User Reviews

1937's "The Invisible Menace" was adapted by Crane Wilbur from Ralph Spencer Zink's unsuccessful Broadway play "Without Warning," and once you've seen it you'll understand why it only ran for 17 performances: it stinks. Having completed "The Walking Dead" for Michael Curtiz and "West of Shanghai" for John Farrow on his 5 picture contract with Warner Brothers, Boris Karloff was tabbed to be the headline player in this middling whodunit set on an offshore military base, asinine comic relief supplied by Eddie Craven as newlywed private Eddie Pratt (repeating his stage role), and typecast dumb blonde Marie Wilson as his ditzy bride. It's a no no for women to be present on the base at any time, but Pratt figures to make allowances for the fact that they were wed in late afternoon, smuggling her inside a duffel bag for a rough and tumble honeymoon spot. In vainly seeking someplace to be alone, the couple stumble upon the strung up corpse of weapons supplier Reilly, beaten and tortured by bayonet, and severe blows on the head, a defeated Col. Hackett (Henry Kolker) calling in a favor from Col. Rogers (Cy Kendall) to take charge of the investigation. Unfortunately, his knowledge of prior contact with Karloff's Jevries, wrongfully convicted of embezzlement in a scheme concocted by Reilly, means that poor Boris ends up a punching bag for the browbeating authorities during the picture's second half, the first dominated by endless interrogations repeating the same facts over and over. A fortuitous stroke of casting finds Karloff reunited with Regis Toomey, six years after the Universal crime drama "Graft," in which Boris was the chief henchman responsible for murder and kidnapping, Toomey the dim witted would be hero reporter who recklessly brings him in; in this feature, Karloff gets to play sympathetic hero (kept off screen for a half hour) while Toomey plays it straight as the surprise killer, anxious to silence Reilly rather than include him in a lucrative gun running racket. Issued on a disastrous double bill with Humphrey Bogart's worst film "Swing Your Lady," it's hardly a surprise that aficionados of Boris Karloff might well regard this as his most disagreeable starring vehicle of the 30s, one that director John Farrow seems to have tossed off rather quickly by August 21, while "West of Shanghai" still awaited release (the nonsensical new title is an absolute cheat). The forthcoming "Devil's Island" and "British Intelligence," weak as they are, must be considered classics after this supremely ludicrous dud from the Brothers Warner.

Boris Karloff stars in a strange stage based mystery set on a military base that has to do with the death of a weapons researcher. The film is set in motion when a bunch of soldiers on leave pile into a boat and head back to the island base. One of the men is smuggling his new wife over in the hope of a nice quiet wedding night. In the process of finding a quiet place to consummate the marriage they stumble upon a dead body. The base is locked down and a sleuth is flown in.

Weird mix of wedding night comedy (which really doesn't work) and fast paced mystery this is a rather schizophrenic film that would have been so much better had the comedy been left behind. The mystery is a dark and troubling tale with a great deal of violence and suspicion. The mystery is played for all its worth and it makes me wonder what the play the film is based on is like.

The cast is mostly excellent, only Marie Pratt, as the only woman in the cast, is less than good. The real treat here is Boris Karloff as one of the suspects. He gets a real work out as an actor going through a great deal of emotion. It was always clear that he could do more than horror parts to anyone who really watched his performances, and this is a film that proves the point.

Very short, it runs around 55 minutes, this movie moves like the wind and it never gets boring or too comedic. Absolutely worth a look if you run across it.

The mystery is 8 out of 10 The comedy is 3 out of 10 (thankfully its very brief) 6 out of 10 over all

When a daffy newlywed married couple (Eddie Craven and Marie Wilson) find a corpse in a military base warehouse, fingers point automatically to the brooding Boris Karloff who must think quickly to defend himself. This lame programmer, either filmdom's longest short, or shortest feature, seems rushed into production, not giving time to really develop the characters and a plot that is extremely cliched. Combining a supposed sci fi element, this film totally disappoints, and the comedy is ridiculously unfunny. Wilson overdoes the dumb blonde act, and Craven has no screen presence. Karloff does all he can to rise above the mediocrity, and the direction by John Farrow (his second with Karloff in just a year) has no real flow. The painless short running time makes this easier to get through, but I classify this as one of the worst Warner Brothers second feature, one that should have ended up in the public domain with a few others whose copyright they chose not to renew, which like this, are among their worst films.

(THIS REVIEW IS FOR THE DVD Invisible Menace/Night of Terror)

This DVD presents Karloff and Lugosi, each in a film that is not part of their usual fare seen in other collections.

THE INVISIBLE MENACE is a Warner Brother's quickie (clocking in at under 60 minutes) that shows that Boris Karloff could do far more than play monsters. Most reviews of this film right it off as a poor example of his talents. I disagree. In it's 54 minute running time it manages to combine murder, red herrings, and an extremely quick paced mystery. The comedic antics of Marie Wilson and Eddie Craven may be a bit trying at times for those looking for pure mystery, but they are far less intrusive than many other mystery films where comedy is injected at random. At least their situation is part of the plot. As to Boris's role being beneath him, I tend to look at as an extension of his abilities to create a character. His gray hair, glasses and quiet manner (except when he is gesturing wildly pleading for justice) are a precursor to his role as Professor Linden in The Linden Tree, which he would play on the New York stage in the late 1940's. Overall it is an enjoyable little film.

The second feature, with the generic title NIGHT OF TERROR, comes as a welcome surprise. I had only seen it listed on Bela Lugosi film bibliographies. It is a variation on the old dark house thriller, with moving panels, tunnels, a gathering of heirs for the reading of the will, etc. This film has the advantage of Lugosi's performance. Reading other reviews of the film led me to believe that he was "wasted" in the part of Degar. Once again I tend to disagree. Bela is in almost every scene of the picture. His mysterious delivery of his dialogue is perfectly in line with the film's eerie atmosphere. As for him being "wasted" he turns out to be the most intelligent person of the lot-including the police and a wise cracking newspaper reporter. Being a B picture, and over the years being subject to scrutiny, the plot discrepancies are pretty evident, but overall it is an entertaining film. As to the peculiar ending, it is no more quirky that Edward Van Sloan's prologue to FRANKENSTEIN or his epilogue to Dracula (cut from most prints of the film)