That was an excellent one.

Such a frustrating disappointment

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Monogram contribution to the war effort. Bela Lugosi plays a Nazi doctor involved in a plot to surgically alter Japanese saboteurs to look like American leaders so they can take their places. A maskless (and Tonto-less) Lone Ranger saves the day. One of the more dreadful of all the cheapies Lugosi made for poverty row. The plot actually sounds like it could be interesting or even somewhat offensive, which itself can be interesting. Unfortunately, it's just a dull way to spend an hour. Lugosi is relatively subdued, which means his critics can't make fun of him as much but it also means his performance isn't very memorable. I like my Bela performances with lots of ham, thank you.

This is not one of Bela Lugosi's best films but it's not snore to watch either. It's odd, interesting in its way and more on the fun to watch side than it is a suspenseful & intriguing thriller film.Bela's acting is good as it usually is - so he's fun to watch in this movie. As another reviewer has mentioned: Lugosi does his famous "who me?" style of acting in this strange but fun spy vs. spy type of war thriller.From what I have read, this is an American propaganda film - it was 1942 so taking that into consideration the film is "ok" because it could have been worse.If you are looking for something different to watch on an otherwise boring afternoon and like some of Lugosi's other films or just like older fun war spy films then you might like "Black Dragons".5/10

This modest, low-budget, Monogram propaganda release produced by Sam Katzman's Banner Productions pits the man who played Count Dracula against the man who went on to play the definitive "Lone Ranger." "My Four Years in Germany" director William Nigh and "The Corpse Vanishes" scenarist Harvey Gates derived their incredibly far-fetched murder-mystery about a Nazi surgeon who wrecks vengeance on treacherous Japanese who have infiltrated the upper echelons of American industry from Robert Kehoe's story. Basically, the Third Reich dispatch Dr. Melcher (Bela Lugosi of "Dracula" with a goatee) to wield his superb skill as a plastic surgeon to turn several Nippons into dead ringer doubles of influential American industrialists. Dr. Melcher does such an admirable job that the Japanese have no choice but to imprison him for fear that he could expose them. The trouble is they incarcerate him with another fellow who looks just like him! Of course, Dr. Melcher manages to escape, but since Katzman produced this epic on a shoe-string budget who don't know how he got from Asian to America. Several cavernous holes appear in the plot. Nevertheless, the idea is clever. Nigh doesn't waste time telling his tale as Melcher shows up late one evening in the comfortable house of Dr. Bill Saunders (George Pembroke) in Washington, D.C., and repays the Japanese from their evil treachery. Dozens of wartime espionage movies came out during the early days of World War II because these thriller was easier for Hollywood studios to produce. Most of the action transpires in America so the movie makers didn't have to dress armies in enemy uniforms. Indeed, this movies dealt with undercover investigations and it was simple Hollywood to tweak a crime thriller and turn it into a contemporary spy chiller. Mind you, "Black Dragons" was Lugosi's only excursion into the espionage genre. Nonetheless, he plays a villainous Nazi who exacts his revenge on untrustworthy Japanese. Moreover, since the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in a surprise attack, the undercover mission that these industrialists were carrying out to sabotage American industry from within was properly fitting for the time. Once Dr. Melcher shows up at Dr. Saunders' house, virtually everybody at the dinner party starts to drop dead, with Kearney as the first. Wallace snoops around Saunder's house and Melchor kills him. Meantime, FBI Chief Colton (Kenneth Harlan) has assigned a handsome field agent, Richard 'Dick' Martin (Clayton Moore of future "Lone Ranger" fame) to conduct the investigation. Not long after Kearney shows up dead at the entrance of the closed Japanese Embassy. Saunder's daughter, Alice Saunders (Joan Barclay of "The Corpse Vanishes"), shows up, but she finds her father a sick recluse behind the locked door of his bedroom. Dr. Melcher claims to be his physician. One by one, Melcher kills the Japanese impersonating wealthy American industrialists. Eventually, with less than ten minutes remaining, one of the Japanese explains with the help of a flashback how Melcher came to do what he did. The performances are good and the Axis enemy is depicted as vile. They turn on each other without a qualm. Along with the revelation about the plastic surgery, "Black Dragons" boasts another surprise. The action takes place primarily in rooms and there are no gunfights or car chases.

This was a strange film. A bit horror and certainly film noir. Some fifth columnists meet and mysteriously start dying off with a Japanese dagger in their hands after Monsieur Colomb (Bela Lugosi) shows up.Soon the Lone Ranger arrives in the person of FBI Agent Richard 'Dick' Martin (Clayton Moore). Martin is ineffective in finding the killer as he is more interested in the niece (Joan Barclay) of a missing doctor, who is part of the gang.After the last man dies, and the doctor is horribly disfigured by some strange serum, the true story of the group comes out and that is where it gets interesting and weird. I won't spill it.Lugosi was marvelous as the skulking killer.