George Zucco

Reporter Sue Gallagher (Detour's Ann Savage) discovers the corpse of a notorious gangster propped up in a wax museum and fights to keep the scoop — while a rival reporter (William Gargan), the museum's bumbling maintenance man (Leo Gorcey), and the killer himself (George Zucco) all converge on the evidence. A fast, funny 64-minute programmer from Pine-Thomas Productions, Paramount's prolific "Dollar Bills" B-movie unit. The film is in the public domain.

Comedy · Crime · Mystery

A 1943 Poverty Row mystery-horror film directed by Sam Newfield and produced by Sigmund Neufeld for Producers Releasing Corporation. On a stormy night, a group of strangers—including an eloping couple, an embezzling bank teller, and a gangster—take shelter at the Black Raven inn, run by the mysterious Amos Bradford (George Zucco), known in the underworld as "The Raven." When a murder occurs and the roads wash out, the trapped travelers begin to suspect each other. The film co-stars Wanda McKay, Robert Livingston, and Charles Middleton. The film is in the public domain.

Mystery · Crime · Horror

The Mad Monster is a 1942 horror film directed by Sam Newfield and produced by Sigmund Neufeld for Producers Releasing Corporation. George Zucco plays Dr. Lorenzo Cameron, a discredited scientist who injects his simple-minded handyman Petro (Glenn Strange) with a serum derived from wolf's blood, transforming him into a werewolf. Cameron unleashes his creation on the colleagues who ruined his career, while reporter Tom Gregory (Johnny Downs) and Cameron's daughter Lenora (Anne Nagel) close in on the truth. A quickie knock-off of Universal's monster pictures, it gave Glenn Strange an early turn as a screen monster before he played Frankenstein's creature at Universal. The film is in the public domain through non-renewal.

Horror · Sci-Fi

Dr. Marlowe, a mad scientist played by Bela Lugosi, uses voodoo and hypnosis to kidnap young women and transfer their life essence into the body of his dead wife, who has been in a trance for twenty-eight years. His assistants are a zombie-like coachman played by John Carradine and a gas station owner played by George Zucco who lures victims by pretending their cars have broken down. Shot in seven days by William Beaudine for Sam Katzman's Monogram unit, the film was not intended as a comedy, but its absurd plot and loose continuity have made it a favorite of bad-movie audiences. Carradine reportedly considered it the worst film he ever made. It was the last of Lugosi's nine Monogram features. The film entered the public domain due to non-renewal of its copyright.

Horror · Comedy