Fellow horror fans: This is my first post. I recently came across what appears to me to be a cameo of Bela Lugosi in the 1944 Paramount film The Man in Half Moon Street. There is a new edition of this film released by the Australian company Imprint/Via Vision. In my print, in the final scene, a group of bystanders are gathered about next to a train at a train station. At several points in the scene, one can see a man in a coat and hat with a typical gangster look, with occasional glimpses of the man's face. Near the end he is standing close to the train with his back to it. The hat is positioned in such a way that the face isn't 100% clearly seen, but something about the eyes and expression immediately made me ask, "Is that Bela Lugosi?" There are one or two other films of the 1940s where Lugosi is dressed in that gangster-like way.
One might ask why a star like Lugosi would accept such a cameo role, not much more than a slightly more prominent extra. My thought is that this was the time of his career when leading roles were getting fewer and fewer, and he probably would have been glad to pick up work even in minor roles. After all, the shooting of such a scene in a "B" picture would probably only be half a day's work, or at most a day, so it would give him some quick and easy cash. I don't know when his drug addiction started, but if it had started by that time, he would be looking for money from any source.
If there are any horror fans out there who have seen the film, and especially any who have a copy that they can "freeze-frame" at points in the past minute or so of the film, I'd be glad to hear their opinions on whether or not the man is indeed Lugosi. If there is widespread agreement that it is Lugosi, I'll add him to the cast list at the IMDb.
I tried asking this question to the management at a Lugosi website supposedly run by the Lugosi family, but nobody wrote back to me.
(Note on the film and edition: I say the film is 1944 because it showed in both Australia and Baltimore then, though the general release in the USA was not until 1945. The Imprint edition is quite good in image and sound, with a good commentary. It's a Blu-ray. I can't find any regional code on the case, but I think it's playable in all regions of the globe. If anyone is thinking of buying it and is worried about not being able to play it, write back to me here and I'll try it again in my region A player to verify that it works in North America.)
[My apologies for posting this twice. I mistakenly posted it in the "Welcome to the CHFB" section when I should have put it in the Golden Age of Horror section, so I copied it over.]
One might ask why a star like Lugosi would accept such a cameo role, not much more than a slightly more prominent extra. My thought is that this was the time of his career when leading roles were getting fewer and fewer, and he probably would have been glad to pick up work even in minor roles. After all, the shooting of such a scene in a "B" picture would probably only be half a day's work, or at most a day, so it would give him some quick and easy cash. I don't know when his drug addiction started, but if it had started by that time, he would be looking for money from any source.
If there are any horror fans out there who have seen the film, and especially any who have a copy that they can "freeze-frame" at points in the past minute or so of the film, I'd be glad to hear their opinions on whether or not the man is indeed Lugosi. If there is widespread agreement that it is Lugosi, I'll add him to the cast list at the IMDb.
I tried asking this question to the management at a Lugosi website supposedly run by the Lugosi family, but nobody wrote back to me.
(Note on the film and edition: I say the film is 1944 because it showed in both Australia and Baltimore then, though the general release in the USA was not until 1945. The Imprint edition is quite good in image and sound, with a good commentary. It's a Blu-ray. I can't find any regional code on the case, but I think it's playable in all regions of the globe. If anyone is thinking of buying it and is worried about not being able to play it, write back to me here and I'll try it again in my region A player to verify that it works in North America.)
[My apologies for posting this twice. I mistakenly posted it in the "Welcome to the CHFB" section when I should have put it in the Golden Age of Horror section, so I copied it over.]
statistics: Posted by richthescholar — 3:36 AM - Today — Replies 2 — Views 205