Following the surprising success of Universal’s 1941 THE WOLF MAN with Lon Chaney Jr, a number of other Hollywood studios jumped on the supernatural bandwagon and a number of interesting, well made B movies were the result. The Val Lewton series at RKO starting with CAT PEOPLE remain the best known and the most acclaimed but there were a number of lesser known titles that deserve your attention. One of them is 20th Century-Fox’s THE UNDYING MONSTER, made in 1942, which is worthwhile in a number of ways.
The most noteworthy aspect is the photography by award winning cinematographer Lucien Ballard who started with Josef von Sternberg on the Marlene Dietrich vehicle MOROCCO (1930) and would later shoot THE WILD BUNCH for Sam Peckinpah in 1969. The opening shot alone tells you that the look of the film is way above the average B movie. The director John Brahm would later do THE LODGER and HANGOVER SQUARE for Fox and would wind up directing episodes for Boris Karloff’s THRILLER in the early 1960s.
The cast is a mixture of old pros who add a touch of class to the proceedings. They include James Ellison (I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE), Bramwell Fletcher (THE MUMMY), and Heather Angel (THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD). The plot, as pointed out in other reviews, plays like a cross between THE WOLF MAN and THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES (which was shot at Fox 3 years earlier). There is atmosphere to burn and the film stands up to repeated viewings even once you know the ending which isn’t all that surprising.
Twentieth Century-Fox first released this film on 2007 as part of a 3 DVD set called FOX HORROR CLASSICS – VOL. 1 that also contains the earlier mentioned John Brahm features THE LODGER and HANGOVER SQUARE. Used copies of this DVD set go for almost twice the price of this Blu-Ray making the set a better buy value wise especially if you want all 3 films. However the Blu-Ray has a crisper HD picture and slightly better sound. It also comes with all the same extras plus two commentary tracks not previously available.
The Capsule Critic 