Book Review: Bela Lugosi and the Monogram 9
Bela Lugosi is best known as the movies' quintessential Dracula. It is somewhat remarkable that he only played the role on film twice, and one of those times was in an Abbott and Costello comedy. Still, when any school child does an impression of Dracula, he or she will invariably mimic Lugosi's voice, even if they've never seen him in a movie. His impact on the role was that lasting.
Lugosi is also known for a career that is filled with low budget productions, some of which are particularly notorious. For decades, this area of his filmography has been casually dismissed as inferior. Tim Burton's film "Ed Wood" didn't help matters (we'll dispense with the argument that Wood was a better director than Burton).
Gary D. Rhodes and Robert Guffey have written a book for BearManor Media covering the nine films Lugosi made for the low budget Monogram studios. Noted for quickie programmers, Monogram benefited from creative directors like Phil Rosen, William Beaudine, Joseph H. Lewis, and Wallace Fox, all of whom could effectively put together an entertaining feature film on a threadbare budget with limited shooting days. The studio managed to beckon Lugosi to work in their films on nine different occasions, and this text examines those films carefully, giving us a deeper appreciation of "Invisible Ghost," "Corpse Vanishes," and other such programmers that have been given negative attention in other studies.
Containing several chapters offering different variations on its subject matter, Rhodes and Guffey explore the films Lugosi made at Monogram with an open-minded approach, an intelligent appreciation, and a historical knowledge. Even those of us long familiar with these films will be enlightened by the further information provided in these essays. For instance, it is fascinating to read the earliest origins of the ideas in these films, some dating back a century or more. The closing gag in the East Side Kids comedy "Spooks Run Wild," for example, is explained as having been done as far back as Edwin S. Porter's "What Happened in the Tunnel" (1903). We are often further benefited by the fact that either or both authors had an actual connection with the film's director, providing first hand insights.
Providing this much history, this much open-minded study, and this much appreciation should help elevate these films as the competent programmers they continue to be in the 21st century. Of course it is possible that the reader may not always agree with the authors' critical perceptions (I thought they were too hard on "Ghosts on the Loose"), their collective frame of reference and through knowledge makes this one of the strongest books ever written on B movies, on low budget studios, on the horror genre, or on Bela Lugosi. Even in a general sense, the reader's understanding of film history, production, and promotion will be enhanced by this exceptionally intelligent text.
"Bela Lugosi and the Monogram 9" is a book that needs to be included in any library, research center, or personal collection that even hopes to be considered at all comprehensive. For fans of film history, of Lugosi, of the horror genre, or of B movies, "Bela Lugosi and the Monogram 9" is an absolute must.
The book can be ordered at this link: Lugosi/Monogram