The Human Monster (1939)
Overview
Insurance agent-physician collects on policies of men murdered by a disfigured resident of the home for the blind where he acts as doctor-on-call.
Cast
Bela Lugosi
Dr. Feodor Orloff / Prof. John Dearborn
Hugh Williams
Det. Insp. Larry Holt
Greta Gynt
Diana Stuart
Edmon Ryan
Lieutenant Patrick O'Reilly
O.B. Clarence
Prof. John Dearborn (voice)
May Hallatt
Police Constable Griggs
Bryan Herbert
Police Sgt. Walsh
Julie Suedo
Orloff's Secretary
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Bela Lugosi tries hard here, but he really can't quite hold it all together as the doctor who is indirectly collecting insurance policies held on men who are brutally murdered. We know from early on just who is doing the killing and just who is pulling the strings, so to a certain extent we are just really marking the homework of Hugh Williams' "Insp. Holt" as he investigates the crimes and tries to get to the bottom of things before any more people are killed. His investigation is soon being assisted by the daughter of one of the victims - "Diana" (Greta Gynt) and that brings him to a school for the blind where Lugosi's "Dr. Orloff" acts as a consultant. Can he put two and two together in time? If it lost ten/fifteen minutes then it could have worked better, but even at 75 minutes it's too long with not enough happening to sustain the interest in what is a dark and gloomy production that is sadly devoid of jeopardy. It might actually have worked better on stage - it has some of the hallmark ingredients of a solid, if unimaginative, one act play - but on a big screen it's unremarkable fayre, I'm afraid.
