The Human Monster (1939)

Bela Lugosi gives one of his finest portraits of evil in this adaptation of Edgar Wallace's terror-thriller-mystery THE DARK EYES OF LONDON. A series of 'drownings' have Scotland Yard baffled. One common denominator; the dead men were heavily insured through a particular brokerage firm... and all the policies were paid off. Larry Hold, a Scotland Yard detective, and a visiting American cop from Chicago get on the trail and, with the help of the daughter of one of the dead men, discover a horrifying cause to the so-called 'accidents/suicides.' Behind it all is a human monster, a doctor who is using a home for blind men as a front for his nightmarish activities. His main tool is a gargoyle-like brute who eventually becomes the madman's downfall. The tension mounts as the plot develops in the best thriller tradition with danger lurking at every turn and a hairs-breath escape or two thrown in to season the recipe. Filmed in England, this one reeks with atmosphere, with the proceedings dominated by Bela Lugosi as the fiend more diabolical than any criminal the Scotland Yard has encountered.