JohnHowardReid Director: JAMES HOGAN. Screenplay: Brenda Weisberg, Paul Gangelin. Original story: Hans Kraly. Photographed in black-and-white by Milton Krasner. Film editor: Milton Carruth. Art directors: John B. Goodman, Martin Obzina. Set decorators: Russell A. Gausman, A.J. Gilmore. Costumes designed by Vera West. Make-up: Jack P. Pierce. Music: Hans J. Salter. Music for "All For Love" arranged by Milton Rosen. Sound supervisor: Bernard B. Brown. Sound technician: Jess Moulin. Western Electric Sound System. Associate producer: Ben Pivar.Copyright 7 October 1943 by Universal Pictures Co. Inc. New York opening at the Rialto: 10 December 1943. U.S. release: 12 November 1943. Australian release: 10 February 1944. 7 reels. 5,839 feet. 64 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Another mad scientist on the loose. This one uses a gas that turns sniffers into zombies.COMMENT: Fans of George Zucco are in for a real treat here as he plays the title role and is almost constantly on-screen. Needless to say, he plays with all his customarily menacing polish, managing to overcome or bypass the patent absurdity of the story to create a character that will send chills down the spine of even the most hardened viewer. Solid support is provided by the engaging Evelyn Ankers (who has a singing role here, we are pleased to say) and such top-notch character actors as Robert Armstrong, Andrew Tombes (in a memorable cameo as a fussy undertaker), Rose Hobart, Addison Richards and Charles McGraw (who has a small but beautifully underlined bit as a cynical detective). Best support of all comes from the talented direction of James Hogan with its classy camerawork (dolly shots and tracking shots yet), and the fine lighting of Milton Krasner.Except for its short running time, you wouldn't believe this was a "B", so polished is its craftsmanship. David Bruce could be a bit more menacing as the zombie, but to mention this seems almost picayune.

MartinHafer During the 1940s, George Zucco made a ton of horror films--most of them for crappy little studios and with microscopic budgets. However, occasionally he'd appear in a decent film--one with higher production values and plots which made a bit more sense. This is the case with "The Mad Ghoul", as Zucco appeared in a film by Universal--a studio that made horror films just a bit better than everyone else.Ted is in love with Isabel. He apparently can look past her annoying singing (it's very operatic and you either like it or hate it--most folks today would hate it). However, Ted doesn't know that the professor he's working for, Dr. Morris (Zucco), is a maniac who will do anything to possess Isabel. Eventually, Morris uses a gas he's created to turn Ted into a maniac who will do whatever the doctor tells him---including kill. What's next? See the film.The acting is a tiny bit better than the usual B and the plot, though a bit silly, quite enjoyable if you like this sort of thing. Worth seeing.

GL84 After discovering a strange gas during his work on Mayan burial rites, a professor uses it on his assistant in order to murder for his girlfriend, the woman he loves, only for the trail of corpses left behind to lead the police right to him.This turned out to be quite an enjoyable if flawed effort, mostly through the complete inactivity presented here. Because the main just of the storyline is that he's trying to win his girlfriend over to marry her, a lot of his screen-time is spent running off to find her but never coming out with his feelings once he does find her, making the reason for the journey quite unnecessary when nothing happens and instead it just turns into a tedious drag when it launches into yet another trip around the world as he follows her musical tour with the doctor in tow. Even with his secret romance towards her being as clichéd as it ever is, that these scenes here comprise the majority of the middle section of the film means that the main focus has nothing going on despite ample evidence that something fun could happen as the transformation occurs quite early on in the film due to the running-time constraints which just make this all the more obviously dull and dragging. As well, the finale is so rushed and just completely underwhelming that there's a dramatic lack of urgency over the entire affair and making it just seem all the more ludicrous overall as it transpires. That said, there's still some fun here with the storyline being quite original of utilizing the Mayan nerve gas and the regenerative properties being tied in with actual historical atrocities in a clever bit of retroactive rewriting, and the scenes of him in the laboratory operating on the different subjects early on make for a rather cheesy time with the portrayal of the classic cinematic mad scientist in such films. Several of the murders are quite creepy, and the continued marching off into the cemetery to recover body parts needed for the procedure make for a rather fun time and gets some chilling moments into the effort, and the make-up effects for the transformation look rather nice if pretty cheap overall. While there's problems, it does have some good points about it.Today's Rating/PG: Violence and suggested animal violence.

tomgillespie2002 Curious about the effects of an ancient Mayan nerve gas used in human sacrifices, Dr. Morris (George Zucco) asks one of his eager pupils, Ted (David Bruce), to assist him in his experiments. Morris has managed to put a monkey into a 'dead' state, and Ted manages to revive it by giving it the fluid of another heart. Morris has an ulterior motive however, and plans to put the moves on Ted's musician girlfriend Isabel (Evelyn Ankers), who has grown tired of Ted and longs for someone else who shares her love of music. Afraid of hurting his feelings, Isabel confides in Dr. Morris to help Ted understand, but Morris exposes Ted to the Mayan gas, turning him into a mindless zombie that Morris can control. He has to rely on human hearts to survive, so Morris and Ted leave a trail of murders and grave-robbing behind them, as Morris turns his attention to Isabel's new beau, pianist Eric (Tuhran Bey).Of all Universal's regular actors, George Zucco was one of their most prolific, but was usually confined to supporting roles. Here he is given the starring role, and his well-spoken, subtly evil performance proves to be one of the few positives in what is a quite dull affair. Universal's gorgeous set-design and high production values are clear to see, but the story is old-fashioned and weak, offering nothing more than a familiar mad scientist storyline, similar in many ways to Universal's own Frankenstein (1931), but lacking the satirical bite. The make-up, which is usually highly iconic, is uninspired and quite basic, involving nothing more than a bit of powder and messy hair, and features no big 'change' scene, and instead Ted simply raises his head from his hands and is transformed.Running at just 65 minutes, The Mad Ghoul is clearly lacking ideas, and resorts to lazy scenes of exposition as Robert Armstrong's 'Scoop' McClure gets a scent of Dr. Morris, communicating his ideas and intentions with a girl from his office he keeps happening to come across, helping the audience to understand what's going on. The scenes with Armstrong do offer some light comic relief however, taking the attention away from the mundanity of Morris's quest from Isabel. I'm sure this was made merely for the purpose of playing as a second feature to one of Universal's more accomplished films, but it doesn't excuse The Mad Ghoul from being frightfully pedestrian, with the only real saving grace being the performance of Zucco.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com