Monogram Double Feature by Dave Goode

 

To most fans of cinema psychotronica the movies that Bela Lugosi starred in at Monogram during the 1940s for producer Sam Katzman are referred to as the Katzman 9. They were previously referred to as the Monogram 9 until someone pointed out that Lugosi made The Mysterious Mr.Wong for Monogram in 1934. And that mystery flick in which Bela plays a Fu Manchu type criminal mastermind wasn't produced by Katzman. Of the Katzman 9 two of my favorites were the East Side Kids comedies Spooks Run Wild (1941) and Ghosts On The Loose (1943). Both featuring Lugosi.

 

If you ever wondered what an East Side Kids movie made by Ed Wood would like check out Spooks Run Wild. I say that as a good thing. A lot of Wood's movies were entertaining with good stories. It's in their execution that they fall short. This flick falls into the haunted house movie genre with the Kids bringing their own brand of slapstick humor to the proceedings. There are some pretty good visual gags in it. And overall it's a good lampoon of the horror film genre.

My favorite East Side Kids movie was Let's Get Tough (1942) in which the gang take on a group of Japanese spies. In Ghosts On The Loose they take on Nazi spies led by Lugosi. Not quite as much fun as Spooks Run Wild this one is also a haunted house mystery. But it's most famous for featuring Ava Gardner as the ingenue and a scene between Bela Lugosi and "Sunshine" Sammy Morrison in which Bela ad-libs a four letter word that director William "One-Shot" Beaudine saw no need to re-shoot.

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