PHANTOM CREEPS, THE(1939)
In the sets: Mad Scientist Theater
the story line, nor the actors themselves! The
problem here is the editing, and the fact that
this is a terrible transfer!!! Hard to follow, and
harder to hear! This was probably a great serial,
unfortunate that it suffered so from bad editing! C+
A review from IMDb.com:
Edited-down serial which, science fiction disbelief
aside, remains pretty lame by any reasonable
standard, another in a long line of inept vehicles
wasting the great Bela Lugosi's acting talent.
Here he plays a demented scientist who, after
inhaling a rare meteor gas, develops (among other
things) a power source which can cure the world
of its ills, or, destroy it depending on his mood.
When his wife is killed in a plane crash, he elects
to use his prowess to destroy those who sought
to contain him, but is seemingly cornered at
every turn by relentless G-men (Kent and Toomey).
Lugosi isn't as hammy as he's been known to get,
more-so his endless array of inventions (giant
headed robot, invisibility, magic potions, ray
guns etc etc) becomes tired and clichéd very
quickly. The cast has depth with Toomey and
Van Sloan in particular, while vivacious blonde
Dorothy Arnold has some sizable screen-time
as a tenacious reporter.
The picture is frenetic, racing from one catastrophe
to the next with much repetition and little in
the way of sophistication. The climax seems
hackneyed and unimaginative, with spy rings
and stock footage of burning blimps and battleships
apparently substituting for any coherent or realistic
attempt at a conclusion. Even at eighty minutes
(the original serial is listed as more than
four hours), it's overlong and underwhelming.