★ 5 / 10
A fine performance from Bela Lugosi in a
CinemaSerf
A fine performance from Bela Lugosi in a sort of "Jeykll and Hyde" role as a respectable man by day but a killer at night - driven by the hypnotic effects of…
A fine performance from Bela Lugosi in a sort of "Jeykll and Hyde" role as a respectable man by day but a killer at night - driven by the hypnotic effects of seeing his dead wife back from the grave. The storyline is pretty tosh; and but for Clarence Muse as "Evans" the butler, the supporting cast probably all deserved to be murdered. It's a tiny-budget, poorly lit vehicle for the star, but worth it for him and it's only just over an hour.
★ 6 / 10
Piffle, To Be Sure, But Entertaining Piffle, At Least
ferbs54
Boy, this is one weird little movie! Bela Lugosi's first of nine films for Monogram Pictures, "Invisible Ghost" (1941) tells the story of Mr. Kessler (Lugosi)…
Boy, this is one weird little movie! Bela Lugosi's first of nine films for Monogram Pictures, "Invisible Ghost" (1941) tells the story of Mr. Kessler (Lugosi), whose wife had run away some years before and been injured in a car wreck with another man. What Bela does not know is that his wife is still alive, in a semicomatose state, and being cared for by his gardener in a nearby barn. Unfortunately, whenever Mrs. K takes one of her nocturnal somnambulent strolls and Bela catches a glimpse of her, he becomes a mesmerized maniac and kills off another of his household... Anyway, this Bela outing, while perhaps not quite as much fun as another of his pictures that I saw recently, 1942's "The Corpse Vanishes," is still far, far superior to the surreally stinky "Scared to Death" (1947). It is interestingly shot and features some stylish direction by Joseph H. Lewis, who would go on to helm such cult classics as "Gun Crazy" (1949) and "The Big Combo" (1955). The film moves along quite briskly and manages to pack quite a bit into its brief 64-minute running time. And I like the fact that Bela's butler, as played by Clarence Muse, is devoid of the embarrassing black-stereotype behavior so often encountered in films of that era; indeed, he might be the most dignified character in the entire film. I also like the fact that, unlike so many other Bela films, this one is not presented on yet another awful-looking/sounding DVD from Alpha Video, but rather given a nice, clean treatment from the fine folks at the Roan Group. The bottom line, I suppose, is that "Invisible Ghost" is piffle, but still an engaging and entertaining time killer.
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The sound is completely out of sync on this one.