The third and technically final Poe film (there would be another Black Cat film in the forties, but it had less to do with the short story than the previous version) managed to get horror films banned in England for a brief time. Combined with the two masters Lugosi and Karloff, this film manages to be closer to the spirit of Poe than most other versions.
Jean Thatcher (Irene Ware) is racing along the rain slicked road when her car crashes, leaving her near death. Her father, Judge Thatcher (Samuel Hinds) and boyfriend, Dr. Jerry Halden (Lester Matthews) are both frantic. Her spine is badly injured, but Halden believes one man may save her: Dr. Richard Vollin (Bela Lugosi).
The problem though is that Vollin is retired from active practice and has little interest in anything that isn't related to Edgar Allan Poe. Thatcher manages to get him to operate by playing to the man's vanity, and sure enough Jean is walking again.
Problems arise in the aftermath. Vollin starts seeing more and more of Jean, and a relationship seems to blossom between the two. After she thanks him with a ballet based on Poe's poem "the Raven", Vollin seems to include her in his Poe fixations. Judge Thatcher marches over to the man's Gothic mansion and orders him to stay away. Vollin crushes a glass in his bare hand, but seems to take the matter well.
The next day, escape convict Edmond Bateman (Boris Karloff) forces his way into Vollin's home and demands the doctor give him a new face. Despite his protests that he's not that kind of doctor, Vollin agrees, although the end result proves his argument. Bateman, now horribly disfigured (and having a passing resemblance to DC character Two-Face), is now forced to serve the increasingly insane doctor.
Vollin also has another secret, namely a basement filled with torture devices that were featured in Poe's stories. With Bateman as his slave, Vollin lures Jean and his enemies to his home and traps them during a storm. One by one he lures them into the various torture devices. Will any of them survive until morning?
The brief running time works with the story, as we jog along and don't worry about why Vollin would invite so many people to his house if he intended to do away with them. Lugosi is hammy, but here it works, as he gives Vollin the right amount of manic energy and menace. Karloff plays a sympathetic monster, but his billing over Lugosi is still a slight.
No comments:
Post a Comment