Old Movie Watching with Rob's video: The Mad Ghoul 1943 - Movie Review

George Zucco plays Dr. Alfred Morris is a professor here talking about the ancient Mayan natives and how their artwork shows they had an ancient form of mind control gas. Zucco had been the ancient Egyptian high priest in the Universal Mummy films, so neat to see him here again, this time as the big star of the film. He recruits student Ted Allison (David Bruce) to join him in his research. As an actor he sort of has this Alan Tudyk vibe to him. So the first thing they do is some operation on a monkey, and we start to realize that the professor might be a little dark when he says things like, "I am a scientist, there is no such thing as good and evil, only true or false" - you hear stuff like that in a film and you know, yeah, this guys gonna be trouble. That's mad scientist talk, come on... His science project is basically this: he's using a homebrew of Mayan mind control gas to make people into zombie-like followers, and then undoes that using the serum taken from hearts of recently deceased bodies as a temporary antidote. Yeah, you know that's not going to go well. Anyhow, after they finish their monkey surgery they agree to dinner. Ted bring's his girlfriend Isabel, actress Evelyn Ankers, and the Doctor takes a liking to her. The actress was also in some other Universal monster films, namely Lon Chaney's love interest in the Wolf man. And once they gather at Dr. Morris's house we find out that Isabel just doesn't seem to care much for Ted anymore. Dr. Morris realizes this, and confides in her that everything will be made right because, well, he's got something diabolical planned for poor Ted. Later, he sets up a trap in a lab where Ted will "accidentally" get a whiff of Dr. Morris' ancient Aztec zombie goas stuff. The doctor arrives shortly, with a gas mask on, and helps the newly zombified Ted to his feet. He has the "living death" syndrome and looks all pale and awful. And of course, he starts giving zombie Ted mental suggestions that Isabel doesn't love him, and that she loves him instead. Ewww. Dr. Morris and zombie Ted head to the graveyard, where he tells Ted to dig up a newly buried body and then do a cardiotomy, "So I can make you well." The police show up at the grave the next day to investigate (why didn't zombie Ted just push all of the dirt back? Ah, well) Dr. Morris does his treatment, and zombie Ted turns back to normal, but when he comes to, he still has his memories of Isabel. The doctor assures him it was just some vertigo that knocked him for a loop (for a few days?) The Doctor notices that little Jocko, his lab monkey, suddenly falls dead, so something is amiss with his Aztec gas procedure. He realizes Ted might be at risk too, but he doesn't tell him anything, and instead they both go off to see Isabel. Isabel sings "Marble Halls" which, up until now, I thought was an Enya song. Huh. Oh, and on piano with her is Turhan Bey, which was cool. He was the Egyptian priest reanimating Kharis in The Mummy's Tomb. I love the overlap of actors in these old Universal films. Well turns out that Turhan's character, Eric, is now Isabel's love interest, that suave piano player, and Ted is oblivious to this. Ted proposes to her, get's a shocking rejection, and then collapses in a chair and, zombie Ted is suddenly triggered! Dr. Morris takes care of him, and back to the graveyard they go, where the doctor ends up bonking a grave keeper on the head and zombie Ted goes to work doing heart surgery on a fresh heart. I have to tell you, zombies are creepy to begin with, but zombies doing open-heart surgery is really kicking up the creepiness a notch. Dr. Morris has a private meeting with Isabel, and she mentions her love of Eric, and sure enough, he shows up to join them. The doctor seems surprised, not realizing she was in love with him, but we can guess what his mad scientist brain is scheming up. Ted has another episode and goes zombie again, and Dr. Morris gives him a suggestion in his zombie state that he needs to go after poor Eric. And sure enough, zombie Tim is staggering out to meet with Eric to shoot him (because zombies aren't enough - zombies that do open heart surgery, and carry guns, that's taking it to the next level) but last minute Isabel runs to Eric, worried about him and oblivious to her former boyfriend turned zombie, and the doctor scurries away with zombie Tim. The press meanwhile are looking for a scoop on this situation and two reporters get a lead that the zombie ghoul seems to follow a pattern of Isabel's singing. The police try to lay a trap for him but this fails. Reporter McClure (Robert Armstrong of King Kong fame) is on the case amd he tries to pry Isabel for information. She panics when Eric is blamed, and goes to Ted and tells him everything, while he makes this bizarre vacant stare. Anyhow, check this one out to see how things wrap up. It's a fun film and worth watching.