During the mid-1940s, the success of the B movie horror units at Universal and at RKO tempted 3 of the best known Poverty Row studios (Monogram, PRC, and Republic) to produce B movie horrors of their own. A great deal of attention has been paid to the horror films of the first two with books, DVDs, and Blu-rays devoted to them. Until now, very little attention has been paid to Republic’s meager output in the horror genre. A lot of this has been due to the unavailability of quality prints which for a long time were in the public domain. Now they belong to Paramount who, along with Kino Lorber, have decided to make some of them available on Blu-ray.
Between 1944-1946, Republic made 7 short B movie horror features (most of them run around an hour). 4 of them are included in this REPUBLIC PICTURES HORROR COLLECTION and show that Republic could produce horror movies as well but with a unique twist. Republic’s bread and butter were Westerns along with multi-chapter Serials and elements of both of those genres made it into these films especially the later ones. The 4 that are included here include the first one, THE LADY AND THE MONSTER (1944), THE PHANTOM SPEAKS (1945), THE CATMAN OF PARIS and VALLEY OF THE ZOMBIES (both 1946).
THE LADY AND THE MONSTER borrows significantly from Paramount’s THE MONSTER AND THE GIRL (1941) not only in the similarity of the title but in the plot element of doctors working with brains. In GIRL, a human brain is given to a gorilla giving it the dead person’s memories. In LADY, a financier’s brain is kept alive and then it begins to exert an evil influence on those around it. This story would be remade in 1953 as the better known DONOVAN’S BRAIN. Erich von Stroheim plays the doctor trying to keep the brain alive, Richard Arlen is the taken over assistant, and Czech born skater turned actress Vera Hruba Ralston is the love interest.
THE PHANTOM SPEAKS borrows significantly from 2 other films, Paramount’s SUPERNATURAL (1933) and Universal’s BLACK FRIDAY (1940). In fact the principal role is played by British born Stanley Ridges who played a similar role in the latter film. In FRIDAY Ridges plays the role of a MR CHIPS like teacher who is given half the brain of a gangster in order to save his life but with dire consequences. In PHANTOM he is possessed by the spirit of an executed murderer who enacts revenge on his associates. That is exactly the plotline that forms the basis of SUPERNATURAL where the possessed person is played by Carole Lombard.
CATMAN OF PARIS and VALLEY OF THE ZOMBIES were planned as a double feature from the get-go. Both were made in 1946 the year when the classic horror movie cycle came to an end. Audiences had now shifted their attention to Film Noir. Unlike the other two movies in this set, both CATMAN and ZOMBIES came up with original ideas which were very clever. CATMAN features just that, a Catman (the feline equivalent of a werewolf) who terrorizes Paris. The seriously mistitled ZOMBIES has nothing to do with real zombies. It concerns a revived undertaker who embalms his victims. Both suffer from really low budgets but are worth seeing.
That leaves 3 of the 7 Republic Horrors to still be released. They are THE GIRL DARES (1944), THE VAMPIRE’S GHOST (1945), and THE WOMAN WHO CAME BACK (1945). The first is an “old dark house” mystery thriller while GHOST concerns a vampire in Africa and WOMAN is about a reincarnated witch in 1940s New England. Hopefully they will make up a second Republic horror set as the last two are the cream of the crop. Kino Lorber has recently been releasing several 1940s B horror movies on Blu-ray. While they all contain nothing fancy in the way of extras, they do come with background commentaries and subtitles.
The Capsule Critic 