Lionel Atwill Movies

Famed archeologist Rick Banning has mysteriously vanished after reports surfaced claiming that he had unearthed the mythical lost city of Lemuria, and now it's up to fellow adventurers Ace Zucco, Mike Flannigan, and reporter Fay Kendal to head for the Middle East and find out what grim fate befell the missing archeologist. After tracing his trail from London to Scotland and ultimately Egypt, the trio arrives in Lemuria to discover that the dreaded, 3000 year-old Queen Amanetor has been eagerly awaiting their arrival. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

British character actor Lionel Atwill, in his final performance, appeared as a power-mad Englishman attempting to rule the world in this 13 chapter Universal serial. Sir Eric Hazarias (Atwill) is searching the mountains of Himalaya for Metorium 245, the only known antidote to the Bomb. Sir Eric is opposed by United Peace Foundation investigator Rod Stanton (Russell Hayden of Hopalong Cassidy fame); scientist daughter Marjorie Elmore (Jane Adams, who had been so memorable as the hunchbacked nurse in House of Dracula); and a local guide, Tal Shen (Keye Luke, Charlie Chan's number one son). Midway through the serial, the British megalomaniac steps in the background in favor of the even more nefarious Malborn (John Mylong), "the power in back of Sir Eric." The sad reason for this sudden change of direction was the fact that Atwill was dying of bronchial cancer (he died April 22, 1946). Bits of dialogue filmed earlier were inserted, and actor George Sorel doubled Atwill in several scenes, Sir Eric's trademark Panama hat pulled well down over his face. In an economy move, The Lost City of the Jungle used stock footage from Columbia's earlier Lost Horizon, the 1943 Maria Montez vehicle White Savage, and even Leni Riefenstahl's legendary White Hell of Pitz Palu. Leading lady Adams, who later professed to have had a great time filming this serial, was the only Universal contract actor in the cast. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

More expensive-looking than most PRC productions, Crime Inc. is based on a story by former crime reporter Martin Mooney. Drawing from his own experiences, Mooney has concocted a tale of a newspaper journalist who faces a prison term because he refuses to reveal his sources. Tom Neal plays the Mooney counterpart, a crime reporter who takes on a gang of racketeers. His effectiveness is somewhat diluted when he falls in love with Martha Tilton, the sister of one of the crooks. Further complicating things is the fact that the foreman of a jury listening to testimony against the racketeers is in fact the leader of the gang. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An early low-budget spin on Ten Little Indians, this cheap but entertaining PRC production features a wonderful cast of familiar B-movie faces, particularly George Zucco and Lionel Atwill. Zucco plays a man wrongfully imprisoned after being framed for his wife's murder by one of his colleagues. After his release, he joins forces with a mad inventor to carry out his long-awaited plans of revenge, inviting a group of his former associates to a remote island mansion -- which is enveloped in a thick perpetual fog and rigged with a plethora of lethal booby-traps -- in an effort to reveal and destroy the guilty party. Rather cheap-looking but boasting some remarkable special effects, this film is worth a look for its pairing of the wonderfully hammy Atwill and Zucco. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Based on the comic book by the same name, the hero takes on a crazed scientist who creates deadly machines for his own villainous schemes. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

Secrets of Scotland Yard is Republic's spin on a plotline first elucidated in the old E. Phillips Oppenheim novel The Great Impersonation. After losing WW I, the German high command, with remarkable foresight, prepares for the next war by planting a spy in the British Admiralty. Edgar Barrier plays the dual role of the German spy and his British twin brother. When one twin is killed, the other assumes his identity. The question: is the surviving brother the "good" one or the bad? It is up to C. Aubrey Smith, cast as Scotland Yard inspector Sir Christopher Belt, to sort out the mystery. Though it owes a great deal to the aforementioned Oppenheim yarn, Secrets of Scotland Yard is actually based on a novel by Denison Clift, who also wrote the screenplay. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In many ways the most endearing of Universal's B-grade "monster rallies" of the 1940s, House of Frankenstein manages within its 70-minute time span to make room for Frankenstein's monster (Glenn Strange), Dracula (John Carradine) the Wolf Man (Lon Chaney Jr.), and a couple of new recruits, mad scientist Boris Karloff and demented hunchback J. Carroll Naish. Escaping from prison, Karloff vows to continue his diabolical efforts to emulate Dr. Frankenstein's "eternal life" experiments; he also swears vengeance on the three men (Sig Ruman, Frank Reicher and Michael Mark) who were responsible for sending him to prison. With the help of fellow escapee Naish, Karloff murders a travelling-carnival impresario (George Zucco) and assumes his identity. He travels first to the village where Ruman is burgomaster. Since his carnival is a "chamber of horrors", Karloff utilizes one of those horrors--Count Dracula--to settle his account with Ruman. Dracula does so, but dies when the first rays of sunlight stream across his body. En route to the next village, Naish gives shelter to runaway gypsy girl Elena Verdugo, who joins the caravan (though she remains incredibly naive concerning Karloff's intentions!) Coming to the village when the Frankenstein monster and the Wolfman were presumably drowned at the end of Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman (1944), Karloff revives the latter, who when he's not baying at the moon is the comparatively good-looking Lawrence Talbot. Karloff secures Talbot's cooperation by promising to perform some brain surgery that will relieve him of his lycanthropy. Later on, Karloff kidnaps and kills his other enemies Mark and Reicher, intending to use their brains to cure Talbot and to reactivate the Frankenstein monster. Jealous of Verdugo's attentions towards Talbot, Naish rebels against Karloff, and is killed for his troubles. Talbot turns into the Wolfman, whereupon Verdugo kills him before expiring herself. And Karloff, rendered immobile by the requisite attack of angry villagers, is dragged by the lumbering Monster into a pit of quicksand. Thus House of Frankenstein has something in common with Hamlet: No one is left alive at fade-out time. It's to scenarist Robert Siodmak's credit that he was able to fashion a coherent screenplay out of the crazy-quilt of copyrighted horror characters handed to him by Universal Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The second of Universal's "modernized" Sherlock Holmes films pits the Great Detective (Basil Rathbone, of course) against that "Napoleon of Crime," Professor Moriarty (Lionel Atwill). Surpassing his previous skullduggery, Moriarty has now aligned himself with the Nazis and has dedicated himself to stealing a top-secret bomb sight developed by expatriate European scientist Dr. Franz Tobel (William Post Jr.). Before being kidnapped by Moriarty's minions, Tobel was enterprising enough to disassemble his invention and distribute its components among several other patriotic scientists. Racing against the clock, Holmes and Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce) try to stem the murders of Tobel's colleagues and prevent Moriarty from getting his mitts on the precious secret weapon. The now-famous climax finds Holmes playing for time by allowing Moriarty to drain all the blood from his body, drop by drop ("The needle to the last, eh Holmes?" gloats the villain). Dennis Hoey makes his first appearance as the dull-witted, conclusion-jumping Inspector Lestrade. Constructed more like a serial than a feature film, Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (based loosely on Conan Doyle's The Dancing Men) is one of the fastest-moving entries in the series; it is also one of the most readily accessible, having lapsed into public domain in 1969. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

More than one aficionado of Universal's horror films has cited Night Monster as the weakest of the batch. Part of the complaint lies in the fact that, despite their first and second billing, Bela Lugosi and Lionel Atwill are utterly wasted, with Atwill getting bumped off in the first reel! The nonsensical farrago of a plotline concerns a mysterious night stalker who has been killing off the doctors attending wealthy, crippled Kurt Ingstom (Ralph Morgan). With both of his legs amputated, Ingstom couldn't possibly be the murderer himself-or could he? The explanation to the mystery is as silly as the rest of the picture, but at least Night Monster boasts a rousing climax, one which suggests that no one lives happily ever after. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

One of the most often revived of Abbott & Costello's early-1940s films, Pardon My Sarong casts Bud and Lou as Chicago bus drivers Algy Shaw and Wellington Pflug. At the behest of millionaire playboy Tommy Layton (Robert Paige), Algy and Wellington hijack their own bus and speed off to California so that Tommy won't be late for an important yachting race. Our heroes are hotly pursued by bus-company troubleshooter Kendall (William Demarest), while Tommy's trail is dogged by rival yacht-owner Joan Marshall (Virginia Bruce). Eluding Kendall when they inadvertently drive their bus into the ocean, Algy and Wellington are rescued by Tommy and Joan, who through a plot wrinkle have been forced to share the same yacht. After several days of drifting aimlessly across the Pacific, the yacht ends up on a remote South Sea Island, where Algy and Wellington flirt capriciously with the local native girls. Through a fluke, Wellington is served up as a sacrifice victim and ordered to enter a sacred volcanic mountain-which happens to be the hideout for jewel thief Varnoff (Lionel Atwill) and his gang. The story wraps up with a zany Sennett-like chase, with Wellington attempting to rescue the kidnapped Joan from Varnoff's speedboat. Filled to overflowing with hilarious sight gags, cross-talk routines and throwaway lines, Pardon My Sarong scores on two levels: as a devastating send-up of Dorothy Lamour jungle epics and as a first-rate vehicle for Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. One one quibble: the film certainly could have done without the scene in which Bud invites Lou to commit suicide! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The fifth film in Universal's "Frankenstein" series goes for the box-office gold by combining two--count 'em, two!--of the studio's star monsters. We all thought that Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.), alias The Wolf Man, had been shot dead in his own starring film in 1941, but the opening scenes of Frankenstein vs. the Wolf Man prove us incorrect. Brought back to the land of the living, the anguished Talbot commiserates with gypsy lady Maria Ouspenskaya, who advises him that the only way he'll stay dead is to confer with Dr. Frankenstein. The good doctor has passed on, but his equipment is intact. With the help of scientist Patric Knowles and Frankenstein descendant Ilona Massey, Talbot attempts to have the life forces sucked from his body and transferred to that of Frankenstein's monster. The latter character is played by Bela Lugosi, who'd turned the same role down in 1931 because he felt it was beneath his dignity. By 1943, however, Lugosi was in no position to refuse the part of the lumbering monster. The actor was relieved to learn that the monster would have the power of speech, a leftover from 1942's Ghost of Frankenstein; likewise held over from that previous film was the monster's blindness, which would give Lugosi an opportunity to do some swell sightless emoting. But when the preview audience heard the Monster bemoaning his fate in Lugosi's voice, they laughed till they cried. As a result, Universal ordered that all of Lugosi's dialogue be cut. Worse still, the studio also cut all expository dialogue alluding to the monster's blindness, so the film as it stands finds poor Lugosi flailing about with his eyes closed for no apparent reason. At least Lon Chaney Jr. was permitted to portray his Wolfman character without molestation, and this he does very well. So successful was this "monster rally" that Universal rapidly concocted two follow-ups, House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula, both of which added Dracula (John Carradine) to the witches' brew. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ernst Lubitsch directs the 1942 political satire classic To Be or Not to Be, which marked the final screen appearance of comedienne Carole Lombard. In Warsaw at the beginning of WWII, Maria Tura (Lombard) and husband Joseph (Jack Benny) perform anti-Nazi plays with their theater troupe until they are forced to switch to Shakespeare's Hamlet. Lt. Stanislav Sobinski (Robert Stack) falls for Maria and meets up with her during Joseph's famous "To Be or Not to Be" speech as Hamlet. When Stanislav is eventually dispatched for war, he implicates Maria with Professor Siletsky (Stanley Ridges), who has a secret plan to destroy the Warsaw resistance. The Polish theater troupe is then forced to use their theatrical skills to ensure their survival. Eventually, they turn to impersonating Nazi officers -- and even Hitler himself -- in order to outwit the enemy and keep the resistance safe from spies. To Be or Not to Be opened to a controversial release in 1942, when the U.S. was still very much involved in WWII. It was remade in 1983 starring Mel Brooks and real-life wife Anne Bancroft. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Originally slated as a Boris Karloff-Bela Lugosi vehicle, Man Made Monster emerged on screen as a tour de force for Lon Chaney Jr. (in his first horror-film starring role) and Lionel Atwill. Chaney plays Dynamo Dan the Electric Man, a sideshow performer whose talent for absorbing mass quantities of electricity enables him to emerge virtually unscathed when a bus crashes into a pylon. Dan recuperates in the home of Dr. Rigas (Lionel Atwill), a demented scientist ("Mad? Of course I'm mad!") who hopes to create a race of electric-powered supermen. Using Dan as his unwitting guinea pig, Rigas zaps the poor man's energy even as he injects more and more electricity into his system. Suspecting something is amiss when rabbits and goldfish die suddenly at his touch, Dan nonetheless continues to submit to Rigas' treatment. When the doctor's colleague Lawrence (Samuel S. Hinds) figures out what's going on, he confronts Rigas with a "You're mad! I'm going to notify the police!"-whereupon Rigas picks up his cue by ordering the now-zombiefied Dan to kill Lawrence and confess to the murder. The unfortunate fellow is convicted and sentenced to the electric chair, much to the delight of Rigas, who can now put his theories to the ultimate test. Surviving the death-house jolt, Dan absorbs the entire electrical current and becomes a walking, glowing human power plant, killing the warden and the guards and escaping into the countryside. Slowly dying, Dan finally regains a shred of his humanity by rescuing heroine June Lawrence (Anne Nagel) from the clutches of Regas, then puts a permanent end to the mad doctor's evil designs before spectacularly expiring himself. A prime example of Universal's B-picture unit at its peak, Man Made Monster is among the finest of the studio's second-echelon horror product. The film was re-released in the late 1940s under the timely cognomen The Atomic Monster. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide