Phantom Killer (1942)

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

This independent B film which had a few familiar faces in the cast had some interesting elements, but in the end doesn't quite make it. John Hamilton known better to early television fans as Perry White in the Superman series is a well known philanthropist who is seen at the scene of several murders of other people in the financial field. But he's got a nice alibi. Every time one of those murders takes place Hamilton is also seen at some public event.Nevertheless and I think rather stupidly ace prosecutor Dick Purcell proceeds with an indictment against him with only janitor Mantan Moreland as a witness to Hamilton at the scene of a murder. No way in real life or on Law And Order would Purcell take such a flimsy case to trial.But even when he loses Purcell continues on with the investigation even with his girlfriend, reporter Joan Woodbury giving him the horse laugh.This film had some potential to be better than it was. But there were too many loose ends in the plot and bizarre behavior by some of the characters in the story line of Phantom Killer.However Mantan Moreland on the witness stand is hilarious. Would that the rest of Phantom Killer was as good.

Racist overtones aside, there is a lot to recommend in this remake of The Sphinx where horror icon Lionel Atwill played a dual role, one a killer, the other his alibi. To prove you can't be two places at once, a deaf and mute philanthropist is off doing good deeds while the other is on nefarious sprees. The outcome is obvious but the method of revelation is what makes it more fun and intriguing. Replacing Atwill is an obscure actor named John Hamilton, a George Zucco look-alike who lacks the sinister image of both Atwill and Zucco. B fan favorite Joan Woodburry is the feisty reporter who fights for her belief in Hamilton's innocence while Dick Purcell is the detective trying to prove just the opposite. On the right side of the law are J. Farrell MacDonald and Warren Hymer, still typecast as a buffoon.There's racial overtones concerning the cowardly black porter played by Mantan Moreland who first encounters Hamilton then runs to his gin stash upon discovering the film's first corpse. Director William Beaudine speeds up the plot by instilling lots of humor, particularly a sequence with Hymer on the phone with his nagging wife who squeals like an old record on the wrong speed while Hymer hides the phone in a desk drawer. Like other Monogram remakes of their earlier films, this is even better than the original. It is pure entertainment without pretension made during the war ear that needed diversions like this.

This is not great film art. However, I found it fun. It does its job: It is breezy at times. It has romantic elements between Joan Woodbury and Dick Purcell. And it is frightening: The central concept, that a man who can neither hear nor speak and is never at the scene of the crime is a ruthless killer, has a nightmarish quality.Ms. Woodbury gets several costume changes. They aren't always logical. She plays an ambitious newspaper reporter. In one sequence, we find her interviewing a central character while wearing an evening gown! (Yes, it's in the daytime.) Discovering films from Monogram is generally fun. Sometimes they don't pan out. This one, whether or not it is a remake of "The Sphinx," does. It held my attention without fail.

Remake of the Linoel Atwill thriller the Sphinx has been rethought so its now a jokey romance between an Assistant District Attorney and a reporter. Its not bad, but where the original was a creepy thriller, this is too light to be truly gripping, especially if you've seen the original.The plot has ADA Dick Purcell investigating the murder of a wealthy individual. The one suspect, a known deaf mute played by John Hamilton was seen to talk by a janitor (Montan Moreland) at the crime scene, while he was seen by dozens of witnesses, including the reporter, at a dedication ceremony. The solution here is so clumsy as to be obvious well before its revealed making the film unexciting. The result is we're left with the not a great deal to hold our interest, and the feeling that once again a very good original should not have been remade.