The Soul of a Monster

Despite its lurid title, Soul of a Monster is much less of a horror film and much more of a religious allegory. A saintly doctor, George Winston, nationally famous for his humanitarianism is dying and no power on earth is able to save him.Because of this his wife Ann has lost her faith in God. She calls on the dark powers to save him. A rather severe and intimidating women appears out of nowhere to save his life. Her entrance into the story is the eeriest and most mysterious part of the film. She arrives at the doctors deathbed with the claim that she can help him and takes over the situation . The woman calls herself Lilyan Gregg and she does bring about Winston's recovery. The doctor has recovered but he is a changed man. He seems to have lost his humanity. He no longer has any empathy with those whom he formerly cared for.He is now cold, aloft and unsympathetic. He comes to reject his wife and friends for a relationship with Lilyan.His wife Ann regrets her plea to the dark side to save her husbands from death for now she must battle Lilyan for his very soul.

Anybody who watches Soul of a Monster to see a horror film is really going to be disappointed. It's a cleverly done fantasy film but hardly horrific.Rose Hobart was a talented actress and here she is quite effective as the Devils messenger. She is someone that seems to invite confrontation and she can intimidate just about anybody.Lilyan is the movies most watchable character.George Macready made a career out of playing egotistical, unscrupulous, slightly feminine men who played at being mentally superior but are actually weak and cowardly. I buy him as the soulless George Winston. It's him as the noble and saintly Dr Winston that I just can't picture.

Soul of a Monster has a bit of the Devil and Daniel Webster and Cat People and even a bit of Frankenstein written into it's story.As I said Rose Hobart stands out and its her performance that makes the picture worth viewing. Erik Rolf plays Fred Stevens a family friend who is the conscience of the film. He is the Christian voice in the movie. Rolf always reminded me of Nils Asther. Soul of a Monster is really trying to sermonize about keeping faith in God and not losing morality in times of stress. It's not a terrible film but it ain't great either.

Of all the major studios from Hollywood's Golden Age, Columbia turned out the best "B" pictures. Cheaply made, featuring second tier actors, these flicks were often as entertaining, if not more so, than the quality films they supported.

The Soul of a Monster (1944) may not be the snazziest thing to come off Tinseltown's assembly line but with sinister George Macready starring, it's worth perusing.

He plays altruistic George Winson, a dying surgeon. About to depart for that big operating room in the sky, his wife pleads for help, unmindful of whence it comes. "If there is another power... good or evil... save him". Uh, oh... Enter Rose Hobart as the unholy Lilyan who does just that. But his miraculous recovery comes with a price. Once saintly and self sacrificing, George is now cruel and uncaring. He even kills his faithful German shepherd. Now that's wicked!

The creepy Macready and the diabolical Hobart keep things interesting, and Burnett Guffey (In a Lonely Place) delivers wonderful Val Lewton like B&W cinematography (shadows upon shadows!).

Unfortunately, cursed by a half-baked screenplay and cop-out finish, The Soul of a Monster never reaches the heights of the macabre promised by its spooky opening and demonic duo.

Directed by Will Jason.

Some reviewers automatically hate on every lower budget B movie.But if you know what you're in for, a slow burning atmospheric Lewtonesque 40s creeper, you'll be delighted. Great acting from the leads, eerie camerawork and music, hypnotic dialogue interrupted by jump scares. This would have fit in perfectly with the Shock TV movie package, and would now be regarded as a classic of the "creepy" genre.

This little-seen Colombia horror film from 1944 is a pretentious, but still interesting film.

It stars George Macready, in one of his first films, as a good doctor who is on his deathbed. His wife, played by a solid Jeanne Bates, wishes at the family fireplace for any force from heaven or hell to save him as she has lost faith with her god. Her wish is instantly granted by an unseen Satan as Rose Hobart plays a sort of 'Soul Master' who coldly arrives on the scene and saves Macready. Her action, of course, has a price.

Without revealing too much, this seems to have tried to copy the Val Lewton formula, which was popular at the time. The film opens and closes with a narrative quote. The direction is adequate. There is a long "chase" scene in the middle that seems to go on forever. The two characters walk as if elderly people on prozac. It is meant to be suspenseful, but it's just too darned long to keep up the suspense.

The film has very few "horror" moments, but some nice cinematic ones. There are shadows aplenty, but the best touch is the arrival and departure of Rose Hobart's character. The film changes to a negative image and then back to positive. I hadn't seen that technique used before in a classic horror film and there were some effective dutch angles that did a good job of building the suspense.

A decent film that unfortunately is just never too interesting, it's worth viewing for hard core classic horror buffs only. 5/10

If I hadn't seen the opening credits, I would have sworn this was a Val Lewton classic. It has all the fascinating earmarks as well as much of the weirdness. The story is simple enough. A doctor about to die is saved by an evil spirit in the guise of a mysterious woman, but as we know, there is always a price to pay for undeserved immortality.

This was, without question, a "B" movie dressed up to be more stylistic than most. As in those Val Lewton movies, all the performances are understated. The principals drift into indecipherable monologues that leave you numb. Many of the scenes are shot in shadow and the whole atmosphere is spooky. There is no bloody violence to speak of, but there is enough heart stopping shock to satisfy the blood-lust in most of us.

George MacReady leads the cast. This should tell us something. He was a fine character actor, but only in a low budget thriller would he ever be given the lead. His evil muse is played by Rose Hobart. I have to admit I never heard of her until I saw this movie, but she did a more than adequate job. In fact, she was downright frightening. The rest of the cast is nameless, although I may have seen one or two of them in an old Dragnet episode, but not one of them let the story down.

This production is well worth watching - if you can find it. My only complaint is that it comes with a prologue and an epilogue. In fact, it comes with a testament to good over evil. I don't know, it was made in 1944. Maybe they had no choice.