Black Dragons
{{short description|1942 film by William Nigh}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Black Dragons
| image = Blackdragons.jpg
| caption = Promotional lobby card
| director = William Nigh
| producer = Jack Dietz
Sam Katzman
associate
Barney A. Sarecky
| writer = Robert Kehoe
Harvey Gates
| starring = Bela Lugosi
Joan Barclay
George Pembroke
| music = Johnny Lange
Lew Porter
Heinz Roemheld
| cinematography = Arthur Reed
| editing = Carl Pierson
|studio = Banner Pictures Corporation
| distributor = Monogram Pictures Corporation
| released = {{Film date|1942|03|06}}
| runtime = 64 min.
| country = United States
| language = English
| budget =
}}
Black Dragons is a 1942 American film directed by William Nigh and starring Bela Lugosi, Joan Barclay, and George Pembroke. The cast includes Clayton Moore, who plays a handsome detective. The Black Dragon Society also appears in Let's Get Tough! a 1942 East Side Kids film made by the same team of writer Harvey Gates and producer Sam Katzman.
Plot
It is prior to the American entry into World War II, and Japan's fiendish Black Dragon Society is hatching an evil plot with the Nazis. They instruct a brilliant scientist, Dr. Melcher, to travel to Japan on a secret mission. There he operates on six Japanese conspirators, transforming them to resemble six American leaders. The actual leaders are murdered and replaced with their likenesses. Dr. Melcher is condemned to a lifetime of imprisonment so the secret may die with him.
Cast
- Bela Lugosi as Dr. Melcher aka Monsieur Colomb / Cell Prisoner
- Joan Barclay as Alice Saunders
- George Pembroke as Dr. Bill Saunders
- Clayton Moore as Dick Martin
- Robert Frazer as Amos Hanlin
- Edward Peil, Sr. as Philip Wallace (credited as Edward Piel Sr.)
- Robert Fiske as Ryder
- Irving Mitchell as John Van Dyke
- Kenneth Harlan as FBI Chief Colton
- Max Hoffman Jr. as Kearney
- Frank Melton as FBI Agent
- Joseph Eggenton as Stevens
- I. Stanford Jolley as The Dragon (credited as Stanford Jolley)
- Jack Cheatham as Policeman (uncredited)
- Jack Chefe as Hotel Clerk (uncredited)
- Bernard Gorcey as The Cabbie (uncredited)
- Jack Holmes as Industrialist (uncredited)
- Ethelreda Leopold as Girl at Party (uncredited)
- Carl M. Leviness as Industrialist (uncredited)
Production
The film was rushed into production following the attack on Pearl Harbor. It was to begin filming on 17 January 1942 but this was pushed back until 21 January. The original working title was The Yellow Menace.[https://books.google.com/books?id=Aueo3mOrIKIC&dq=black+dragons+lugosi&pg=PA123 Gary John Rhodes, Lugosi: His Life in Films, on Stage, and in the Hearts of Horror Lovers p 123]
Release
The film was released in Los Angeles on the double bill with the Australian film Pituri (also known as Uncivilised).{{Cite news|title='GOLD RUSH' CLEVER REVIVAL|date=Mar 3, 1942|work=Los Angeles Times|page=A9}}
The Los Angeles Times said that "those who love their mystery and their Lugosi will find this film unusually sinister."{{Cite news|title=Horror Film Stars Lugosi|date=Feb 28, 1942|work=Los Angeles Times|page=9}}
See also
- Black Dragons (gang), a modern Triad organisation.
- Black Dragons (subculture), a French antifascist group analogous to the Black Panthers.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{Wikiquote}}
- {{IMDb title|0034521|Black Dragons}}
- {{TCMDb title|68865}}
- {{Internet Archive film|id=BlackDragons}}
- [https://archive.org/details/variety146-1942-04/page/n231/mode/1up/search/%22sam+katzman%22?q=%22sam+katzman%22 Review of film] at Variety
{{William Nigh}}
{{Sam Katzman}}
Category:American black-and-white films
Category:1940s English-language films
Category:American mad scientist films
Category:American World War II propaganda films
Category:1940s science fiction films
Category:Films directed by William Nigh
Category:Monogram Pictures films
Category:English-language science fiction films