mark.waltz Most actors get better with age. In the case of Lon Chaney Jr., he started off promising but proceeded to get more mannered and melodramatic as he aged. Changing his name from Creighton to Lon Jr. with this low budget adventure, he actually played two completely opposite characters, and did a decent job. As a young man, he was quite handsome, but by the time he played the wolf man, he had put on a lot of weight and seemed to be older than he really was.Playing a detective and an Igor like cripple who is obviously up to no good, Chaney even gets to act opposite himself. The plot deals with kidnapping and a stolen ruby, attacks on innocent tourists, and the jealousy of a native girl towards the blonde kidnapping victim. It's cheaply made and often creaky, but some sudden ingenious camera shots give this a larger element of mystery. Stereotypical middle eastern villains are total clichés, while the Americans are presented as noble and heroic, victims of the darkly presented criminals.Exotic native girl Zarah Tazil is the most one dimensional of the vindictive characters, jealous over blonde beauty Sheila Terry, and desperate to scar her pretty face. But Terry is no Barbie doll blonde, able to take care of herself opposite the hot tempered Tazil. Chaney's pathetic Butch Curtain is given several dimensions, so he is spared the defensiveness of the other middle eastern, but what's up with that ridiculous name? The script is filled fortune cookie like prophecies that just get sillier and sillier. Almost serial like in its format, it manages to be interesting cheap entertainment that gets more ridiculous but gives off some laughs which ultimately makes it likable while wretched dreck at the same time.

Rainey Dawn Not a completely terrible film but it's not a good film. It is however fun to watch Lon Chaney Jr playing two roles: Jack Wilson & Butch Curtain. Butch a shady wharfside pub owner and Jack the look-alike detective that dresses like Butch to catch the criminals and get back the stole gem.It's a weird crime-mystery that has some funny moments. It's not a good film at all but just above horrible - but extremely watchable for Chaney Jr. - he's the best thing about the film besides the feisty females in the story.Watch this for Chaney Jr or if you really like older bad crime-mysteries... if you are a fan of either then you might get a kick out of this film.4/10

kapelusznik18 in the late 1950's***SOILERS*** Lon Cheney Jr. is both the scuzzy unkempt and petty crook Butch Curtin as well as the handsome well dressed & spoken private investigator Jack Wilson here as he tries to recover the stolen Tear of Buddha emerald in some un-named country that's seems to be situated between China & India.. The emerald was stolen from American diamond dealer Joe Bentelt, John Ince, after he was almost strangled by Johnny Fly, Manuel Lopez, who's been after it for years. Being a dead ringer for Butch Curtain who's Fly's assistant Jack Wilson after having Curtain arrested and put on ice takes over his identity in an effort to get Johhny to reveal where the emerald is hidden.Not much of a movie in that it was so bad that it's studio, Astor Studios, kept it on the shelf for eight years only to release it in 1943 when Cheney was by then an established star and feeling some movie goers and Cheney fans will be interested in seeing it just for that reason alone. The film limps alone until the final scene where we have Wilson as Butch Curtain have it out with Johnny Fly. That's after his cover was blown by Johnny's jealous girlfriend Mora, Zarah Tazil, who felt he was to leave her for another woman. This was when Mora in a jealous fit went after the other woman the kidnapped Edith Bentley, John Bentley's daughter, played by Shelia Terry. It was Shelia who Mora felt had stolen Johnny Fly away from her which led to a wild cat fight between the two at the end of the film.As for Lon Cheney's Jr. it wasn't until some four years later in 1939 when he played the part of the tragic and simple minded Lenny in "Mice and Men" that he made him a star. And it could have been the reason that no one saw "A Scream in the night" and how awful it was that made it very possible for Cheney to have gotten that part. and from there he went to bigger and better roles like "The Wolf Man" and "Son of Dracula" as well as the unforgettable Butcher Benton in the bad movie classic "Indistructable Man" before his movie career fizzled out.

BaronBl00d Creaky Ray Kirkwood Production about a man and his niece in an Eastern seaport meeting trouble over a stolen gem. The uncle gets his hands on a rare gem briefly before it is taken from him along with his niece. A colonial policeman, and former/future love interest to the pretty niece, goes incognito as a henchman for the kidnapper/thief with whom he has an uncanny resemblance. This is basically the plot of this short, barely under an hour, cheaply-made production. Director Fred C. Newmeyer doesn't have much to work with here: sparse budget despite the need of an "exotic" setting, a weak, yet spirited script by Norman Springer where the dual roles of Detective Jack Wilson and Butch Curtain are the primary focal points, and some less than inspiring performances. Lon Chaney plays the dual roles and is at the very least a hoot to watch. His Jack Wilson is very good and conservatively played, but Chaney goes all out for his ugly, swarthy, drunk, gambling, less-than-brilliant Butch Curtain. Though neither character gets much depth of characterization, there are a few scenes with Chaney hamming it up as Curtain gambling that I found humorous - while he plays darts a parrot continually taunts him and gets him to eye the bird several times prior to throwing a knife with great accuracy at the dart board. Shelia Terry is very fetching as the lovely niece if nothing else, but none of the other actors are too good nor are they real horrible either. This movie is mildly entertaining but really suffers from the budgetary constraints of being a Ray Kirkwood Production. The title is also misleading as it has almost nothing to do with anything.