IMDb RATING
5.3/10
1.2K
YOUR RATING
Kindly soup kitchen operator and professor of criminology Bela Lugosi uses his soup kitchen as a front for a criminal gang who commit a series of daring robberies and murders.Kindly soup kitchen operator and professor of criminology Bela Lugosi uses his soup kitchen as a front for a criminal gang who commit a series of daring robberies and murders.Kindly soup kitchen operator and professor of criminology Bela Lugosi uses his soup kitchen as a front for a criminal gang who commit a series of daring robberies and murders.
Victor Adamson
- Tramp
- (uncredited)
Willy Castello
- Jeweler
- (uncredited)
Pat Costello
- Tramp Questioned by Richard
- (uncredited)
George Eldredge
- Det. Thompson
- (uncredited)
Bernard Gorcey
- Shopkeeper
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaA 1942 table model television receiver is prominently displayed atop a filing cabinet in Karl Wagner's inner office, but it is only seen in actual operation in one scene, and is an early example of closed-circuit television.
- GoofsWhen Pete is leaving the 45th Precinct house and is talking to the retiring detective, a shadow of the boom microphone is visible on the wall behind them.
- Quotes
Fingers Dolan: Who'd a thought yesterday I'd be workin' a high class job with Frankie Mills?
Prof. Frederick Brenner, alias Karl Wagner: Yes, each day has it's little surprises.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Basket Case 3 (1991)
Featured review
Value For Money
In the 1942 Monogram horror cheapie "Bowery at Midnight," Bela Lugosi plays quite the enterprising fellow, not just moonlighting...but double moonlighting! By day, he works as a college psychology professor named Frederick Brenner. By night, under his Karl Wagner alias, he runs a soup kitchen/hospital for the poor in NYC's Bowery. But wait...as Wagner, he is also the mastermind of a burglary ring that has lately been scourging the area. This ring is small in number, as Wagner has a habit of killing off one of his henchmen every time a heist is performed, and burying him in his basement...with named placards in lieu of headstones, no less! Anyway, the picture has been competently directed by Wallace Fox, who had already worked with Bela on two previous Monogram films, "Spooks Run Wild" ('41) and "The Corpse Vanishes" ('42); I wonder how this director would have fared with a budget larger than a few thousand bucks, some shoestrings and two bottle caps. In a relatively no-name cast, Tom Neal, playing Bela's sadistic gunsel, is a welcome presence; he would, of course, go on to achieve cult status by dint of his work in that truly bizarre film noir, "Detour" ('45). "Bowery at Midnight," at 63 minutes, never wears out its welcome, despite some occasional lame humor, incredibly chintzy sets and an unfortunate dependence on unlikely coincidence. (Really, what are the odds of Wagner's soup kitchen assistant being the fiancée of one of Brenner's students?) I mentioned up top that this is a horror film, but honestly, the only genuine horror elements here are Bela himself and the fact that his drunken doctor pal manages, inexplicably, to bring all his buried victims back to life. And speaking of inexplicable, just what is the deal with that map of Australia that Wagner keeps on his wall? Best not to ask such questions, I suppose. Just sit back and enjoy the spectacle of one of our true horror icons essentially playing three different roles in one hour. From a Poverty Row studio, that really IS value for money!
helpful•30
- ferbs54
- Feb 26, 2010
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Burial at Midnight
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 1 minute
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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