THE THIRTEENTH CHAIR

The great Bela Lugosi

THE THIRTEENTH CHAIR (1929). Director: Tod Browning. 

When playboy Spencer Lee is found stabbed to death, it is suspected he was killed due to his negative writings on the thugee cult. But his old friend Edward Wales (John Davidson of Dick Tracy vs. Crime Inc.) is sure the killer was a woman. At the home of Sir Roscoe Crosby (Holmes Herbert), Wales is present when a medium, Madame LaGrange (Margaret Wycherly), arrives to hold a seance. Others present include Crosby's son Richard (Conrad Nagel), who is engaged to his father's secretary, Nellie (Leila Hyams); his daughter, Helen Trent (Moon Carroll); his wife, Lady Crosby (Mary Forbes); the disbelieving Mary Eastwood (Helene Millard); and others. The seance begins, a scream rings out, the lights go on -- and somebody else has been murdered! Inspector Delzante (Bela Lugosi of Son of Frankenstein) arrives ... 

Conrad Nagel and Leila Hyams

The rather creaky Thirteenth Chair betrays its theatrical origins with its stage-bound quality and generally old-fashioned acting styles. It eventually becomes interesting in a minor way, and it's fun to watch Bela Lugosi adroitly hammering home his accusations as he questions the host and many guests. Margaret Wycherly, repeating her stage role, is excellent, as is Leila Hyams, who plays with comparative restraint, something you certainly couldn't say of the over-the-top Helene Millard. Conrad Nagel acquits himself nicely as he repeatedly protests his fiance's innocence. Not enough is made of the gruesome business of the corpse of the second victim being present at a second seance -- two people are forced to hold hands with a dead body! The film was remade in 1937 and filmed previously in 1919. Two years after this film Browning directed Lugosi in Dracula. 

Verdict: Minor mystery with some good performances and an unexpected conclusion. **1/2. 

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. 

SON OF FRANKENSTEIN

Karloff and Lugosi

SON OF FRANKENSTEIN (1939). Director: Rowland V. Lee. Colorized.

Baron Wolf von Frankenstein (Basil Rathbone of Hillbillies in a Haunted House) arrives in the town where his father created his monster with his wife Elsa (Josephine Hutchinson) and little boy, Peter (Donnie Dunagan), in tow. No one in the village is pleased to see this new Frankenstein, but at least the Inspector (Lionel Atwill of Captain America). whose arm was torn off by the monster, is willing to provide protection for him. Wolf learns that not only is the monster still alive, but that the malevolent Ygor (Bela Lugosi of Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein) has been using him to kill off those who sentenced him to die for graverobbing. (Instead he just wound up with a broken neck.) The monster has been inactive since being struck by lightning, but Wolf stupidly decides to revive him. Naturally havoc ensues ...

Rathbone and Hutchinson

Son of Frankenstein is a fun and absorbing picture with weird art deco sets and some terrific performances. Lugosi arguably gives the best performance of his career as the gleefully conniving and cackling Ygor. Rathbone, Hutchinson and Atwill are also excellent, and little Dunagan gets by on sheer adorableness. Karloff is basically mute in this but still quite effective. The film has genuine suspense and moves at a swift pace. If there's any problem with the movie it's that Wolf Frankenstein is essentially an asshole, endangering his wife and child, and never really gets his comeuppance for this. The film also has a very interesting score by Frank Skinner. 

Verdict: Wonderful old Universal horror flick. ***1/4. 

ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN

Franky (Glenn Strange) goes after Lou Costello

ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (1948). Director: Charles Barton. 

Wilbur (Lou Costello) and Chick (Bud Abbott) work for a shipping company and are told to bring two items to a House of Horrors without fail. One item is a coffin that contains the living Count Dracula (Bela Lugosi of The Corpse Vanishes) and the other is a crate that holds Frankenstein (Glenn Strange), whom the vampire has under his control. Meanwhile Sandra (Lenore Aubert of The Catman of Paris) romances Wilbur because she wants to put his simple-minded brain in Frankenstein's body so that the monster will be more easily manipulated. Two other people get involved in the frenzied, comical action: Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.), who turns into the Wolfman when the moon is full and warns the boys about what's going on with Drac and Franky; and Joan (Jane Randolph of The Mysterious Mr. M), an insurance agent for the shipping company. Will poor Wilbur become subjected to a brain transplant?

Gruesome twosome: Bela Lugosi and Lenore Aubert

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein is practically a textbook case of how to do a spoof the right way. The trick is that everyone pretty much plays it straight except for the two stars, who by this point were old hands at their comical schtick. The movie is not only consistently funny, but even exciting and suspenseful at times, and is also very well-produced. Frank Skinner's excellent score makes the most of every sequence. Other cast members include Frank Ferguson as the testy owner of the House of Horrors (whose exhibits turn out to be alive), and Charles Bradstreet as the handsome Professor Stevens, who works with Sandra but has no idea what she's really up to. 

Verdict: Classic comedy with the fellows in top form and a very adept and enthusiastic supporting cast. ***1/2. 

THE CORPSE VANISHES

 

THE CORPSE VANISHES (1942). Director: Wallace Fox.

A series of young brides collapse and apparently die in front of the altar on their wedding days, and then their bodies -- taken away by a hearse -- completely disappear. Could Dr. Lorenz (Bela Lugosi) be the culprit? A reporter named Patricia Hunter (Luana Walters) discovers that each woman was wearing a special kind of orchid at her wedding. Patricia's editor is so stupid that he doesn't seem to think this is any kind of a clue! Tristram Coffin (billed as Tris Coffin), the King of the Rocket Men himself, plays the Lorenz' family doctor, while Elizabeth Russell from The Seventh Victim, Weird Woman, and others, plays Lorenz' aged wife who needs, shall we say, frequent beauty treatments. This holds the attention but it isn't one of Bela's better latter-day features. An interesting idea isn't well developed. Lugosi is good, as usual.

Verdict: Hold the orchids if you dare. **.