Bela Lugosi plays another insane murderer in a big ol’ shadowy manor, but in this one he’s actually a nice guy. His problem is that he some-fucking-how slips into a homicidal trance at the very instant he sees his estranged wife whom he desperately misses. He thinks she’s long gone with another man, but she really has amnesia from a car accident and is out wandering Lugosi’s estate at night like a loony.
None of this makes a lick of sense, but Monogram Pictures made it on a budget of about $17. They couldn’t afford any sense. Lugosi is still fun to watch, but the most memorable performance comes from Clarence Muse as the dutiful butler. Muse was a stately black actor (and writer and law degree-holder) who paid the bills acting in B-movies in which he often maintained a rare poise and dignity than what Hollywood typically afforded to black performers at the time.
This is also notable as an early work from director Joseph H. Lewis.