Customer Reviews

Black Dragons

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Black Dragons" is a film that, as most Bela Lugosi fans know, was made for Sam Katzman and his Banner Productions, and then released by Monogram Pictures. So forget about plot; plot in a Katzman flick is only incidental to the shoddy sets, direction, and acting. The truth be told, this is one of those pictures that, if it didn't have a Lugosi, would not have been made.

OK, here's the plot . . . and don't ask me to repeat it: Seems a group of prominent American businessmen are being slain. We also know that it is Lusosi doing the slaying, because it's revealed very early on in the film as to what he's up to. Now, here's the twist. The American businessmen are really Japanese, having been trtansformed by none other than Dr. Lugosi, in this picture a Nazi Evil Scientist (Boo!) and sent here as a fifth column.

It immediately strikes our sense of logic that it would be far easier just to send over a geoup of Germans or Italians than go to all the trouble of changing a person's race. But this is a Katzman flick, so logic is the first thing a viewer leaves behind when entering. Of course Lugosi is caught (by a pre-Lone Ranger Clayton Moore), thus getting his at the end. It is amazing to me that no matter how ridiculous the plot, Lugosi remains solidly professional rather than go down the chute with the movie. One reason why I become angry when someone tries to tell me that he was a bad actor.

If this picture were set in today's age, Lugosi would do quite well as a dream-come true to Michael Jackson and Joan Rivers, among others.

The quality of the film is dark and murky - apparently no effort was made to clean things up, but you can't go wrong for the price, especially if you are a fan of the genre or Lugosi. Perhaps the film will resurface in Bela Junior's restored series of his father's films. I certainly hope so.

"Black Dragons" (1942) mixes a few chills with its bizarre World War II espionage. The results are somewhat dull, but Bela Lugosi helps enliven the proceedings as the sinister plastic surgeon who has a few surprises in store for Japan's Black Dragon Society. A pre-Lone Ranger Clayton Moore plays the disgruntled romantic hero. Ideal for nighttime viewing, with a lurid twist ending. Another Monogram quickie from producer Sam Katzman.

No movie with Bela Lugosi in it can be a total bore, but this one comes too close. It deals with a Nazi doctor performing surgery on Japanese spies to make them pass as Americans. This is done to ease their schemes at sabotaging our war effort. It is a cheap movie, a slow movie, but would not even suffer too much for these flaws if it did not also rely on a long and awkward flashback sequence near the end, snuffing out what suspense had been built. The quality of the tape is not bad, but either you like colorized movies or you don't. This reviewer does not. Die-hard Lugosi fans (are there any other kind?) may want to purchase Black Dragons, but others will find it too ... ehh.

This is overall a pretty good release from Roan of 3 classic feastures on 1 disc. Bluebeard and The Black Raven both look quite good and have all original titles. The only issue is Black Dragons. While overall quality is good, the print is an Astor Pictures re-issue and there are some splices during dialogue.

The film shows Washington and the Capitol. [The legislature was considered more important than the Executive Mansion.] A newspaper headline states "Japs Bomb Honolulu". Businessmen talk about building an ammunition dump near the dam. Others talk about sensitive topics. Is there Fifth Column activity going on? Films show fires and as sinking ship. Why are those businessmen so cynical? A stranger calls on Dr. Sanders at home. What happened? A body is found on the steps of the closed Japanese Embassy. What happened? An investigator arrives to gather information. Uncle Bill's niece Miss Alice arrived too. A man arrives to get information, but fails. "He was sound as a dollar." [That's when dollars were made of silver.] What will the visitors find in Mr. Walter's hotel room? A Japanese dagger?

Van Dyke and Ryder return to Dr. Sanders, who gives advice to handle a problem. But they neutralize each other. [Neat, but not believable.] Miss Alice goes to investigate. They find nothing! A body in the cellar shows a lack of proper housekeeping. Two bodies are left on the Japanese Embassy steps. [No anti-littering laws?] Dick will go to see banker Handlin. The butler has disappeared too. Dick Martin brings Handlin back to Washington. There is a shot and the truth finally comes out. Can you believe this Grand Impersonation? [I can't.] What is the fitting reward for the good doctor? Will this Spy Ring be smashed?

The idea behind this film could have been much better with a proper scritpt and bigger budget. It is no secret that many industrialists had fascist sympathies (kept hidden during the war). That "Black Dragon Society" really existed in Japan.
[Does the interior of that house remind you of some other films?]

I debated between one and two stars for this movie, but the presence of Bela Lugosi pushed me toward two stars. The plot is generally implausible and the dialogue is atrocious. The movie almost would have worked better had there been no dialogue at all.

Six members of the Japanese Black Dragons received plastic surgery from Dr. Melcher (Lugosi) to enable them to replace six prominent U.S. businessmen prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Once the U.S. entered the war, the six men began to sabotage various installations. Germany loaned Dr. Melcher to the Japanese to perform the operations. However, once the operations were completed the Japanese imprisoned Dr. Melcher. Dr. Melcher proves you can not keep a determined Nazi down and not only escapes from prison in Japan, but he finds his way to the United States, mesmerizes people as required, and then begins to knock off the six impersonators one-by-one.

The police run about confused, until the appropriate point when they put all the facts together. Dr. Melcher resides in the household of Dr. William Saunders (George Pembroke); he manages to fool everyone into thinking that Dr. Saunders is sick when Dr. Melcher actually has been keeping Dr. Saunders hypnotized. Naturally, niece Alice (Joan Barclay) is suspicious of Dr. Melcher's skulking and sinister looks, but until the evidence is overwhelming, female relatives in movies of this type are disbelieved.

The only high point in this movie is Lugosi. His ability to look sinister and to stay in character in the face of awful dialogue and a plot that makes little sense is incredible. I kept trying to make sense of this movie and finally realized that it was impossible; viewers were expected to take a lot of things on faith - so many things that eventually the plot collapses under its own weight of implausibilities.

Every movie has to have one redeeming feature, and that feature is Lugosi. If not for Lugosi, the remaining prints of this movie could disappear and the world might be a better place. However, Lugosi keeps this movie from being a total waste, and people who consider themselves huge fans of Lugosi should add this one to their collection.

Good Luck!

This is a war spy film about a group of Japanese men placed in the US as a fifth column, taking the place of businessmen. I was intrigued by it because it sounds like "the hundred days of the dragon" that was an early Outer Limits episode. Unfortunately, the film has simply terrible acting, with the exception of the mysterious mastermind as played by Lugosi. The men are like sleeper agents, waiting to be activiated by hypnotism. It comes off as both unbelievable and unbearably slow, with wooden dialogue and the crudest stereotypes of "the enemy" that one can imagine.

Not recommended.

We are treated to eavesdropping on a cabal of fifth column industrialist leaders snickering over their misdeeds.

So is this going to be a two dimensional sabotage movie where the good guys figure out whom the bad guys are just in time to save the bacon?

No. This is more insidious. It looks like the cabal has another secret that will be detected and corrected, not out of patriotism but revenge.

Can you guess the secret before it is played out?

Bela Lugosi gets to make his signature light on his eyes signature look.
Joan Barclay plays the love interest.

Invisible Ghost ~ Bela Lugosi

This is one of Lugosi's poverty row movies, from the period when his career really started to go downhill (although he did make Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man later than this one). There's a series of murders and people go around trying to figure out what's going on, and it all ends up in a second world war era anti-Japanese anticlimax ending. It's quite boring, definately one of Lugosi's worst movies (although not as painful or embarrassing as "Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla".

Of course, Bela Lugosi fans know that no matter how bad a movie was, Lugosi's acting was always sincere. He always did a good job, and you will want to see this no matter how bad I (a fellow fan) say it is. But do yourself the favour and get it in a multi DVD set, for example the Horror Classics 50 movie pack, instead of wasting several dollars on it alone.

Do not waste your money on this movie. I like Bela Lugosi, but so far, I have only seen about twelve of his movies. However, this is probably the worst of those. Lugosi is good, as usual. Some of the other actors are decent and some are not so good. The weakest part of the movie is the story. It's not interesting or thrilling (it's supposed to be a horror-thriller). It's just boring.

Don't waste your money on this. If you're a Lugosi fan, watch it if it's ever on TV. "Invisible Ghost" and "Devil Bat" are better