''Black Dragons'' is a 1942 American film directed by
William Nigh
William Nigh (October 12, 1881 – November 27, 1955) was an American film director, writer, and actor. His film work sometimes lists him as either "Will Nigh" or "William Nye".
Biography
Nigh was born Emil Kreuske''Silent Film Necrology'' ...
and starring
Bela Lugosi
Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó (; October 20, 1882 – August 16, 1956), known professionally as Bela Lugosi (; ), was a Hungarian and American actor best remembered for portraying Count Dracula in the 1931 horror classic ''Dracula'', Ygor in ''S ...
,
Joan Barclay, and George Pembroke. The cast includes
Clayton Moore, who plays a handsome detective. The
Black Dragon Society also appears in ''
Let's Get Tough!'' a 1942
East Side Kids film made by the same team of writer
Harvey Gates and producer
Sam Katzman
Sam Katzman (July 7, 1901 – August 4, 1973) was an American film producer and director. Katzman produced low-budget genre films, including serials, which had disproportionately high returns for the studios and his financial backers.
E ...
.
Plot
It is prior to the American entry into World War II, and Japan's fiendish
Black Dragon Society is hatching an evil plot with the
Nazis
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...
. They instruct a brilliant scientist, Dr. Melcher, to travel to Japan on a secret mission. There he operates on six Japanese conspirators, transforming them to resemble six American leaders. The actual leaders are murdered and replaced with their likenesses. Dr. Melcher is condemned to a lifetime of imprisonment so the secret may die with him.
Cast
*
Bela Lugosi
Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó (; October 20, 1882 – August 16, 1956), known professionally as Bela Lugosi (; ), was a Hungarian and American actor best remembered for portraying Count Dracula in the 1931 horror classic ''Dracula'', Ygor in ''S ...
as Dr. Melcher aka Monsieur Colomb / Cell Prisoner
*
Joan Barclay as Alice Saunders
*George Pembroke as Dr. Bill Saunders
*
Clayton Moore as Dick Martin
*
Robert Frazer as Amos Hanlin
*
Edward Peil, Sr. as Philip Wallace (credited as Edward Piel Sr.)
*
Robert Fiske as Ryder
*Irving Mitchell as John Van Dyke
*
Kenneth Harlan
Kenneth Daniel Harlan (July 26, 1895 – March 6, 1967) was an American actor of the silent film era, playing mostly romantic leads or adventurer types.
Early life
Harlan was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of George W. Harlan and ac ...
as FBI Chief Colton
*Max Hoffman Jr. as Kearney
*Frank Melton as FBI Agent
*Joseph Eggenton as Stevens
*
I. Stanford Jolley as The Dragon (credited as Stanford Jolley)
*
Jack Cheatham
John Preston Cheatham (December 28, 1894 – March 30, 1971) was an American character actor of the 1930s and 1940s. During his career he appeared in almost 200 films, with 100 of them being features.
Life and career
Born John Preston Cheat ...
as Policeman (uncredited)
*Jack Chefe as Hotel Clerk (uncredited)
*
Bernard Gorcey
Bernard Gorcey (9 January 1886 – 11 September 1955) was a Russian-born American actor. He began in Vaudeville, performed on Broadway, and appeared in multiple shorts and films. He portrayed ice cream shop proprietor Louie Dumbrowski in ...
as The Cabbie (uncredited)
*Jack Holmes as Industrialist (uncredited)
*
Ethelreda Leopold
Ethelreda Leopold (July 2, 1914January 26, 1998) was an American film actress. She appeared credited in approximately 65 films between 1934 and 1972. She also appeared in commercials.
Leopold is familiar to modern viewers for her roles in seve ...
as Girl at Party (uncredited)
*Carl M. Leviness as Industrialist (uncredited)
Production
The film was rushed into production following the
attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...
. It was to begin filming on 17 January 1942 but this was pushed back until 21 January. The original working title was ''The Yellow Menace''.
[Gary John Rhodes, ''Lugosi: His Life in Films, on Stage, and in the Hearts of Horror Lovers'' p 123](_blank)
/ref>
Release
The film was released in Los Angeles on the double bill with the Australian film '' Pituri'' (also known as '' Uncivilised'').
The ''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' said that "those who love their mystery and their Lugosi will find this film unusually sinister."
The film was colorized in the 1990s.
See also
*Black Dragons (gang)
The Black Dragons (traditional Chinese: 黑龍) is a Chinese-American criminal organization and street gang that was formed in 1980 by Chinese immigrants in Lincoln Heights, Los Angeles, California. It was started by a group of young men who bo ...
, a modern Triad organisation.
* Black Dragons (subculture), a French antifascist
Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were ...
group analogous to the Black Panthers
The Black Panther Party (BPP), originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, was a Marxism-Leninism, Marxist-Leninist and Black Power movement, black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. New ...
.
References
External links
*
*
*
*
Review of film
at Variety
{{Sam Katzman
1942 films
1940s spy films
American black-and-white films
1940s English-language films
Mad scientist films
American spy films
American World War II propaganda films
1940s science fiction films
Films directed by William Nigh
Monogram Pictures films