their formidable talents to make a picture that is noirish, moody and fast moving, with superb use of light and shadow. And composer David Raksin, who two years later would achieve enduring fame for his score for that classiest of film noirs, "Laura," has co-contributed some background music here that is both mysterious and exciting. Fox head Darryl F. Zanuck apparently had hopes that "The Undying Monster" would be the opening salvo in his studio's bid to challenge Universal's monster domination, and in retrospect, it does seem like a fair way to start. This DVD, by the way, looks just fantastic, and sports more "extras" than you would believe capable of accompanying a minor B. All in all, a very pleasant surprise.

With a little over an hour's running time, this film is one of a number of very short,second features that were made in abundance during the forties. Always in black and white, they starred familiar faces that never really made it to the "A" list (with a few exceptions). They also featured players on their way down. Heather Angel, who was the female support in the classic "The Informer", was reduced to starring in programmers like this one. Be that as it may, this film is a step above most second features. The cinematography is good......eerie and fog shrouded (maybe to hide lack of sets). The actors all rise to the occasion and are generally quite good. There is a little too much forced humor which is out of place in the context of the story. I never knew why they insisted on doing that......many a good "B" picture was ruined by injecting unfunny schtick in otherwise dramatic stories. No guts and gore here....just a compact, tight storyline about a family curse which appears to be coming true. It won't keep you guessing but it will keep you interested throughout and is one to watch on a rainy Saturday afternoon. I think you'll enjoy it.

Enjoyed taping this film recently, which was shown during the early hours of the AM. It is a great picture from the 1940's and director John Brahm, who also directed such film greats as, "Hangover Square",'45 and "The Lodger",'44, starring Laid Cregar. Twentieth Century-Fox produced this film which is from a good novel taken from Jessie Douglas Kerruish's 1936 book. It is a tale of a family cursed since the Crusades and is rather moody stuff, quite spoilt by the British censor's scissors. Not only did he remove the carefully photographed final metamorphosis, leaving audiences to wonder why the dim thing that the police shot should suddenly look like John Howard, but he also insisted on the title being changed to The Hammond Mystery. Fortunately enough of Brahm's brilliance was devoted to less shocking sequences so that most of his mood remained. Lucien Ballard swung his camera round as ancient room, alighting on odd objects at each dour bong of midnight. He also showed a large stain glass window which made the old homestead very creapy. The phrase: When the stars are bright on a frosty night, Beware the baying in the rocky lane" You will have to see the picture to find out what the MONSTER REALLY IS !

A curse has been killing the men of Hammond Hall for centuries on cold nights. In 1900, Helga Hammond (Heather Angel) tells the butler that curses don't exist. There are screams from outside the mansion. Helga orders a carriage to be brought round for her while the servants wring their hands and worry. So begins this low budget film from 20th-Century Fox that moves at breakneck speed trying to get in all the plot in just over an hour's running time.

The movie is filled with behind-the-scenes talent that was two years away from peaking. Director John Brahm would hit his stride in 1944-45, when he directed "Guest In The House, "The Lodger (both 1944) and "Hangover Square" (1945) consecutively. Composer David Raksin, best known for the "Theme from "Laura" (1944) scored one of his first films here. Lucien Ballard, who did the atmospheric, skewed photography that plays with the viewers' sense of proportion and reminded me of "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" (1919), filmed both "Laura" and "The Lodger" (both 1944). The sets were designed by Richard Day and Lewis Creber.

"The Undying Monster" is an marvelous "B" movie that should be better known.