The Corpse Vanishes

On the day of Alice Wentworth's wedding, mad scientist Dr. Lorenz sends the young bride an unusual orchid, the scent of which places the young woman in a state of suspended animation resembling death. He then spirits her body away to the basement laboratory of his isolated mansion and extracts glandular fluid from behind her ears to inject into his vain and aged wife in order to renew her youth and beauty. This is only the latest in a series of brides who appear to die at the altar and whose corpses subsequently vanish en route to the hospital or mortuary, and the police are thoroughly stymied.

A young journalist, Patricia Hunter, investigates the case and discovers it involves an unusual orchid. She is directed to Lorenz, a known expert on orchids, and visits his mansion where she meets with a chilly reception from his wife. She is forced to spend the night when a storm washes out the bridge to town, and discovers horror in the cellar beneath the Lorenz mansion: a crazed old woman and her two sons, one a sadistic dwarf and the other a hulking half-wit, all of whom assist Lorenz in his activities; and a mausoleum in which he keeps the bodies of his bride-victims, not all of whom may be entirely dead yet.

Also staying the night is a neighboring young doctor, who attends Countess Lorenz for other medical issues. When Patricia confides in him what she is investigating and what she has witnessed in the house, he agrees to help her. She leaves the next day for the city and, with her editor, develops a plan to trap Lorenz with a staged wedding and plenty of police protection, but he outfoxes them, chloroforming Hunter and carrying her to his laboratory to now use her bodily fluids upon his wife. However, during his escape, his dwarf-accomplice is shot and captured by the police. Back at the mansion, Lorenz is stabbed by the crazed old woman, Fagah, who holds Lorenz responsible for her sons' deaths. He strangles her, then collapses and dies. Fagah rallies weakly and stabs the Countess to death. The police, and the young doctor who has led them to the mansion, arrive and Hunter is freed.

• Bela Lugosi as Dr. Lorenz
• Luana Walters as Patricia Hunter
• Tristram Coffin as Dr. Foster
• Elizabeth Russell as Countess Lorenz
• Minerva Urecal as Fagah
• Angelo Rossitto as Toby
• Frank Moran as Angel
• Vince Barnett as Sandy
• Kenneth Harlan as Editor Keenan
• George Eldredge as Mike
• Joan Barclay as Alice Wentworth
• Gwen Kenyon as Peggy

Filming started 13 March 1942.[1]

Australian film critic Marcella Papandrea of The Super Network looked beyond the B-grade nature of The Corpse Vanishes and stated this about the film in her review "There are some truly memorable moments in this film, as once again Bela Lugosi gives a great performance as a mad scientist, his scenes have a sense of unease and dread."[2]

Bela Lugosi also starred in another 1942 horror film, Bowery at Midnight. In a scene in that film outside a cinema, an advertising poster for The Corpse Vanishes outside the cinema doors features Lugosi's image and name.

Colorized publicity shot.

The Corpse Vanishes was featured in episode #105 of Mystery Science Theater 3000 along with Chapter 3 of Radar Men from the Moon, a Commando Cody serial. The episode debuted in December 1989 on the Comedy Channel.[3] MST3K writer Mary Jo Pehl describes the movie as "nonstop boredom and yawns aplenty" and a "low-key quasi-thriller."[4]

Like all the other first-season MST3K episodes, The Corpse Vanishes did not make the Top 100 list of episodes as voted upon by MST3K Season 11 Kickstarter backers.[5] Writer Jim Vogel also took a dim view of the episode, ranking it #184 (out of 191 total MST3K episodes). "It's not the worst movie in the world, although it is very weird," Vogel says, remarking that the low energy level from the riffers makes this an MST3K episode likely to bore the audience.[6]

The MST3K version of The Corpse Vanishes was released on July 20, 2010, by Shout! Factory as part of the Mystery Science Theater Collection, Vol. XVI DVD set along with Warrior of the Lost World (episode #501), Santa Claus (episode #521), and Night of the Blood Beast (episode #701).[7]

• Béla Lugosi filmography
• List of films in the public domain in the United States

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• The Corpse Vanishes is available for free download at the Internet Archive
• The Corpse Vanishes at IMDb
• The Corpse Vanishes at AllMovie