Movie serials are a hard sell to modern audiences. Most were produced as disposable, forgettable strings of cliffhangers, each with 15-20 minutes of setup. The writing, the production values, and even the acting talent is often cheap and half-considered. And yet, Bela, who was always seeking more work and didn't seem too particular about where he got it, was starring in serials even at the height of his fame. Most are pretty dreadful, and yet there are exceptions.

In the case of Shadows of Chinatown, while the plot is totally derivative of countless other serials and movies being produced at the time, featuring a criminal mastermind in Chinatown, a Milt Caniff-style Dragon Lady, and a gutsy girl reporter who gets herself into more trouble than she can handle, the story develops well over its fifteen chapters and seldom feels tedious or repetitive. Fair warning, though -- there's a lot of blatant misogyny in this one, and I have no idea how the producers expected us to believe Bela was Chinese.

Also, whereas the early chapters portrayed the shadowy underground of the San Francisco Chinatown, complete with dark corridors, eerie lighting, and semi-interesting death traps, the budget apparently ran out partway through, resulting in the final chapters being filmed on the streets of Hollywood, complete with rooftop battles, gas station encounters, and the last two chapters occurring almost entirely in a house and a restaurant. The entire feel of the film changes for the worse, and yet the writing and acting keep us engaged anyway.


Interested in checking it out? Shadows of Chinatown is streaming on Youtube:

Though Monogram Pictures was in the business of pumping out cheaply made schlock (and this is no exception), Bowery At Midnight still proves to be one of the darkest, most complex roles Bela ever assumed, playing a Psychology professor who is fully aware he is a sociopath leading a triple life as teacher/loving husband, proprietor of a Depression-era soup kitchen, and small time crime boss/cold blooded murderer. Though it likely found inspiration from Dark Eyes of London (released three years earlier, and coming later on this list), this film goes so much deeper and darker, and did I mention the zombies? You can forgive the laughable secret entrances and recycled/inappropriate music with a plot this rich.



Bowery At Midnight is streaming for free on Youtube if you're in the mood to watch it tonight!

Popular conception would have you believe that Bela Lugosi had been a relative unknown in Hollywood before making Dracula, but here he is making his American debut eight years earlier, playing the villain in a high profile, big budget William Fox picture that was even used for the premiere of several new Fox movie theaters. It's half spy film and half U.S. Navy recruitment fodder, as Edmund Lowe plays a naval intelligence officer targeted by Lugosi and his band of foreign saboteurs as a means of destroying the Panema Canal and, subsequently, dividing the U.S. Navy in half.

The plot is a predictable eye-roller designed to convince audiences to either go out and join the U.S. Navy today or to at least trust that it was unstoppable, but the film makes up for that by being visually impressive, with beautiful title cards and a surprisingly modern pacing established by quick cuts that are, at times, almost dizzying. It's a very well-made film with a lousy plot holding it back from being stellar.

While this was hardly the first time Bela (credited here as "Belo" Lugosi) got to play the bad guy, it's the earliest example anyone in 2020 is likely ever going to see, and he positively thrives in the role. For most of the film, he's just the guy in the background, watching things unfold and smirking, but he certainly gets to participate in a powerful struggle at the climax, and he shines most brilliantly in the second scene of the film -- absolutely the film's finest moment -- in which he overhears the plans for the canal's defenses being discussed, and the camera, the lighting, the editing, and Lugosi all come together to make an unforgettable piece of cinema that shows him off at his finest. Heck, White Zombie (1932) will steal the repeated close-ups on Lugosi's menacing eyes that get used here.


The Silent Command is streaming for free on Youtube:

This one is usually overlooked because, to be completely honest, the first chapter is horrendous. The complete opposite of Shadows of Chinatown, this one starts insultingly low budget and bad-looking, and then gradually gets better and better as the chapters progress, but this thing truly becomes exciting only a few chapters in, with truly great action, interesting sets, some better practical and special effects, and even sparse moments of expressive lighting and camerawork by the final few chapters.

More importantly, only six years after he became a mega star with Dracula, Bela's acting prospects had all dried up, and this was the only role he was able to land in 1937, so he goes for broke and gives this role his all. It's impossible to deny the amount of thought and artistry he pours into this one, giving such careful attention to gestures, mannerisms, expressions and such in order to make most of his scenes truly memorable (and he gets nearly as much camera time as the heroic lead). Rather than playing the mentally unstable megalomaniac of Shadow of Chinatown again (really, the two roles are written the same), he plays a far more cool, cold-blooded boss with manic undertones, and he truly owns it. My absolute favorite moment is when he is about to put a dog to death as a test for the new chemical weapon he has created, and he gives it a loving kiss on the head first. So very very cold-blooded.


SOS Coast Guard is streaming free on Youtube: