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Fans
of old Universal Studios horror films
get excited when they see a film that
teams up Bela Lugosi (Dracula;The
Raven) and Boris Karloff (Frankenstein;The
Black Cat). But in this third time
around, while they worked well together,
the story just doesn't hold a candle to
their previous collective works... well,
perhaps a small one.
As
the story goes, Dr. Janos Rukh (Karloff),
who lives in a region of the Carpathian
mountains, has been experimenting on capturing
a ray of light from the nebula in the
Andromeda galaxy to recreate what's "recorded"
on the beam of light, reproduce vibrations
from the past and prove his theory to
his former colleagues that a meteor hit
Africa long ago and left behind an element
more powerful than Radium.
One
of the former colleagues, Dr. Felix Benet
(Lugosi), comes to accept Rukh's theory
and asks him to go on an expedition to
Africa with him and Kukh's former compeers
to find this element. During their studies
there, Rukh chooses to go off on his own
(for weeks without communication to the
others) to find the element and experiment
with it. But what results is a horrible
side effect of poisoning to his body,
causing him to glow in the dark and kill
anyone by a simple touch (sounds like
he'd fit right in with the X-Men). Not
only that, but it affectes his brain,
causing him to take revenge on his colleagues
for taking the credit for the discovery,
and also on his wife Diana (played by
Frances Drake) for leaving him for Ronald,
one of his peers (played by Frank Lawton).
With
amazing sets, epic backdrops and decent
acting, one would think that this movie
would be a guaranteed hit. But surprisingly,
the screenplay falls short of the mark,
as Lugosi and Karloff have been given
far better roles. In comparison to his
role in The Raven, where Lugosi's
acting abilities were pushed to the limit,
he wasn't given much to do here. And
while Karloff was given a much better
role than Lugosi, playing a scientist
who goes from a sane individual to a sinister
killer, it wasn't enough to measure up
to his better roles like the monster in
Frankenstein or Hjalmar Poelzig
in The Black Cat. It's a shame
that two great actors who did very well
together weren't given better material.
But
anytime Lugosi and Karloff are together
in a film, it seems like something is
amiss that just grabs our attention when
we watch it. When we see their first scene
together in this film, immediately we
get the feeling that these two horror
veterans have worked together before,
and the audience has a mutual understanding
that they are to be respected anyway -
even if the story isn't as great. They
have presence, and a history that goes
beyond the story and weaves its way back
in to help us enjoy the movie better than
if it were being carried by two unknown
actors.
Does
that forgive the story for not being nearly
as entertaining or groundbreaking as the
likes of Dracula or Frankenstein?
No, but Lugosi and Karloff make the best
of it, and what results is an okay script
that becomes quite delightful as we sit
back and watch the two of them go at it.
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(out of four)
