This movie could have been much more effective with less of the Evelyn Ankers concert scenes to slow things down, but the morbid parts ,showing Zucco and Bruce robbing graves, are very unsettling. The movie has plenty of atmosphere, if one can sit patiently through the dull musical interludes.
George Zucco gives what is certainly one of his best performances. He plays the sinister professor with a low key, almost amiable quality, suggesting a good man gone bad, rather than a totally evil, cartoon mad scientist. His scene with Evelyn Ankers at the piano, as he subtly insinuates things that she completely fails to pick up on, is a measure of the genuine talent he possessed, so often wasted in forgettable B chillers.
David Bruce is pretty bland and uninteresting as the hapless hero, but his character is meant to be the dupe of the professor, and not much of a strong personality. Turhan Bey basically does nothing but smile and play the piano, with just one good line, when he walks in to a room to find Zucco putting the moves on Ankers, and jokingly says, " Men have been shot for less than holding hands, Professor" and all three laugh at the idea that Zucco could be romantically interested in the younger woman, when we know it to be exactly the case.
George Zucco gives what is certainly one of his best performances. He plays the sinister professor with a low key, almost amiable quality, suggesting a good man gone bad, rather than a totally evil, cartoon mad scientist. His scene with Evelyn Ankers at the piano, as he subtly insinuates things that she completely fails to pick up on, is a measure of the genuine talent he possessed, so often wasted in forgettable B chillers.
David Bruce is pretty bland and uninteresting as the hapless hero, but his character is meant to be the dupe of the professor, and not much of a strong personality. Turhan Bey basically does nothing but smile and play the piano, with just one good line, when he walks in to a room to find Zucco putting the moves on Ankers, and jokingly says, " Men have been shot for less than holding hands, Professor" and all three laugh at the idea that Zucco could be romantically interested in the younger woman, when we know it to be exactly the case.