The Devil Bat

Bela Lugosi starred in a low-B grade film in 1940 titled The Devil Bat (TDB). Given his cultural association with Dracula, it was a title and marquee. Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC) was one of the more notable Poverty Row studios. Most of what they turned out (very quickly and cheaply) were westerns (Billy the Kid series) or crime dramas. TDB was, at a nominal level, a crime story with a hint of sci-fi.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Dr. Carruthers (Lugosi) was the disgruntled chemist for a cosmetics company. His discoveries had made the owners of Heath Enterprises very rich. Carruthers felt the two partners, Martin Heath and Henry Morton, had bamboozled him out of his fair share of the wealth. To extract his revenge, Carruthers developed a fragrance which a species of bats hate. He then experimented with ways to grow little bats into big eagle-sized bats. He gives Roy Heath a new aftershave he had been working on, then releases his giant bat. The bat kills Roy. The police are stumped. The death draw media attention. Reporter Johnny Layton and his photographer, “One Shot” are sent to investigate. Martin’s other son, Tommy, also gets a sample of aftershave and is likewise killed. Don Morton succumbs to the Devil Bat too. Johnny begins a romantic attraction to the lovely daughter, Mary Heath. Henry Morton begins to suspect that Doc is behind the killings, but on his way to the Heath mansion, is attacked by the bat and dies. Later, Mary wonders why her going-to-bed perfume smells different, but dismisses it. That night, the big bat tried to get into her room. Doc is called to tend to the pretending-to-be-upset Mary, while Johnny searches Doc’s house. He finds the lab, the aftershave and the attic full of bats. Johnny slips away, returns, and convinces Doc to watch for the bat. Doc agreed because Johnny put on some of the aftershave. While they watch, the bat screeches as it attacks. Johnny throws some aftershave on Doc, who is then attacked by the bat. With the mad scientist and his bat dead, Mary can rest her head on tall Johnny’s shoulder. Fade to black, The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Bela’s animated acting makes this film. Without him, TDB would be quite forgettable. Still, with Bela keeping things lively, TDB has a certain super-cheap B-movie charm. The room full of sparky things in which Carruthers ‘grows’ his bats, is classic old world charm.

Cultural Connection
Good, Cheap, Fun — Despite the growing war in Europe, or perhaps because of it, there was an eager market for movie entertainment. With the ‘double bill’ formula for distributing films, there was a strong demand for quick, cheap B movies. While this B movie market thrived, margins were thin. To be profitable, a Poverty Row studio had to crank out a feature film in a matter of days, with little set, costume or talent costs. As such, the bread and butter of these studios were westerns and crime dramas. Sci-fi, typically, required more money for special effects or props. Movie audiences in the late 30s, 40s and early 50s, had more forgiving expectations for their entertainment. Cheap sets and no-name actors were okay, as long as there was some fighting, some shooting and a few women’s screams.

Notes
Bela’s Decline — Bela Lugosi never was able to rise above his big famous role as Dracula in 1931. He played the mad scientists or villains in a string of medium-grade films for the rest of the 1930s. Treatment an old war wound (manifest as sciatica) led to him becoming addicted to opiates. While Lugosi remained popular with audiences, his desirability to the studios was limited. Appearing Poverty Row films was a descent he was never able to rise above.

That’s Science! — The thin connection TDB has to sci-fi appears in the opening minutes of the film. The first, and weakest connection, is Doc’s work as a chemist to have brewed up his aftershave potion that dives bats to kill. That’s something. The more classic sci-fi, is Doc using sparky electrical things to grow his giant bats from ordinary bats. Perhaps it was a slightly flubbed line, which as a Poverty Row film, was not worth correcting, but Doc tells his bat that he has mastered “glandular stimulation through electric improcess.” This has, at least a hint of Frankenstein to it. The rest of the story is a more pedestrian crime drama.

Why aim? — An amusing bit of Hollywood-ism is how freely Johnny Layton brandishes and uses his snub-nosed .38 revolver. When the bat appears, he fires several shots at the fleeing bat, from the hip! Now, a snub-nosed .38 is not a particularly accurate gun in the first place, but aiming helps. Nonetheless, hero Johnny is able to hit the fast flying bat with his third shot. Heroes are good that way.

Milking the Turnip — PRC cranked out dozens of films in the 40s. In 1946 they sought to wring just a few more bucks from The Devil Bat by producing a sequel. This might suggest that TDB actually did fairly well for a cheap B film. The sequel: Devil Bat's Daughter had no sci-fi element to it all, but was a plain crime drama. While DBD purported to be a continuation, even using some TDB footage as flashback nightmares for Doc’s daughter, the plot continuity was highly flawed. This suggests that PRC had a draft script for a mediocre crime drama. (Sinister psychologist convinces sick woman that she’s a killer, in order to cover the murder of his wife.) With a little rewriting and inserting old footage, the script could almost work as a sequel to TDB. Almost. Yet, the sequel lacked any of the gravitas that Lugosi brought.

Bottom line? Viewers with a fondness for old B-movies, or Bela Lugosi, will find TDB mildly entertaining. Viewers with high standards or fussy tastes in films, will likely find TDB boring or dumb. TDB isn’t high art, by any means, but with a forgiving attitude, it can be good cheap fun.

The Invisible Woman

Universal produced another invisible person film late in 1940. This was the same year as their sequel, The Invisible Man Returns (January, 1940). As such, one suspects that IMR was enough of a financial success that Universal sought to crank out a quick variation on the theme. The two stories are completely unrelated. The Invisible Woman (TIW) is a sci-fi comedy romp, light on the sci-fi. Writer Curt Siodmak, who worked on The Return…, is credited with the story for TIW, though other writers with more a penchant for comedy did the bulk of the screenplay.The cast included many talented, if second tier, actors and actresses. John Barrymore, the big famous name, starred as Professor Gibbs.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Richard Russell is a playboy whose penchant for gold digger women has left him flat broke. His long-time butler, George, threatens to quit, city Richard's profligacy. Among those is financial support for a wacky old scientist, Professor Gibbs. It turns out that Gibbs has developed an invisibility machine, but needs a human to test it on. So, he places a want ad in the paper. The ad is answered by Kitty Carroll, a fashion model at a big department store. Kitty and the other models are oppressed by their tyrannical manager, Mr. Crowley. She wants to be invisible for just a few hours so she can kick his butt. Gibbs makes Kitty invisible, but she escapes and goes and tyrannizes Crowley, telling him she is his conscience. The want ad was also noticed by a criminal boss hiding in Mexico. He sends his bumbling henchmen to get Gibbs' machine so he, Blackie, can return to the states. Invisible Kitty overhears all this, but Gibbs ignores her warning. She becomes invisible again. Meanwhile, Richard and George have left for a fishing trip to a remote lodge. Gibbs and Kitty drive up to meet them. While Gibbs is gone, the henchmen steal his equipment. Gibbs somehow makes Kitty invisible again, to prove to Richard that he has a million-dollar invention. Zany hijinx ensue per the usual invisible person gags. Kitty over indulges in brandy, which prolongs her invisibility. Despite early animosity between Richard and Kitty, they begin to like each other. They all return to Gibbs' lab to find his equipment gone He muses that without the special drug, the machine alone will do unpredictable things. Blackie has the machine set up and tests it on his lead henchmen. He comes out with a high girlish voice, but still visible. Blackie sends his henchmen to kidnap Gibbs for the secret. They kidnap Kitty and Gibbs. While in Blackie's hideout, Kitty drinks more alcohol, knowing that this will cause a relapse of invisibility. While invisible, she conks all the villains on the head with a big mallet. Richard arrives at the hideout. She lets him "save" her. Fast forward. Richard and Kitty have been married long enough to have a baby. George is rubbing alcohol on it's back. The baby disappears. "It's hereditary!" The End.

Why is this movie fun?
It's a comedy! Granted, it's not a particularly deep or clever comedy, but it is "good clean fun." Some of the writing gags are amusing, since they're delivered with such straight faces. For instance, George saying: "These days you can't believe your own eyes, even if you don't see anything."

Cultural Connection
War? What War? -- By late 1940, the war in Europe had been raging for over a year. France had fallen to the Nazis earlier in 1940. The Battle of Britain had been raging since mid summer. America was not inclined to get involved in another european war, The bombing of Pearl Harbor would be yet another year in the future. In TIW there isn't even a hint or mention of any war -- no spies, no "foreign powers" trying to get the machine, etc., even though the war was in full swing in Europe. The spirit of American isolationism can be felt.

Notes
Subtle Sexism -- Whereas the two prior feature film Invisible Men had waxed maniacal about ruling the world, when a woman was given the same ultimate power, her big dream is to kick her mean boss in the butt. Women just don't think big, don't ya see? Where the nakedness of the two prior Invisible Men was taken as just a matter of fact, several innuendo and allusions are made over the fact that Kitty is naked while invisible. Also, when Kitty gets drunk on brandy, her big concern is vanity, taking great umbrage that Richard implies that she's invisible because she's not pretty and probably stout. She shows off her legs to prove him wrong. At one point Gibbs says, "You know, if more women were invisible, life would be less complicated."

Star Gazing -- John Barrymore is the famous name. One of the three famous Barrymore acting siblings, this film came near the end of his life (ruined by alcohol). TIW was a bit of a slumming job for someone of his fame. Watch for Charles Lane as Mr. Crowley. People who grew up watching 60s TV comedies, such as The Beverly Hillbillies, Bewitched, and Petticoat Junction will recognize him. Also playing a minor role as Mrs. Jackson is Margaret Hamilton -- forever famous as the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz. Also note Shemp Howard as Frankie, one of the bumbling henchmen. Shemp, brother of Moe and Curly, was not part of The Three Stooges act again until Curly's stroke in 1946. TIW was one of Shemp's solo acting gigs.

Bottom line? TIW is lite-fare as far as sci-fi goes. As a slapstick comedy, TIW is good ol' fashioned fun so mild that the kids can watch it. They won't get the oblique references to a naked woman (which is all fine), but they can laugh at frumpy men falling down on their back-sides, or bumbling crooks knocking over tables, etc. TIW maybe isn't worth a protracted search to find, but it came across one's path, it's not a bad way to spend 75 minutes.

The Invisible Man Returns

In 1940, Universal continued their popular Invisible Man franchise with an actual sequel to their 1933 original. Their serial group had put out two chapter plays in the interim (The Vanishing Shadow ('34) and The Phantom Creeps ('39) ), but The Invisible Man Returns (IMR) was their second feature film to capitalize on the original. Since the original invisible man (played by Claude Rains) was killed in the end, they needed a new one. IMR "stars" (if not being seen counts as starring) a very young Vincent Price.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Geoffrey Radcliffe (Price) is soon to be hanged for the murder of his brother Michael. The backstory is that Geoffrey and Michael owned and operated the family coal mine, along with business partner Richard Cobb. Geoffrey's girlfriend, Helen, frets that a stay of execution can't be arranged in time. The mine's physician, Dr. Griffin, visits Geoffrey in jail. Not long after, Geoffrey is reported as having escaped. Inspector Samson of Scotland Yard suspects it may be another invisible man case. Dr. Griffin is the brother of the original invisible man, John Griffin, though he denies working on the formula with his brother. Dr. Griffin did, however, continue his brother's work, but with no greater success. The formula still caused madness. Geoffrey's immanent execution forced its use. Geoffrey, knowing his own innocence wants to uncover the real murderer. He enlists the aid of Helen and Dr. Griffin, though they both worry that Geoffrey is starting to sound maniacal. Geoffrey learns that the mine's alcoholic night watchman, Mr. Spears, was promoted to Supervisor by Cobb. Geoffrey suspects a payoff, so confronts Spears, who admits that Cobb told him to lie and say that Geoffrey killed Michael, when in fact it was Cobb. (This would have left him the sole owner of the mine AND freed up Helen to be courted.) Geoffrey threatens Cobb, who seeks police protection. Geoffrey gets to Cobb anyhow and the two struggle and fight while on a coal bucket conveyor belt up to a high dump point. Samson shoots at where he thinks Geoffrey must be. The bucket dumps Cobb down the chute. Before he dies, Cobb admits to Helen that he killed Michael. The search of the coal yard does not find Geoffrey. He escapes, but comes back, hoping Dr. Griffin can treat his wound. The doctor gives him transfusions, but cannot operate on an invisible man. He holds out no hope. However, the transfusions themselves turn out to be the antidote. Geoffrey slowly appears. Everyone is happy. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
In essence, IMR is a retelling of the original -- which was a good story -- but in some ways better. The "invisible" stunts are similar and hold up fairly well (for the pre-CGI era). What makes this sequel more "fun" is that the protagonist is a more sympathetic character. As a good man framed by the villain, and only out to prove his innocence, viewers care more about what happens to him.

Cultural Connection
Evil Businessman -- The Great Depression certainly added to the villain persona of big business. This was not entirely new, of course. The term "Robber Barons" came from the middle ages, and the practice of already-wealthy noblemen using unethical means to get yet more wealth. The term was used in the late 1800s against equally unethical big businessmen (usually railroad magnates). The bad rich villain in many an old western was a railroad man. The Depression had revived the old trope, so having Richard Cobb cast as the unethical mine owner -- who did not care about the health of his men, and would murder to gain more ownership -- was an easy sell to audiences.

Notes
Price of Youth -- Like Claude Rains as the first "invisible man," young Vincent Price hit the big time as the second one. He was only 29 when IMR was filmed, and barely recognizable (when finally seen at the end) since he did not have his signature mustache yet. His voice is recognizable, but even then, not fully developed to its later (famous) sound.

Disappearing Once -- Vincent Price played the invisible man only once, though he got a cameo (of sorts) at the very end of the 1948 comedy, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. This was just a final gag, and perhaps a hint at a future Universal comedy starring the duo. The final script of that 1951 film, Abbott and Costello Meet The Invisible Man did not feature Vincent Price, but Arthur Franz in that title role. The '51 film borrowed plot tropes (innocent man using invisibility to escape), and even some of the footage from IMR.

Curt Writing -- Sci-fi writer Curt Siodmak was part of the screenplay team. Siodmak had written some early techno-sci-fi screenplays, such as F.P.1 Doesn't Answer ('32) and The Transatlantic Tunnel ('35). He would go on to fame as the creator of The Wolfman franchise. He would also be part of the next Invisible films in this study, The Invisible Woman and The Invisible Agent ('42). In IMR, Siodmak followed the Hollywood formula of including the beautiful woman, love triangles, and even some light comedy scenes.

Bottom line? IMR is better than the average sequel. In some ways, it is better than the original (as sacrilege as that is to say about adaptations of H.G.Wells' works). This is primarily for IMR having a more sympathetic protagonist. Since he's a nice guy (kind to his workers, etc.), his fate (madness? shot?) matters more to viewers. The special effects are (by then) routine, and in a few cases, not quite as well done. Still, IMR is worth watching.

The Ape

Boris Karloff did another "mad doctor" film outside of the more famous set of four he did for Columbia between 1939 and '41. In 1940, he made The Ape with low-budget Monogram Pictures. William Nigh directs. Curt Siodmak deserves most of the writing credit. For some reason, killer apes were all the rage (so to speak) for awhile in the 30s and 40s. King Kong ('33) is, of course, the most famous of them. But the killer ape trope was around before Kong and obvious after. The Ape is yet another sci-fi hybrid that is notably weak on the sci-fi part. Spinal fluid plays a pivotal role, and would again in a followup film by Monogram, The Ape Man.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A circus comes to the small town of Red Creek. Dr. Adrian (Karloff) is eyed with fear and suspicion in Red Creek, but he is the only doctor around. So, when a circus ape escapes and injures a trainer who had been taunting him, they bring the wounded man to Dr. Adrian. The trainer dies. Adrian, recognizing an opportunity, extracts some spinal fluid from the dying man for a serum he's working on to help pretty young Francis (paralyzed from the waist down). The ape is loose in the countryside. He killed a farmer named Wilcox. The serum begins to work on Francis. She has feeling in her legs. Adrian accidentally drops the vial, breaking it. He needs more spinal fluid. The ape breaks into Adiran's house (seeing the trainers coat on a chair). Adrian kills the ape, then has an idea. Later, he leaves his house, dressed in the ape's skin. Henry Mason, a disrespected town banker and philanderer, leaves to visit his mistress, but never arrives. His body is found. A coroner notes a similar puncture at the spine. Adrian pretends not to have noticed. The coroner recognizes Adrian as a shunned, but brilliant researcher from 25 years go. After additional serum treatments, Francis can move her legs a little. The coroner sees that Adrian was right after all. The sheriff, his men and dogs have concentrated their search around Doc Adrian's house, where most of the sightings place the ape. Adrian, encouraged at Francis's progress goes out one more time for more spinal fluid. He attacks one of the guards, but is chased off by another guard. On the way back to his house, he is seen and shot. A crowd gathers around the ape body on the porch. The sheriff lifts off the head to reveal Adrian. Francis wheels up in her wheelchair to show the dying Adrian that his serum's worked. She stands and takes some wobbly steps. Adrian dies, but vindicated. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
As usual, it is Boris Karloff who pulls an otherwise drab B movie higher than it would have on its own. The premise is a bit strained, but has some interesting roots. It is also interesting to see the "mad doctor" turn out to be right, for a change.

Cultural Connection
In the years before nuclear radiation dominated sci-fi thought, medical science got a lot more screen time. The "mad doctor" trope was a sort of flip-side to cultural optimism about what medical science could do.

Notes
Less Madness -- Karloff plays yet another "mad doctor" with the customary tension between his altruistic desire to help and his ruthlessness as to the methods. In The Ape, Dr. Adrian is almost the most mild-mannered of the mad doctors. He is so driven to help poor beautiful Francis to walk again that he's willing to push the ethical envelope. Unlike most of the mad doctors, it turns out Adrian was right and actually does the good he set out to do.

Just Desserts -- In the spirt of Occupy's "Eat the Rich" mindset, the one man that Adrian does murder is sort of a small moral loss. He is the banker Henry Morgan. No one in town much likes Morgan for the interest rates he charges. Nor does Morgan join any community efforts to find the ape. "Thats your job." Further, Morgan is cheating on his wife. Even worse, he is mean-spirited to his poor mousey wife. She pleads with him not to carry on his affairs so flagrantly near home. "If you don't like it, you can leave," he says. She says she has no relatives, no friends, nowhere else to go. "There's always the river," he sneers. Adrian murdering Morgan is not quite horrible. Poor little Mrs. Morgan may be better off with the insurance money and someone else.

Broadway Roots? -- The credits list the story as coming from a play by Alan Hull Shirk. (Screenplay by Kurt Siodmak) While this play may not have been filmed, an earlier movie is also said to have been based on the play. House of Mystery (1934) credits Shirk's play. Interestingly, HoM was also directed by William Nigh. The '34 film and Siodmak's '40 screenplay are very very different stories. House of Mystery is a more pedestrian murder mystery with many people in a spooky mansion, seeking an inherited fortune, dying off one by one. The murderer turns out to be a gorilla, trained to stand stiff like a stuffed ape, but kill on command. There is one small scene where one of the lesser characters has dressed up in an ape suit in order to sneak around the house looking for the treasure. He gets shot by nervous policemen. The setting and camera work in House of Mystery suggest stage roots, so may be closer to Shirk's play. Siodmak's story is almost completely unrelated -- except for the man dressed in an ape suit getting shot and an actualy killer ape.

Rapid Taxidermy -- Dr. Adrian is supposed to have stripped the entire skin off of dead Nabu, including hands, feet and face. And, tanned them all sufficient to be worn. And, he did it in a day or less. Granted, Adrian is supposed to have been a brilliant doctor, but this bit of the plot strains credulity beyond what movies like this usually do, if one knows even a little bit about taxidermy.

Bottom line? The Ape has very little science in its fiction. It does have some of the classic elements: a shunned brilliant doctor who secretly works on some boon for mankind, and it even has an angry mob. It is low on production values, but par for poverty row studio Monogram Pictures. Karloff fans will enjoy it. Those with expectations not too high, can be entertained. Modern tastes may only be annoyed.

Before I Hang

The third of Columbia's "mad doctor" films was, Before I Hang (BIH), released in 1940. Boris Karloff plays yet another variation on the formula. Nick Grinde directs again. As with the prior two in the series, the science aspect is somewhat minimal. The bulk of the story is a horror/crime hybrid. This time around, the story is more Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde than Frankenstein. Writer Karl Brown was also involved the first two of the four, The Man They Could Not Hang ('39) and The Man With Nine Lives ('40). He also wrote a variant starring Bela Lugosi in '43, The Ape Man.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Dr. John Garth (Karloff) awaits sentencing at his murder trial. He gives an impassioned statement about his work seeking an anti-aging serum and an old friend terminally ill and in great pain. The fail old doctor with white hair and thick glasses, admits to the mercy killing and accepts his fate.The prison doctor talks the warden into letting Garth continue his experiments for the three weeks he has left. They obtain needed blood for the serum from a recently executed murderer. With only minutes to go before he is hung, Dr. Howard injects Garth with the serum. As they come to take in for the long walk, the phone rings. The governor commuted his sentence to life in prison. Garth faints. He awakens in a hospital bed. His hair has streaks of black. He no longer needs his glasses. The serum took 20 years off of him. Garth and Howard continue working. Howard wants to be next to receive the serum. But, when Garth sees the blood in the test tube, the impulse to kill (from the murderer's blood) overpowers him. He strangles Howard. A shifty inmate, Otto, happens along. He and Garth have a big fight until Garth snaps Otto's neck. Garth awakens again in a hospital bed. He can't recall anything. The warden decides that Howard caught Otto stealing alcohol and was murdered. Otto then fought with Garth, but fell and broke his neck. Popular outcry over Garth's presumed heroics gets him a pardon. At home with his daughter Martha, Garth invites over three old friends: Victor, Steven and George. He offer them his serum. They all decline. Garth goes to Victor's house one foggy night and convinces him to try the serum. Again at the sight of blood, Garth kills. The police suspect him. Garth visits George with the offer, but rage at George's refuel incites the murderer's blood again. Garth knows he is an uncontrollable killer. He walks to the prison, demanding to be let in. He menaces a guard (on purpose) so as to get shot. Paul (Martha's love interest) agrees to carry on Garth's work. The End.

Why is this movie fun
Boris Karloff himself, is the primary attraction of the film. Yes, he was, by this point, typecast as the mad scientist, but it was a role he played with skill. His Dr. Garth characters is one of his more sympathetic.

Cultural Connection
Again, the mortal desire for immortality is the motivator of the story. In this variation, human biology is presumed to be "immortal". Aging (and death) are cast as cumulative flaws that science can somehow mitigate.

Notes
Not Bad Enogh -- Some Karloff fans consider BIH to be the weakest of the four Columbia "mad doctor" films. This may be because he plays a more accidentally evil man. Garth lacks the cold-hearted detachment of prior mad scientists. In place of ruthless disregard for lives lost, Garth is remorseful and repentant.

Bad To The Bone -- Central to the story, is the old notion that a person's being or essence was distributed throughout their body. Our goodness or badness was not just in our minds, but infused in all our tissues. The idea is very old. This is part of why some relics were revered in the middle ages. If St. Peter was saintly, that saintliness would be in one of his bones too. This was a factor in old-style voodoo (and picked up by New Age cults), that a bit of the person (hair, nail clipping, etc.) had some essence of the whole person, so useful in "magic." The same would go for badness. The criminal urge to kill was presumed to infuse even his blood cells. All this suggested that behavior was much more endemic than later theories would hold. For example, the "he's just sick…we can cure him" notion in A Clockwork Orange.

Immortality, 2-Edged Sword -- The Garth character enthuses over the prospect of "good" people being kept alive longer. His old friends could go on in public service, building and producing art. Yet, evil could be prolonged too. The murderer's blood is the symbolic dark-side of Garth's dream. To prevent "evil" people from extending their evil via the serum, it would have to be controlled. That control could all to easily fall into hands less altruistic than Garth.

Bottom line? BIH is the less sensational of the four "mad doctor" films, but still worthwhile for Karloff fans. The "science" is minimal and vague. The visuals are good. Director Nick Grinde makes good use of light and shadow to create images with a German Expressionist sort of drama.

The Man With Nine Lives

Columbia's second of four Karloff death-cheating films was somewhat mis-titled. In The Man With Nine Lives (9L), Boris Karloff has only two "lives", sort of. One before being frozen in 1930, then another when revived in 1940. Once again, a lone scientist has some wonder to prolong human life. In 9L, Karloff gives the by-now-traditional role a bit of a twist. 9L is directed by Nick Grinde, as were the first and third in the set. Karl Brown provided the screenplay, as he had for the previous film in the set, The Man They Could Not Hang. The trope of frozen people as a low-tech version of suspended animation, would be a recurring feature in several later movies.

Quick Plot Synopsis
Dr. Mason impresses a room full of reporters and other doctors with his cold temperature treatment of a cancer patient. Mason explains to his fiance and nurse, Judy, how his ideas came from a book on cold treatment by a Dr. Kravaal who mysteriously disappeared ten years ago. Mason's boss is displeased at the premature publicity, so sends Mason (and Judy) on leave. They take the opportunity to go up to Silver Lake, Kravaal's last known home. The man who rents the rowboats tries to warn them away. Five men went there ten years ago and never returned. Mason goes anyway.The old house has long been vacant. Judy falls through a floor board. This reveals underground tunnels that lead to a lab and a big frozen door. Mason sees a body trapped in the ice. He chops it free with a handy axe. They warm him up with a fire. He revives. It's Dr. Kravaal. He is surprised to be alive at all, let alone after ten years. He tells the flashback story of how he was treating a private patient with his cold therapy, but the nephew brought the authorities, suspecting foul play. Kravaal threatened them with a toxic teargas mixture. He drops it. It vaporizes. The nephew, D.A., sheriff and coroner flee to the rear ice vault. Kravaal locked them in. He passed out in the first ice vault. His patient (Uncle Jasper) dies for lack of care. Now back in 1940, they realize that the vapors are what kept them alive. They revive the other men too. The nephew is upset at not getting Uncle's inheritance, since he's now legally dead. In a rage, Nephew grabs the formula paper and throws it in the fire. Acting on impulse, Kravaal shoots him dead. He locks the rest in the room. Eventually, he lets out Mason and Judy to help him recreate the formula. He tries it on the coroner, but he dies. He tries it again on the DA, but he dies. The sheriff dies too. Kravaal is stumped, but eventually figures out that the others died because they already had the vapor exposure. He needs a fresh body. After a struggle, Mason is tied up. Judy volunteers to be the guinea pig to save her fiance. She doesn't die, but goes into a coma. Kravaal freezes her, but she remains alive. State troopers come and untie Mason. In all the scuffles, Kravaal is shot and mortally wounded. Yet, he shows Mason that the formula worked. Judy is alive, even though her body temp is 30 degrees. He gives Mason is notebook, then dies. Fast forward. Mason is the toast of the medical world with Kravaal's formula and cold treatment advances. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
Boris Karloff is always fun to watch. His portrayal of Kravaal is more star-crossed than mad, but still just as entertaining. Director Nick Grinde does a good job of providing rich visuals on a low budget.

Saga Connection
In a rare turnabout, 9L presages to the trope used in the Universal saga and the later Hammer saga.Frankestein Meets the Wolfman ('43) had the monster frozen in an arm of a glacier, in a basement vault. In both films, the frozen man is thawed out with a toasty fire. While Boris Karloff did not star in FMtW, he is forever a member of the saga family.

Notes
Only Mostly Dead -- The story toys with definitions. Just what is "dead"? Existing traditional definitions keep failing. Dr. Bassett, the coroner, represents the stodgy conventional-wisdom voice. Dead is judged by body temperature. Since no one has survived (to his knowledge) a body temperature lower than 80 degrees, Uncle Jasper was, by conventional wisdom, dead. Even the lack of a pulse does not equal death, as frozen men come back to life. A nice literary play on this was the legal definition. Since all the men have been missing for more than seven years, they were legally dead (but clearly not). All four of Columbia's Karloff films tease around the edges of the real definitions of life and death.

First Frozen -- 9L is one of the earliest films featuring a person being frozen and coming back to life when thawed. Others would pick up and use this trope. Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman ('43), Return of the Ape Man ('44), The Thing From Another World ('51), Madmen of Mandoras ('63), The Evil of Frankenstein ('64) Frozen Alive ('64), and The Frozen Dead ('67 -- Frozen Nazis revived to rule the world! Oh my!) to name the older ones. 9L seems to be a trendsetter.

Freudian Face -- In a refreshing change, Karloff is made up to look more Freudian. In the place of wild white hair, he has a tidy, short, salt-n-pepper cut. He also sports a pointed beard and mustache. The round glasses and three-piece pinstripe suit (with watch chain!) give Kravaal much more of an old european charm than the usual lab coat and wild eyes. It's a nice change.

Bottom line? 9L is yet another remix of the trope (man-cheats-death), but it is still an entertaining film. Karloff is his usual quality self, playing a "mad" scientist who is a bit less mad, and maybe not all that bad. It's still worth checking out for Karloff fans, and for a look at sci-fi before everything had to be either atomic radiation or aliens.