Maybe it’s because I just watched a ratty old print of The Mad Monster (1942) on YouTube and a crisp new transfer of The Mad Ghoul (1943) on Blu-ray, but I enjoyed the latter… a lot. One of the “lesser” films among the Universal Horror Collections, I liked it better than some of the sequels to the “big ones.”
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The plot is more complicated than most movies of its kind and complete explanations are sacrificed for the running time. All you need to know, though, is that Dr. Alfred Morris, the rarely first-billed George Zucco, is performing ethically questionable experiments and, lacking only the human trials, hoodwinks student Ted Allison, the top-billed David Bruce, into becoming his subject.
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This in essence turns Ted into an undead “ghoul,” but it’s only temporary. Dr. Morris is a chemist, not a surgeon, but can command Ted to remove the hearts of the recently expired so that Dr. Morris can bring Ted back to life. One my unanswered questions regards the practical application of such achievements.
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Layered on top is a love… quadrangle? Ted is engaged to singer Isabel Lewis (Evelyn Ankers), but she’s fallen out of love with him and is “dating” her accompanist, Eric Iverson (Turhan Bey.) When she confides in Dr. Morris, he thinks she’s talking about him, not Eric, and will take deadly measures to ensure both Ted and Eric are removed from the equation.
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Layered on top of that is the mystery surrounding the series of grave desecrations (with only the hearts of the deceased removed) that geographically follows Isabel’s concert tour. Detective Macklin (Milburn Stone) gives reporter Ken McClure (Robert Armstrong) an expense account so he can assist.
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Besides the fact that all these thrills and chills are packed into 65 minutes, I really liked the makeup used to turn David Bruce into a convincing Ted-“ghoul.” He looks like Steven Weber (The Shining, 1997) after a rough night. It’s one special effect I could probably perform myself; simple but effective.
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Somehow, with everything happening in The Mad Ghoul, there are still a couple times that the action comes to a standstill as we listen to Isabel’s performances. It’s an odd contradiction considering this is a movie where some of the story is revealed in those wonderful newspaper headlines that advance the narrative.
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