1946's "The Face of Marble" ended Poverty Row Monogram's run of genre titles since Bela Lugosi's "The Human Monster" in 1940. John Carradine had previously headlined 1943's "Revenge of the Zombies," conceding that Monogram paid higher wages ($3000 per week) than all the other Hollywood studios of the period, also featuring in "I Escaped from the Gestapo," "Return of the Ape Man," "Voodoo Man," and "Alaska." "Zombies" was a straight up remake of the 1941 "King of the Zombies, "with a very low key performance from the actor, while "Marble" is quite different; for one thing, his Dr. Charles Randolph is not depicted as a typical mad scientist but a rational and quite likable one with dedicated sidekick, Robert Shayne a good six years older though playing a younger assistant (he'd get the top slot by 1953's "The Neanderthal Man"). These experiments in raising the dead through a special serum coupled with bursts of electricity are intended to benefit mankind, but the drowned sailor fails to respond accordingly. Randolph next decides that his wife's beloved Great Dane would be perfect, but the dog becomes a vicious beast capable of walking through walls and thirsting for blood. With his wife secretly in love with Shayne, and a voodoo practicing housekeeper determined to make her mistress happy, it shouldn't come as a surprise that both Randolphs come to a bad end. The script is simply a mess, but it shapes up as Carradine's best Monogram horror, not returning to the genre until the 1956 all star entry "The Black Sleep."
Review of The Face of Marble
