{"id":33011,"date":"2014-02-28T15:59:30","date_gmt":"2014-02-28T22:59:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=33011"},"modified":"2021-01-10T20:04:21","modified_gmt":"2021-01-11T03:04:21","slug":"night-monster-1942","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=33011","title":{"rendered":"Night Monster (1942)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;All matter is really cosmic substance in vibration.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Night-Monster-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Night-Monster-Poster-208x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"208\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-33012\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Night-Monster-Poster-208x300.jpg 208w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Night-Monster-Poster-89x128.jpg 89w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Night-Monster-Poster-712x1024.jpg 712w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Night-Monster-Poster.jpg 1417w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 208px) 100vw, 208px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA reclusive cripple (Ralph Morgan) with a seemingly insane daughter (Fay Helm), a lurking butler (Bela Lugosi), a skittish maid (Janet Shaw), and a menacing chauffeur (Leif Erickson) invites a diverse group of guests to his decaying mansion &#8212; including a mystic (Nils Asther), a psychiatrist (Irene Hervey) hoping to help Helm, two doctors (Frank Reicher and Francis Pierlot) who may or may not have played a role in botching Morgan&#8217;s recovery from his disabling accident, and a young crime novelist (Don Porter) intent on solving the series of murders that are shortly played out.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Bela Lugusi Films<\/li>\n<li>Lionel Atwill Films<\/li>\n<li>Murder Mystery<\/li>\n<li>Old Dark House<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nWhile this &#8220;old dark house&#8221; thriller (directed by Hollywood workhorse <a href=\"http:\/\/www.allmovie.com\/artist\/ford-i-beebe-p81191\">Ford Beebe<\/a> of <em>Flash Gordon<\/em> fame) will clearly be of most interest to Bela Lugosi fans, they&#8217;ll quickly find that his role is peripheral at best. Fortunately, the storyline &#8212; though predictably convoluted, and overpopulated by too many characters &#8212; is engaging while it lasts; of particular interest is the sequence in which Asther works his creepy mumbo-jumbo (&#8220;There are certain details in the process that we are not allowed to explain to the uninitiated.&#8221;), and Atwill&#8217;s nicely handled &#8220;big reveal&#8221; scene. Not must-see viewing, but not a total snooze, either. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Atmospheric cinematography (by Charles Van Enger)<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Night-Monster-Skeleton.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Night-Monster-Skeleton-1024x739.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"462\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-62799\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Night-Monster-Skeleton-1024x739.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Night-Monster-Skeleton-300x217.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Night-Monster-Skeleton-128x92.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Night-Monster-Skeleton-768x554.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Night-Monster-Skeleton-374x270.png 374w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Night-Monster-Skeleton.png 1301w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Some humorously corny dialogue:<br \/>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;How is it dames always know what&#8217;s on a guy&#8217;s mind before he knows himself?&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo; this one is only must-see for diehard Lugosi fans. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0035124\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1942\/11\/30\/archives\/the-screen.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thespinningimage.co.uk\/cultfilms\/displaycultfilm.asp?reviewid=4415&#038;aff=13\">Spinning Image Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.allmovie.com\/movie\/night-monster-v103946\/review\">All Movie Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/fantasticmoviemusings.com\/2015\/04\/11\/night-monster-1942\/\">SciFilm Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;All matter is really cosmic substance in vibration.&#8221; Synopsis: A reclusive cripple (Ralph Morgan) with a seemingly insane daughter (Fay Helm), a lurking butler (Bela Lugosi), a skittish maid (Janet Shaw), and a menacing chauffeur (Leif Erickson) invites a diverse group of guests to his decaying mansion &#8212; including a mystic (Nils Asther), a psychiatrist (Irene Hervey) hoping to help Helm, two doctors (Frank Reicher and Francis Pierlot) who may or may not have played a role in botching Morgan&#8217;s&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=33011\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33011"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33011\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62800,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33011\/revisions\/62800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}