(1942)
Dir - William Nigh
Overall: MEH
Universal gets some more use out of its resident doctor Lionel Atwill with The Strange Case of Dr. X, though the character actor goes almost unnoticed by taking a backseat to Patrick Knowles and Anne Gwyne's playful newly-wed banter. We also have Shemp Howard and Mantan Moreland in lighthearted comic relief roles, with the former as a bumbling police boob and the latter as the usual man servant that African American actors were delegated to play at the time. Allegedly, Clarence Upson Young's script was incomplete when filming began, resulting in most of the dialog being ad-libbed by the performers, which was a rarity amongst tightly-structured studio pictures. Veteran director William Night is unfortunately as powerless to elevate the lame material as the on-screen talent are, which is all talk and no horror. While the lighthearted approach is fitting and seems intentional, the murder mystery comes off as an afterthought and the reveal of Ray "Crash" Corrigan in a monkey suite, (as he was wont to wear), and the masked title character within the last ten minutes seems laughably out of place in a more convoluted and accidental sense.
(1944)
Dir - George Sherman
Overall: MEH
The only horror film from prolific director George Sherman, The Lady and the Monster is also notable as the first cinematic adaptation of Curt Siodmak's 1942 novel Donovan's Brain, which would be brought to the screen in both official and unofficial capacity over the next few decades. While the production is a cut above the norm for one of Hollywood's lesser studios, (Republic Pictures in this case), and a limping Erich Von Stroheim is ideally cast as the stubborn and cold mad scientist that keeps the disembodied brain of a recently deceased investment banker alive long enough for it to possess his lab partner and turn him into a relentless asshole, the plot has little oomph to it. It is a chatty affair that ultimately sidesteps a humdrum love triangle in order to devote the second half to Donovan's cranium powers withdrawing money and trying to get an innocent man off of death row; a sidestep that is equally humdrum. Sherman and cinematographer John Alton do their best to create a sinister mood, but the story lacks suspense, mayhem, and action, merely going through the motions in the process.
(1945)
Dir - John English
Overall: MEH
British-born director John English, (hence the name), worked almost exclusively in the Western genre throughout his career before moving into television, making The Phantom Speaks from Republic Pictures an anomaly in his cannon. John K. Butler's script is as "sure whatever" as any such B-movie, utilizing a scientist, his adult daughter, and a news reporter as the three protagonists which were required by law to be the only protagonists in at least ninety percent of these productions from the era. In this universe, a doctor not only thinks that people can come back to life simply if they want to enough, but also that they have been doing so throughout human history and that anyone with mental illness is just a normal person who is possessed by a dead person. So, yeaaahhhh. While the unassuming Tom Powers is miscast as a heartless criminal with an iron will, the rest of the players go through the motions fine, only without any of them making a memorable impression. Barely an hour long, it quickly turns into a crime revenge scenario with little to link it to anything supernatural besides what the premise reads like on paper, plus English's direction is pedestrian at best so it is not like he was equipped to do much with the material in the first place.
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