Friday, June 16, 2023

All But David Loved "Night Monster!" But The Movie Could Have Been So Much Better!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


                                   "Night Monster" had all the ingredients--a solid cast, Gothic atmosphere, a mysterious house, a rainstorm.  Sounds like 1932's "The Old Dark House," right?  Wrong!  This was ten years later, in 1942, and the template was an earlier film Universal had made, with June Lockhart, called "She Wolf Of London."  That was a better film than "Night Monster."  And "She Wolf Of London" was used as a template for 1957's "Daughter Of Dr. Jekyll, which is so much fun, girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



                                      If only James Whale had gotten his hands on "Night Monster."  It might have been more atmospheric and believable.  But it was directed by nobody Ford Bebe, who just put the actors through their paces, and did not even care about casting.  Had he cared, the role of the culprit would have gone to Bela Lugosi, here reduced to playing a butler!  This is what contract players had to go through, in the Golden Age of Hollywood.


                                        Lugosi would have been more sinister, just by his voice alone.  And how all the murders are accomplished would have had more credibility, coming from him, than from whom they actually emerge.


                                           Yes, as David said, the film was slow moving, but it had so much potential.   But there was no one at the helm to realize it.


                                             "Night Monster" is generic, but not nearly as much fun as one expected, or could imagine.


                                                No wonder it is not shown that often!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2 comments:

  1. Slow Moving is an understatement!!!
    I wandered away!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Victoria,
    David fell asleep! I kept watching, seeing how
    it might have been a better movie. Hence, this post.

    ReplyDelete