The Corpse Vanishes (1942)

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Blistering performances.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

I really liked this movie when I first saw it, it was different and amazing, it starred Bela Lugosi.... but then I saw other movies similar to it. After that, I saw the mst3k version of it. Eventually, I saw how unintentionally funny it was, as well as how cool I thought it was the first time around. It seems like whenever I see this movie I have a new opinion on it. Sometimes giving a film another chance lets you see the good or bad parts that you missed the first time. The film gets nine stars because of Lugosi's performance, the unique quality of the film, and for the mst3k version being so entertaining. I love Lugosi, and if you are a fan too, I recommend checking out this movie.

You've got to love a film that so jovially refers to the then occurring horrors of Operation Barbarossa. This one has good old Bela being a mad scientist stealing brides to extract spinal fluid to keep his wife alive, or something.He's pretty manic here, creeping about the place. I'm surprised that his crazy scheme managed to last so long, considering how blasé he is about the whole operation. Unluckily he's got a nosey reporter on his trail (and a woman to boot! God forbid!), who won't stop pestering the poor fellow. Why can't these liberal women just leave a murderous scientist alone? Added bonus: he has both a dwarf to order about and a deranged hick to beat, and we all know how much Bela needs to beat underlings. This flick was a good laugh to be honest. Light hearted fun.

This movie is about a crazed doctor who lives in one of those American castles and kidnaps women right before or after the 'I do' in their wedding! What a mad man, though I can only imagine the grooms afterward going 'phew'. This film stars Bela Lugosi as a doctor who has a very temperamental wife that is in need of constant injections to keep her looking young. To bad these injections do nothing for her horrid personality. Lugosi is assisted by one normal guy we never get to know all that well and a strange old woman and her two sons. One a little person, the other a hunchback. Why she helps him when he treats her so horribly is beyond me, seriously he has a huge castle and makes her and her sons sleep in the same small room. Well a reporter is able to track the good doctor down while the police apparently can not put two and two together in this one. I tend to think this film was written by a journalist. Well the reporter heads up to the castle, where you have all the atypical castle scenes that are present in every freaking castle movie! Hidden passages, coffins, and huge basements! It also has the optional lab present in most Frankenstein films, what it does not have is a bunch of scares. The film just can not deliver any and you are left with a woman roaming a castle with a friendly doctor who may or may not be involved! He could be just incredibly stupid! It is cool to see Bela Lugosi, but beyond that it just is not all that interesting.

This is a fairly routine formula film for Horror.Young women are killed so a mad scientist can take a serum from their bodies to keep his wife young and beautiful.We really don't mind that this "formula" doesn't make sense, or that it has to be contrived to be young pretty women. Well, we do mind, but we live with that to an extent.The extent does go pretty far here. Four women are killed at the altar, with their bodies hijacked, and while I am one of those who do believe who heartedly in bungling incompetent detectives at high levels, this is beyond far fetched.There are just a few too many clichés in this, with misshapen freaks and other standards of Horror. The contrived part gets pretty high.On the bright side, the heroine is an absolute knock out, more gorgeous than about any actress you'll see in a movie made today, and she has a breath of fresh air about her, and seems bright.And you don't have to fast forward a lot. Some, but not as much as you may think. Fortunately, it isn't as drawn out as some of these. It's drawn out, yes, and probably would be best at a half hour instead of an hour, but it doesn't bore you to tears the way many Horror movies do, even today.And I often forget most movies then, as today, were made for theatre viewing. I would watch movies in the late sixties and seventies, but usually on the tube, and I do forget that those movies were meant for big screens. Still, that's no excuse for them to not be artistic on the tube.Not much here, but nothing to make you depressed either.