'Return of the Ape Man' can be skipped

Return of the Ape Man (1944)
Starring: Bela Lugosi, John Carradine, Frank Moran, Teala Loring (as Judith Gibson), Michael Ames, and Mary Currier
Director: Phil Rosen
Rating: Five of Ten Stars

A mad scientist (Lugosi) manages to restore life to a caveman (Moran) who had been frozen in ice above the Arctic Circle for 20,000 years. He then performs a partial brain-transplant from an unwilling donor (Carradine) so that he can control and communicate with the pre-historic man. Things go about as well as you might expect...

"Return of the Ape Man" is such a supremely, disastrously goofy movie that it's easy to hate it. However, it's so fast-paced and the cast so pleasant that the true awfulness of the film fades isn't felt as much; unlike so many weak other B-movies, this one is lean and straight to the point. The closest we get to padding is some stock footage of a ship in the Arctic, and a little too much running to and fro during the movie's climax. (The climax is actually undermined by the fact that it's dragged out too long.)

Highlights of the film include Bela Lugosi's performance as the mad scientist. a role in which I think he would have been even better if a scene like the one in the publicity still (with Lugosi, Teala Loring, and Frank Moran) had actually taken place in the film. Another bit that I really liked was that the mad doctor's original plan was to put part of a lawyer's brain in the caveman--which would have probably made him even more monstrous! And speaking of the caveman... I got a chuckle out of the fact that, as part of a sequence intended to show that some of the memories of the donor of brain tissue still exist, the caveman goes to the home of John Carradine's character, plays the piano, and proceeds to murder his wife. I can only assume there were some serious problems in that relationship...

In the final analysis, "Return of the Ape Man" is probably a movie you can skip, unless you're on a quest to watch everything Bela Lugosi starred in, or to experience the Complete Works of Phil Rosen.  It would make an excellent addition to a Bad Movie Night, as it's silly but never boring. The fact that it is a solidly entertaining effort--if you're in the mood for this kind of movie--earned it a bump from a high Four-star rating to a low Five.

(By the way, despite its title, this film has nothing whatsoever to do with "The Ape Man", which Lugosi headlined in 1943 for the same studio.)

'Klondike' is low-budget, but high-quality

Klondike (1932) (aka "The Doctor's Sacrifice")
Starring: Lyle Talbot, Thelma Todd, Jason Robards, Henry B. Walthall, George Hayes, Frank Hawks, and Pricilla Dean
Director: Phil Rosen
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars


After a patient dies following an experimental surgery, Dr. Cromwell (Talbot) finds escape from the harsh judgement of the press and the public in a remote corner or Alaska. His new life and relationship with his new friends are threatened, including his budding romance with the beautiful Klondike (Todd), when he is convinced to perform the surgery on a local (Robards) who is suffering from the same affliction as Cromwell's ill-fated former patient.

"Klondike" is a slightly creaky melodrama that is still has enough elements to recommend it to modern audiences, with two of these being particularly noteworthy. One is a plot twist I don't want to talk about, because I'd ruin the story. The other is the commentary the film makes about a news media that is more interested in being self-righteous and self-important than actually covering the truth of the matter; and public that is either too simple minded or too wrapped up in their own self-righteousness to think any substantive thoughts about an issue beyond what they told by the news media. While it's a newspaper and its editor who have it in for Dr. Cromwell, because they want to make a larger point about medical ethics, its function in the story is no different than some "reporter" on a cable newsprogram or the operator of a website who stirs up the Outrage Brigades against this or that person they believe represents whatever ill they want to destroy. If they destroy the person who's their scapegoat n the process, so much the better--it's entirely secondary if the targeted person is even guilty of what he is being tried and convicted of.

Production-wise, the film is a little better looking than many of Monogram's notriously low-budget pictures. Story-wise, it moves along at a pretty brisk pace and it keeps you invested in the plight of Dr. Cromwell, and the various supporting characters are given enough color that we come to care about them, too. Even more, the story comes to a climax far more tension-laden than many A-list pictures, and we're even given a denoument which is a nicety so often forgotten in movies of this period. (The only time the film dragged was in a scene that took place in an airplane where the characters seemed to go around in circles and repeat variations of the same lines; it felt like either like filler, or the director and producers wanted to use every bit of footage with real-life celebrity aviator Frank Hawks, so they included all takes of Hawks and star Lyle Talbot improvising their lines during the scene.)

Another key to the success of this film is its cast. Although the pregnant pauses are a bit much in certain scenes, every cast member does a far better job than you'd expect in a film like this. The star Lyle Talbot is better in "Klondike" than anything else I've seen him in, and, while Thelma Todd is up to her usual captivating standards, her performance here adds further "evidence" to my theory that her performances are enhanced or hampered by whoever she's playing off/acting with in any given scene. For example, Todd seems to light up the screen even in bit parts when appearing with Charley Chase in a way she doesn't with ZaSu Pitts, for example. In this one film, however, we see her perform several involved scenes with different actors, and she seems more engaged and engaging in her scenes with Lyle Talbot than she does with the ones with Jason Robards. Part of this could be explained by the nature of the characters to one another, but mostly, I think it's how Todd feeds off certain other actors when working with them. (If you're a fan of Thelma Todd, this is a movie you should watch; it's one of the very few dramas she got to appear in during her entirely too-short career.)

Check out "Klondike" below, via YouTube. Until just a few years ago, it was believed that no prints of the film still existed. A copy was found in a private collection in Arizona, and it has been restored to as good a condition as possible, digitized, and released online for all of us to enjoy. (The DVD version of this film from Alpha Video features what appears to be a TV edit, and it is about 15 minutes shorter than the one embedded in this post.)

'Take the Stand' is a fine Who-Dunnit

Take the Stand (1934)
Starring: Russell Hopton, Thelma Todd, Jack La Rue, Gail Patrick, Burton Churchill, Leslie Fenton, Shiela Terry, Jason Robards, Arnold Gray, Bradley Page, and DeWitt Jennings
Director: Phil Rosen
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

A gossip columnist and radio host (La Rue) is murdered and the suspect list includes some of New York City's most celebrated, notorious, and dangerous figures from the pinnacle of high society to the deepest parts of the criminal underworld. Newly minted police detective Bill Hamilton (Hopton) has his work cut out for him, because he must identify a killer in a large group of suspects with air-tight alibis, and he is racing against his own department who wants to close the case by hanging the murder on whatever convienent target emerges first.

"Take the Stand" is a fast-moving film that unfolds like a condensed Agatha Christie novel. The murder and how it was executed was clever--so clever that I only had part of it worked out by the end which is a testament to the quality of the script (or the novel it was based on) since I've read so many mystery novels and seen so many movies of this type that. The murder weapon was also highly inventive, even if it seems less so with 85 years between its first release and it being used many times since in fiction, comic strips... and even a story that was proposed for an ill-fated Violet Strange project I once tried to pull together. (That said, even when the film was made there was a problem with the clues relating to the murder weapon, and they should have been addressed, because the movie otherwise mades attempts to incorporate forensics as the science existed in the 1930s.)

The casting in the film is perfect, with each actor and actress fitting their part, and everyone does a fine job with their characters. Oftentimes, there's one or two performers who either overact so severely or are otherwise just so bad they cast a pall upon the rest of the performances. Not so here.

Russell Hopton in particular does a standout job as the police detective who grows increasingly frustrated with his own colleagues, In a change of pace for films from this period, the cops are not all bigots and morons, but one who isn't--Hopton's character--has a hard time with the rest. Hopton's character is doubly interesting since he shares a secret with one of the suspects that may give him a blindspot in regards to identifying the murderer.

Thelma Todd is another cast member who turns in a remarkable performance, because it is so subdued. She plays the victim's personal assistant, and her role in the eventual solution to the mystery is perfectly believable because she is constantly hovering around the other characters, present but unnoticed except in the instances where she call s attention to herself, or is called upon by another character. In every other role I've seen Todd in, she has virtually leapt off the screen with her presense, so I was very impressed with what I saw happen in this movie.

One final touch in this film that modern viewers will find interesting is the theme of homophobia. One of the murder suspects is an opera singer who the gossip columnist keeps threatening to "out." I haven't seen the topic dealt with as straight forwardly and openly as it is in this film, nor have I seen a gay character played as free of simpering and mincing as this one. The character's sexuality seems to be an open secret in some circles, and the characters in the film don't really seem to care about it--but the gay character knows what will happen if the public were to hear about it on the radio, and he is panicked enough about it that he seems to be willing to resort to any means to prevent his career from being destroyed. These days, it seems many musicians would use their homosexuality as a selling point instead of viewing it as something that could destroy them.

All in all, while a key part of the mystery in "Take the Stand" has been copied to the point of becoming a cliche, there are still enough here to make it worth your time to check out.

'Murder by Invitation' is a fine effort from Monogram

Murder by Invitation (1941)
Starring: Sarah Padden, Wallace Ford, Marian Marsh, Gavin Gordon, and J. Arthur Young
Director: Phil Rosen
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

After her scheming relatives fail to have her committed to a mental hospital, eccentric millionaire Cassie Denham (Padden) invites them to her remote mansion, ostensibly to show she forgives them and to determine who is worthy to inherit her wealth. Within hours of their arrival, the guests start to disappear, and it falls upon reporters Bob White (Ford) and Nora O'Brien (Marsh) to identify the killer before they fall victim themselves.

"Murder by Invitation" is a fast-paced comedy-mystery with all the Old Dark House tropes. The acting is solid from all performers, the dialogue is sharp and quippy, and even the buffoonish cops act logically in the steps they take to capture the murderer. The plot is also above average, as screenwriter George Bricker actually took the time to present several viable suspects and a few credible twists that made it hard to guess who the killer was, but not impossible because enough clues were provided to let the viewer play along.

Of special note in this film is Marian Marsh, who was at the end of her ten-year rollercoaster acting career. She gives an excellent performance as a sharp-tongued newspaper woman who can stand toe-to-toe with the boys that is different from the damsel-in-distress parts she was most-often cast in. It's a shame that marriage and burn-out caused her to, in her words, "drift away from the acting profession."

The only true weak spot of the film is the opening courtroom scene... and I may think of it as such because of changes in American culture. The allegedly mentally incompetent Cassie Denham is put on the stand to testify in her own defense, and almost every response she gives is met with gales of laughter from the gallery. The problem is that she's not all that funny; she's being a smart-ass and she's putting her obnoxious relatives in their places, but she's not being fall-out-of-your-chair laughing like the courtroom audience seems to think. Given the skillful way the rest of the film is put together, I can only assume that some banter that was hilarious in 1941 isn't in 2018.

Lionel Atwill holds secret of 'The Sphinx'

The Sphinx (1933)
Starring: Lionel Atwill, Theodore Newton, Sheila Terry, Paul Hurst, Robert Ellis and Lucien Prival
Director: Phil Rosen
Rating: Five of Ten Stars

Stock brokers are being murdered and eye-witnesses are certain the killer is Jerome Breen (Atwill), because he took the time to chat with them as he casually strolled away from the crime scene. However, Breen can't be the killer, because he is deaf-mute who was born unable to produce any sound at all. Will bumbling police inspectors (Ellis and Hurst), together with crimebeat reporter Jack Burton (Newton) be able to unlock the secrets behind the murders? More importantly, will they solve the mystery in time to prevent Burton's would-be lady love (Terry) from joining the list of those murdered?

"The Sphinx" is a straight-to-the-point murder mystery with a twist that all but the most inexperienced mystery fans will see coming. In fact, I think the best audience for this film today is to use as a gateway to other classic mystery films for kids who are reading "The Three Detectives", "Nancy Drew" or "The Hardy Boys" (or whatever more contemporary counterparts they may have in the kid's section of the local bookstore). It's a fast-paced film that crams two hours worth of plot into a one-hour running time.

Another thing to recommend this film as an entry point is the characters. While the 1930s stock characters are here--dumb Irish cops and fast-talking tough-guy reporter as the heroes/comic relief, the plucky girl society columnist who will become the damsel in distress, and so on--they feel a little more real than in most films. More importantly, none seem as obnoxious as they sometimes do in these films, partly due to the inherent charisma and on-screen chemistry of all members of the exceptionally talented cast, but also because each character is given a bit more depth than is often the case. (For example, the hard-bitten reporter is shown to have respect for the cops even while ribbing them, and to have genuine feelings and a purely human reaction when his would-be bride turns her back on him.)

"The Sphinx" is by no means a classic, nor is it one that hardcore mystery fans are likely to be overly impressed by. It's got a good cast, and decent script, but the solution to mystery is one that they're likely to see coming. It might not be a bad little movie to show to the right kid, however.

Movies and murder collide in 'The Death Kiss'

Some film historians ascribe the downward trajectory of Bela Lugosi's career to the fact that he went freelance almost immediately after the runaway success that as "Dracula" (while his fellow Universal monster-maker Boris Karloff remained loyal to the studio system and saw his career blossom).

They may be right. A bigger contributing factor may have been the fact that Lugosi made horrible choices when it came to the movies he made. If they had all been as good as "White Zombie" and "The Death Kiss", maybe he wouldn't have died a drug-addicted pauper.

"The Death Kiss" is among the top five of my favorite films that Lugosi appeared in.

The Death Kiss (1933)
Starring: David Manners, Adrienne Ames, Bela Lugosi, and John Wray
Director: Phil Rosen
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

When the star of Tonart's latest mystery movie, "The Death Kiss", is killed during the filming of the climax, studio mogul Joseph Steiner (Lugosi) is convinced that it an tragic accident. But soon the police find evidence that it was actually murder, and suspicious swiftly falls on Marcia Lane (Ames), the dead man's widow. She was having an affair with screenwriter Franklin Drew (Manners), so she had both motive and opportunity to stage the killing. Her lover starts working toward proving her innosence by finding the real killer. But with the deceased having crossed just about everyone working on the production, and Steiner seemingly having an agenda of his own, will Drew clear his lady love, or will the killer add him to the list of victims first?


This low-budget mystery film is a surprisingly well-crafted and well-acted movie. The mystery is complex enough that the audience is kept getting up to the end--I admit to being surprised when the actual murderer was revealed and that doesn't happen often these days! As far as I can find out, "The Death Kiss" is also the first film about some of the behind-the-scenes aspects of making a film. (A number of the clues and red herrings even involve movie-making equipment.)

I enjoyed the film quite a bit. The gimmicky color-tinting didn't do a whole lot for me, but I suspect that it generated a lot of excitement to the people sitting in the theatre in 1933, just like I'm sure they were fascinated by the fictionalized glimpse into the Hollowood Dream Factory.

'Woman in the Shadows' is predictable but fun

Woman in the Shadows (aka "Woman in the Dark") (1934)
Starring: Ralph Bellamy, Fay Wray and Melvyn Douglas
Director: Phil Rosen
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

Fresh from serving a prison term for manslaughter, John Bradley (Bellamy) finds himself on the run from the law after coming to the defense of a woman (Wray) fleeing her possessive boyfriend (Douglas).


"Woman in the Shadows" is a decent little "innocent man on the run" crime drama with a good script and equally good performances by the three stars and most of the supporting cast. (The comic relief character is more annoying than funny, but that may only partially be the actor's fault.)

This film is nothing spectacular, and the characters and storyline are what you expect at every turn, but it's nonetheless a fast-paced, solid bit of entertainment. It's like a 1930s version of an average summer-time action movie or drama. Nothing's going to surprise you, but if it's well-made you have a good time anyway.