20th Century Fox never went in for the Gothic horror films that Universal specialized in. But when they did one it was a quality product even as a B picture. Such is the case of The Undying Monster. I wish it had a better story though because the mood captured by director John Brahm is completely right for this kind of film.
In a film story line that borrows quite liberally from Arthur Conan Doyle's Hound Of The Baskervilles, the Hammonds seem to be as cursed as the Baskervilles. For several hundred years a male Hammond falls victim to a curse because an ancestor sold his soul to the devil.
I can't believe that none of the English colony was available here. The Scotland Yard Inspector who is using science to try and catch the murderer is American James Ellison. John Howard is the last of the male Hammonds is also American. His sister however is English Heather Angel and the key role of the coroner is played by Bramwell Fletcher.
Fletcher's a scientist too, but he's real tuned into the whole occult business concerning werewolves though he thinks that science can do the trick to cure them. In that he's got an agenda all his own.
The Undying Monster is a decent try at Gothic horror, but I have a feeling it would have been done better at the studio which knew how.
In a film story line that borrows quite liberally from Arthur Conan Doyle's Hound Of The Baskervilles, the Hammonds seem to be as cursed as the Baskervilles. For several hundred years a male Hammond falls victim to a curse because an ancestor sold his soul to the devil.
I can't believe that none of the English colony was available here. The Scotland Yard Inspector who is using science to try and catch the murderer is American James Ellison. John Howard is the last of the male Hammonds is also American. His sister however is English Heather Angel and the key role of the coroner is played by Bramwell Fletcher.
Fletcher's a scientist too, but he's real tuned into the whole occult business concerning werewolves though he thinks that science can do the trick to cure them. In that he's got an agenda all his own.
The Undying Monster is a decent try at Gothic horror, but I have a feeling it would have been done better at the studio which knew how.