Bowery at Midnight (1942) User Reviews

"I suppose you have never met a homeless kind of maniac before."

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 24 January 2006]

"Bowery at Midnight" conjures up for me an expectation of the East Side Kids, but the closest we come to that is the brief appearance of Leo Gorcey's dad Bernard as a shopkeeper. That's OK though, because I got a kick out of this tale featuring Bela Lugosi in a dual role - college psychology Professor Brenner by day, and neighborhood soup kitchen proprietor Karl Wagner by night. Lugosi's character uses the mission as a hunting ground for criminals on the run from the law, who he lures into his web to commit jewel robberies. Only trouble is, his escapades leave the body of a dead accomplice at each heist. With good help hard to find, this will surely come back to haunt him.

Back at the mission, Wagner utilizes a doctor who disposes of the bodies, however Doc (Lew Kelly) has one up on his boss; he's found a way to bring the victims back to life. That would make it kind of unnecessary to bury them, but the graves in the basement are clearly shown more than once, and at least one time with identifying names on the markers.

Bela Lugosi looks like he's having fun in this film, his early appearance is marked by an ear to ear smile, and is kind of disarming if you're used to most of his roles. He also displays the ability to turn his personality on a dime, showing a warm and caring side as he feeds homeless men at the mission, and coldly ordering their execution if they dare cross him. The Olympic body throw off the top of a building was a nice touch.

You can tell not much thought was put into these Poverty Row programmers. Consider the scene when the cops are closing in on Wagner's mission; as henchman Frankie Mills (Tom Neal) makes his way out of a side door in an alley, one of the cops shoots him as he comes out the door, with no warning and no questions asked. I mean, maybe the guy would have given himself up.

Hey, why was there a map of Australia in Wagner's private office?

Mention should be made of Wagner's assistant Judy, portrayed by Wanda McKay. She's really persistent to find out what's in the mission's inner sanctum, and entices old Doc to bring her down there. As loyal as she was, Wagner would have had her rubbed out too if not for Doc's intervention. As the cops close in, Doc lures Wagner through a trap door in the floor and into the waiting arms of a zombie horde - yikes!

"Bowery at Midnight" is a blast, with so many goofy plot points making it even more fun to watch. But with all the murder and mayhem, what would you think to be the creepiest scene? I'll put my money on the movie's finale, with Judy making wedding plans with her zombie boyfriend Richard Dennison (John Archer). After all, his was one of the clearly marked graves in Doc's basement cemetery!

Bowery at Midnight (1942) **1/2

[JoeKarlosi · 6/10 · 19 August 2006]

Bela Lugosi is in fine form playing Karl Wagner, a sweet soul with a soft touch who runs a nightly Bowery mission, spooning out bowls of soup for needy tramps with nowhere to go. When he recognizes a new customer as an escaped safe cracker called "Fingers" Dolan, Wagner kindly escorts the convict to a hidden room and offers him a cigar. During the leisurely smoke, the host confides that he's admired Dolan's work for a long time, and springs a surprise on him: Bela's actually a crime boss, using the mission as a front and looking for someone new to join his racket. By day, Wagner leads a double-life as a professor named Dr. Brenner. When he's not showering his unsuspecting wife with gifts from his nightly escapades he teaches a class on psychology.

The potential is there for this to be as confusing as it sounds, but taken slowly it can be a hoot. An interesting ending, too, makes one suspect it was a possible influence for NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. Simply stated, BOWERY AT MIDNIGHT is one of the best of the poverty row pics made by Monogram studios with Bela Lugosi in the forties. Really more of a crime story with an occasional dash of horror as an added condiment, this is a tasty 62 minutes of absurd fun done on the cheap. **1/2 out of ****

Okay, just

[dbborroughs · 6/10 · 8 August 2004]

A soup Kitchen serves as a front for various criminal activities run by Bela Lugosi.

As Bela's grade Z movies go this one is pretty good. The plot is complicated enough to keep you wondering what is going on. Of course things get a bit wonky towards the end as all of the people and plot points come crashing together.

Certainly not the worst that Bela turned out in his very up and down career. I don't know if I'd search this out, but late at night if it was on I certainly wouldn't turn it off, unless I needed sleep since it won't put you out.

6 out of 10

One of Bela Lugosi's Momogram quickies

[preppy-3 · 5/10 · 11 July 2005]

Lugosi plays a kind psychology teacher at a local college. He also runs a mission in the bowery where he gets criminals to pull off robberies for him. There's also a silly incidental subplot about raising the dead! This is pretty involved for an hour long movie. Being a Monogram picture it has all their trademarks--tacky sets; mostly atrocious acting; a plot that really doesn't make a whole lot of sense and one of the most unexciting gunfights in screen history.

The acting veers from OK to just embarrassing. Wanda McKay easily gives out the worst performance. Lugosi, always a pro, gives this the best performance possible. And it is nice to see Tom Neal three years before he did the cult classic "Detour".

Not bad--not good but one of the better Monograms Lugosi did. LOVE the clearly marked graves in the basement! I give it a 5.

Lugosi with 3 personalities!

[ac947 · 7/10 · 9 May 2003]

Bowery at Midnight is a must see for fans of Bela Lugosi. His "lesser" films are is some ways more interesting than the ones he is best known for, since expectations are low and the Lugosi persona shines through inadequacies in the script etc. His acting is really put to the test here where he essentially has three roles: a kind soup kitchen manager, a professor of psychology and a sinister mass killer who can double cross anyone. All three roles are wonderfully done- a masterful job!!

Bowery At Midnight (1942) **

[Bunuel1976 · 5/10 · 8 July 2005]

A rather busy plot (for a 60-minute programmer, anyway) ensures that there's little padding other than the obligatory romantic interest between the highlights (my favorite being Lugosi's cold-blooded rooftop disposal) - not that the film reaches any particular heights, but it's certainly enjoyable and engaging while it's on. The dual nature of Lugosi's character and the 'mission' setting hark back to DARK EYES OF London (1939), and this one too can be chalked up among the star's better 40s efforts. There's even some smart dialogue to boot ("I wouldn't trust you with a bad case of dandruff" and Lugosi describing Fingers Dolan's use of criminal slang as "picturesque", etc) and the poster for THE CORPSE VANISHES (1942) on a theater marquee was a cool 'in-joke'.

Two roles for Bela in this one

[chris_gaskin123 · 7/10 · 27 June 2005]

Bowery at Midnight is one of the many low budget chillers that Bela Lugosi made during the 1940's and is one of the better ones I have seen.

Bela has two roles in this movie, in the daytime he is a college lecturer and at night, he runs a Bowery where dropouts hang out. It's at the Bowery where killings start and he has an assistant who does these killings in the cellar where they revived as zombies. He uses an escaped murder to help him too.

Bowery at Midnight has some of the things you would expect in this type of movie: hidden doorways, secret rooms and a hunchback assistant.

Joining Bela in the cast is Wanda McKay (The Monster Maker) and John Archer (Destination Moon).

This movie is worth watching if you get the chance. Very creepy at times.

Rating: 3 stars out of 5.

Value For Money

[ferbs54 · 5/10 · 26 February 2010]

In the 1942 Monogram horror cheapie "Bowery at Midnight," Bela Lugosi plays quite the enterprising fellow, not just moonlighting...but double moonlighting! By day, he works as a college psychology professor named Frederick Brenner. By night, under his Karl Wagner alias, he runs a soup kitchen/hospital for the poor in NYC's Bowery. But wait...as Wagner, he is also the mastermind of a burglary ring that has lately been scourging the area. This ring is small in number, as Wagner has a habit of killing off one of his henchmen every time a heist is performed, and burying him in his basement...with named placards in lieu of headstones, no less! Anyway, the picture has been competently directed by Wallace Fox, who had already worked with Bela on two previous Monogram films, "Spooks Run Wild" ('41) and "The Corpse Vanishes" ('42); I wonder how this director would have fared with a budget larger than a few thousand bucks, some shoestrings and two bottle caps. In a relatively no-name cast, Tom Neal, playing Bela's sadistic gunsel, is a welcome presence; he would, of course, go on to achieve cult status by dint of his work in that truly bizarre film noir, "Detour" ('45). "Bowery at Midnight," at 63 minutes, never wears out its welcome, despite some occasional lame humor, incredibly chintzy sets and an unfortunate dependence on unlikely coincidence. (Really, what are the odds of Wagner's soup kitchen assistant being the fiancée of one of Brenner's students?) I mentioned up top that this is a horror film, but honestly, the only genuine horror elements here are Bela himself and the fact that his drunken doctor pal manages, inexplicably, to bring all his buried victims back to life. And speaking of inexplicable, just what is the deal with that map of Australia that Wagner keeps on his wall? Best not to ask such questions, I suppose. Just sit back and enjoy the spectacle of one of our true horror icons essentially playing three different roles in one hour. From a Poverty Row studio, that really IS value for money!

Interesting Monogram Thriller

[wdbasinger · 7/10 · 24 August 2006]

Next to "Invisible Ghost" and "The Corpse Vanishes", this is probably the best of the old Monogram series. ("The Devil Bat", my number one favorite of the "Poverty Row" thrillers was not Monogram, but PRC). Bela Lugosi plays a mad psychologist who moonlights in the dark of night as a master criminal who uses a charity mission as a front. In this film, Lugosi demonstrates not one, but three different personalities. Moreover, the plot gets slightly convoluted compressed into a quick 62 minute running time. Some scenes such as the basement graveyard and the undead zombie attack during the film's climax are very hair-raising indeed.

7/10.

Dan Basinger

Oh What It Could Have Been!

[Chance2000esl · 4/10 · 17 October 2008]

Known as a Monogram quickie, the 'Jeckyll and Hyde' type premise, the story and cast had the potential for a very rich and interesting film-- if it had been given a bigger budget and a more deeply elaborated script. At barely more than 60 minutes we have an extremely fast paced movie with many of our favorite "B" movie icons -- Bela Lugosi, Tom Neal, Dave O'Brien, Wanda McKay, John Archer and Wheeler Oakman.

Bela, whose English delivery is now excellent and natural, with that great hint of a Hungarian accent, plays Frederick Brenner, a professor of criminology by day and Karl Wagner, the philanthropic director of "The Friendly Mission," a soup kitchen and dormitory in New York's Bowery by night. He has a third identity as the head of a criminal ring of thieves and bank robbers.

His modus operandi is to double cross and kill his henchmen (who frequently include Mission transients) after they have served his villainous purposes, and then to have a 'rum dumb' caretaker doctor bury them in the Mission's basement. Unbeknownst to him, the doctor has devised a way to revive the dead and keep them 'alive' as zombies, hidden below the basement in a cellar.

The movie shows us scenes of his triple life including blissful tender moments at home with his wife; teaching about paranoid schizophrenics in his college class; doling out soup to Bowery bum denizens; and coldly throwing one of his henchmen off a roof as he stages a jewelry store robbery. In such a rapidly paced film, the inner tensions of his schizophrenic nature are barely touched on, except in a brief moment where he moans in his sleep experiencing nightmares. Oh what this film could have been if given the full "A" treatment! Here we're not going to get anything like Peter Lorre's anguished plea for tolerance and understanding regarding his own compulsive nature that he cannot control as in the great German film 'M' (1931).

Wanda McKay, who plays Wagner's perky nurse assistant Judy Malvern, is betrothed to the rich playboy John Archer, who is, coincidentally, one of Professor Brenner's students, Richard Dennison. You can guess that Brenner/Wagner's double life is going to start to unravel. In this case, Dennison wanders into the Mission while doing research on how the indigent live, and meets Brenner as 'Wagner.'

Tom Neal, meanwhile, puts in another cynical, tortured (and vicious) performance as a hired killer, used by Brenner / Wagner to rub out his henchmen, and Dennison as well. As a result of Dennsion's disappearance, the police finally discover Brenner's dual nature and raid the Mission. Seeking his own revenge, the caretaker doctor leads Brenner down to the cellar to the awaiting zombies ("You can escape this way...") In the final scene, Dennison is magically returned to normalcy where he joins Judy in his bedroom to live happily ever after.

Wanda McKay is also in 'Voodoo Man' (1944) with Bela, and many other Poverty Row 'features' as well as the odd Universal serial 'Raiders of Ghost City' (1944). John Archer, besides starring in the great 'King of the Zombies' (1941) with Mantan Moreland, is in 'Destination Moon' (1950) and many 50s-60s TV shows including 'Perry Mason' and 'Bonanza'. Tom Neal plays the hero in the serial 'Jungle Girl' (1941), as well as in his classic noir film, 'Detour' (1945). Dave O'Brien, who had the most successful career, mostly as a cowboy star, plays the cop who tracks down Brenner. He's most famous as the 'hop-head' in 'Tell Your Children' (1936) which we all know and love as "Reefer Madness'. Wheeler Oakman, with over 280 film and TV credits as a villain, plays one of Brenner's henchmen. He was in countless serials and westerns, and played Tarnak in 'Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars' (1938).

Wow! All these great familiar faces in one fast paced, weird little movie that sadly, was too cheaply made. Oh, what it could have been! Therefore, sadly, I can only give it a four and half.

Bela Lugosi at his best.

[KennethEagleSpirit · 8/10 · 3 January 2007]

Bela Lugosi, both a wonderful actor and very fine gentleman, comes across perfectly in this role. Things like body language, eye contact, voice inflection, all of it done beautifully. The plot, containing as many little surprising twists and turns as the Bowery mission contains secret panels and hidden doors, is a neat story and it flows well. The other players fit their roles very well. The continuity is good. And then there are those other added attractions, like thinking you just saw Lou Costello playing a Bowery bum. Nope, you didn't, but you're close. Its his older brother, and almost twin, Pat Costello. Things like that make this movie great fun. Add a pretty nurse, a crazy doctor, and what do you have? A "B" movie that deserves at least a B+.

Lugosi Leads 4 Lives!!!!

[the_mysteriousx · 7/10 · 15 July 2012]

Many have said that this Monogram quickie has Lugosi leading a double life, but upon further review, it can be said he leads 4! When you combine that with a basement full of zombies he doesn't even know about, that's a lot of action for an hour and one minute.

Lugosi plays Professor Brenner, a respected college teacher who has a wife. What he doesn't tell anyone is that he is also Karl Wagner the benign owner of a soup kitchen on the bowery. However, beyond that, he is also the leader of an underground criminal organization. And beyond that, if one wants to take it seriously he is also Bela Lugosi – In a scene early in the film when two of the characters are in front of a movie theater you can very clearly see Lugosi on a poster for "The Corpse Vanishes", his previous Monogram film. So, there you have it – four lives, or one really busy one. Tom Neal's character says it best about Lugosi in an absolutely hysterical line, "I've never seen a guy with more angles."

Lugosi perhaps was never more ruthless than he is here. He literally throws unknowing people off buildings, orders his assistants in crime murdered and without a hesitation even murders his poor wife. If you like seeing Lugosi play bad, look no further. I had avoided this one for years as I'm not a big fan of his very low budget films (and from the title I thought the Bowery Boys were in it), but this may be the last film he did where he looks in his prime physical form. His hair has the classic slicked-back look; his performance is dedicated; and he even throws in some touching moments with his wife and during his bad dreams that you wonder if his character really wants to get away from this crazy life he leads.

Of course, the writing doesn't try to explain anything. Why bother leading all these lives? Does it get on his conscience? Why not quit being a professor and just be a crime leader and use the soup kitchen as a front? And how and why the hell are their zombies in this film? They don't even serve a purpose.

If you ask me that's the fun in watching a 1930s and 1940s B-movie. You're not supposed to think. You are supposed to suspend all belief and just be entertained. Tom Neal is great as Frankie Mills – you really believe he's a killer; Director Wallace Fox could not keep the pace quicker and with an overtone of harshness that suits the subject just fine. And in this film you are being entertained by the number one bad guy in these kinds of low budget films from that era. So if you are reading this review, seek this one out, sit back, don't think and enjoy and tip your hat to Lugosi when you're done.

Strong Lugosi Performance

[Michael_Elliott · 31 October 2012]

Bowery at Midnight (1942)

** (out of 4)

Professor Karl Wagner (Bela Lugosi) is a highly respected man who helps run a food kitchen that feeds homeless and poor people. At night he's taking advantage of the same people forcing them to do his illegal crimes including murder. BOWERY AT MIDNIGHT is yet another low-budget quickie from Monogram and while the story itself is pretty lacking, the film remains watchable thanks to a fast pace as well as the performance from Bela Lugosi. It's really a shame that the film doesn't feature a tad bit more life because it could have been something rather good had more time with the story been done. Lugosi is very good in the lead role and it's funny that during the opening credits his name appears twice for playing the two characters. One of the biggest reasons that the film works as well as it does is because Lugosi is very believable as both the good guy and the bad guy. I really liked the way Lugosi played the good professor because he made you believe that this guy couldn't be doing anything wrong. That cheerful glee from the bad guy also comes across flawlessly and especially when he gets to show how cold blooded the character is. Wanda McKay is good in her supporting role as the woman helping Lugosi not knowing exactly what he's up to. The rest of the supporting players fit their roles nicely and certainly help keep the film moving. The biggest problem is that the story just needed a little bit more work to make it something more than just a routine "B" picture.

Did They Make It Up As They Went Along?

[Hitchcoc · 4/10 · 26 February 2007]

Another Lugosi film. Until recently, I didn't realize that one of his principle characters was a man, respected by his community, who had a secret side. Once again, we have a legitimate character, a college psychology professor, who runs a crime syndicate out of a soup kitchen/ mission. Whenever a well known bad guy shows up, off to the basement, and an offer of work. Unfortunately, once these guys serve their purposes, they are offed in some way. Shot to death or pushed off a building, for instance. The odd thing is that people still seem to want to work for him. Lugosi keeps graves in the basement, with little signs on them, with he last names of the guys he has killed. His henchman gets to keep them after they are killed and apparently brings them back to life (or something). There are so many loose ends it's impossible to keep up. All the characters act in such an irrational way, including Lugosi, that most of it makes no sense. If the good professor had just lied about being a humanitarian and a psychologist, the young lead would have found him quite admirable. The ending explains nothing. It's as if they ran out of film. Not a stellar moment in cinematic history.

Crime pays zombies await.

[lost-in-limbo · 5/10 · 6 April 2007]

Collage Professor Frederick Brenner masquerades at night as a manager/kitchen hand of a Bowery, which is also used to run his own crime operations in some hidden back rooms. He cons these under-privilege and usually criminals into joining him, to only back-stab them when the job is done. One of his partners is an has-been doctor who wants to prove himself again, by secretly reanimating the corpses of those who were killed by Brenner and finally keeping them in another secret compartment. Although Brenner's moonlighting of many different lives, eventually becomes his downfall.

I hope you don't wear a hole in your noggin, because you'll be continuously scratching your head on just what the heck is going on here. Logic is not a real strong point. Around this time Lugosi was signing up for quickie poverty-row horror films, but this Monogram enterprise went for a serious (well it seems to try) gangster flavour with some minor mad scientist dabbling with possible zombie creations. How it goes about these things is just peculiar and feels like no more then an afterthought to the madness. As if they thought that people would expect some horror elements since Lugosi is tagged to the project. So lets chuck it all in and lets worry about it when we come to it. The deceitfully taxing story is a convoluted mess, but its random nature, blurred intentions and silly outcomes just entertains because its so uncanny. The contrived script wants to be thoughtful and smart in certain scenes, but more often it ends up as stilted and languidly spotty. Pacing can follow that latter suit as well, despite some stalling moments it never becomes overtly dull. Being a Bela Lugosi vehicle, there's plenty of screen time for him, as he gets to play more then one character. Even though it's the same character pretending to be different people, you'll think the disguises would be more convincing to get-away with some like that. Those ridiculous glasses are not going to help! Lugosi's performance is a compelling one with his deviously suave persona taking shape. He's putting it all into this multifaceted performance. Lew Kelly, Tom Neal and Wanda McKay are fine, however the rest don't figure. What I really liked was how it cooked up some very effective atmospheric moments of eeriness and the closing minutes is tightly handled with a truly baffling conclusion. Yep, it's one of those; "how can that be possible?" and destroys the thrust that was inserted in the brooding climax. Wallace Fox's plain direction is stagy, but workably done with little impact. The foundation of the musical score is put together in the basic fashion. It either over-plays itself or seems to fly under the radar, but never gets the right balance.

There's nothing laudable here with this loosely constructed foray, but this cheap low-end production enjoyably kills the time that it asks from you. Lugosi fans might dig this one.

Bowery at Midnight

[Scarecrow-88 · 6/10 · 28 March 2009]

A well respected psychology professor, Frederick Brenner, actually leads a life of crime, using his status as the proprietor of a Bowery soup kitchen to mask his devious activities. Under the name of Karl Wagner(Bela Lugosi), Brenner is able to lift criminals on the run off the street, putting them to work for him..that is until he no longer needs them. Brenner's office in the Bowery soup kitchen building houses secret rooms as escape hatches while also servicing him the ability to stash away confiscated items. Wagner's operation has been successfully robbing bank vaults, then ridding himself of criminals who would potentially provide problems later. Brenner's wife has no idea that her husband has been coming home late at night and having nightmares due to his criminal work(..he lies to her about writing a book, on the street researching). One sub-plot features Wagner's employee, Judy Malvern(..the very lovely Wanda McKay)and her beau, Richard Dennison(..great television actor John Archer)whose lives will soon be complicated when unforeseen circumstances lead them to discover the fiend Brenner really is..Dennison is actually Brenner's student at his college, and when he goes to the Bowery masquerading as a bum, working on a project for class, he'll uncover a horrifying truth regarding how cruel and evil his professor really is. Another sub-plot has Wagner's underling, Doc Brooks(Lew Kelly), once a great physician, now a drug-addicted fraidy-cat who disposes of bodies in a graveyard created within a secret room under the Bowery building, reviving those unfortunate souls put to death as a way of revenge when his moment comes towards his lecherous boss. Pete Crawford(Dave O'Brien)is a newly promoted detective, once pounding the pavement as a beat cop, who devotes his time to unraveling the sting operation that's depleting banks of monetary resources. Tom Neal, very effective as Wagner's newly recruited trigger man, Frankie Mills, a tough-talking, fearless thug, replacing tired gunner, Stratton(Wheeler Oakman)who was about to end his partnership with the boss.

Solid cast backing up Lugosi, in a tour-de-force performance getting a chance to portray a multi-layered character. The movie is over-plotted, for sure, and the zombie premise that develops is more than a bit ridiculous. Still, this is essential viewing for die-hard Lugosi fans, even if BOWERY AT MIDNIGHT attempts to pack too much in a small running time. Some of the criminal acts by Brenner/Wagner are chilling such as his orders to murder specific characters(..often committing a few himself, unflinchingly)and his cornering of student Dennison within the basement of the soup kitchen is particularly shocking. Not really a horror film as much as a crime drama.

Dreadful Poverty Row Quickie!

[bsmith5552 · 3/10 · 25 May 2003]

"Bowery at Midnight" seems to suggest an East Side Kids or Bowery Boys picture, however, it's another in the forgettable series of "B" movies Bela Lugosi made for Monogram Pictures in the early 1940s.

This one is absolutely dreadful. Its about a man (Lugosi) leading a double life. By day he's Professor Brenner a respected criminalogist; by night a kindly operator of a mission for the poor called Karl Wagner. He is assisted by heroine Judy Malvern (Wanda McKay) a rich kid doing her bit for the underprivileged. Unbeknownst to her is the fact that Wagner is recruiting criminals from the mission that are on the run to participate in a series of robberies after which they are killed off, having served their purpose.

Wagner also has a Karloff like assistant named Doc (Lew Kelly) who has been secretly bringing the slain gangsters back to life and keeping them locked up in a cellar. One of Professor Brenner's students (John Archer) happens to come into the mission and recognizes him. Well then.

The story might have made a better film with a bigger budget and better direction. There is no explanation given as to how or why "Doc" is bringing the dead back to life or why they appear zombie like or are we shown what eventually happens to them. And, hero Archer becomes one of them but mysteriously makes a full recovery with no ill effects (or explanation) at the film's end.

Lugosi sleep walks through his role(s), which he did for most of this series. For a poverty row quickie though, this film has a pretty good cast in the supporting roles. Too bad they had such a small budget and dreadful direction to work with. Dave O'Brien appears as a cop, J. Farrell MacDonald as his Captain and Wheeler Oakman and Vince Barnett as various members of Lugosi's gang. One plus is the appearance of a young Tom Neal as Lugosi's gunsel. And watch for a brief bit by Bernard Gorcey (Louie in the Bowery Boys series and father of Leo Gorcey)as a shopkeeper.

It's worth a look to catch the tragic Tom Neal in an early role.

This one includes everything but the kitchen sink!!

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 3 April 2008]

Wow, did this little B-movie have a complicated plot! First, Bela Lugosi operates a soup kitchen in the Bowery for hobos. Second, he uses criminals who come into this soup kitchen to commit various crimes. Third, he eventually kills these criminals and gives the bodies to his friend "the doctor". Fourth, he is in reality a psychology professor who teaches at a nearby college. Fifth, he has a wife who he loves and treats very well. What a very complex character--perhaps too much for just one character--more like three or four characters!

While all this strains reason, it also is a reworking of another Lugosi movie from just two years earlier. In DARK EYES OF London, Lugosi is an insurance agent who is also the benefactor for a home for the blind. However, this social service organization, like the soup kitchen, is a cover for theft and murder! And in both cases, he uses residents of the programs to do his evil bidding! Of the two films, DARK EYES OF London is probably the better film since the plot isn't so convoluted and overly complex. Plus the graphic details of the murders really make DARK EYES a very scary film, indeed. With BOWERY AT MIDNIGHT, the film just seemed too complicated and silly. Still, it was very entertaining and for fans of Lugosi and B-horror pictures, it's well worth a look.

By the way, among the many murders Lugosi commits or orders, the one involving poor Vince Barnett is amazing and made the film really exciting and creepy. Watch for this scene at the top of a building during a robbery committed by cold and sinister Tom Neal.

From Soup to Nuts, Lugosi style....

[mark.waltz · 3/10 · 19 October 2013]

Although Bela Lugosi made two movies with the Bowery Boys (or "East End Kids" as they were known at the time of those two unforgettable classics), this is not one of them. Yes, he is in the Bowery, working as the seemingly kindly head of a mission, which is not at all anywhere like the long-running Bowery Mission of legendary fame. He dispenses soup without religious chatter, has a nurse on staff to tend to the ailing, and treats his gentle wife with a tender hand. But there's another side to this philanthropist, which should be obvious considering who's playing the part, and his mission is simply a front for a crime ring. He has a keen eye for criminals hiding out in the mission, bribes them in assisting him with his nefarious criminal activity (which includes jewel robbery) then dispenses them when their services are no longer required. But his ill treatment of a weary doctor who lost his practice threatens to be his undoing, as does the student of psychology whose professor just happens to sound exactly like the kindly mission man.

There's something about Bela Lugosi that is both pitiable and frightening. His characters, with that heavy Hungarian accent (no matter what nationality he played), are all one step away from doom, and in many of his films, his dispatchment at the end is obviously an instant elevator to hell. Yet, there's something about him that you can't take your eyes off, and even in roles other than Dracula and Igor, he's the dominating force of attention, even when paired with Karloff. The world-weary doctor character could have played by Karloff who only made occasional "Z" grade films, while Lugosi only appeared in the occasional "B" film at an "A" grade studio.

"Bowery at Midnight" is mostly crime drama with a very slight element of horror, and features "Z" movie mainstay Wanda McKay as the devoted nurse who has no idea of her employer's real mission until it is too late. The film is static-like, which makes it almost move like a silent film, yet it is not totally without merit. But it is not one of Lugosi's better Monogram films, either, because he is so identified with horror that when you compare this with PRC's "The Devil Bat" or Monogram's "The Corpse Vanishes", it lacks in the unintentional humor department that those (and others of his) encompassed. Once again, his character has a frail wife so in love with her devoted husband that she's oblivious to his real life, and once again, he's done in by younger men he believed he could easily crush with his pinkie. This makes it all predictable, until the very end, with a conclusion that is easily as eerie as his mad doctor's finale from 1935's "The Raven".

A fun poverty-row crime thriller (with touches of horror).

[BA_Harrison · 6/10 · 7 July 2019]

There's not a lot of 'traditional' horror in this cheapo Monogram flick (IMDb labels it as a crime thriller), but its star Lugosi still plays one of his most terrifying characters, a seemingly affable college professor and husband who is secretly a homicidal criminal who holds no value for human life, killing anyone who gets in his way.

By day, Professor Brenner (Lugosi) teaches criminology, but by night he assumes a different identity, that of Karl Wagner, who runs a Bowery soup kitchen for down-an-outs as a front for his heinous criminal activities. Recruiting wanted villains to help carry out daring robberies, Wagner thinks nothing of disposing of his lackies once the job is done, giving their bodies to washed-up physician Doc Brooks (Lew Kelly), who uses them in his reanimation experiments.

After socialite Richard Dennison (John Archer) falls victim to Wagner's evil ways, his girlfriend Judy (Wanda McKay), a volunteer at the soup kitchen, investigates and learns the awful truth about her colleague.

Preposterous, fun, and occasionally shocking, this is one of the more enjoyable poverty-row quickies starring Lugosi. The story is shambolic and far-fetched, but that's all part of its charm, and Lugosi gives it his all, proving extremely unsettling as he callously despatches of those who are no longer useful (I particularly liked the casual manner he throws one poor guy off a roof as a diversion). As is often the case with these kinds of films, the villain's lair has secret sliding doors and a hidden basement, which is where the results of Doc Brooks' experiments lurk, giving the film its slight horror edge.

The very silly ending sees Lugosi getting his just desserts and Judy reunited with Richard (now a happy chatty zombie?).

Too Short

[Uriah43 · 4/10 · 9 January 2014]

This movie begins with an escaped convict named "Fingers Dolan" (John Berkes) finding refuge at a soup kitchen in the Bowery run by a man by the name of "Karl Wagner" (Bela Lugosi). As luck would have it Karl recognizes Fingers right away but decides not to turn him in to the police. The reason for this is because Karl is not the kind-hearted soul he pretends to be. Instead he's a respected teacher at the local college who goes by the name of "Professor Brenner" during the day and uses the soup kitchen as a front for his crimes which include robbery and murder. And Fingers just happens to be someone he needs at the time to help rob the local jewelry store down the street. Once Fingers opens the safe Karl has him killed by another member of his gang convinced that "dead men tell no tales." As expected, this causes the police to be totally baffled as to the identity of those behind the recent spate of crimes in their precinct. But that isn't all there is to this story because it also involves--zombies. Now, rather than disclosing the entire story and risk spoiling the movie for those who haven't seen it I will just say that it has a number of different subplots yet it only lasts 61 minutes. And that's the main problem. With so much going on the various scenarios don't seem to blend in very well at all. The ending was especially difficult to comprehend. In essence, this could have been an excellent movie if there was more time allocated for the story to resolve itself. It's just too short for everything going on! That said, because of its abrupt nature it left me somewhat unsatisfied and I rate it as slightly below average.

Bela the Gangster

[Baravelli_the_ice_lady · 8/10 · 11 June 2007]

Pleasant surprises can come in the most unusual of packages. Such is the case with this 1942 Monogram quickie starring the legendary Bela Lugosi, not as a vampire or a mad doctor, but a jewel thief kingpin hiding under two (count 'em, two) secret identities. With a setup like that, you can't very well lose.

Lugosi, as usual, pulls out an engaging performance; this guy is just plain fun to watch in any role. He doesn't get much help from his co-stars (with the possible exception of Lew Kelly, who steals a few scenes as a schizophrenic doctor), but nobody is exceptionally irritating at least. Plot holes abound and at times things get pretty confusing, but if you can overlook the blemishes and try not to take the production values too seriously, it's a nice little picture overall. And at just over an hour long, it won't bog you down. Watch it for Lugosi's performance if nothing else.

Also, keep an eye out for a poster of another of Lugosi's Monogram films, "The Corpse Vanishes," which appears in the background of one of the scenes.

Bowery of the Zombies

[zardoz-13 · 7/10 · 10 April 2012]

Monogram director Wallace Fox's brisk, B-movie "Bowery at Midnight" intertwines elements of a crime thriller with a horror chiller. This uneven but above-average epic casts Bela Lugosi as a man with dual identities who kills without a qualm. He looks like a gentlemen, but he is the epitome of evil. Not only does he masquerade as a congenial college professor of psychology but also a soup kitchen operator. Professor Frederick Brenner teaches psychology at a New York City University behind a pince-nez when he isn't running a Bowery soup kitchen for the underprivileged. He looks and dresses like an academician during the day and as a humble social worker after dark. Brenner's wife knows nothing about these shenanigans but she is impressed when he loads her down with jewelry. She really doesn't crave the baubles as much as his companionship.

Actually, the soup kitchen serves as a front for Brenner who uses the alias Karl Wagner. He has everybody duped, including his soup server, pretty young Judy Malvern (Wanda McKay of "Voodoo Man"), while she plays hard-to-get with wealthy young suitor, Richard Dennison (John Archer of "Police Bullets") who is more accustomed to sailing on his yacht than navigating the Bowery. Bowery was essentially a slum afflicted with crime. Richard wants Judy to give up her life and join him, but she refuses. Meantime, Detective Sgt. Pete Crawford (Dave O'Brien of "The Singing Cowgirl") dreams of having a family, weeding a garden, and a promotion like his mentor Police Capt. Mac Mitchell who is about to retire. Currently, a crime wave is sweeping the Bowery, and the sagacious Dr. Brenner is the one who has orchestrated. He likes to recruit criminals and then kill them after they have helped him with his crimes.

Naturally, Bela delivers another sterling performance. George O'Brien doesn't garner enough screen time to make an effective impression, but John Archer is impressive as a John F. Kennedy type student who knows nothing about the plight of the unprivileged. Mercifully, Fox holds comic relief to a minimum. One amusing scene has Dennison quizzing a bum about life in the Bowery. The bum asks for a cigarette, which Dennsion gives him, and then appropriates the entire pack along with a match. Vince Barrett puts in a brief appearance as another criminal in Wagner's payroll. He spouts one line that is rather funny that marks his destiny. Ultimately, "Bowery at Midnight" proves too ambitious for its own good. The subplot about the zombies is never adequately fleshed out. The tacked on ending about Dennison is problematic. Presumably, the producers had second thoughts about leaving him as a corpse. Meanwhile, it is the zombie subplot that sets "Bowery at Midnight" aside from most zombie movies of its day because voodoo is not used and these zombies are of the flesh-devouring variety.

Soup kitchen nightmares

[Chase_Witherspoon · 5/10 · 12 May 2012]

Economical tale of split personality psychologist and lecturer (Lugosi), who moonlights as the manager of a soup kitchen, itself a front for a bizarre burglary racket where destitute criminals find the end of their road in shady basement deals. When a wealthy student of Lugosi (Archer) elects to research the plight of the under privileged as part of his thesis, he inadvertently stumbles upon a macabre experiment being conducted in the soup kitchen.

Lugosi is professional and assured in comfortable characterisation as the slightly unhinged professor, whose double life of contrasts services both his demented perversions, and the need to study his affliction more closely. The supporting cast including John Archer as the arrogant rich kid, oblivious to those less well-off and Hollywood bad-man Tom Neal as a psychopathic killer eager to accept Lugosi's murderous invitation, performs well alongside the inimitable presence of master horror specialist Lugosi.

Ghoulish and atmospheric, it's obviously not going to satisfy most of today's tastes, but if you're familiar and comfortable with the vintage horror flicks and need a fast-paced mystery for entertainment, you could do a lot worse than "Bowery at Midnight".

In Need of a Good Cleaning

[gavin6942 · 5 October 2011]

Kindly soup kitchen operator and professor of criminology Bela Lugosi uses his soup kitchen as a front for a criminal gang who commit a series of daring robberies and murders.

The biggest problem with this film, at least for me, is that it has fallen into public domain and nobody has come along to clean it up. I understand the process might be costly, and it would be a labor of love because this film will never be a big seller. But that is what it needs. The acting is solid, the plot is strong... it just looks like a 1920s rather than 1940s film, and that is a travesty.

Bela Lugosi made some stinkers in his day, but this is not one of them. Although I only gave the film an "average" score, I could bump it up a bit if the film was properly restored to full glory. Have a film historian or Lugosi biographer do a commentary track on top of it, and you would have a decent disc. Just saying.