I’ve been a fan of some Bowery-level made films in the 1940s and this is one of them. Headlined by Bela Lugosi and also starring the man who would go on to stardom as “The Lone Ranger,” Clayton Moore, this is an interesting pre-WWII film that tried to bring awareness of the “Fifth Column” which may have been active in the United States.
After Lugosi, as a plastic surgeon and Nazi sympathizer, changes the faces of several Japanese spies into Caucasians to infiltrate American industry and politics, he is imprisoned for “knowing too much.” He escapes later and proceeds to track down his former patients and kills them, leaving their bodies on the steps of the Japanese embassy.
Lugosi has some very special powers: he can hypnotize his victims and he is able to disappear out of moving taxis with his victims (!). In the end, he is fatally shot by his final victim while all the time posing as an innocent bystander.
Bowery type films of this kind had to rely on very little to create a movie at a very face pace, but they were always resourceful. Since most copies of this film are below average at best, it’s hard to see everything in detail. If I were any of the actors, I would hope they asked to keep their clothes because they were pretty dapper!
Best line of the film? Clayton Moore: “Alice, let me marry you!” Girl: “What for?” Moore: “So I can beat you up!” Hmm.
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