The Face of Marble

The Face of Marble
Directed byWilliam Beaudine
Written by
Produced byJeffrey Bernerd
Starring
CinematographyHarry Neumann
Edited byWilliam Austin
Music byEdward J. Kay
Production
company
Hollywood Pictures Corporation
Distributed byMonogram Pictures
Release date
  • January 19, 1946 (1946-01-19)
Running time
72 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Face of Marble is a 1946 American horror film directed by William Beaudine and starring John Carradine, Claudia Drake and Robert Shayne.[1]

Plot

Dr.Charles Randolph and assistant Dr.David Cochran are quietly experimenting on ways to bring the dead back to life. The body of a shipwrecked sailor is experimented on----but after about 30 seconds of life;lightning strikes the laboratory and kills the "patient" all over again.

Emboldened by his near success, Randolph experiments on Brutus,his wife's treasured Great Dane dog--and brings the dog back to life in a peculiar dead/alive form that can ghost-pass through solid walls but somehow has a mortal appetite. Inspector Norton pays a visit,saying that the dog has been spotted attacking and eating cattle. But because Randolph has helped the Police with his scientific knowledge before,direct accusations are tabled.

A bigger problem is growing--the doctor's wife Elaine married him out of gratitude after he saved her life with an operation---but she has developed a crush on Cochran.When COchran's beautiful fiance' arrives(Wrixon), something is bound to explode.

Maria,the family housekeeper,is a voodoo practitioner whose talents have gone to her head.She attempts to kill the fiance' with poison gas but kills Elaine instead. her husband tries to bring her back to life and succeeds---but she is now under the mental control of Maria.Maria orders her to kill her husband---and she does.The dog reappears and is harmless as long as Elaine is there to control it.

The fiance' suspects Maria of murder and plans to go to the police--so Maria locks her in her room and sends Elaine and the dog to kill her(they can both walk through walls). But Shadrach,the family butler,had witnessed Elaine kill her husband and informs the police.

The police arrive to find t he fiance' unhurt and Elaine and the dog vanished.Maria is found dead downstairs, dead by her own poison gas that was not in the room a few minutes ago.This apparently gave Elaine and the dog their "freedom".

As to who killed Maria,,the last scene has Dr.Randolph's ghostly footprints visible on the beach sand.












The film combines elements of science fiction and horror, and it is known for its atmospheric and eerie tone. It's a B-movie from the 1940s and is considered a cult classic by some fans of vintage horror films.

Cast

Release

Home media

The film was released on DVD by Shout Factory on October 1, 2013, as a part of its "Timeless Horror" movie pack. It was later released by VFN on August 7, 2018.[2]

Reception

On his website Fantastic Movie Musings and Ramblings, Dave Sindelar stated that the film had some interesting ideas and featured a good performance by Carradine, but was undone by the lack of humor, and uninteresting romantic sub-plot.[3] Dennis Schwartz from Ozus' World Movie Reviews awarded the film a grade B−, calling it "A goofy but entertaining 'mad scientist' cult film".[4] TV Guide gave the film one out of four stars, pointing out Carradine's performance as the film's only worthwhile aspect.[5]

References

Bibliography

  • Stephens, Michael L. (March 25, 2008). Art Directors in Cinema: A Worldwide Biographical Dictionary. McFarland. ISBN 978-1-4766-1128-0.

Notes

  1. ↑ Stephens 2008, pp. 219.
  2. ↑ "The Face of Marble (1946) - William Beaudine". Allmovie.com. AllMovie. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  3. ↑ Sindelar, Dave (May 8, 2015). "The Face of Marble (1946)". Fantastic Movie Musings.com. Dave Sindelar. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  4. ↑ Schwartz, Dennis. "faceofmarble". Sover.net. Dennis Schwartz. Archived from the original on December 20, 2017. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  5. ↑ "The Face Of Marble - Movie Reviews and Movie Ratings". TV Guide.com. TV Guide. Archived from the original on August 7, 2018. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
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