| 30's-40's Mini Reviews |
| The Vampire Bat is a film that has a great cast (Melvyn Douglas, Lionel Atwill,Fay Wray, Dwight Frye), great sets
yet is a bit of a disappointment as it relies more on comedy relief than chills. In a small Bavarian village it is possible
a vampire is draining the locals of every last bit of their blood. When an innocent moron is blamed for the kilings he is
staked through the heart.Yet the murders continue. While this has horrific overtones it veers into science fiction territory
as we see a new life form that looks a lot like something you'd find in the kitchen.Overall this is worth picking up just
for the cast even though you can tell nobody was taking the material seriously.The Alpha dvd that I have has a lot of purple
tinting and rolling to it, there are some missing frames causing some jarring jumps and the picture is dark at times.
Secret Of The Blue Room is another minor gem from Universal starring Lionel Atwill, Onslow Stevens, Paul Lukas & Gloria Stuart. At Castle Helldorf there is a birthday party for Irene. She is attended by three men (Tommy, Frank & Walter) whom are all vying for her affection. Soon they will be dying as a result of it. Irene's father is goaded by Tommy into telling the secret of the blue room in the castle. 20 years ago a series of unsolved deaths occured in the room and it has been locked up ever since. Tommy volunteers to stay in the room that night to prove his courage and marrying worth to Irene. And as legend would have it Tommy disappears at 1 am. A search is conducted and he isn't found. Frank stays the next night but at 1 am he is found with a bullet in the head. Walter being older and no fool has the police called in. Secrets are revealed and even Irene's father has something to hide.Suspicions are cast on everyone but no answers are surfacing.So Walter grimly settles in the blue room and awaits the terror of one o'clock. This is a really well done locked room mystery that you shouldn't have any problem figuring out. But the cast is great and the direction is top notch. The pacing is brisk and you never really have time to lose interest. This is available on dvd-r from Sinister Cinema and is worth a look. Murders In The Rue Morgue stars Bela Lugosi as Dr Mirakle in 1845 Paris. Mirakle is really a perv as he is trying to mate human women with his ape, Erik. There is a rather sadistic scene in which a prostitute is murdered when her blood is found "to be rotten" to quote Mirakle.The juvenile leads Leon Waycross & Sydney Fox are rather bland and uninteresting. Dr Mirakle and Erik take a shine to Ms Fox and decide that she will be the next for a mating attempt. The monkey gets excited but you won't care much. The film has some wildly expressionistic sets and the buildings of Paris may have stepped out of German cinema. There is a nice POV shot from a fireplace with a woman stuffed up it feet first. This is an interesting misfire redeemed by the sets, the overall look of the film and the performance of Lugosi. Not available on dvd so rent the vhs. Horror Island is admittedly a bottom of the bill programmer from Universal. A neer do well organizes a "treasure hunt" to his castle on an island just off the coast. Upon arrival the fake scares turn into real scares as someone begins killing off various members of the party. It is up to the host and his crew to figure out if there really is a pirate treasure in the walls of the castle and who is the murderer. This is lightweight stuff yet extremely enjoyable. Helmed by George Waggener and has a very likeable cast with Peggy Moran, Dick Foran & Leo Carrillo for a breezy 60 minutes of fun. Never officially released by Universal for the vhs or dvd market. |
 |