"The Undying Monster" was an attempt by Darryl F. Zanuck to replicate the success that Universal Studios was having with horror movies for his studio 20th Century Fox. What we get here is a sort of horror/mystery mix with a tip of the hat to Sherlock Holmes and "The Hound of the Baskervilles".
The story surrounds the Hammond family who have lived in a drafty old house for centuries just outside of London England. The current owners are a brother, Oliver Hammond (John Howard) and his sister Helga (Heather Angel). Also in residence are a creepy old butler Walton (Halliwell Hobbes) and his sinister wife (Elly Malyon). It seems that a family curse has befallen the Hammonds once again.
When Oliver and a local girl are found savagely attacked in the foggy old moors, fear spreads throughout the house. When the girl dies a murder investigation is begun by Scotland Yard. Heading up the investigation are the Holmes/Watson like team of Bob Curtis (James Ellison) and his assistant "Christy" (Heather Thatcher). The family doctor, Doctor Jeff Colbert (Bramwell Fletcher) seems to know more than he is telling and the Waltons are lurking about in the shadows.
I don't think I'm giving too much away when I say that the culprit turns out to be a werewolf whose identity is not revealed until the end.
The film was directed by John Brahm a German who fled his country in the 1930s and had made mostly "B" movies (of which this is one) to date. He injects mystery and horror into his "B" budget in an imaginative way both through his direction and the atmospheric photography of no less than the legendary Lucien Ballard. I was disappointed though at a couple of tacky rear projection shots involving characters riding in a coach.
It's odd that everyone in the cast has a British accent except for the "star" James Ellison. Ellison had recently graduated from being second banana to Hopalong Cassidy but never progressed beyond a "B" picture leading man. Heather Angel and John Howard had starred together in the "Bulldog Drummond" series from 1937 to 1939. And yes that was Charles McGraw playing Studwick who battles Curtis in the basement tombs.
Brahm would soon be rewarded for his efforts with a pair of "A" budget films with "A" list casts in "The Lodger" (1944) and "Hangover Square" (1945) both starring Laird Cregar.
The story surrounds the Hammond family who have lived in a drafty old house for centuries just outside of London England. The current owners are a brother, Oliver Hammond (John Howard) and his sister Helga (Heather Angel). Also in residence are a creepy old butler Walton (Halliwell Hobbes) and his sinister wife (Elly Malyon). It seems that a family curse has befallen the Hammonds once again.
When Oliver and a local girl are found savagely attacked in the foggy old moors, fear spreads throughout the house. When the girl dies a murder investigation is begun by Scotland Yard. Heading up the investigation are the Holmes/Watson like team of Bob Curtis (James Ellison) and his assistant "Christy" (Heather Thatcher). The family doctor, Doctor Jeff Colbert (Bramwell Fletcher) seems to know more than he is telling and the Waltons are lurking about in the shadows.
I don't think I'm giving too much away when I say that the culprit turns out to be a werewolf whose identity is not revealed until the end.
The film was directed by John Brahm a German who fled his country in the 1930s and had made mostly "B" movies (of which this is one) to date. He injects mystery and horror into his "B" budget in an imaginative way both through his direction and the atmospheric photography of no less than the legendary Lucien Ballard. I was disappointed though at a couple of tacky rear projection shots involving characters riding in a coach.
It's odd that everyone in the cast has a British accent except for the "star" James Ellison. Ellison had recently graduated from being second banana to Hopalong Cassidy but never progressed beyond a "B" picture leading man. Heather Angel and John Howard had starred together in the "Bulldog Drummond" series from 1937 to 1939. And yes that was Charles McGraw playing Studwick who battles Curtis in the basement tombs.
Brahm would soon be rewarded for his efforts with a pair of "A" budget films with "A" list casts in "The Lodger" (1944) and "Hangover Square" (1945) both starring Laird Cregar.