I watched the 1941 Universal Pictures, science fiction horror movie, Man-Made Monster on Svengoolie. This film is directed by George Waggner (Horror Island, The Wolf Man, 10 episodes of Batman 1966-1968) and produced by Jack Bernhard (Unknown Island, Decoy, Blonde Ice, The Second Face). Dan McCormick played by Lon Chaney Jr. (played The Wolf Man, Dracula, Frankenstein and the Mummy in various movies) is on a bus that wrecks and a power line kills everyone on board but him.
A mad scientist, Dr. Paul Rigas played by Lionel Atwill (Doctor X, The Vampire Bat, Mystery of the Wax Museum, Son of Frankenstein, The Three Musketeers, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Ghost of Frankenstein, Night Monster, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, House of Frankenstein, House of Dracula)
wants to create an army of electrical zombies. He experiments of Dan McCormick and horror ensues. Other stars are Anne Nagel (The Green Hornet, The Mad Doctor of Market Street, The Mad Monster, The Trap, 1 episode of Circus Boy with Micky Dolenz of the Monkees),
Frank Albertson (It’s a Wonderful Life, Psycho), Samuel S. Hinds (The Strange Case of Doctor Rx, Son of Dracula, Secret Agent X-9, It’s a Wonderful Life), Chester Gan (played almost a hundred roles, typically portraying Asian stereotypes),
Ben Taggart (Monkey Business, The Face Behind the Mask), Frank O’Connor (King Kong, The Son of Kong, It’s a Wonderful Life), Byron Foulger (scene deleted from movie, Magnetic Monster, Son of Flubber, Who’s Minding the Store, The Gnome-Mobile, Blackbeard’s Ghost) and
Russell Hicks (Sergeant York, The Flying Saucer). The movie’s original title was Man Made Monster (no hyphen) and was re-released under Electric Man, The Mysterious Dr. R. and The Atomic Monster. In 1936, Boris Karloff was originally selected for the role of Dan McCormick, with Bela Lugosi playing Dr. Rigas.
This version, called The Electric Man, ended up being scrapped because the movie plot was similar to the film, The Invisible Ray. All the glowing and sparks were courtesy of John P. Fulton (parted the Red Sea in The Ten Commandments, Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, The Mummy, Rear Window).
Svengoolie mentioned that the equipment seen in the lab was also used in Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein and Young Frankenstein. I like the movie and will give it 2.5 out of 5 stars. For more information read Wikipedia, IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes.
