It's Friday Forties Fright with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. What we gots is a very entertaining lil' 61 minute flick starring Bela Lugosi, John Carradine and George Zucco! Count 'em, three monsters of horror in one film! And, directed by the awesome William Beaudine, who has a staggering 366 directing credits, one for every day of the year!! 
Eegah!! has given us a sample of sounds for our listening enjoyment, sooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button there by the lil' atomic voodoo doll, NOW, Rufus The Gnat! Here's our soundclip for... VOODOO MAN!
It starts with a car pulling into a lonely country gas station. The owner, George Zucco playing Nicholas, comes out to greet the young woman who has stopped to ask for directions... "Stranger in this part of the country, aren't you?" 
Young female motorists have been disappearing around this area. We find out that they are being misdirected with this detour barrier (like in 2000 MANIACS) that leads them to a spooky old mansion where a mysterious Dr. Marlowe and his 'dead' wife live. 
There were plenty of cars like these around when Eegah!! and I were growing up. Not sure, but, I think those are a Dodge and a Plymouth. 
Dr. Marlowe's played by Bela, he has two helpers who kidnap the women motorists on a deserted road while he watches the whole thing on his state of the art surveilance device. Then, he can flip a switch that turns their car's motor off, stranding them! 
But, this pretty kidnapee is soon missed by her nosey cousin... John plays gimpy head goon, Toby, his pal is Pat McKee as Grego. 
How do you do?.. 
Fine, and you?.. Anyway, she gets all hypnotized and the such by Dr. Marlowe's evil eye. The one on your right. 
Marlowe has a whole basement full of lovely young girls who are entranced and standing behind glass doors in large cabinets... Man, like to have one of those in my place! 
He's a devoted husband to his wife who's been 'dead' (she walks around!) for 22 years! He needs the young women's life forces to be transfered into his wife in order to bring her back to life.
John and George have some mad beatnik voodoo skills you can hear in the soundclip!! 
A cool part is where this cut cord ties itself into a knot! 
The Sheriff and his Deputy get involved when they find one mesmerized girl wandering around in her nightgown. 
It's time for another fix for his wife! 
In the end, Dr. Marlowe gets a bullet in the gut for all his effort!This is a great little flick, go watch it!!
probably my favorite Monogram, love this one. Carradine as the village idiot is priceless!
ReplyDeleteA blast from my own personal past! In 1973-'74 I wrote the Fright Night with Seymour TV show on local TV in Los Angeles. Voodoo Man was one of the movies for which I wrote the show wrap-around gags. I just dug out my script so I can share some excerpts. This was broadcast on 1/19/74
ReplyDeleteSeymour: "Now I don't want to say this movie is bad, but after watching this, I'm beginning to think Attack of the Mayan Mummy wasn't all that bad. This movie is so bad, the had to do retakes before they could shelve it. This movie is so bad that for last Thanksgiving, we served this movie with stuffing and gravy. This picture is so bad, people are walking out on it on airplanes..."
Wayne: "This movie is so bad, it makes you look good."
Seymour: "That's a good one. This movie is so bad ... Wait a minute!"
At one point I had Seymour pointing out that the hero was "Practising his Marlon Brando impression." Cut to clip of the hero running on, limp-wristed, lamely saying: "Stella? Stella?"
One segment just showed Seymour asleep in his chair before his TV set while we heard the announcer say: "Seymour will be right back with the exciting, thrill-packed, edge-of-your-seat, suspense-packed second half od Voodoo Man."
Later: Seymour: "That Dr. Marlowe is my kind of a guy. Not only is he the only doctor left in California that makes house calls, but he throws wild parties as well, complete with a band, a comedian, and plenty of women."
At the end of the film they have that lame "in-joke" where they suggest using Bela Lugosi for a movie of these events. When the film was over, there was Seymour: "'Why don't you get Bela Lugosi?' Don't you just hate that? I thought George Zucco summed up the message of this film pretty well when he said:" [cut to clip of Zucco saying to Lugosi: "Rambana never fails." Back to Seymour] "Just bear that in mind."
The night that aired I had a dinner date with someone I was dating, to dine with my date's parents. My date bragged how I was a TV writer and had a show on that night. Well these folks clearly hated me on sight, and they FELL ASLEEP WATCHING MY SHOW! (Just as I'd had Seymour do, only as a joke.) There I was, sitting in these people's living room, surrounded by three snoring people (My date snoozed off also.)
That was the end of that relationship.
Where were Paul and Ringo?
ReplyDeleteGood one, Lucy!!
ReplyDeleteOne of the best things about Voodoo Man is that anybody can download or watch it for free at http://archive.org/details/VoodooMan1944
ReplyDeleteEegah!!