Bela Lugosi

[Nordicdusk]

220px-SOSCoastGuard.jpeg

1937 saw Bela return for yet another series this one is a 12 part series. This one sounds really interesting and im hoping they give Bela more of a starring role.

[Nordicdusk]

089218737298.jpg


Boroff (Lugosi) has invented a disinteration gas and he plans to sell it to the highest bidder.On route aboard a cargo ship with the ingrediants for the gas Boroffs ship is caught in a storm and smashes into the rocky coastline. The coast guard rush to investigate and hope to rescue the crew Boroff escapes with his henchmen but he must return to get the eveidence before the coast guard discover his plan.In the struggle to get the dealdly ingrediants back the brother of the Lt. Terry Kent of the coast gaurd and so starts the hunt to bring Boroff to justice and avenge his brothers death.

This series is filled with some high octane action the fist fights are hilarious just really ferocious beatdowns its like watching rock em sock em robots just hammering each other like they actually mean to murder each other. As with alot of these action adventures of the time we get some great chase scenes but this time rather than car chases we get some highspeed boat chases which are a lot of fun a something a little different not that there are no classice car chases and its always hilarious to see these 1930s cars that are 20 feet long doing high speed handbreak turns around corners it never gets old . I love underwater scenes one of my favourites has always been Creature From The Black Lagoon amazing stuff and there are plenty of these scenes here and alot of them feature the amazing fist fights i spoke about earlier and even under water they are trying to bash each others heads in with the same ferocious intent obviously only hampered by the difficultities of punching under water but the intent is still there and i loved that

Every scene lasts a couple of minutes before we are thrown into another scene the pace is crazy you are never given a chance to settle into a scene which can sometimes get annoying the way it jumps all around the place. As always with these old series my problem is that each episode comes in at 18 minutes but the first 5 minutes is a recap on the previous episode but then again thats why the pace is so fast when you have to cram so much into a 12 or 13 minute episode.

Bela looks like he is having some fun with this role i always enjoy his roles outside of horror when he plays a gangster he always makes a good boss because he brings a bit of edge like he can go off at any minute if you cross him or if you mess up with his orders. Its a great performance and like i said he seems to be enjoying it more than his last outing which shows when given a proper role he really shines.

7/10

[Nordicdusk]

a2458d2ad69f77f1ceb331771c32517c82e677e509e1bb95197068633e5e0541.jpg

In 1939 Bela returned to the screen once again for horror/sci-fi series and just like Shadow of Chinatown this one got a trimmed down release for the theaters which will be the one that ill be checking out. Bela is back as a crazy Doctor intent on ruling the world you cant go wrong with that.

[Nordicdusk]

The_Phantom_Creeps_-_theatrical_poster.jpg

Sick of people scoffing at his ideas and inventions Dr. Alex Zorka plans to get revenge for dimissing him with a series of very dangerous discoveries and inventions. First off he has a devisualizer that makes him invisible plus hidden in a secret place within his secret lab he has fragments of a meteor that crashed to earth in Africa not like the one from The Invisible Ray of course. Zorka has found a way that he is the only one that can handle this dangerous rock which makes it even more dangerous to the world. Anyone would be happy having these dangerous weapons but not Zorka to top it off he has created an 8 foot robot that will carry out his every command. Zorka has a group of spies coming to buy his meteor fragments that when certain elements are extracted can induce suspended animation but they have other ideas and intend on stealing the meteor but Zorka has a back up plan for them. With all this going on Zorka fakes his own death to throw the G men off his trail but his wife is flown out to identify the body and knowing that she will recognise its not him so he hatches a plan to stop them that backfires and his wife ends up dying in the plane crash.

Yet another fast paced outing there is so much going on obviously it moves faster because its condensed from the series but it didnt need any padding its just action all the way and nothing is taken away from the story it all makes perfect scense so a great job was done triiming it all down and putting it together.The parts where Bela is invisible are really fun with a slight white glow so the audiance can see where he is and its looks great and the giant robot is awesome i love the look of this head but i thing the arms are a little weak they just looked too long and didnt fit the rest of the costume but he is still cool. The worst thing about the whole thing was the annoying news paper reporter she just keeps musceling her way into everything tagging along with the G-men everywhere they go and brough on top secret missions she is pretty pointless and she gets involed in the most stupid situations . She is just ever present and it feels like she is just there to have a female lead that was just shoe horned in its a shame but hows ever.

There is only one star here and its Bela he is in his element here playing a crazed scientist who wants to rule or destroy the world. His scenes are hilarious he is so crazed i always love mad scientists shouting about ruling the world. My favourite line hands down.

"One by one my enemies will be disposed of and then i will be MASTER OF THE UNNNNNIVERSE " His delievery of this line was amazing fist in the air and so diabolic

Really fun film i love to see Bela so happy in a role and given plenty of lines and screen time he is not there just to ride on his coat tails and get people to watch it which has been the case a few times before this.


7/10

[Nordicdusk]

son-of-frank-1.jpg

1939 and one of Belas best characters and roles as Ygor in Son Of Frankenstein alongside Karloff and Basil Rathbone what a fantastic cast that is.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Black Friday (1940)

Bela with Anne Nagal.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Black Friday (1940)

[Nordicdusk]

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Anne Nagel and Bela on the set of Black Friday (1940)

[Nordicdusk]

Love these Dem