An unusual film, and generally considered the last proper horror film of Universal's first wave. It was also one of the few times Bela Lugosi was allowed to play a hero.
At at the remote Hungarian estate of Dr. Janos Rukh (Boris Karloff), the good doctor is preparing a most unusual demonstration. Ignoring his blind mother (Violet Cooper) and young wife Diana (Frances Drake), Rukh has devoted the last several years to a particular invention. He's also invited a group of men he's had various feuds with to his castle to witness said invention.
Dr. Benet (Bela Lugosi) and Sir Francis Stevens (Walter Kingsford) are skeptical, but venture to the castle anyway. Stevens wife Arabella (Belluah Bondi) and cartographer Ronald Drake (Frank Lawton) join them. Rukh claims that he has a special device, like a telescope, that enables him to not only witness things over a distance but also through time. Rukh claims a ray from the Andromeda Galaxy allows him to witness the past. The group is doubting, but when Rukh projects a meteorite crashing into Africa several million years ago they change their tune.
The group forms a party and journeys into the heart of Nigeria. Eight weeks into it, Rukh seems to be the only one working on their original goal. He's found the meteorite, dubbed Radium X, but there is a catch. While he sends a runner back to base to inform his wife (only mentioning he's still working, not that he found anything), Rukh discovers he's now radioactive when he accidentally kills a dog.
Slipping back to camp under night, and glowing all the way, Rukh confronts Benet and asks for help. Benet manages to stabilize the irradiated man, but the cure is almost as toxic. A month later and Rukh has managed to turn his Radium X into a death ray. The rest of the party, however, has moved on, Diana in particular who's now asking for a divorce. Benet informs Rukh of this, also that he managed to use the Radium X sample for healing purposes. Rukh isn't happy and swears revenge on everyone.
Some time later in Paris, Rukh stalks the party at the Nobel Prize ceremony as his body becomes more and more radioactive. Can anyone stop him?
Pretty good little film, although the plot holes are wide enough to blast a visible ray through. Lugosi as a hero is strange, but the man holds his own against Karloff who chews the scenery with gusto.
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