Director: Wallace Fox
Year: 1942
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Mad Doctor
Plot:
Following a rash of mysterious wedding disappearances, a reporter believes a clue found at every scene ties a European botanist to the brides' disappearances, needing them for his wife's youth-restoring surgeries, and sets a trap to catch him in the act of abducting his victims.
Review:
This here is a rather decent film at times. What really helps this one out is the few scenes of solid atmosphere present here, which is much better here than expected for such a title, since most of the film's middle section takes place inside a creepy castle, giving it a really spooky feel. With secret passageways into rooms, characters appearing and disappearing, shadows being thrown across the walls, and a raging thunderstorm in the background, this has the hallmarks of a classic Gothic horror film, and it's easily the creepiest sequence in the film.
With this also including the odd creepy image here and there, from the series of scenes in the laboratory as he's preparing his experiments with his staff to the really freaky scene where one character's disembodied head appears to be floating in the background as it spies on another character and the creepy family hanging around her while she's at their house makes for some decent times here. As well, the mystery that comes out of the film quite naturally and has the appearance of being put together with some intelligence, with one clue leading logically to another as the transition from the brides disappearing to the flowers found there to the botanist, and finally the wife. That is a nice thing to see, how it's all quite realistically pieced together, and it's really not that forced at all.
Otherwise, there isn't much else about this one, and as there isn't much to this, there isn't a whole lot to dislike in this one. The sheer lunacy of the motive to spring this into action is quite high, lending it a series of easier scenarios the viewer can come up with that will provide the villains with the same goal, rather than trying such a really insane strategy. That none of them are even carried out, even for how out there the motive is, makes them even more infuriating, and really doesn't do much for suggesting terror or fear at anything. None of the motivations for doing so are revealed either, giving this a really confusing time in places.
There's also the rather big nature of having a really slow-moving pace and stuttering along for long periods of time without much action, which, for a movie this short, doesn't provide it with many opportunities to add to the pace, as so many of these scenes lend a little more campiness to the proceedings rather than chills. That makes this one of the more unspectacular films from the time period.
Overview: **.5/5
While this has its moments, but not all that much in the way of positives, this is a decent-at-best genre effort that has some worthwhile elements at play that might be wiped out by the flaws featured here. Those with an interest in this style of genre fare or who are fans of the creative crew will have the most to like, while most others out there should heed caution.
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