Arrest Bulldog Drummond (1938)
Jun 28, 2023Adventurer Hero/Raygun Device
One of a series of Hollywood films based on popular British adventurer hero Bulldog Drummond. This throws Drummond into the midst of a plot to obtain a raygun
George Zucco
The Cat and the Canary (1939)
Jul 11, 2011Old Dark House Comedy
The classic Bob Hope comedy version of the Old Dark House play. Probably overrated, this has a creaky affected atmosphere and laughs but fails to hold a candle to the far superior and more stylish silent version
The Mummy’s Hand (1940)
Sep 23, 2000Universal Mummy Film
The first and best of Universal's Mummy sequels with Tom Tyler in the role, this achieves modest atmosphere
The Monster and the Girl (1941)
May 10, 2023Mad Scientist Transplants a Brain Into a Gorilla Body
Mad scientist film in which George Zucco transplants an executed man’s brain into a gorilla’s body whereupon the ape-man proceeds to exact revenge against those who wrongly convicted him
Topper Returns (1941)
Sep 11, 2013Ghost Screwball Comedy
Second sequel to Topper , the screwball light fantasy comedy about a dull man who is driven crazy by ghosts only he can see. This throws everything into an Old Dark House setting but proves there is still a good deal of droll, nonsensical humour to be found in the formula
The Mad Monster (1942)
Dec 28, 2023Mad Scientist Creates Werewolf
A poverty row mad scientist film where a magnificently sinister George Zucco turns his gardener into a werewolf. A copycat that was made not long after Universal’s The Wolf Man
Dr Renault’s Secret (1942)
Sep 21, 2013Mad Scientist/Ape Man
A film from the heyday of the mad scientist film in which George Zucco turns an ape into a human being. Zucco is on marvellously demented form as the title doctor
The Mummy’s Tomb (1942)
Oct 14, 2000Universal Mummy Film
The third of Universal's Mummy films where Lon Chaney Jr inherits the role of Kharis
The Mad Ghoul (1943)
Nov 18, 2013Mad Scientist Invents Zombie Gas
An entry from the great era of mad scientist films wherein George Zucco turns his assistant into a zombie so he can steal his fiancee. Despite a wonderfully mad performance from Zucco, the effort is prosaic and routine, while the zombie gets to do almost nothing throughout
The Mummy’s Ghost (1944)
May 31, 2001Universal Mummy Film
The fourth and second to last of Universal’s Mummy films with Lon Chaney Jr in the role. By now the series has been reduced to a well-worn formula
House of Frankenstein (1944)
Feb 15, 2001Universal Monster Bash
The second of Universal's team-ups of their in-house monsters and superior to the first of these, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man. Despite some imaginative moments, the script has the feel of stitched-together improbability
The Flying Serpent (1946)
Dec 18, 2018Mad Scientist Kills Enemies with a Quetzalcoatl Bird
Mad scientist cheapie from quintessential poverty row studio PRC in which George Zucco has found an Aztec Quetzalcoatl bird and kills his enemies by placing one of its feathers on their person
Personal Column (1947)
Jun 25, 2004Psycho-Thriller
Psycho-thriller with an unknown Lucille Ball as a showgirl used by Scotland Yard as a lure to trap a maniac killer
Scared to Death (1947)
Jun 19, 2001Old Dark House/Sinister Hypnotist
Bela Lugosi poverty row cheapie where he plays a sinister hypnotist. The only film Lugosi made in colour
Who Killed Doc Robbin (1948)
Sep 18, 2014Old Dark House Comedy
Typical Old Dark House comedy of the 1940s, which has been welded to the formula of the Our Gang comedies with a bunch of kids engaged in a comedic antics in a scary mansion peopled by apes, dead bodies and a sinister scientist