Pretty Good

Expected more

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

It was a night full of heavy rain and thunderstorms yesterday. We decided to watch some scary films from 1939 with the lights down low while our dog hid by us from the thunder. The first one we watched was 'The Face at the Window' (1939). The second was 'Human Monster' also from that same year.'The Human Monster' stars Bela Lugosi. It takes place in England, possibly London. It seems there have been a number of people dying mysteriously, someone is collecting the insurance money on them. Mr. Lugosi plays a man who has dual careers, he's a doctor and he also sells life insurance...a very suspicious combination. He also does volunteer work as the on- call doctor for a local home for the blind. This home includes a large gruesome looking thug who may be a killer. The home is run by the kindly blind man Prof. John Dearborn. Also the story has the usual young couple who get caught up in the danger. Here it's a young investigator who falls for the daughter of one of the victims. She helps to find her father's killer. They also throw in a character for comic relief. He's a policeman from the United States in England to study their investigation methods. I found this story to be better than the first movie. It has some very scary moments for the time it was made. I would say it featured arguably the most evil and cruel character Bela Lugosi ever played. Previously I would have said his Dracula or his character from 'The Raven' had that devious honor. This guy makes them look almost tame in comparison. There are two scenes I found especially disturbing. I won't go into them here so as not to ruin the film for those who have not seen it. I can see why this is the first movie in Britain to receive the 'H' (for Horror) certificate. It has scenes that remind me of the eeriest from Erle C. Kenton's 'Island of Lost Souls' or some of Tod Browning's work from the same decade. I consider 'The Human Monster' to be a horror classic and well worth seeing for fans of that genre.Both films together make a good lights out, stormy night, double feature. I hope some of you will check them out if you've never seen them and you like these sort of films.

I was attracted to this film as it is set in London, and I love seeing the Great Wen from this period - shrouded in smog and flat caps. Unfortunately there were precious few outdoor shots and the sets were quite uninspiring too. Saying that though the story was fairly engaging and paced just about quick enough to keep the interest up for the 75 minutes or so. I am not sure why the American police officer was necessary as his role as a sidekick/comic relief to the polite and urbane Scotland Yard officer was ineffective (always wanted to beat criminals with rubber piping or shoot others) unless it was a vain hope to make the film appeal to a US audience.Bela Lugosi was not as terrible as I had imagined (with a couple of priceless glares into the camera for good measure) and nor were the rest of the cast. I would be interested to know what the National Institute for the Blind thought then (and now) of the depiction of the Home for the Destitute Blind (old men making wicker baskets in an environment that looked more like a prison than a home)seeing as they were credited with helping the production. Also I don't think I have ever seen an earlier film with a British woman police constable in it either - which led to some predictably outmoded comments from the male players.If you like this genre then I would say overall an average film with some curiosity value. Not a classic, more safe mid-table effort.

In London, the Scotland Yard Detective Inspector Larry Holt (Hugh Williams) is assigned to investigate a serious of deaths apparently in accidents. However, a further inquiry shows that all the victims are men without family and insurance policy released by the insurance agent Dr. Feodor Orloff (Bela Lugosi) and the beneficiary is a home for blind administrated by Prof. John Dearborn (Bela Lugosi). When Henry Stuart is found drowned, his daughter Diana (Greta Gynt) comes to London and helps Holt and his American partner Lieutenant O'Reilly (Edmon Ryan) in their investigation."The Dark Eyes of London" is an interesting B-movie with a good dark story and a great performance of Bela Lugosi. Unfortunately the quality of the VHS released in Brazil impairs the cinematography of the film. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "O Monstro Humano" ("The Human Monster")

Dark Eyes of London, AKA The Human Monster, is disturbing not just for the concept of murdering the disabled for their insurance, but for the cinematography and sets - the dark rooms, the bizarre and sharp angles of the set, the shadowy, lurching figures, the eerie organ music. I saw this movie as a child (on t.v., back in the late 1950s) and the only scene I remembered was one that stayed with me for years afterward (SPOILER ALERT), that of the intentional tub drowning of a man who was blind, deaf, mute, and paralyzed. At last, some forty years later, I saw the movie again and was amazed to note that the film still held the same gut-deep creepiness it did when I first watched it at a tender age. This, along with Island of Lost Souls, is a horror classic.