BLACK DRAGONS (1942)

We see a group of businessmen meeting at the home of Dr. Saunders, discussing what seem to be business matters. But we soon realize that this is a group of fifth columnists, Americans who are secretly in league with the Japanese and are behind a string of events (explosions, strikes) designed to hurt America if it enters the war against the Axis. Later in the evening, a mysterious man named Columb (Bela Lugosi) arrives, claiming to be very ill and needing to see Dr. Saunders. After a quick consultation, Saunders, almost as if in a trance, dismisses his friends and implies that Columb will be staying at the house for a while. One of the men, Kearney, gets in a cab and is surprised by the presence of Columb, who calls him by a Japanese name. The next time we see Kearney, he is dead on the steps of the Japanese embassy with a Japanese dagger clutched in his hand. Detective Dick Martin (Clayton Moore) traces Kearney back to Saunders' home and meets his visiting niece Alice (Joan Barclay) who has been away for several years. Both are concerned when Columb tells them that the doctor has fallen ill and can see no one, though he communicates with them through his bedroom door--where we can see that Columb is controlling him. One by one, each of the businessmen at that meeting is killed by Columb, found with the same kind of dagger. When only one, Hanlin, is left, he gets a note saying, "The others are expecting you before midnight." The cops, who have no reason to suspect Columb, use Hanlin as bait at Saunders' home. Will Columb get caught? Will we find out his motive?

This B-movie from Monogram is one of the first films put into production after Pearl Harbor, and it's an uncomfortable mix of thriller and wartime propaganda. The idea has promise but the script is a mess. It wasn't clear to me when the film takes place. An opening headline refers to the Japanese bombing of Honolulu during peace talks, an event that, as far as I know, never took place. But the Japanese are definitely the villains here, so I just settled into assuming this was a post-Pearl Harbor narrative. (Actually, I suspect that the original script was not tied to the war, but changes were made along the way that weren't fully thought through.) There are mystery elements in the film, but we know from the beginning that Lugosi is the killer, so the mystery isn't who but why. The far-fetched solution is kept from us until the last fifteen minutes and when it comes, it isn’t very logical--most reviews give away the ending, partly because it is so bizarre, but I won't here. The cheap production values keep everything happening on just a couple of claustrophobic-feeling sets, though the acting is a notch above Ed Wood's repertory company--though to be fair, not much is demanded of the actors. Even Lugosi, usually all-in for even the cheapest affairs, seems a little low-energy here. Clayton Moore, later TV's Lone Ranger, is a lead with little to do, and a romance that seems to be simmering with Joan Barclay goes nowhere. (Oddly, there are hints that Joan is flirting with Bela, something that is sort of explained near the end.)

But for all those negatives, I still had some fun watching this. Suspense is built well regarding Lugosi's motive, and when it's revealed, it’s jaw-droppingly weird, especially since many narrative details remain murky. I can imagine some critic trying to make the case, as has been done for Edgar G. Ulmer's Poverty Row classic Detour, that its lapses in logic and story are deliberately ambiguous, but that's a stretch. It was shot in January 1942 and released in March in an effort to seem timely, so the sloppiness is certainly par for the course for a B-studio rushing its product out. Still, the movie's very oddness and tacked-together feel are pluses for us B-movie fans. The phrase "No one is who they seem" applies in spades to this, and there is fun to be had in finding out who everyone actually is. Pictured are Barclay, Moore and Lugosi. [Amazon Prime]