''The Dark Eyes of London'' is a 1939

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

produced by

John Argyle John Argyle (1911–1962) was a British screenwriter, film producer, producer and film director. Selected filmography Director * ''The Last Tide'' (1931) * ''Paradise Alley (1931 film), Paradise Alley'' (1931) * ''The Final Reckoning (film), The ...

and directed by

Walter Summers Walter Summers (1892–1973) was a British film director and screenwriter. Biography Born in Barnstaple to a family of actors, British motion picture director Walter Summers began his career in the family trade; his first contact with filmmaki ...

, and starring

Béla 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 (1931 English-lan ...

Hugh Williams Hugh Anthony Glanmor Williams (6 March 1904 – 7 December 1969) was a British actor and dramatist of Welsh descent. Early life and career Hugh Anthony Glanmor Williams (nicknamed "Tam") was born at Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex to Hugh Dafydd Anth ...

, and

Greta Gynt Greta Gynt (born Margrethe Woxholt; 15 November 1916 – 2 April 2000) was a Norwegian dancer and actress. She is remembered for her starring roles in the British classic films '' The Dark Eyes of London'', ''Mr. Emmanuel'', ''Take My Life'', ''D ...

. The film is an adaptation of the 1924 novel of the same name by

Edgar Wallace Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace (1 April 1875 – 10 February 1932) was a British writer. Born into poverty as an illegitimate London child, Wallace left school at the age of 12. He joined the army at age 21 and was a war correspondent during th ...

. The film is about a scientist named Dr. Orloff who commits a series of murders for insurance money, while periodically disguising himself as the blind manager of a charity to further his scheme. It was released in November 1939 in Britain, where it became the first British film to receive the "H" rating meaning "Horrific for Public Exhibition" (persons aged 16 or above will only be admitted). It was released in the United States in 1940 by

Monogram Pictures Monogram Pictures Corporation was an American film studio that produced mostly low-budget films between 1931 and 1953, when the firm completed a transition to the name Allied Artists Pictures Corporation. Monogram was among the smaller studios i ...

under the title ''The Human Monster''.

Plot

In London, Dr. Orloff (

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 ...

) runs a life insurance agency where he loans money on his customers' policies.

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London's ...

begins finding bodies in the

Thames River The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

, all of them insured by Orloff with the Dearborn Home for the Blind as their sole beneficiary. This charity Home, which Orloff sponsors and serves as its medical advisor, is located in a dilapidated former warehouse abutting the Thames. One of the dead men has a daughter named Diane (

) for whom Orloff obtains employment at the Home as seeing-person secretary to the soft-spoken, also blind, Dearborn. Suspicions begin to arise surrounding Dearborn and Orloff in relation to the dead bodies, and it becomes clear to the audience that Dearborn is really Orloff, disguised as to both face and voice. After Diane finds one of her father's cufflinks at the Home, Orloff sends his henchman Jake (

Wilfred Walter Wilfred Walter (2 March 1882 in Ripon, West Riding of Yorkshire – 9 July 1958 in Ashtead, Surrey) was an English film and theatre actor, sometimes credited as Wilfrid Walter. He was born Franz Wilfrid Walter, son of the actor Richard Walter ...

), a deformed blind resident of the Home, to kill Diane who has found out too much about them but she eludes him with the help of the young police inspector on the case. Confronted by Diane, Dearborn removes his disguise to show himself as Orloff. He carries her to the warehouse's loft, where he has been killing his victims by dumping them into a vat of river water charged with electricity. He puts her in a strait-jacket and calls for Jake to finish the job of killing her in like manner. Jake refuses as he has found out that Orloff has sadistically deafened his one friend, also blind, before killing him. Jake turns on Orloff, Orloff shoots Jake, but Jake perseveres, captures Orloff and throws him out of a loading door, to sink into the river mud-flats below. The inspector breaks in and frees Diane as Jake dies of his wounds.

Cast

Production

Production began on ''The Dark Eyes of London'' in 1938. Actor

sailed to England to star in the film's

dual role A dual role (also known as a double role) refers to one actor playing two roles in a single production. Dual roles (or a larger number of roles for an actor) may be deliberately written into a script, or may instead be a choice made during produc ...

of Dr. Orloff and Professor Dearborn (the original novel has two Orloff characters but the film's script combined them into one). When portraying the role of Dearborn, Lugosi's voice is dubbed by

O. B. Clarence Oliver Burchett Clarence (25 March 1870, Hampstead, London – 2 October 1955, Hove, Sussex) was an English actor. Following his education at Dover College and University College Hospital, he made his stage debut in 1890. His experience includ ...

. It was made at

Welwyn Studios Welwyn Studios was a British film studio located at Broadwater Road, Welwyn Garden City, in Hertfordshire. The facility operated between 1928 and 1950. The studios were first constructed by British Instructional Films, and converted to make s ...

with sets designed by the

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

Duncan Sutherland Duncan Sutherland (1 August 1905 – 1967) was a Scottish-born art director, based in England where he designed the sets for over eighty films and television series between the early 1930s and mid-1960s. Sutherland spent much of the 1940s employ ...

. The day after Lugosi arrived on set, shooting began and lasted 11 days. Production ended on the film in 1939. The final scene involving Orloff's demise was difficult to film. A seven-foot-deep tank was filled with a concoction to resemble river mud. A member of the crew was lowered into the mess with a chain that allowed him to escape easily if he were sucked under. It is intercut with a shot of Lugosi's head sinking, but Lugosi did not submerge. Weights had to be tied to Lugosi's ankles to keep his body sunk.

Release

The film was released in the United Kingdom in October 1939. In the United Kingdom, ''The Dark Eyes of London'' was the first British film to receive the 'H' rating and the last British horror film to receive the rating.Johnson, 2006. p. 157Johnson, 2006. p. 159 The "H" rating was introduced in 1933 by the

British Board of Film Censors The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC, previously the British Board of Film Censors) is a non-governmental organisation founded by the British film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of fi ...

(BBFC) for films labelled "Horrific" for "any films likely to frighten or horrify children under the age of 16 years" ''The Dark Eyes of London'' was released in the United States under the title ''The Human Monster'' by

in March 1940

References

Notes

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External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dark Eyes of London, The 1939 films 1939 horror films 1930s crime films British horror films British crime films 1930s English-language films British black-and-white films Films directed by Walter Summers Films based on works by Edgar Wallace Films based on British novels Films set in London Films about blind people Films shot at Welwyn Studios Films with screenplays by Patrick Kirwan 1930s British films