Black Dragons (1942)

A group of industrialists are profiteering from several disasters they're helping orchestrate, but retribution strikes when they are murdered one by one. Their bodies are dumped by the Japanese embassy, oriental daggers clutched in their hands. The culprit is charming Monsieur Colomb, who takes up residence in the house of the ringleader, dominating his mind. Why is Colomb doing this? Can he be trusted? And how deep does this conspiracy go?...

Black Dragons is an odd film! It sounds fairly straightforward on paper. Bela Lugosi is a sinister man killing his enemies. But in practice it's a mish-mash that never seems to know what it is, or what it's telling.

The film was put into production very early after the attack on Pearl Harbour, as evidenced by the plot having little to do with Japan, save for the embassy and daggers. Even the titular Black Dragon society is a non-entity, and only mentioned/seen in the last 5 minutes.

The film has its share of amusing dialogue, either as a jawdropping 'mock proposal' from the hero ("Alice, will you marry me?"-"What for?"-"So I can beat you up. It's the only way I can get you out of here.");

to a magnate's opinion of fear ("A busy man has very little time to indulge in feminine emotions.");

and a great exchange between Lugosi and the young lady-"When a young woman's nerves commence to give way it is time she sought refuge in a strong man's arms."-"I just ran into yours."-"Mine might be dangerous."

Bela plays a heroic villain, who shares great chemistry with the young lady, almost paternal. The whole movie you wonder why he's hunting these businessmen down. The ending flashback would seem to put him squarely on the side of evil, only hunting our enemies out of convenience. But there seems a genuine benevolence to him in the present day, like maybe his experiences changed his views. There's a nice sense of ambiguity to him!

The young heroes are non-factors, and contribute literally nothing, even in dialogue to the climax or ending. There's also a minor twist with the girl that felt a bit unnecessary, and only complicated things further. The villains don't do much, but it's interesting that the villains here are really the victims! It's they who are being picked off one by one, by another's sinister plan.

What really sets Black Dragons apart is its last minute plot twist, which is mystifying! It's revealed that Colomb was an expert plastic surgeon for the nazis, and after changing the faces of spies to become perfect doubles, he's jailed! Why do people always kill master craftsmen after only one job?? Especially in this case, when said master craftsman is a nazi. He's on their side! He could help you again, surely, but instead you shoot him after only 5 patients?

The plastic surgeon is thrown into a jail cell, somehow still holding his surgery kit, which he uses (without anyone noticing) to change his face to that of his cellmate...who already looks just like him? What would changing his face to the other guy accomplish anyway. He's a prisoner too! They're probably gonna shoot him! Somehow his manages to work, and he escapes to plot his revenge.

This story is related to us by the ringleader, who acts like it's such a big injustice to him...yet this speech is totally copping to him and his buddies being foreign spies! I don't know where he gets off on whining about how insidious it all is when you're the ones who betrayed him! The idea that these very white and American guys are actually Japanese under some plastic surgery is hilarious and unbelievable, reminding me of Die Another Day!

This ending is so unbelievably rushed, feeling like 20 minutes of story packed into 1! Some elements are forgotten altogether, and we end with far more questions than answers. It feels like we had a complete script, which got a sudden rewrite that doesn't gel with the rest of the movie at all.

The genre here is hard to pinpoint. Black Dragons is one of many Lugosi films that finds its way onto horror box-sets despite not being in the genre, but unlike others, this doesn't fit too awkwardly  It's predominately a wartime thriller, but it's got enough murder and mayhem, plus a 'monster' in the last minute. It's still hardly a horror, but has enough of the macabre to satisfy.

Of its many other faults, one thing Black Dragons can't be accused of is wasting Bela Lugosi. He is by far the lead here, eclipsing the young couple in terms of screentime, even combined. He gets a good combo of being a hero while still acting the villain, and gets in a few devilishly suave lines, as well as some great evil laughs. It's also funny how absolutely no effort is made to change his face in the flashback, besides the addition of a beard. The rest of the cast is merely ok, getting the job done, including future Lone Ranger Clayton Moore! And Standford Jolly does an awful job as the head Black Dragon, talking like an elderly man on drugs.

Black Dragons is a mediocre yet weird little movie. I'd say give it a miss, were it not for its slight lunacy, and always charming lead actor, and it is only an hour of your time anyway...