The Corpse Vanishes

In Brief: Wallace Fox’s The Corpse Vanishes (1942) is the fourth of Lugosi’s Monogram Nine — and if nothing else, it’s hands down the nastiest of the lot. (It’s only competition is the same year’s Bowery at Midnight, which was also made by Mr. Fox.) Here we find Lugosi as Dr. Lorenz — mad scientist and orchid specialist. His mission in life is to keep his wife (Elizabeth Russell) young and “beautiful.” Considering that Mrs. Lorenz is a grade-A bitch, his enthusiasm is hard to fathom, but maybe it’s hard finding anyone else who’ll sleep in twin coffins with him.  To this end, she needs frequent injections of glandular fluid. (B movies had some curious ideas about glands.) He gets this by inducing catalepsy in young brides with his special orchids and then making off with their bodies. (There’s a great newspaper headline that reads, “CORPSE THIEF BELIEVED CRANK.”) Unfortunately, intrepid girl reporter Luana Walters is on the case (“Boy! What a story!”) and soon tracks him down at his (yes) old dark house, which is mostly an old dark matte painting, but no mind. And some joint it is — with his hag housekeeper (the wonderful Minerva Urecal) and her improbable sons, the dwarf Toby (Angelo Rossitto, of course) and the hulking moron Angel (Frank Moran). Much like Night of Terror, Lugosi spends a lot of time just hanging around looking sinister. But he’s also thoroughly despicable. He strangles Angel for no compelling reason (and right after telling him, “Don’t be afraid, Angel. I would not hurt you”), except that the poor boob likes stroking the “dead” girls’ hair. Later, he kicks the wounded Toby off the running board of his getaway car, precipitating a deliriously grim ending with enough corpses for one of the more extravagant operas. This is poverty-row gold. The Thursday Horror Picture Show will screen The Corpse Vanishes on Thursday, July 7, at 7:30 p.m. at the Grail Moviehouse, hosted by Xpress movie critic Scott Douglas.