ThedevilChoose
When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.
Allison Davies
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
Fleur
Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.
Scarlet
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
htcnve
The following two very entertaining comedy movies GENIUS AT WORK(1946 - Wally Brown, Allan Carney, Anne Jeffreys, Bela Lugosi, Lionel Atwill - directed by Leslie Goodwins) Two radio detectives find themselves targets of a murdering fiend when their on-the-air recreations of the murders prove to be too accurate. The bonus film, GIRL RUSH, Wally Brown, Allan Carney, and Robert Mitchum, (1944 - directed by Gordon Douglas) is included free on the same DVD. Jerry and Mike (the comedy team of Wally Brown and Alan Carney), two vaudevillians stranded in San Francisco during the 1849 Sutter's Mill gold rush, strike it rich in a completely unexpected way. They decide to bring a musical revue top- lined by female entertainers to the womanless frontier town of Red Creek, an idea which is quickly endorsed by the local miners who view these shapely recruits as potential mail order brides. Success brings complications, of course, and Jerry and Mike's plans to buy a wagon train and return east to New York are constantly frustrated at every turn by crooked gamblers and assorted varmints though a friendly cowpoke (Robert Mitchum) often bails them out of trouble. In the end, it takes a huge street brawl to set everything right and bring the townspeople together in a united front. These two movies are available online on one single DVD. Visit: http://htcnve.wix.com/sale
kevin olzak
A remake of 1937's "Super-Sleuth," "Genius at Work" splits the Jack Oakie role in half for RKO's comedy team Wally Brown and Alan Carney, in their eighth and final film together. Back from title six, "Zombies on Broadway," are pretty Anne Jeffreys and Bela Lugosi, here reduced to playing Stone, the assistant/partner in crime of noted criminologist Latimer Marsh (Lionel Atwill), quickly revealed to be master criminal The Cobra. Brown and Carney again play their signature characters, Jerry Miles and Mike Strager, radio detectives keeping audiences tuned in by reenacting The Cobra's crimes (RKO newcomer Robert Clarke can be glimpsed as a fellow radio announcer). Pity any investigator who can't figure things out while browsing through Marsh's latest book, "Murder and Torture Can Be Fun!" Nowhere near as obnoxious as other lesser duos, Brown and Carney were both experienced comedy veterans, bland yet watchable. Atwill and Lugosi are virtually the entire show, hugely enjoying themselves as they avoid detection one way or another. The climax finds both in disguise, with Atwill's wheelchair-bound old lady a real hoot (his customary twinkle belying his real life demons). What is sad is watching the dying Atwill, stricken with bronchial cancer, smoking incessantly throughout the film, giving his all with a brave effort, with only "House of Dracula" and the 13 chapter serial "Lost City of the Jungle" still ahead of him (completed Aug 1945, this picture sat on the shelf for more than a year). This was the last of seven titles that teamed Atwill and Lugosi: "Mark of the Vampire," "Son of Frankenstein," "The Gorilla," "The Ghost of Frankenstein," "Night Monster," and "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man."
tmpj
This poor excuse for a movie really ought to be ashamed of itself. The two comedians in the principal roles are about as funny as a ruptured spleen, and Atwill and Lugosi probably scared each other more than they scared the intrepid audiences who dared sit through this film. RKO sets a new low for itself. It's released some pretty shabby B-flix during its time, but this one stands out because it brings all of the trappings of a cheap, hastily done celluloid nightmare that you might expect from one of the poverty row studios...PRC, Tiffany, Mascot...you name it. "The Cobra" has struck again, leaving its murderous imprint upon the already burdened psyche of the city. The two "radio detectives" have a show that re-constructs what they call 'the crime of the week'. But the ne'er do well heroes along with Anne Jeffreys do so well that they step on the toes of the villains and they do not like it. It then becomes a matter of having to get rid of them because they feel it is only a matter of time before their villainy will be discovered along with their true identities. It was a ridiculous, tired plot...even then in the 40s. It may have been a good vehicle for better actors...but that is not the case here. It is so bad..nothing can save it. If...as I have read...this is remake of a Jack Oakie vehicle from the 30s, this is one time when RKO should have just let sleeping dogs lie...and this film is really a DOG ! I cannot and do not recommend it. Even though I love old flix, this one is a time waster.
Craig Burkhart
This script seems like it was written for Abbott and Costello, but turned down. We have a low-rent comedy team here pretending to know something about a murderer. We also have menacing performances by Atwill and Lugosi. Finally, we have Anne Jeffrys as the lovely lady. It is funny in parts, but never really menacing. If you're not expecting much, it might be a pleasant surprise. If you do expect a decent film, well, you might very well be disappointed. It's a harmless enough way to spend an hour or so, especially if you're a Lugosi fan. I'm not sure it's for everybody, though. It isn't dull, but it isn't exactly entertaining, either.