murder by television

1935



One of Bela Lugosi's least remembered films, this ultra low-budget whodunit with science fiction overtones features the murder of a professor who had recently perfected the new invention of television. Suspects are plentiful and include Bela Lugosi's rivaling academician Dr. Perry. Alas, the good doctor proves yet another Red Herring and is soon enough found stabbed to death himself. Or is he? Produced by perhaps Hollywood's cheapest entrepreneur, William Pizor, Murder by Television was filmed at the low-rent Talisman Studios.

spooks run wild

1941



Since the series inception in 1940, the East Side Kids films had been, for the most part, a well balanced mix between comedy, drama, and social relevance. Following Huntz Hall's introduction into the series with 1941's Bowery Blitzkrieg, which made famous the Gorcey/Hall banter, producer Sam Katzman decided that the seventh film in the series would not only be a change of pace, but, would also be one of the biggest East Side Kids productions to date.



With that in mind, Katzman enlisted the screen writing team of Carl Foreman and Charles R. Marion to pen the screenplay, which would feature Monogram's two most popular draws for the first time together on screen: Bela Lugosi and the East Side Kids.

This film is available online as a free download.

white zombie

1932



This an atmospheric, quiet, and dark zombie film. These are zombies in the traditional Haitian definition, slaves who were drugged to near death, not flesh eating dead people.



The plot concerns a young couple who fall under the sinister influence of voodoo master Murder Legendre, played by a still vital Bela Lugosi. Unlike later work by Lugosi the cheese factor is pretty low in this one, aside from the male lead's hammy overacting. This film is available online as a free download.