Product Details

• Actors: Bela Lugosi, Joan Barclay, Clayton Moore
• Directors: Walter Summers
• Format: Black & White, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Timeless Multimedia
• VHS Release Date: December 1, 1994
• Run Time: 61 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6303307922
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #558,422 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Lugosi Rises Above Another Abysmal Movie, February 14, 2003

By 

Edward Garea "Edward Garea" (Branchville, New Jersey United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Black Dragons (DVD)

"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.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Wartime Horrors With Bela Lugosi, December 20, 2009

By 

Scott T. Rivers (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Black Dragons (DVD)

"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.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Colorized Black Dragons., May 5, 2001

By 

Doghouse King "eddie_denman" (Omaha, NE United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Black Dragons [VHS] (VHS Tape)

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.