(1932)
Dir Robert Florey
Overall: GOOD
The very first full-length film adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's The Murders In the Rue Morgue was the Universal version made a year after Dracula and Frankenstein and it remains one of the better non-monster horror films from said studio. Bela Lugosi gets the chance to play his first mad scientist Dr. Mirakle who is hell bent on mixing the blood of his savage "pet" ape Erik with that of a woman because that is just something you do. This would not even be Lugosi's sole on-screen pairing with a primate since Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla also exists. As silly as this loose interpretation of Poe's source material sounds on paper, it is mostly successful. Dracula cinematographer/The Mummy director Karl Freund is back again, doing wonders as the film looks a whole lot creepier than it actually is. It is also typically slow for the time period though sinisterly atmospheric. Images of women being tied up crucifixion-style and left hanging upside down in a fireplace are plenty gruesome for pre-code Hollywood. The edits between a real life chimp and "King of the Gorilla Men" Charles Gemora in a monkey suite are hardly convincing, but they are hardly Ed Wood ridiculous looking either. In his first but not last unibrow-sporting villain role in one year, it is Lugosi that naturally steals the show. Equal parts bat-shit crazy and charming, (OK probably more parts bat-shit crazy), the Hungarian legend is his usual, superbly menacing self.
(1932)
Dir - Victor Halperin
Overall: MEH
When originally released and for still several decades afterwards, most of the complaints with Victor Halperin's White Zombie revolved around the plot and non-Bela Lugosi performances. Such complaints are indeed still warranted. Lugosi is great even when he is being a cartoon character version of himself, (which actually happened quite often), so no surprise that he is the best thing here. Those soul piercing eyes and that Dracula-with-a-unibrow look, as well as the sinister body language and of course the accent, all make Lugosi's Murder Legendre one of his finest screen roles. Once you get past his scene steeling scenes though, there is really not much to appreciate. Some of the atmosphere conveyed is well done, but that is mostly due to the borrowed Universal Studios set pieces, (previously used in everything from Dracula, Frankenstein, and even Lon Chaney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame). Otherwise, the pacing is horribly dull and the plot is ridiculous. Laughably melodramatic acting from the rest of the cast has also aged the film rather poorly. Good at least for Lugosi and his sinister hand gestures, but still admittingly shy of its somewhat admired reputation.
(1935)
Dir - Tod Browning
Overall: MEH
Since London After Midnight has been certifiably "lost" for almost a century now, not a prayer is left that anyone will ever see said Lon Chaney Sir's sole vampire film. Even as utterly awesome as the few stills and pictures of Chaney in full fang-toothed glory have always looked. 1935's Mark of the Vampire however has remained very much in print and is MGM's talkie remake of Midnight. Coming four years after Universal's Dracula, it makes sense that MGM would not only hire Bela Lugosi to be the undead fiend in this one, but also Dracula's director Tod Browning to helm. The "twist" here is hardly surprising this day in age to any horror buffs who know that this film exists, but this fact certainly does not ruin the whole. Even though the running time is just barely an hour long, it does comes off as heavily padded. It is understandable then to skip all the parts that do not have Lugosi and Carol Borland slowly creeping around their cobweb infested castle or fog shrouded graveyard, as those are easily and arguably the only satisfying moments herein.
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