Watching Night Monster (1942) last evening really says all that needs to be said about where Lugosi was in his career. I mean just a decade removed, and he is given the secondary butler role. Atwill, as a rather self-assured doctor responsible (or in the increasingly disturbed mind of a wealthy aristocrat crippled with lost limbs) along with two other doctors for the inability to heal a very wealthy patient of his gets an even lesser part, if that could be possible. Universal Studios certainly shows how much they appreciate those who brought them to the dance by saddling them with nothing parts they must try and make matter even when the films themselves find little special time on screen for them.
The plot was certainly strange enough: science fiction mixed with the supernatural and diabolical. The use of mental power through the teaching of a Hindu to a crippled, very rich man that allows for re-materialization and even the ability to have functional body parts in a twisted revenge. The doctors who speak about how they tried to help their client and failed miserably (if not making things worse) dying one by one, with the cripple's sister going mad due to the sight of blood pools next to the strangulation victims (the camera pans to the hands of the dead clinched tight) really sets up all that happens early on in the film. Atwill, all haughty and guiltless, seems perfectly comfortable that he and his peers did all they could...it is the kind of narcissist with a superiority complex you'd expect to see bite the dust early. But Lugosi just kind of pops in and out to look suspicious. The part is not glamorous in the least.
Don't get me wrong though: this was a lot of fun. It wasn't great, but it was nicely atmospheric (no surprise), with a plot that is quite unique and different. It is over in a flash, too. Ford Beebe keeps that pace moving, and the cast is loaded with questionable personalities, revolving around a bitter affluent cripple given a new lease on life thanks to the *magic* of a Hindu who offered him quite a gift. The dark and fog around the estate of the man produces some sinister eye candy.
The plot was certainly strange enough: science fiction mixed with the supernatural and diabolical. The use of mental power through the teaching of a Hindu to a crippled, very rich man that allows for re-materialization and even the ability to have functional body parts in a twisted revenge. The doctors who speak about how they tried to help their client and failed miserably (if not making things worse) dying one by one, with the cripple's sister going mad due to the sight of blood pools next to the strangulation victims (the camera pans to the hands of the dead clinched tight) really sets up all that happens early on in the film. Atwill, all haughty and guiltless, seems perfectly comfortable that he and his peers did all they could...it is the kind of narcissist with a superiority complex you'd expect to see bite the dust early. But Lugosi just kind of pops in and out to look suspicious. The part is not glamorous in the least.
Don't get me wrong though: this was a lot of fun. It wasn't great, but it was nicely atmospheric (no surprise), with a plot that is quite unique and different. It is over in a flash, too. Ford Beebe keeps that pace moving, and the cast is loaded with questionable personalities, revolving around a bitter affluent cripple given a new lease on life thanks to the *magic* of a Hindu who offered him quite a gift. The dark and fog around the estate of the man produces some sinister eye candy.
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