Reviews of movies with Bela Lugosi.
Friday, April 25th 2008
Grade: D
Synopsis: Mystic magician Chandu (Edmund Lowe) thwarts Roxor (Bela Lugosi) and his death ray.
Chandu the Magician is a character originally made popular in radio serials. Chandu, aka Frank Chandler is the first westerner to master the secrets of the Yogi, and uses his ability to hypnotize people by looking into their eyes to thwart evil. Think Doctor Strange meets The Shadow, but sissier.
The big problem here, aside from the tremendous amount of exposition is that Bela Lugosi should be playing Chandu. This was rectified in the sequel two years later, The Return of Chandu (1934), but here we’re stuck with Lowe, who’s basically a poor-man’s Errol Flynn. MORE »
Posted at 4:44 PM in Movie Reviews and Bela Lugosi.
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Tuesday, April 22nd 2008
Grade: D-
Synopsis: From the morgue, a woman’s corpse recounts the events leading to her death involving a hypnotist (Bela Lugosi), a doctor (George Zucco), and a cop.
Scared to Death is notable as the only color film staring Bela Lugosi. Unfortunately, that’s about all it’s notable for, as the film is comically bad.
How bad? Well, Lugosi plays a cape-wearing hypnotist with a midget sidekick while what appears to be a renegade member Blue Man Group stalks around looking ominously through windows. Now, the Blue Man isn’t the least bit scary, but you know it’s supposed to be ominous because of the music cues. MORE »
Posted at 11:56 AM in Movie Reviews and Bela Lugosi.
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Friday, February 29th 2008
Grade: D
Synopsis: The East Side Kids run into a Dracula look-alike (Bela Lugosi) in a creepy old mansion.
The East Side Kids began as The Dead End Kids, the child stars of the Humphrey Bogart gangster picture Dead End (1937). They proved popular, spinning off into several other films until a slightly altered version of the group, starred in Boys of the City (1940), this time as The East Side Kids.
Spooks Run Wild is an East Side Kids movie, and thus your enjoyment level will depend largely on whether or not you like the kids’ shtick as Bela Lugosi’s role is really little more than an extended cameo. Unfortunately, while the kids aren’t totally without merit, their gags and adlibs miss far more than they hit. MORE »
Posted at 2:49 PM in Movie Reviews and Bela Lugosi.
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Friday, February 22nd 2008
Grade: D
Synopsis: The discovery of a radioactive meteor by a pair of scientists (Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi) leads to deadly consequences.
Considering the studio and star power behind it, The Invisible Ray is a disappointment. Universal Pictures takes their two biggest horror stars, Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi and puts them into a talky sci-fi clunker that never gets off the ground.
Karloff and Lugosi both try their best, but the film saddles them with a dull script even their combined presence can’t overcome. Further, while it’s a nice change of pace to see Lugosi as the good guy, the roles should have been reversed, with Lugosi as the crazed Hungarian scientist, and Karloff as his somewhat skeptical rival. Granted, it wouldn’t have helped much, but at least then you’d have an actual Hungarian playing the Hungarian part. MORE »
Posted at 5:09 PM in Movie Reviews, Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff.
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Tuesday, February 19th 2008
Grade: C-
Synopsis: A scientist (Bela Lugosi) plans to create a superhuman army using atomic energy.
Let’s get this out of the way: Bride of the Monster isn’t a good movie. It’s got stilted acting, some laughable special effects, and plot holes galore. Despite these shortcomings, it’s not a bad movie either. It’s an Ed Wood movie.
Director, producer, and co-writer Edward D. Wood Jr. loved his job, and that’s what makes his films so damn entertaining, despite their shortcomings. He wasn’t just a company hack cashing a paycheck, he genuinely cared about his films and performers, and it shows on screen. MORE »
Posted at 2:35 PM in Movie Reviews and Bela Lugosi.
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