(1942)
Dir - William Beaudine
Overall: MEH
The fourth of many Monogram Pictures movies from journeyman director William Beaudine, The Living Ghost, (A Walking Nightmare, Lend Me Your Ear), has a whole lotta rapid-fire dialog amongst a whole lotta people, as bodies pile up, a banker turns into a walking "zombie", and a mystery unfolds. An old dark house whodunit, it has James Dunn playing a wise-cracking ex-detective who fancies himself a regular Sherlock Holmes. As usual, Beaudine's direction is pedestrian at best, plus the ultra-cheap production affords no visual flash, simply playing out like a stage play where everyone is in wide to medium shots while talking, and talking they do. Worse yet, the screenplay by Joseph Hoffman, (based on a story "Money for What" from Howard Dimsdale), pretends to be clever, yet its grasp out-reaches its means. The film cruises along while nothing interesting is happening, which is a sure-fire recipe to lose any audience member who will have a hellova time keeping up with such convoluted silliness in between all of the involuntary yawning.
Dir - Henry Levin
Overall: MEH
A sluggish B-movie from Columbia Pictures, Cry of the Werewolf tries and fails to capture some Cat People menace, instead coming off with a whimper instead of a roar, nyuck nyuck. The correct ingredients are inherent in Griffin Jay and Charles O'Neal's story at least, which follows an exotic Romani princess who turns into a werewolf due to a cursed bloodline before she starts murdering people that have uncovered a tomb with her mysterious tribe's secrets possibly buried inside of it. The presentation by director Henry Levin even affords one or two bouts of atmosphere, as well as some set pieces that specifically recall the aforementioned RKO film, with shadowy cinematography and a woman's high heels turning into paws as she is stalking one of her victims. What goes wrong though is everything else, from uninspired performances, flat characters, and a drab pace that does nothing exciting with its cliches. Also, (as was the case with Universal's equally lousy She-Wolf of London), there are no monster money shots, instead just ladies who are ladies in one shot and then dogs in another. The power of suggestion can worth, but only within an overall more agreeable presentation than here.
(1944)
Dir - Will Jason
Overall: MEH
Overall: MEH
Some quasi-horror/noir from Columbia Pictures, The Soul of a Monster takes on the theme of what happens to a man who so unknowingly has his soul sacrificed in order to cheat death. Edward Dein had and would continue to work on screenplays within the genre, but his work here is too pretentious to justify the humdrum plotting. When on his deathbed, George Macready's frustrated wife Jeanne Bates reaches out to "other" supernatural forces to save her husband, which brings in the mysterious Rose Hobart who somehow manages to revitalize him as a humorless husk of what he once was yet is now hypnotically inclined to do her bidding. Unfortunately, little happens in the way of action, pluw there is no mystery for the audience to uncover, leaving the burden of the story for the flat characters to figure out. This creates a dull watch that ends with a cop-out and everyone seemingly learning their lesson not to cheat fate, no matter how cruel. Burnett Guffey's cinematography is better than the film deserves, but veteran director Will Jason shows little enthusiasm for the weak material, and the less than recognizable cast seem to be merely going through the motions.
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