From 1936 is yet another Lugosi/Karloff collaboration. Unfortunately unlike The Raven or The Black Cat, this one is rather dull and is full of boring unlikeable characters. Still, you get to see Lugosi as a benevolent doctor as opposed to a mad scientist.

Boris Karloff plays Dr. Rukh, a scientist who has discovered a new element he calls Radium X. This super-metal can be used to create powerful destruction or to heal the sick. It also has contaminated the doctor's body causing him to kill anything he touches. With this new power he seeks to destroy his colleagues whom he feels have exploited his discovery as well as his adulterous wife and her new suitor.

This gives me an excellent opportunity to bring up a stock character from many 30s horror films: the young romantic lead. Here we are supposed to feel sympathetic to Rukh's wife Diana and for her star crossed lover Ronald. Instead I find myself repeatedly hoping that Rukh murders them both, especially Ronald.

Ronald, as portrayed by Frank Lawton, is a bland and yet insanely annoying character. He seems to represent all that was bad about studio pictures from the 30s. The notion that every film must have romance has always bothered me. He is much like the smarmy replacement Zeppos of the MGM Marx Brothers movies. Lugosi and Karloff could have easily carried this film without him.

Lugosi, by the way, is a bit out of character here. He's not exactly the hero but he is decidedly good. He uses the Radium X only for curing people and not for destruction or personal gain as Rukh does. He is the one likable character is this rather bland and predictable film.

Labels: 31 days of film, Bela Lugosi, Horror