FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN

Lon Chaney and Bela Lugosi

FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN (1943). Director: Roy William Neill. Colorized.

Awakened in his tomb, Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney) seeks the help of the gypsy woman Maleva (Maria Ouspenskaya) to finally rid himself of the curse of werewolf-ism. The pair initially wind up in the town of Frankenstein, where Talbot attempts to find the doctor's diary, inexplicably believing that he can learn the secret of ending his immortality in there. Instead he finds the monster (Bela Lugosi). A doctor, Mannering (Patric Knowles), follows Talbot's trail, and discovers he has reached out to Frankenstein's granddaughter, Elsa (Ilona Massey) to ask her aid in finding the diary. As Elsa and Mannering bond, eventually the two monsters engage in a brief battle that seems to finish both of them off. 

Dennis Hoey and Patric Knowles

Right away you can see the slapdash quality of the picture when according to the opening credits the main stars of the picture are not Chaney and Lugosi, but Knowles and Massey! Everything in the movie seems thrown together in great haste to bring the thing quickly into theaters. Chaney repeats his Wolfman role and is adequate, the great Lugosi is better, Knowles is professional, and Massey is vaguely attractive. Dennis Hoey as Inspector Owen, Lionel Atwill as the Mayor, Rex Evans as bar owner Vazec, and the wonderful Ouspenskaya are more on the mark. But even back in the day the meeting of these two great monsters must have been a big disappointment to the fans. 

Verdict: Not one of the better Franky movies. **1/2. 

THE MASKED MARVEL

The Masked Marvel (Tom Steele) drives into action!

THE MASKED MARVEL (12-chapter Republic serial/1943). Director: Spencer Gordon Bennet. Colorized. 

The Worldwide Insurance Company is being particularly hit hard by acts of sabotage committed by Mura Sakima (Johnny Arthur of The Ghost Walks) and his treasonous underling, "Killer" Mace (Anthony Warde) and others. When the head of Worldwide is murdered, his daughter, Alice (Louise Currie of The Crimson Key), is unaware that her late father's associate, Martin Crane (William Forrest of Spy Ship), is secretly working with Sakima. Four investigators come forward to help in the battle against Sakima: Jeffers (Richard Clarke); Morton (Bill Healy); Arnold (Rod Bacon); and Barton (David Bacon, no relation to Rod). One of these four is revealed to be the Masked Marvel at the very end, but throughout the serial the Marvel is actually played by stuntman Tom Steele. (Without the mask, Steele also plays one of Sakima's underlings, especially an assassin who stabs a cohort in the hospital before he can talk.)

Forrest, Currie and the 4 investigators

The Masked Marvel is one of the best Republic serials. Although there was at least one character in the comic books called the Masked Marvel, this one was invented by Republic studios. The business of hiding which of four men is the actual hero was borrowed from The Lone Ranger, as otherwise it seems a bit pointless. What matters is that Masked Marvel moves at a breathless pace, has one great action sequence after another, and features some highly entertaining cliffhangers: Alice placed beneath a freight elevator and about to be crushed; a truck that crashes through a warehouse wall; a bomb inside a briefcase that threatens everyone in the boardroom; the Masked Marvel using his wits and a clever rope trick to escape from another runaway truck; a thrilling business involving a hand car packed with explosives that is heading for a train carrying important war products. 

Bad guys: Forrest; Arthur; Warde

The furious, furniture-busting fisticuffs are fabulous, especially a fistfight between the Marvel and a gunsel in a warehouse. Louise Currie isn't much of an actress, but Johnny Arthur is a hoot as the nasty Japanese Sakima, spitting out his lines with an almost sublime contempt for everyone. Anthony Warde always scores as the cold-blooded chief hood who has no respect for human life or anything else. Other serial specialists who make appearances in this include Stanley Price of The Invisible Monster, Roy Barcroft of Manhunt of Mystery Island, and Ken Terrell of Attack of the 50 Foot Woman and numerous cliffhangers. 

Verdict: Serial fans will love The Masked Marvel. ***1/4. 
 

NEARLY EIGHTEEN

NEARLY EIGHTEEN (1943). Director: Arthur Dreifuss. 

Gale Storm, who later went on to fame as the star of My Little Margie, was 21 when she made this Monogram cheapie musical. 17-year-old Jane Stanton (Storm) comes to New York to find work as a singer. She's almost hired by one saloon, until the owner discovers she's still a minor. Then a handsome manager (who's really a bookie), Tony (Rick Vallin), sends her over to a talent school run by Jack Leonard (William Henry). Unfortunately, the school doesn't take anyone over the age of 14, so Jane is forced to masquerade as a child. There were certainly exploitable and amusing elements in this picture, but none of them are developed in such a fashion as to provide meaty laughs. Storm, however, is poised, very attractive, and already shows signs of the talent for comedy that she'd display years later in two successful sitcoms. The scenes when Jack comes close to nearly kissing a girl he thinks is only 14 are kind of creepy. The best thing about the picture are the snappy musical numbers, such as "The Little Bell Rang," which are more-than-competently delivered by Storm, who sold a few successful records later in her career. 

Verdict: A passing storm on the way to better things. Nice songs, though, and Storm and her leading men are easy on the eyes. **.

BATMAN AND ROBIN (1943)

Talbot, Lowery and Duncan

BATMAN AND ROBIN (15 chapter Columbia serial/1943). Director: Spencer Bennet. 

An unknown enemy called the Wizard (voice of Gerald Mohr, I believe)  employs a device that can take over control of any moving vehicle from afar. Later he develops the ability to turn invisible and can really get up to mischief! The Batman (Robert Lowery) and Robin (Johnny Duncan) find there are a number of suspects who could be the nefarious Wizard: Professor Hammil (William Fawcett), who may not be stuck in a wheelchair as he pretends; his houseman Carter (Leonard Penn); the inventor Morton (Marshall Bradford); radio announcer Barry Brown (Rick Vallin), who seems to know a lot more about the Wizard's activities than he should; and others.

The Wizard plots

Suspenseful, exciting, and quite well-done in all departments, Batman and Robin is one of the best-ever Columbia serials, and one of the best cliffhangers ever made period. Lowery and Duncan impersonate the Dark Knight and his ward to near-perfection; Jane Adams and George Offerman Jr. are notable as reporter Vicki Vale and her ill-fated brother, Jimmy; and even Lyle Talbot as Commissioner Gordon is better than usual. There is no batmobile in this serial, but we do have the batcave and its entrance through a grandfather clock. Cliffhanger sequences include Batman being forced to shoot Robin; a room that rapidly fills with a deadly gas, trapping our heroes; and Batman falling off of a cliff after being electrofried. The serial also has terrific theme music, although the composer is uncredited. 

Verdict: Far superior to and a lot more fun than the sixties TV show and many of the movies that followed. ***1/2. 

G-MEN VS. THE BLACK DRAGON

Nino Pipitone as Haruchi

G-MEN VS. THE BLACK DRAGON (15 chapter Republic serial/1943). Director: William Witney.

Haruchi (Nino Pipitone), the head of a Japanese society called the Black Dragons, is smuggled into the U.S.A. in a mummy case. There, with his deadly black raven at his side, he orders his henchmen. including Ranga (Noel Cravat), to commit various acts of sabotage, including setting fire to ships at sea. Haruchi is fond of sending men through a trapdoor to their doom, which comes at the beak and claws of his poisonous raven. His mission is to destroy the Occidental fools and take over the world for his people.

Rod Cameron as Rex Bennett

Haruchi's mission is imperiled by the brave actions of G-Man Rex Bennett (Rod Cameron), who is assisted by the equally brave British agent Vivian Marsh (Constance Worth) and Chinese agent Chang Sing (Roland Got). Vivian is as rugged and courageous as any man, throwing herself into battle at the drop of a hat and blasting away with a machine gun at one point. She is locked in a cabinet and nearly immolated in a room set on fire, affixed to a log heading towards a buzz saw, and tied to a chair with a huge spear aimed at her! As for Rex, he falls out of a skyscraper window, saving himself with a fire hose, crashes in a stolen robot plane, and nearly goes over a dam in a speedboat (a cliffhanger used repeatedly by Republic ever after). 

Constance Worth and Roland Got

Stalwart Cameron, feisty Worth and energetic Got are all fine in their roles. Nino Pipitone betrays his Italian accent now and then but offers a restrained and dignified -- if unexciting -- portrait of the nasty leader of the Black Dragons, but he is nevertheless effective. There is some astounding "choreography" in this as good guys battle bad guys in furious fights and their whirling dervish-like fisticuffs result in tons of smashed furniture -- nothing is unscathed! Mort Glickman's music score backs up every bit of action -- and there is a lot of it -- in a way that increases the thrills. I am not comparing director William Witney to Hitchcock, but there is a similarity in the brisk tight cutting of the film and a judicious use of close-ups. 

Made during WW2, the film understandably makes the villains either Japanese or Caucasian traitors, but there was a certain courage in having a Chinese-American actor playing one of the good guys. Born in San Francisco, Got appeared in 19 films but died much too young at age 32. Constance Worth was an Australian actress, and this was probably her largest role. The same is true of Nino Pipitone, as most of his roles were uncredited bit parts. The first chapter of this serial is entitled "The Yellow Peril" while chapter six is amusingly called "Death and Destruction!" of which there is plenty. Rod Cameron also played Rex Bennett in the serial Secret Service in Darkest Africa, which is not as good as this. Stuntman Tom Steele is not listed in the credits but he has two small speaking parts in the movie. Other familiar faces are John Hamilton, George J. Lewis, and Ken Terrell [Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman]. 

Verdict: Fast and furious, this is one of the most exciting Republic serials ever. ***1/2.