The Mad Ghoul

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The Mad Ghoul
Film poster
Directed byJames Hogan
Screenplay by
Story by
Hans Kraly
Starring
Cinematography
Universal Pictures Company, Inc.[2]
Distributed byUniversal Pictures Company, Inc.
Release date
  • 12 November 1943 (1943-11-12)
Running time
65 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States[2]
LanguageEnglish[2]

The Mad Ghoul is a 1943 American horror film directed by James Hogan and starring Turhan Bey, Evelyn Ankers, and David Bruce, and featuring George Zucco, Robert Armstrong, and Milburn Stone. The film is about the scientist Dr. Alfred Morris and his assistant Ted Allison. Morris, who is obsessed with an ancient Mayan life-preserving process to the point of madness, has fallen in love with Allison's girlfriend, the concert singer Isabel Lewis. Morris decides to use Allison for his eternal-life experiments, transforming him into a zombie who slowly recalls his past life, but is unaware of his undead status.

The Mad Ghoul was developed at

Universal Pictures
in February 1943 under the title The Mystery of the Mad Ghoul. Filming was completed in May for a release on November 12 the same year.

Plot

Dr. Alfred Morris is curious about the effects of an ancient nerve gas, used by the

Mayans during rituals of human dissection
to appease their gods. He takes medical student Ted Allison under his wing to assist him with his experiments in using the gas on modern animals. Despite Ted's enthusiasm for the success of their effort to revive Morris's dead monkey Choco (who was earlier exposed to the gas and died) by using a fluid from the heart of another creature, Ted also has on his mind his girlfriend Isabel Lewis, of whom Morris has also become enamored.

Later, on the night of the duo's first experiment, Ted brings Isabel to Morris's house, where Morris notices Isabel's discomfort about her relationship with Ted. He confers with Isabel, saying that she does indeed need a man more involved with her love of music, secretly meaning himself. Isabel, however, is afraid of hurting Ted's feelings and getting him to understand what she wants, but Morris promises to take care of the situation himself. Unbeknownst to Isabel, Morris's evil plan involves destroying Ted by exposing him to the lethal Mayan gas the next day, and in effect, making him a mindless ghoul who, like Choco, must continually rely on the fluid of human hearts to survive (obtained by performing cardioectomies on freshly dead persons). This sets Ted and Morris on a grave-robbing spree through several towns where Isabel is also performing on her tour. Morris tries to get Ted to return home, but Ted is committed to being with Isabel whenever possible, whenever he is not in his unknowing ghoulish state. But, when Ted does become a ghoul again, Morris once more uses him to try to kill off the one person Isabel truly seems to love—Eric Iverson, her partner and pianist. Although his attempt is unsuccessful, Ted is able to obtain another heart, keeping himself alive.

Eventually the police, aided by ace reporter "Scoop" McClure, realize that the mysterious "ghoul"-style killings are on the same route of Isabel's tour. McClure tries to set a trap in Scranton, the last city of Isabel's tour, by making it seem to the public that he is someone else who has recently died, and, by waiting in a coffin for the ghoul, nearly captures Ted and Morris once they arrive to perform another cardioectomy. However, Morris distracts McClure as Ted comes into view and kills him.

With Isabel back home, the police attempt to question her about why the killings were made in the same cities she performed in, but even though she claims to know nothing, she thinks for a moment how Ted and Dr. Morris are the only people associated with her that also have a knowledge of how to perform cardioectomies. She later performs for her home crowd, and Morris, in a last attempt to get Isabel for himself, sends Ted to kill "First Eric, then myself", as he constantly repeats under his spell. Before Ted becomes a ghoul, he is able to write a letter to Isabel that explains what happened to him and who did all of the killings. Plus, he exposes Morris to the gas just before he reverts to his ghoul state, and leaves to fulfill Morris's final bidding. Upon entering the stage where Isabel is, he is promptly dispatched by detectives, just as he is about to shoot Eric, who read the note to Isabel that Ted left in his hands. She and Eric hold each other, knowing that Ted always intended the best for them, and that Morris was behind all of the trouble with which Ted and many others were involved.

Morris, meanwhile, being drained of nearly all life by the gas, almost succeeds in getting fluid from another heart for himself, but fatally collapses by the grave he is digging up. In the end, words that Ted said earlier to Morris are repeated: "It's all over, Doctor. There's nothing left of it now but you, and me, and... death!"

Cast

Still with Evelyn Ankers, Turhan Bey, and David Bruce.

Cast is sourced from the book Universal Horrors.[1]

Production

The Mad Ghoul was developed to support

Hans Kraly.[1] It was developed under the title The Mystery of the Mad Ghoul.[2] The director assigned to the film was James Hogan who had just signed to Universal Studios in April after seven years working at Paramount.[3] He died of a heart attack on November 4, 1943, one week before The Mad Ghoul was released.[3]

Among the cast was

B pictures".[4] The film began shooting on May 13, 1943 and finished shooting before the end of May.[2] Initially, Universal had planned for Evelyn Ankers to perform her own songs in the film, but the idea was scrapped at the last moment.[4] Library recordings of Lillian Cornell singing were used as a replacement.[4]

Release

The Mad Ghoul was distributed theatrically by

Universal Pictuers Company on November 12, 1943.[1][2] On June 7, a film titled Chamber of Horrors was announced by The Hollywood Reporter, noting that the cast would include a cast of Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr., Bela Lugosi, Peter Lorre, Claude Rains, George Zucco and James Barton as well as including the characters The Invisible Man, The Mad Ghoul, The Mummy and "other assorted monsters".[5] Chambers of Horror never went into production.[5]

The film. (Public Domain)

It was released for the first time on

Scream! Factory's Universal Horror Collection Volume 2 on July 23, 2019.[7]

Reception

From contemporary reviews, Wanda Hale of

The Motion Picture Herald declared the film as "well done, but just that. Zucco's performance is the only one which will command audience attention".[8] Frank Quinn of the New York Daily Mirror found the film was a "reash of Frankenstein, while finding the film "interesting enough to whet the appetite".[4] John T. McManus declared that along with Captive Wild Woman, Son of Dracula and Phantom of the Opera were "unaccountable cinemisdeeds".[4] Bosley Crowther of The New York Times called The Mad Ghoul "definitely a second-rate ghoul. And if anyone is privileged enough to be crazy, it's us poor folks who have to look at such thing".[8]

From retrospective reviews, Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide awarded the film two and a half out of four stars, noting that the strong cast helped buoy the film's grim story.[9]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Weaver, Brunas & Brunas 2007, p. 373.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "The Mad Ghoul (1943)". American Film Institute. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d e Weaver, Brunas & Brunas 2007, p. 374.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Weaver, Brunas & Brunas 2007, p. 378.
  5. ^ a b Weaver, Brunas & Brunas 2007, p. 448.
  6. ^ "The Mad Ghoul (1943) - James Hogan". AllMovie. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
  7. Shout Factory
    . Retrieved June 7, 2020.
  8. ^ a b Weaver, Brunas & Brunas 2007, p. 379.
  9. ^ Maltin, Green & Edelman 2010, p. 401.

Sources

External links

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