The Dark Eyes of London - aka The Human Monster, aka The Dead Eyes of London - is an excellent little chiller, based on a novel by Edgar Wallace and featuring an on-form Bela Lugosi at the top of his ghoulish game. This is a densely-plotted little production that sees the police investigating a string of inexplicable murders in which the bodies are washed up at the shore of the Thames.Their findings lead them to both an institute for the blind as well as the business of one Dr Orloff (yep, like in the Jess Franco films) who works in life insurance. Hugh Williams makes for a rather staid hero, but Norwegian actress Greta Gynt is lovely in support as the woman drawn into the case, and Edmon Ryan brings excellent comic relief as the wisecracking American cop drafted in to help out.This murky thriller features plenty of plot strands packed into a short running time. It's filled with atmosphere and great scenes of murder and mayhem, most of them committed by an excellently made-up actor who lurches from one sinister scene to the next. Lugosi is clearly having a ball and as a whole The Dead Eyes of London is demented fun. The only problem with it is that all of the prints are of a very poor, public domain-style quality; we can only dream of seeing this one crisply remastered!

Over in the United Kingdom what we call B Pictures, they call quota quickies and this film The Human Monster was such a film. It even got its American release from Monogram Pictures which did nothing else.This should have been better being based on a story by the great British pulp fiction writer Edgar Wallace who was their Mickey Spillane. Bela Lugosi plays a man with two identities, insurance writer who writes policies for men without families and then has them killed with himself as beneficiary. Who's doing the killing is some hideous disfigured man who resides in a home for the blind and who does the bidding of the head of the home who happens to be Bela Lugosi in his other identity.Bela slips up because one of his insureds turns out to have a daughter played by Greta Gynt who wants answers. Scotland Yard Inspector Hugh Williams is on the case and he has an American partner Edmon Ryan over here on exchange from the Chicago PD.That theme has been used many times, coming to mind is John Wayne in one of his later films Brannigan and the TV series Dempsey&Makepeace from the 80s. Williams disdains the third degree methods used in America and tells Ryan in no uncertain terms. Actually the British police methods can get physical at times.Better production values would have made this a better film.

Bodies are turning up in the Thames and the culprit could be the owner of an Insurance company, Dr. Orloff(Bela Lugosi), killing his clients for their claims, with Scotland yard investigator, Larry Holt(Hugh Williams) and visiting Chicago cop Patrick O'Reilly(Edmon Ryan) interested in finding the one responsible for the murders. Orloff uses phony names as beneficiaries for his clients, pocketing their money once they wash ashore dead. Orloff was forbidden to practice medicine and is more than a bit sore about it. He runs a charitable institution for the blind which is a front for his underhanded activities as a swindler, using a monstrous brute named Jake(Wilfred Walter, wearing protruding teeth to add a ghastly look, effectively making him quite menacing) to kill clients, dumping the bodies in the Thames. It's only a matter of time before his forgeries of signatures regarding fake beneficiaries is uncovered. The latest victim's daughter, Diana Stuart(Greta Gynt)wants to help capture the man who murdered her father. Such clues as tap water discovered in the lungs, and a note with braille writing(both of Diana's father) could be the break the police need to crack the case. There's a slick twist involving a Mr. Deerborne, the man who runs the institute for the blind(he himself seems to be blind as well)and Lugosi is as diabolical as ever. There's a particular scene which highlights how purely evil and insane Lugosi's madman really is as he drowns a blind violinist, Lou(Arthur E Owen) who was the cause of the braille note being found on the corpse of client Henry Stuart(Gerald Pring), laughing maniacally as he tosses him into the Thames. This very well can lead to his downfall, however, as Jake loved Lou and doesn't respond well when Diana tells him(saving her own skin in the process)of what Orloff did to him. Story-driven, THE DARK EYES OF London might be too slow for some, but Lugosi fans I imagine will find it satisfying. Being an Edgar Wallace thriller starring Lugosi might add interest. I consider this one of Lugosi's more underrated films and in the public domain I certainly recommend checking it out.

As if the English didn't have enough on their plates in 1939 what with war breaking out and all they had to sit through this piece of cheese which gives the word 'dire' a whole new dimension. It boasts a minor distinction in being the first film to be awarded the brand new certificate 'H' (for Horror) which lasted a tad over ten years when it was replaced by 'X' which took in more territory. Bela Lugosi was imported from Hollywood at great expense - a pack of gum rather than a single stick - and he plays ALL of Dr Orloff and not just his hands, a scammer who loans money to single men with no dependents who then take out life insurance making him the beneficiary. Attenpting to catch him is intrepid detective Larry Holt of 'the yard', played by Hugh Williams and within minutes we have our love interest in the shape of Greta Gynt, daughter of Orloff's latest victim who has conveniently been in the USA and just as conveniently returned in time to identify the body. It's one of those movies where everything is telegraphed five minutes before it happens. You want my advice: Check out The Hands of Orloff instead.