The Undying Monster [The Hammond Mystery] *** (1942, James Ellison, Heather Angel, John Howard, Bramwell Fletcher, Eily Malyon, Heather Thatcher, Aubrey Mather) – Classic Movie Review 3659

Written by Lillie Hayward and Michael Jacoby, director John Brahm’s taut, eerie and atmospheric 1942 horror thriller movie is creaky but still fun. With a werewolf as the main foe, it is amusing, fast moving and all over in just 63 minutes.

The curse of the werewolf is inherited by Oliver Hammond (John Howard), heir to the rich Hammond family house. So there is bound to be a fright night when the moon is full in this grisly tale based on the once popular 1922 novel by Jessie Douglas Kerruish.

His sister Helga (Heather Angel) summons London copper Robert Curtis (James Ellison), a Scotland Yard scientist, along with his sidekick Christy (Heather Thatcher), to stop the wave of blood lust and corpses.

Bramwell Fletcher (the doctor), Aubrey Mather (the inspector), Eily Malyon (the housekeeper) and Halliwell Hobbes (the butler) wander through the scenery in a horrific manner. And their scary cause is helped greatly by director John Brahm’s imaginative handling and Lucien Ballard’s sharp and shadowy black and white cinematography of the misty moors and gothic rooms re-created on sets in the 20th Century Fox studios.

It is the film début of American tough guy Charles McGraw, who plays a British horse groom. Also in the cast are Charles Crisp, Holmes Herbert, Matthew Boulton, Alec Craig, Heather Wilde, Donald Stuart, Douglas Gerrard, Virginia Traxler, Harry Carter and David Thursby.

German emigrant to the United States Brahm’s films include The Undying Monster (1942), The Lodger (1944), Hangover Square (1945), The Locket (1946), The Brasher Doubloon (1947) and the 3D horror film The Mad Magician (1954).

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