The tagline for this not very much of a masterpiece is: "Are the mysterious killings ion Paris of 1896 the work of man or monster?" I can answer that quite easily, the killings -- in fact, the whole movie -- is the work of Republic Films director Lesley Selander, who made his bones directing a passel of B-westerns (including a number of Hopalong Cassidy and Red Ryder oaters) before trying his hand at horror with this movie and with the earlier The Vampire's Ghost (co-scripted by Leigh Brackett, from a **cough, cough** story by Bram Stoker); he would go on to direct Flight to Mars, The Lone Ranger and the City of Gold, and various television shows in the 50s and 60s, including Laramie (46 episodes), Lassie (54 episodes), and Cannonball (28 episodes).
Paris is in the grip of a wave of vicious murders committed by a half human-half cat serial killer. Really. Writer Charles Regnier (Carl Esmond, Ministry of Fear, Experiment Perilous, From the Earth to the Moon) is suspected of being the murderer. Adele Mara (The Vampire's Ghost, Girls of the Big House, Curse of the Faceless Man, and a one-time singer and dancer for Xavier Cugat), and her cleavage play Regnier's fiance, Margeurite, but she becomes cat food early on. Then it is up to Lenore Aubert (Having Wonderful Crime, The Return of the Whistler, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein) as Marie to believe in Regnier and become the film's follow-up eye candy. There's a lot of talking, a ludicrous bar fight, some astrological gobbledegook. Gerald Mohr, Douglas Dombrille, and John Dehner appear in minor roles. Look closely and you may recognize a lot of faces from Republic westerns.
Not as bad as my description might have you think.
Scripted by Sherman L. Lowe (Melody Trail, The Green Hornet Strikes Again!, The Monster and the Ape).
Enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGSDS5GGyfI
No comments:
Post a Comment