''The Mad Monster'' is a 1942 American black and white horror film, produced and distributed by "

Poverty Row Poverty Row is a slang term used to refer to Hollywood films produced from the 1920s to the 1950s by small (and mostly short-lived) B movie studios. Although many of them were based on (or near) today's Gower Street in Hollywood, the term did ...

" studio

Producers Releasing Corporation Producers Releasing Corporation was the smallest and least prestigious of the Hollywood film studios of the 1940s. It was considered a prime example of what was called "Poverty Row": a low-rent stretch of Gower Street in Hollywood where shoest ...

. The melodrama was produced by

Sigmund Neufeld Sigmund Neufeld (May 3, 1896 – March 21, 1979) was an American B movie producer. He spent many years at Poverty Row studio Producers Releasing Corporation where he mainly produced films directed by his brother Sam Newfield. When PRC was taken o ...

, directed by Sam Newfield, written by

Fred Myton Fred Myton (November 15, 1885 – June 6, 1955) was an American screenwriter. He wrote 168 films between 1916 and 1952, mostly low-budget "B" pictures for Poverty Row studios and independent producers. He wrote many films for Producers Re ...

, and stars George Zucco, Glenn Strange,

Johnny Downs John Morey Downs (October 10, 1913 – June 6, 1994) was an American child actor, singer, and dancer. He began his career as a child actor, most notably playing Johnny in the ''Our Gang'' short series from 1923 to 1926. He remained active ...

, and

Anne Nagel Anne Nagel (born Anna Marie Dolan; September 29, 1915 – July 6, 1966) was an American actress. She played in adventures, mysteries, and comedies for 25 years. She also appeared in television series in the 1950s. One book described her as "one ...

. The film's storyline concerns a discredited

mad scientist The mad scientist (also mad doctor or mad professor) is a stock character of a scientist who is perceived as " mad, bad and dangerous to know" or " insane" owing to a combination of unusual or unsettling personality traits and the unabashedly a ...

who plots to kill his colleagues one-by-one using a secret formula that transforms his simple-minded gardener into a murderous

wolfman In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (; ; uk, Вовкулака, Vovkulaka), is an individual that can shapeshift into a wolf (or, especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature), either purposely o ...

Plot

On a fog-bound moonlight night, a wolf howls in a swamp. In his nearby laboratory, Dr. Lorenzo Cameron (George Zucco) draws blood from a caged wolf. Secured to a table is Dr. Cameron's simpleminded but strong gardener, Petro (Glenn Strange), who is to be the subject of the doctor's experiment. Cameron injects a serum made from a wolf's blood into the cooperative Petro, who loses consciousness, grows fur and fangs, and awakens after he has transformed into a wolfman. Cameron turns to an empty table, visualizing his former colleagues sitting there: The four professors dismissed his theory that wolf blood transfusions could be used to give a human being wolf-like traits. He recalls how the scientific community, the press, and the public joined in a resounding chorus of ridicule that finally cost him his position at the university. Addressing the four spectral professors, Cameron declares, "Right now, we're at war, at war with an enemy that produces a horde that strikes with a ferocious fanaticism". Cameron proposes giving wolfman traits to soldiers in order to help win the war. When the professors scoff, Cameron says to them that his proposal doesn't really matter; he is going to have his wolfman kill them one-by-one. For the time being, however, he administers an antidote that transforms Petro back to normal; Petro remembers nothing. The following night, Cameron injects Petro again and sends him into the swamp. As a wolfman, he enters a nearby home and kills a little girl. Hearing about the child's death, Cameron knows his formulation works. Now he can proceed to eliminate his former colleagues. He begins by setting up elaborate encounters in which Petro, left alone with each scientist, makes his wolfman transformation. The more times this happens, however, the more unpredictable Petro becomes while killing them. Cameron's daughter Lenora (Anne Nagel) is romantically involved with Tom Gregory (Johnny Downs), a newspaper reporter investigating the death of the little girl. As the professors are killed, Gregory begins to suspect that Cameron is behind the murders. The principals arrive at the Cameron home as a large thunderstorm begins. A bolt of lightning suddenly strikes, setting Cameron's laboratory on fire. Lenora and Tom are able escape from the spreading fire after first encountering an agitated Petro, now in his wolfman form. The transformed Petro suddenly turns on Cameron and kills him, as the raging fire brings down the house on both of them.

Cast

* George Zucco as Dr. Lorenzo Cameron *

as Tom Gregory * Glenn Strange as Petro *

as Lenora Cameron With: *

Gordon De Main Gordon De Main (born Floyd Wood; September 28, 1886 – March 5, 1954)''Who Was Who on Screen'', p. 119 c.1977 by Evelyn Mack Truitt *note his publication claims his date of birth as 1897-March 5, 1967/ref> was an American film actor. He ...

as Prof. Fitzgerald *

Reginald Barlow Reginald Harry Barlow (June 17, 1866 – July 6, 1943) was an American stage and screen character actor, author, and film director. He was a busy performer in Hollywood films of the 1930s. Early life A native of Cambridge, Massachusetts ...

as Prof. Warwick * Robert Strange as Prof. Blaine * John Elliott as Prof. Hatfield * Sarah Padden as The Grandmother *

Ed Cassidy Edward Claude Cassidy (May 4, 1923 – December 6, 2012) was an American jazz and rock drummer who was one of the founders of the rock group Spirit in 1967. Biography Ed Cassidy was born in Harvey, Illinois, a south suburb of Chicago on May 4 ...

as The Father *

Mae Busch Mae Busch (born Annie May Busch; 18 June 1891 – 20 April 1946) was an Australian-born actress who worked in both silent and sound films in early Hollywood. In the latter part of her career she appeared in many Laurel and Hardy comedies, frequ ...

as The Mother * Henry Hall as Community Doctor * Slim Whitaker as Officer Dugan * Gil Patric as Detective Lieutenant

Production

Filming began March 19, 1942 and took five days to complete.

Reception

The film was re-released by PRC in 1945 as a double feature with ''

The Devil Bat ''The Devil Bat'' is a 1940 black-and-white American horror/howcatchem film produced by Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC) and directed by Jean Yarborough. The film stars Bela Lugosi along with Suzanne Kaaren, Guy Usher, Yolande Mallott and ...

''. According to British film historian

Phil Hardy Philip Hardy (born 9 April 1973) is an English-born former Ireland under-21 footballer who played as a left-back. With Welsh club Wrexham from 1990 to 2001, he played more than 450 games under manager Brian Flynn. He was named on the PFA ...

, the film "shocked the British censor enough to ban it until 1952, and even then to insist that it should be accompanied by a disclaimer on the matter of blood transfusions". Author Tom Weaver described the basic story as "a combination of '' The Wolf Man'' and PRC's own ''

'' with Zucco subbing for Lugosi as the wacky doctor ... one of those uniquely bad films that is difficult to dislike".Tom Weaver, ''Poverty Row Horrors'' p 82 In 1989, the film was featured in the third episode of the first season of '' Mystery Science Theater 3000''.

References

*''The Mad Monster'' DVD *Rovin, Jeff (1989). ''The Encyclopedia of Monsters''. New York: Facts on File. *Skal, David J. (2001). ''The Monster Show: A Cultural History of Horror''. New York: Faber and Faber, revised edition.

External links

* *
''The Mad Monster'' Review

Mystery Science Theater 3000

*
Episode guide: 103- The Mad Monster (with short: Radar Men from the Moon, episode 2: Molten Terror)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mad Monster, The 1942 horror films 1942 films American black-and-white films Mad scientist films Producers Releasing Corporation films 1940s science fiction horror films American werewolf films Films directed by Sam Newfield American science fiction horror films American films about revenge American exploitation films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films