THE CORPSE VANISHES (1942) ** No one lurks in the shadows like Bela Lugosi, not with either his innate elegance or natural physical humour. It's very funny, which is what you need to overcome the horrible premise that he's abducting the corpses of brides whom he doses on wedding day. You have to admire it all in some perverse sense. The film isn't that much, as you might suspect, but it has some excellent elements that largely compensate for the lack of plot. Luana Waters may not be ready for Broadway, but she makes some genre-admirable faces. She doesn't expect you to be taking things too seriously, so it's your own fault if you are. Bela...what? You don't think that Bela is much of a Shakespearean actor either? Why, you, I oughta. Anyway, I could have used a lot more interplay between Bela and Minerva Urecal and Angelo Rossitto. In fact, Bela's family is far more interesting than anything else going on. There's no need for a plot, much less this one (although it is a classic one-liner of black humour), when you're got such incredible character actors standing around willing to banter.
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