#of the plot (a sex pest chauffeur who relentlessly pursues every woman in the film in a sinister fashion) could probably have been trimmed | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

mariocki · 5 months ago

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Night Monster (1942)

"Why don't you have Millie do that, Miss Judd? That's a maid's work, not a housekeeper's. You needn't answer because I know the reason: that spot under your hand is blood and you didn't want anyone to know."

"Blood? Ridiculous."

"Yes, it is ridiculous. It couldn't be blood, but it is. I've seen those spots before and I've seen you trying to scrub them out because you knew what they were. Blood, the whole house reeks of it. The air is charged with death and hatred and something that's unclean!"

#night monster #1942 #horror film #american cinema #ford beebe #clarence upson young #bela lugosi #lionel atwill #leif erickson #irene hervey #ralph morgan #don porter #nils asther #fay helm #frank reicher #doris lloyd #francis pierlot #robert homans #janet shaw #eddy waller #cyril delevanti #thoroughly enjoyable haunted house whatnot that's obviously trying to do too much but still comes out the other side a Good Time #we've got mishaps and mayhem and murders and mesmerism (not to mention medical malpractice) and all squeezed into a little over 70 minutes #(sigh those were the days). Lugosi and Atwill take top billing despite only really having supporting roles (Atwill in particular could be #better described as a cameo) but both are clearly having fun in their roles and nobody is taking this too seriously (how could they?)#gets a little messy in the back half and ends with some crucial weirdness just kind of handwaved away without proper explanation #but I'll forgive it because it's just so concerned with being a silly fun time that of course its brains fall out of the plot. one element #of the plot (a sex pest chauffeur who relentlessly pursues every woman in the film in a sinister fashion) could probably have been trimmed #back but this is still a hugely charming and (to me) entirely irresistible bit of old spooky hokum

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