ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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A trio of international characters are featured in three movies Phantom reviewed below.

A Chinese mastermind plots world domination, a unscrupulous doctor does cure people, he converts them into manamals, and jolly old London has a problem with one of its citizens.


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The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932)

This is a one-of-a-kind, pre-code delight. Karloff hams it up in grand style, there are torture devices galore and ripe dialogue that must be heard to be believed (Kill the white man and take his women!).

Christopher Lee played Fu in the sixties, but he was nowhere near as much fun as Karloff having the time of his life squeezing Jean Hersholt between those glistening spiked plates.]
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Island of Lost Souls

This is a genuine classic of the bizarre and one of the grimmest science fiction-horror films of the decade. I can only think of Kongo (a remake of Chaney's West of Zanzibar) to equal its slithery atmosphere.

William K. Everson described Laughton's performance as a mad scientist crossed with a demented child with a god complex.

The scene in which the manimals, led by Lugosi, approach the camera, emitting a series of grunts, growls, squeals and unearthly sounds is the stuff of nightmares, topped only by the grisly finish in the House of Pain.

Kathleen Burke was only about 19 when she portrayed the Panther Woman. She's a knock-out.

I have the blu-ray edition. Unfortunately, it brings out all the defects in the cinematography, particularly grain that looks like a sand storm during certain scenes.
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Werewolf of London (1935)

I'm in the minority, but I really like this movie. As the first of its kind, it had no rules to follow (and didn't establish any, either).

Hull did not want to do the picture, which may account for his unsympathetic portrayal, but he never was an actor with a lot of warmth, anyway.

The idea of tracking Hull through the room during the initial transformation and using invisible cuts as he passed behind various objects is quite effective.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)