The final explanation was unintentionally hilarious

. . . and some of the events and explanations prior to it were a bit unintentionally amusing, too.

Lugosi was also fun to watch, in my opinion, as his performance is a combination of hamming it up and what seems to be a drug-induced stupor. I don't know when his drug problems began, exactly, and probably no one knows for certain, but he definitely seemed to be in an altered state for much of this film. In the early scene where he's sitting at a desk, it seems like the other guy might be finishing his lines for him because Lugosi couldn't manage to remember them or stay focused enough to do it.

The hammy racial stereotypes are also amusing to see in a contemporary context.

Unfortunately, Lugosi wasn't in the film enough (maybe they couldn't always track him down?), and after maybe 10-15 minutes, the film turned out to be a fairly boring, extremely choppy whodunit potboiler. The film most of us imagined prior to seeing this one, just based on the title, the era, and Lugosi's presence, was probably more entertaining.

I ended up giving it a 4/10, and it's an odd one at that, because if it came up for a rewatch, I'm sure I'd enjoy seeing it again, but it sure is a mess. Usually I give those kinds of films a 5 instead, partially to denote that it's that type of film, and usually 4s and below are films I'd dread seeing again. This one was too clunky to warrant a 5, though.


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