The Devil Bat, 1941, Producers Releasing Corporation, directed by Jean Yarbrough. Starring Bela Lugosi, Suzaane Kaaren, Dave O’Brien, Guy Usher, Hal Price. Sixty-nine minutes. Schlock-Meter Rating: *********1/2 stars out of 10 stars. Note: Also sold on some video labels as Killer Bats.
By Doug Gibson
---
Okay, I know that the plot of Devil Bat is silly. I know the budget is a $1.89. I know the special effects are ridiculous with rubber bats swooping down to victims’ necks. I’m aware that many critics, including John Stanley (whom I respect) consider Devil Bat an example of Lugosi’s slow side to oblivion, and Ed Wood movies.
Nevertheless, I love this film. It is a great cult movie because it has heart. Lugosi -- and the rest of the cast -- take their job seriously. They take a sow’s ear and turn it into a silk purse. The plot is as follows: A seemingly kindly scientist (Lugosi) has toiled his entire life for a perfume company. The scientist’s discoveries had made millions for the firm’s family, but he remains a salaried employee. For that he is bitter and angry, and has harvested killer bats that will attack the scent of a perfume. Of course, Lugosi gives the perfume to the rich family members, and murders occur. By the end, nosy reporters and cops uncover Lugosi’s crime and he is killed at the end. Of course, as was PRC’s and other minor 40s film companies’ wont, there is also a love story mixed in this thriller.
Bela Lugosi’s greatest talent was providing an excellent performance no matter the subject matter. His performance as a brooding scientist, bitter, angry, feeling underappreciated, is a masterpiece. There is a scene at the beginning of Devil Bat where the family members of the firm -- who really seem to love the scientist -- throw him an appreciation testimonial and provide him with a $25,000 gift. Lugosi’s scientist is all decorum in this scene, and it’s chilling when he’s alone and the mad, angry, bitter murderer is revealed. It’s an effective contrast, which I don’t think other 40 chiller stars George Zucco or John Carradine could have pulled off.
By all means, rent Devil Bat (I recommend you buy it) and lose yourself in a great actor making the most of a simple story. Lugosi on screen can hypnotize a viewer. One ignores the plot flaws and poor special effects and appreciates a master actor in a great performance.
Plan 9 Crunch is pleased to have a conversation with film scholar Frank J. Dello Stritto, author of many genre articles and three books: "A Quaint and Curious Volume of Forgotten Lore" (a collection of his fine articles), "I Saw What I Saw When I Saw It" (his memoir of life as a "monster boomer) and the recently published a second edition of "Vampire Over London: Bela Lugosi in Britain," that he co-wrote with Andi Brooks, who runs the best Bela Lugosi blog.
Dello Stritto's work is priceless to the cult film lover. "Vampire Over London" (our review of the book is our second most popular post) places Dello Stritto and Brooks with Gary Don Rhodes, Robert Cremer and Arthur Lennig as the Lugosi biographers one must read.
A while back, Plan9Crunch interviewed another fine genre scholar, Tom Weaver, about his book, "Poverty Row Horrors." Read it here. After we published it, I thought of interviewing Frank on the low-budget film career of Lugosi, who, it is perfectly just and fair to say, outlasts any other early horror star in prominence in the low-budget chillers of that era. Frank graciously agreed to the interview. We hope you enjoy it; we sure did. By the way, you can buy the three books mentioned above at Cult Movies Press.
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1) Was Bela Lugosi (a) initially an A-actor
who descended to Poverty Row roles as his career continued.
or, (b) a Poverty Row actor who through his career
occasionally enjoyed roles in A productions.
Dello Stritto: Definitely
(A). Bela Lugosi gave outstanding performances when given half a chance. The
few A-films in which he had sizeable roles are all enhanced by his presence. He
was trapped by his stereotype and by his accent.
But he was a great presence in Poverty
Row films, probably the greatest of the Poverty Row stars.
2) What was Bela Lugosi's top performance in
a Poverty Row movie role in the 1930s and why?
Dello Stritto: “Poverty
Row” did not really come into its own until the 1940s. In the 1930s, the films
are “the low-budget independents,” e.g., those films not associated with a
major studio (like Universal) or producer (like Samuel Goldwyn). Lugosi’s best among
these has to be White Zombie. While
it has the shortcomings of most such movies — mainly bad acting by supporting
players — it sticks to a simple story and plays almost as a fairy tale. Lugosi’s
role, the sorcerer/zombie master, is one that he could play like no other. The
weakness of a lot of Poverty Row films is that they are so hurried. Though White Zombie was filmed on a tight schedule,
effort was made to bring in some very effective cinematic touches. The editing
is surprisingly good. That was all the help Lugosi needed to give one of his
most memorable performances.
3) Why did Bela Lugosi find it so hard to
find movie roles in low-budget films in 1937-38, during the British ban on
horror, while in contrast his rival Boris Karloff thrived at Monogram and
Columbia?
Dello Stritto: Boris
Karloff was a more versatile actor, a better handler of his career, and was
acting in his native language. And his most famous horror roles had been
beneath layers of make-up, while Lugosi’s face was the face of Hollywood
horror. His voice was the voice of Dracula. When horror went out of fashion,
Lugosi went with it. If he had landed a solid role in a good, non-horror movie,
he might have broken horror’s hold on him, but that never happened. No producer
wanted to take the chance.
4) What is your personal favorite of
Lugosi's Monogram films, and your least favorite, and why?
Dello Stritto: That’s a
tough one. When I was a kid, I liked them all, but in truth there is not a
really good movie among them. Lugosi’s roles in the Monograms fall in two
categories: those where he is purely a cardboard villain, and where his
character has more depth than the film cares to deal with. He is on his own in
them, and sometimes overcomes the mediocrity of the rest of the movie. My
narrow winner is Black Dragons.
Lugosi plays a plastic surgeon, betrayed by his Japanese clients and seeking
revenge. The movie has its absurdities, but Lugosi does rather well as a
basically lonely man working through his obsession before the law gets him.
Bowery
at Midnight, Voodoo Man (both
which give Lugosi’s character more potential than the movie can ever realize)
and Return of the Ape Man (not much
depth there, Lugosi is evil through and through) are close second. Except for
the two East Side Kids movies, the other Monograms are closely packed in third.Lugosi’s two East Side Kids are distant
last place holders. Neither makes good use of him.
5) Is The Devil Bat, from PRC, superior to the Monogram films, and why?
Dello Stritto: It is
certainly better than most of the Monograms, and may well stand above all of
them. The touches of humor that often simply don’t work in the Monograms, work
well enough in The Devil Bat. Lugosi’s
part suits him quite well. Dr. Carruthers is a bitter loner, secretly plotting
revenge on those who, in his mind, have crossed him. Lugosi has a lot of scenes
alone in his laboratory, and his over-the-top acting works well in that
setting. The contrast between the hateful man in the laboratory and the charmer
when he meets his victims is perhaps over-done, but it is well-done. Lugosi was
great at overacting, which sometimes fits in Poverty Row better than in
mainstream films.
6) How did RKO, where Bela had a three-film
deal, square in the 40s movie world? A productions, Bs, or somewhere in
between?
Dello Stritto: RKO may be
my favorite Hollywood studio. It is different from the other majors. It was not
founded and run for decades by a mogul. It was cobbled together by bankers (one
of them Joseph Kennedy) in the early 1930s, and handed off from one production
head to another (such as David O. Selznick and Merian C. Cooper). So, it was
often saw hard times, and wound up owned by Howard Hughes. But 1940s RKO turned
out Citizen Kane and Orson Welles’s
early films, and Val Lewton’s nine horror films. It was in the vanguard of film noir, and was the distributor of
choice for major independent producers Goldwyn and Selznick. Cary Grant,
perhaps the most important star not under contract to one studio, did some of
his best 1940s work at RKO. So, RKO may have struggled to stay among the
majors, but its output includes as many enduring films as any of its
competitors.
In the mid-1940s, Lugosi made three
films at RKO: The Body Snatchers, Zombies on Broadway, and Genius at Work. The Body Snatchers is by far the best of them, but Lugosi has a
minor role, as he does in Genius at Work.
I have great affection for Zombies on
Broadway. I loved it as a kid, and my sons when they were eight or so loved
it, too. As light entertainment, which is all it tries to be, it dates quite
well.
7) Of Lugosi's four films, Mother Riley
Meets the Vampire, Bela Lugosi Meets
a Brooklyn Gorilla, Glen Or Glenda, and Bride of the Monster, where he was mentioned as a star, which is
his best performance?
Dello Stritto: The best of
performance among them is Dr. Varnoff in Brideof the Monster. It is a true “Lugosi film” built around his character and
persona. Again, and for the last time, he is an angry outcast working his mad
schemes in secret. The movie has all the incompetence of most Ed Wood films,
but Lugosi does quite well with his part. And he has the famous scene where
Varnoff bemoans his mistreatment by the world on which he plans vengeance.
Glen
or Glenda needs a separate interview. As filmmaking, it is a disaster. But
it is such a personal film (by Ed Wood) that I have to give it a nod. It is like a dream — its parts don’t quite fit
together, characters come and go, wild images bubble up from nowhere. Lugosi as
whatever he is supposed to be, is quite fine in it.
Mother
Riley Meets the Vampire and Bela
Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla are intentionally silly movies. As he
always did, Lugosi tries his best. You can either enjoy the nonsense, or just
turn them off. I have done both.
Listen, I'm a big George Zucco fan, I love the old Producers Releasing Corporation 40s C-movies but the 1946 The Flying Serpent is not one of the better offerings. Zucco plays a mad archaeologist who uses a live big flying creature to kill his enemies. The "flying serpent" is a stiff stage prop and if you look hard you can see the strings.
Naturally, Zucco gets it in the end from his dangerous bird. In theme the film is very similar to the far superior 1940 PRC release The Devil Bat, starring Lugosi. There's a big killer controlled by a bitter man of science. An investigative journalist helps solve the crime and protects a young lovely. Also, the music is the same as Devil Bat, and a lot of other C-films of that era, and the film uses "banner headlines" like Devil Bat and others to bridge plot. There's comic bits to relieve the "tension."
Also, as Tom Weaver has pointed out in his book, "Poverty Row Horrors," Zucco is a pretty one-dimensional villain. He's more cranky than complex. There's no angst associated with his murders, such as Lugosi's bitter revenge in "Devil Bat." He's not even the crazy scientist George Zucco in another PRC film, "The Mad Monster." He's just a mere sociopath in this film.
What worked well in Devil Bat it doesn't work here. The scenes with the crusading radio reporter (Ralph Lewis) are very dull and slow down the main action of Zucco getting revenge. By contrast, crusading newspaper reporter Dave O'Brien is outstanding combating Lugosi in Devil Bat. Flying Serpent is a tight, very low budget film that runs 59 minutes. It was directed by Sam Newfield and also starred Mary Forbes.
It's worth watching -- anything with Zucco is but it's not up to par with other PRC offerings such as Devil Bat and Strangler of the Swamp. Watch the film below; it has some decent moments. Watch the film here.
The Devil Bat, 1941, Producers Releasing Corporation, directed by Jean Yarbrough. Starring Bela Lugosi, Suzaane Kaaren, Dave O’Brien, Guy Usher, Hal Price. Sixty-nine minutes. Schlock-Meter Rating: *********1/2 stars out of 10 stars. Note: Also sold on some video labels as Killer Bats.
By Doug Gibson
---
Okay, I know that the plot of Devil Bat is silly. I know the budget is a $1.89. I know the special effects are ridiculous with rubber bats swooping down to victims’ necks. I’m aware that many critics, including John Stanley (whom I respect) consider Devil Bat an example of Lugosi’s slow side to oblivion, and Ed Wood movies.
Nevertheless, I love this film. It is a great cult movie because it has heart. Lugosi -- and the rest of the cast -- take their job seriously. They take a sow’s ear and turn it into a silk purse. The plot is as follows: A seemingly kindly scientist (Lugosi) has toiled his entire life for a perfume company. The scientist’s discoveries had made millions for the firm’s family, but he remains a salaried employee. For that he is bitter and angry, and has harvested killer bats that will attack the scent of a perfume. Of course, Lugosi gives the perfume to the rich family members, and murders occur. By the end, nosy reporters and cops uncover Lugosi’s crime and he is killed at the end. Of course, as was PRC’s and other minor 40s film companies’ wont, there is also a love story mixed in this thriller.
Bela Lugosi’s greatest talent was providing an excellent performance no matter the subject matter. His performance as a brooding scientist, bitter, angry, feeling underappreciated, is a masterpiece. There is a scene at the beginning of Devil Bat where the family members of the firm -- who really seem to love the scientist -- throw him an appreciation testimonial and provide him with a $25,000 gift. Lugosi’s scientist is all decorum in this scene, and it’s chilling when he’s alone and the mad, angry, bitter murderer is revealed. It’s an effective contrast, which I don’t think other 40 chiller stars George Zucco or John Carradine could have pulled off.
By all means, rent Devil Bat (I recommend you buy it) and lose yourself in a great actor making the most of a simple story. Lugosi on screen can hypnotize a viewer. One ignores the plot flaws and poor special effects and appreciates a master actor in a great performance.
The Devil Bat, 1941, Producers Releasing Corporation, directed by Jean Yarbrough. Starring Bela Lugosi, Suzaane Kaaren, Dave O’Brien, Guy Usher, Hal Price. Sixty-nine minutes. Schlock-Meter Rating: *********1/2 stars out of 10 stars. Note: Also sold on some video labels as Killer Bats.
By Doug Gibson
---
Okay, I know that the plot of Devil Bat is silly. I know the budget is a $1.89. I know the special effects are ridiculous with rubber bats swooping down to victims’ necks. I’m aware that many critics, including John Stanley (whom I respect) consider Devil Bat an example of Lugosi’s slow side to oblivion, and Ed Wood movies.
Nevertheless, I love this film. It is a great cult movie because it has heart. Lugosi -- and the rest of the cast -- take their job seriously. They take a sow’s ear and turn it into a silk purse. The plot is as follows: A seemingly kindly scientist (Lugosi) has toiled his entire life for a perfume company. The scientist’s discoveries had made millions for the firm’s family, but he remains a salaried employee. For that he is bitter and angry, and has harvested killer bats that will attack the scent of a perfume. Of course, Lugosi gives the perfume to the rich family members, and murders occur. By the end, nosy reporters and cops uncover Lugosi’s crime and he is killed at the end. Of course, as was PRC’s and other minor 40s film companies’ wont, there is also a love story mixed in this thriller.
Bela Lugosi’s greatest talent was providing an excellent performance no matter the subject matter. His performance as a brooding scientist, bitter, angry, feeling underappreciated, is a masterpiece. There is a scene at the beginning of Devil Bat where the family members of the firm -- who really seem to love the scientist -- throw him an appreciation testimonial and provide him with a $25,000 gift. Lugosi’s scientist is all decorum in this scene, and it’s chilling when he’s alone and the mad, angry, bitter murderer is revealed. It’s an effective contrast, which I don’t think other 40 chiller stars George Zucco or John Carradine could have pulled off.
By all means, rent Devil Bat (I recommend you buy it) and lose yourself in a great actor making the most of a simple story. Lugosi on screen can hypnotize a viewer. One ignores the plot flaws and poor special effects and appreciates a master actor in a great performance.
The Devil Bat, 1941, Producers Releasing Corporation, directed by Jean Yarbrough. Starring Bela Lugosi, Suzaane Kaaren, Dave O’Brien, Guy Usher, Hal Price. Sixty-nine minutes. Schlock-Meter Rating: 10 stars out of 10 stars. Note: Once sold on some video labels as Killer Bats.
By Doug Gibson
---
Okay, I know that the plot of Devil Bat is silly. I know the budget is a $1.89. I know the special effects are ridiculous with rubber bats swooping down to victims’ necks. I’m aware that many critics, including John Stanley (whom I respect) consider Devil Bat an example of Lugosi’s slow side to oblivion, and Ed Wood movies. But Stanley is wrong, wrong, wrong!
Nevertheless, I love this film. It is a great cult movie because it has heart. Lugosi -- and the rest of the cast -- take their job seriously. They take a sow’s ear and turn it into a silk purse. The plot is as follows: A seemingly kindly scientist (Lugosi) has toiled his entire life for a perfume company. The scientist’s discoveries had made millions for the firm’s family, but he remains a salaried employee. For that he is bitter and angry, and has harvested killer bats that will attack the scent of a perfume. Of course, Lugosi gives the perfume to the rich family members, and murders occur. By the end, nosy reporters (including great 40s genre star Dave O'Brien, and cops uncover Lugosi’s crime and he is killed at the end. Of course, as was PRC’s and other minor 40s film companies’ wont, there is also a love story mixed in this thriller between O'Brien's reporter and starlet Suzanne Kaaren's heiress.
Bela Lugosi’s greatest talent was providing an excellent performance no matter the subject matter. His performance as a brooding scientist, bitter, angry, feeling underappreciated, is a masterpiece. There is a scene at the beginning of Devil Bat where the family members of the firm -- who really seem to love the scientist -- throw him an appreciation testimonial and provide him with a $25,000 gift. Lugosi’s scientist is all decorum in this scene, and it’s chilling when he’s alone and the mad, angry, bitter murderer is revealed. It’s an effective contrast, which I don’t think other 40 chiller stars George Zucco or John Carradine could have pulled off.
By all means, rent Devil Bat (I recommend you buy it) and lose yourself in a great actor making the most of a simple story. Lugosi on screen can hypnotize a viewer. One ignores the plot flaws and poor special effects and appreciates a master actor in a great performance.
Devil Bat is now available in a colorized version, and it's a lot of fun to watch. The public domain film can be seen for free on the Internet. I used the UEN Sci-Fi Friday version of the film, along with the educational podcast, in my beginning newswriting class in the University of Utah. It helped the students learn how to write a news feature story.
Star O'Brien was a low-budget western star for most of the 40s but also acted in 40s low-budget Lugosi thrillers, Bowery at Midnight and Spooks Run Wild, a farce with the Bowery Boys. Director Jean Yarbrough was a reliable low-budget film director, making the cult film The Brute Man with Rondo Hatton. He also directed the strange country music western film "Hillbillys in a Haunted House" with John Carradine, Lon Chaney Jr. and Basil Rathbone. Kaaren made about 40 mostly low-budget films between 1934 and 1942. She came out of retirement in 1982 for a role in the big-budget "The Cotton Club." Kaaren died in 2004 at age 92!
Here’s another quickie released by PRC Studios (Producers Releasing Corporation) and directed by Jean Yarbrough starring Bela Lugosi as Dr. Paul Carruthers. Carruthers lives in a small town called Heathville, named after the Heath family, who Carruthers once worked for. Carruthers perfected a shave lotion for the Heath Family Company and settled for a $10,000 award from the company for his invention. The company went on to make millions from the product.
The Heath family is holding a party to celebrate the engagement of their son Roy. Carruthers is invited to the party, but does not attend. He is busy in his laboratory conducting experiments on a giant bat and perfecting another shave lotion. He plans on seeking revenge on the Heath family for the company making millions off his invention. Little does he know that the Heath family wanted to present him with a $5,000 check that evening to help compensate for some of his lost profits on the product.
Roy Heath arrives at Carruthers’ home that evening to present the check to him personally. Although Carruthers is happy to receive the check, he still wants to execute his diabolical plan of murdering members of the Heath family to seek his revenge. He convinces Roy to try some of his newest shave lotion. Roy leaves and is attached by a giant bat launched from Carruthers’ attic. The bat, killing him instantly, severed his jugular vein. The bat is instantly attracted to the scent of the shave lotion.
Johnny Layton, a newspaper reporter, is assigned to the case of covering Roy Heath’s murder. Dave O’Brien, star of the 1930s cult classic Reefer Madness, plays Layton. Johnny’s boss informs him that the bite on Roy’s neck could have been from the talons or beak of a large bird, and that mouse hairs were also discovered on his body. Layton suggests that the mouse hairs indicate that it could have been a giant bat that attacked Roy.
Tommy Heath, Roy’s brother, is the next victim of the devil bat. The bat is shot and killed while attacking Tommy. Layton’s photographer, played by Donald Kerr, star of Flash Gordon’s Trip To Mars, stages a fake photo of the devil bat for newspaper publicity by taking a picture of a toy bat on a wire. Layton’s boss later discovers that the photo was a fake, so he fires both Layton and the photographer.
Henry Morton, also an employee of the Heath family company, is the next victim, attacked by a second devil bat. Layton suspects that Carruthers must be the murderer because all the victims of the devil bat had his after shave lotion on their necks at the time of their deaths.
To try and trap Carruthers, Layton asks him if he can try some of his shave lotion, and asks Carruthers to sit outside on a park bench and wait for the devil bat to attack him. Carruthers is reluctant to join him, but later agrees to wait for the bat. While waiting, Layton quickly splashes the shave lotion on Carruthers, and the devil bat attacks, killing Carruthers.
Most film encyclopedias give this film a very bad rating, which is unfortunate. I urge you not to trust what critics say about this film. The expressions on Lugosi’s face when he watches his victims splash the shave lotion on their necks and then tells them goodbye is quite priceless. Lugosi’s gaze of looking through the window of his laboratory with goggles on as he watches the lab instruments jolt the giant bat is also quite a delight to watch. You can say whatever you want about Lugosi’s low-budget films made by Monogram and PRC, but Lugosi was a man who could get into any role and play it very well. Don’t miss The Devil Bat!
Legend Films has recently released a colorized version of the film. I prefer the black and white version much better. Careful with the shave lotion you use this morning!
The Devil Bat, 1941, Producers Releasing Corporation, directed by Jean Yarbrough. Starring Bela Lugosi, Suzaane Kaaren, Dave O’Brien, Guy Usher, Hal Price. Sixty-nine minutes. Schlock-Meter Rating: *********1/2 stars out of 10 stars. Note: Also sold on some video labels as Killer Bats.
By Doug Gibson
---
Okay, I know that the plot of Devil Bat is silly. I know the budget is a $1.89. I know the special effects are ridiculous with rubber bats swooping down to victims’ necks. I’m aware that many critics, including John Stanley (whom I respect) consider Devil Bat an example of Lugosi’s slow side to oblivion, and Ed Wood movies.
Nevertheless, I love this film. It is a great cult movie because it has heart. Lugosi -- and the rest of the cast -- take their job seriously. They take a sow’s ear and turn it into a silk purse. The plot is as follows: A seemingly kindly scientist (Lugosi) has toiled his entire life for a perfume company. The scientist’s discoveries had made millions for the firm’s family, but he remains a salaried employee. For that he is bitter and angry, and has harvested killer bats that will attack the scent of a perfume. Of course, Lugosi gives the perfume to the rich family members, and murders occur. By the end, nosy reporters and cops uncover Lugosi’s crime and he is killed at the end. Of course, as was PRC’s and other minor 40s film companies’ wont, there is also a love story mixed in this thriller.
Bela Lugosi’s greatest talent was providing an excellent performance no matter the subject matter. His performance as a brooding scientist, bitter, angry, feeling underappreciated, is a masterpiece. There is a scene at the beginning of Devil Bat where the family members of the firm -- who really seem to love the scientist -- throw him an appreciation testimonial and provide him with a $25,000 gift. Lugosi’s scientist is all decorum in this scene, and it’s chilling when he’s alone and the mad, angry, bitter murderer is revealed. It’s an effective contrast, which I don’t think other 40 chiller stars George Zucco or John Carradine could have pulled off.
By all means, rent Devil Bat (I recommend you buy it) and lose yourself in a great actor making the most of a simple story. Lugosi on screen can hypnotize a viewer. One ignores the plot flaws and poor special effects and appreciates a master actor in a great performance.
This column was originally published in the Oct. 20, 2006 edition of The Standard-Examiner.
75 years later, Lugosi's Dracula is the one who spooks us each
By Doug Gibson "No, no — Dracula never ends. I don't know if I should call it a fortune or a curse, but it never ends."
— Bela Lugosi, 1951
Truer words were never spoken by the Hungarian actor. The irony was, by 1951, the heart of Lugosi's career had been pierced with a far sharper stake than Dracula ever endured.
When I was a child, the three kings of horror films were Boris Karloff, who played the monster in "Frankenstein," Lon Chaney Jr., the wolf man, and Lugosi's "Dracula" vampire. What a treat it was to discover their films — on the local independent TV station — past midnight or on a Saturday morning.
Chaney Jr.'s wolf man has faded in memories, as far scarier versions have been found in London and Hogwarts. Karloff's monster is still recognized. But the screen monster who resides longest in our nightmares remains Lugosi's vampire. Imitators such as Christopher Lee, John Carradine, Frank Langella and Gary Oldman are quickly forgotten. We always return to the Hungarian.
Today is Lugosi's birthday, in the heart of the Halloween season. He has been dead 50 years. When he died he was a destitute, recovering drug addict. His last real screen role was as a bit player — a mute to be pitied in a barrel-scraping horror film. TV rescued the legacy of "Dracula." Whether it was on "Thriller Theater" or "Creature Features," millions of "monster boomer" kids discovered the Universal monsters.
I chatted with "monster boomer" Frank J. Dello Stritto, co-author of "Vampire Over London: Bela Lugosi in Britain." Dello Stritto is also an essayist on classic cinema horror. Many are compiled in a book, "A Quaint & Curious Volume of Forgotten Lore."
Dello Stritto reminds us that Lugosi — a veteran of more than 100 films — only played a vampire in three — twice as Dracula. Part of Lugosi's success as Dracula, he says, is that the vampire seems to be from another era.
"(Lugosi) put into his performance a lot of subtle touches to make Dracula seem from another world: the odd pace of his speech, the use of his cape, his very slow movements compared to the other cast members' ... A lot of actors who play Dracula are ordinary men trying to appear extraordinary, and not quite succeeding," explains Dello Stritto. "Lugosi's character is like Dracula himself — an extraordinary being trying to appear ordinary, and again not quite suceeding."
I have seen "Dracula" scores of times, and Lugosi is the key to the film. He is a tall, courtly, menacing figure who promises a fate worse than death. And that is the appeal of these early horror films compared to the sadistic gore-fests of today — a fate worse than death awaits the vampire's victims. That fate is conveyed to perfection in the scene where Lugosi's vampire murders actor Dwight Frye's cringing, pathetic, mad disciple Renfield. Dracula's exterior is charming. But his filthy interior attracts darkness, fog, storm, chill winds, rodents, flies, spiders, blood and undeath.
Dracula made Lugosi rich for a while; but as he said, it was also a curse. He was too often typecast as a villain, or red-herring, in low-budget films. After 1940, he only starred in three top-tier productions. Nevertheless, he was actor enough to give 100 percent in every film. For those whose knowledge of Lugosi ends with "Dracula," here are a few other films worthy of Halloween viewings:
* "White Zombie" — In this creepy 1932 thriller, Lugosi plays "Murder" Legendre, a Haitian Mephistopheles figure who enslaves zombies to work his plantations and factories. A lovesick man brokers a Faustian deal with Legendre to win the love of a girl, with terrifying consequences. This is a very low-budget film that proved to be a monster hit — sort of like "The Blair Witch Project" was 67 years later. Lugosi biographer Gary Don Rhodes has devoted an entire book to this film.
* "The Devil Bat" — As mentioned, after 1940, Lugosi made a string of low-budget horror/mysteries for B- and C- movie studios. One of the better ones was 1940's "The Devil Bat," from the long-defunct Producers Releasing Corporation. The plot of "Devil Bat" involves a mad, brooding scientist creating mutant bats to kill his employers.
Although prominent today, thanks to DVD and channels such as Turner Classic Movies, these films originally played in rural America or small towns. In the big cities, they were often relegated to matinees. So while Lugosi could still be called a "star," his reputation — and pocketbook — were taking a slow beating. The films lacked the budget, talent and special effects to be creepy, but Lugosi is great.
"Even in his worst films, Lugosi often manages to project something memorable and out of the ordinary. Lugosi studied and made notes on his scripts, looking for something special that he might get into a part," says Dello Stritto.
Other low-budget Lugosi films worth viewing are "Bowery at Midnight," "The Corpse Vanishes," "Voodoo Man" and "The Ape Man."
* "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein" — This 1948 horror-comedy is a great film to introduce Lugosi to younger viewers. As Count Dracula, he is a magnificent menace. His strength? Lugosi keeps Dracula in character, and never allows the monster to be laughed at. The humor comes from the reactions of Abbott and Costello. Also in the film are Chaney Jr.'s wolf man and Glenn Strange's Frankenstein monster.
This was Lugosi's final major Hollywood film. It was a hit and rejuvenated Abbott and Costello's career. Unfortunately, Universal decided Lugosi deserved no credit, and he could not find another big-screen role for four years.
* "Bride of the Monster" — This is a terrible movie, directed by the infamous Ed Wood — immortalized by Johnny Depp as the worst director ever. However, if you appreciate Bela Lugosi, see this 1955 film. It is his last starring role, and it will move you to see this frail, emaciated, drug-addicted old man giving it his all in this micro-budget film. After production wrapped, Lugosi checked himself into a rehab center to battle a 20-year addiction to painkillers. As bad as the film is — a photo enlarger is an atomic ray, stock shots don't match, hokey dialogue, amateurish acting, a broken octopus machine — like most of Wood's films, it is strangely watchable. The best you can say about Ed Wood is that he was both bad ... and unique.
Appreciating Bela Lugosi is a trait best learned early, explains Dello Stritto. "It pays to get hooked on Lugosi when you're young. That's when a viewer is most easily swept up by his particular energy. For that reason, 'Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein' cannot be overestimated in its importance in perpetuating the legacy of both Lugosi and the classic monsters. For me and countless others like me, this was the movie that hooked us as kids and made us come back for more."
But it's not too late for even adults. If you haven't spent some time with the screen's greatest monster, this Halloween season is the perfect first date — just watch your neck.
Gibson is the Standard-Examiner's assistant editorial page editor. He can be reached at dgibson@standard.net.
