Ghosts On The Loose +
Bowery At Midnight (Roan Group)
Picture: C
Sound: C Extras: C- Films: C/D
Monogram wanted to take best advantage of having Bela
Lugosi on their payroll and this included some pairings with The East Side Kids
(aka The Bowery Boys) in a few B films.
Ghosts On The Loose (1943) has some comedy and not enough Lugosi,
while Bowery At Midnight (1942) is a disaster with nothing very funny
about it and muddy throughout. The
former’s title says it all and even has Ava Gardner show up, while the latter
offers Lugosi as a criminal mastermind.
Too bad he did not proofread the script. Only bother with Ghosts if you must.
These are old prints form Monogram Studios, a company that
went out of business over half a century ago and was a poverty row B-movie
studio. The prints are not in bad
shape, but the transfers are from 2000 and a bit soft. The Dolby Digital Mono is also from the same
time and is from older optical tracks off of their respective prints. Both are playable at best, but expect
background noise. Extras on Ghosts
include an actual trailer, while both have cast/crew text and background
information text.
- Nicholas Sheffo
