What Becomes Of The Children? - Neglectful Parents Are Bad

By Steve D. Stones

The 1930s was a time full of government sponsored propaganda films that warned of the dangers of drug use and promiscuous sex. Reefer Madness (1936), Cocaine Fiends (1935), Marijuana (1936) and Sex Madness (1938) are just a few of these from the 30s. Today these films have a kitschy, camp quality that humors fans of cult movies. Many are still shown in midnight movie houses today.

What Becomes Of The Children? (1936) warns of the dangers of neglectful parents. It's another 30s propaganda film that stereotypes people who engage in a specific type of behavior and the outcome it has on everyone around them.

Railroad tycoon John Worthington, played by Robert Frazer (who is in Bela Lugosi films "White Zombie" and "Black Dragons")  is so obsessed with money, power and his occupation that he pays little attention to his children. His wife Edith, played by Natalie Moorhead, is a socialite who enjoys spending her husband's money and ignoring both her husband and her children.

Both parents are also very bored of each other and argue frequently, so they decide to get a divorce. John is awarded custody of his son Fred, and Edith is awarded custody of their daughter Marion.  Both siblings have little contact with each other as the years roll on.

It's not until the children grow up to be adults that their upbringing starts to have an impact on their lives. Marion gets mixed up and married to a jewel thief named Daniels. Fred and Marion somehow end up in the same bar one night after not seeing each other for many years, and a fight breaks out between Fred and Daniels. Both siblings end up on a murder trial for the accidental killing of Daniels.

The underlying theme of this film comes from the old saying - Money can't buy you happiness. Worthington has achieved great financial success in his life, but he has failed miserably as a husband and father for being at work all the time. Even his lawyer friend warns him of the dangers of spending so much time achieving financial success and the impact it is having on his family. Worthington does not heed this warning until everything starts to fall apart in his family life.

The message of this film today might seem a bit naive, considering the fact that most American homes have both parents at work full time, and often one of the parents is working two or more jobs to keep food on the table.  Like Reefer Madness (1936), a warning is posted at the beginning of the movie, only this warning is about the selfish nature of parents who neglect their children.

In the end, Marion and Fred are acquited of any murder charge, and the Worthington family gets back together with a much stronger bond in a happy Hollywood ending. Happy viewing.

The time Bela Lugosi made a World War II propaganda film

By Doug Gibson

Black Dragons is probably Bela Lugosi's oddest C-movie cheapie, and let's face it, the competition is fierce. But, oh, how I love these old '40s gems. It's a Monogram film, made under its Banner Productions. I'm sure it played in LA and NYC street theaters and smaller cities and towns, perhaps paired with an East Side Kids flick?

But I digress: Black Dragons, 1942, directed by William Nigh, runs 69 B and W minutes and stars Lugosi as Dr. Melcher and Monsieur Colomb. He's a sinister guy who pops up just as a bunch of American industrialists are getting mysteriously bumped off. There is also pretty Joan Barclay as the niece of a Dr. Saunders (Robert Frazer), who is all mixed up in whatever is going on. It's also fun to see future Lone Ranger Clayton Moore as an FBI agent.

Now, we have mysterious deaths, we have Lugosi. It's all set to be a horror, right ... ahem, no. This is 1942, the U.S. is at war with the Axis, and Monogram head honcho Sam Katzman saw money to be made by creating a combination thriller/WW2 propaganda anti-Japanese film. So that's what Black Dragons is, and it makes the film an interesting historical curio piece. One has to appreciate Katzman's ability to mix patriotism with a quick buck! He had this film in the can and ready for theaters by late spring 1942. The film ends with a banner headline, "Jap spy ring smashed!" and a fade out of Old Glory, the American flag.

You see, these U.S. industrialists are Japanese spies, created through plastic surgery to look like the American industrialists. Lugosi was the Nazi surgeon who did all this in Japan ... and then was doublecrossed and thrown in prison. Somehow -- the film sort of glosses over this -- Lugosi escaped Japan and headed to the U.S. to get his revenge on the spies. The plot is delightfully bizarre. Lugosi not only conducts plastic surgery on the Japanese agents, he lightens their skin and provides them accents, as well as hair and body shapes. All the industrialists who are now having doubles were killed off sans anyone knowing, even their families! Once Lugosi's character is tossed into a Japanese cell, which appears to be all stone, he somehow is able to conduct perfect plastic surgery -- from his bag -- on another prisoner!

As I mentioned, I love these time-capsule films. Monogram was famous for its bizarre intricate plots that its ultra-low budgets just could never keep up with. They dissolve into fun nonsensical action. Lugosi is Lugosi in this film. He's wonderful, whether he's coyly flirting with starlet Barclay or cleverly and calmly dispatching his victims. And there's also that wonderful, ubiquitous menacing, Monogram music. As Lugosi biographer Arthur Lennig notes, this was the last film in which Lugosi (in his early 60s) was considered attractive to a young lovely. Barclay does flirt rather unabashedly with Bela. Also, Robert Frazer, who co-starred with Lugosi in the classic "White Zombie," is in this film.

The boom of video and DVD plus public domain has made Black Dragons, once rather obscure, easy to find. It's often in the $1 DVD bin at Wal-Mart or in the 20- to 50-set public domain offerings. Those with broadband Internet can watch it free on the Net. Buy it and enjoy an hour-plus diversion into a different filmmaking existence. I love the opening sequence, where fat, bloated and old Washington pols, lobbyists and businessmen are partying with lots of liquor, cigars and blonde babes. Some things never change.

Black Dragons, the wackiest Bela Lugosi Monogram film!

Editor's note: I watched Black Dragons last Saturday for likely the seventh or eighth time and loved it so much, as always, that I resolved to write a review. I went to Plan9Crunch and, lo and behold, learned I penned a review three-plus years ago. OK, so many reviews; hard for this 50-year-old brain to recall them all. So, I will re-post it but reserve the right to add more observations, which I have (in black). -- Doug Gibson
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Black Dragons is probably Bela Lugosi's oddest C-movie cheapie, and let's face it, the competition is fierce. But, oh, how I love these old '40s gems. It's a Monogram film, made under its Banner Productions. I'm sure it played in LA and NYC street theaters and smaller cities and towns, perhaps paired with an East Side Kids flick?

But I digress: Black Dragons, 1942, directed by William Nigh, runs 69 B&W minutes and stars Lugosi as Dr. Melcher and Monsieur Colomb. He's a sinister guy who pops up just as a bunch of American industrialists are getting mysteriously bumped off. There is also pretty Joan Barclay as the niece of a Dr. Saunders (Robert Frazer), who is all mixed up in whatever is going on. It's also fun to see future Lone Ranger Clayton Moore as an FBI agent.

Now, we have mysterious deaths, we have Lugosi. It's all set to be a horror, right ... ahem, no. This is 1942, the U.S. is at war with the Axis, and Monogram head honcho Sam Katzman saw money to be made by creating a combination thriller/WW2 propaganda anti-Japanese film. So that's what Black Dragons is, and it makes the film an interesting historical curio piece. One has to appreciate Katzman's ability to mix patriotism with a quick buck! He had this film in the can and ready for theaters by late spring 1942. The film ends with a banner headline, "Jap spy ring smashed!" and a fade out of Old Glory, the American flag.

You see, these U.S. industrialists are Japanese spies, created through plastic surgery to look like the American industrialists. Lugosi was the Nazi surgeon who did all this in Japan ... and then was doublecrossed and thrown in prison. Somehow -- the film sort of glosses over this -- Lugosi escaped Japan and headed to the U.S. to get his revenge on the spies. The plot is delightfully bizarre. Lugosi not only conducts plastic surgery on the Japanese agents, he lightens their skin and provides them accents, as well as hair and body shapes. All the industrialists who are now having doubles were killed off sans anyone knowing, even their families! Once Lugosi's character is tossed into a Japanese cell, which appears to be all stone, he somehow is able to conduct perfect plastic surgery -- from his bag -- on another prisoner!

As I mentioned, I love these time-capsule films. Monogram was famous for its bizarre intricate plots that its ultra-low budgets just could never keep up with. They dissolve into fun nonsensical action. Lugosi is Lugosi in this film. He's wonderful, whether he's coyly flirting with starlet Barclay or cleverly and calmly dispatching his victims. And there's also that wonderful, ubiquitous menacing, Monogram music. As Lugosi biographer Arthur Lennig notes, this was the last film in which Lugosi (in his early 60s) was considered attractive to a young lovely. Barclay does flirt rather unabashedly with Bela. Also, Robert Frazer, who co-starred with Lugosi in the classic "White Zombie," is in this film.

The boom of video and DVD plus public domain has made Black Dragons, once rather obscure, easy to find. It's often in the $1 DVD bin at Wal-Mart or in the 20- to 50-set public domain offerings. Those with broadband Internet can watch it free on the Net. Buy it and enjoy an hour-plus diversion into a different filmmaking existence. I love the opening sequence, where fat, bloated and old Washington pols, lobbyists and businessmen are partying with lots of liquor, cigars and blonde babes. Some things never change.

-- Doug Gibson