THE
PROFESSOR (1958)
Directed by Tom McCain
Sinister Cinema VHS
Reviewed 01.03.04
Review by Joseph A. Ziemba
THE FILM
I’m a sucker for oddly obscure
b-film rarities. There’s something
incredibly charming about weird
and unknown b-movies. I can’t
put my finger on it, but it’s
always thrilling to unearth some
half baked monster film, regional
trash rarity, or unfinished masterpiece.
The Professor is a prime
example of this mini-genre.
Produced in Dayton, Ohio, in 1958,
The Professor is a half
hour short concerning a science
lab in the mountains and a werewolf
in a white suit. The werewolf is
played by Doug Hobart, also the
monster star of William Grefe’s
Sting Of Death and Death
Curse Of Tartu. From what I’ve
read, this short was supposed to
produce interest in a television
series, but never got that far.
It’s got the look and feel
of a film that some friends decided
to bash out over the course of a
weekend: bad acting, flubbed lines,
bad photography, and lots of talking...talking...talking...
The story is a bit confusing. All
you really need to know is that
there’s a cool looking werewolf
prowling around the mountain laboratory
of Professor Wilmer. Somewhere along
the way, we meet the Professor’s
daughter, a nerdy head of security,
a reporter, and witness transmutation
experiments on a rabbit. In the
sub plot department, we’ve
got a poorly acted Russian spy (he’s
got a cuban/british accent) and
his partner scheming around the
lab. There’s a hilarious scene
involving the two Russian agents
discussing their evil plot in a
public library.
This mini-film was a little boring,
save for the werewolf himself and
his one attack. Maybe if I watch
it again, it’ll magically
live up to what I thought it would
be?
AUDIO AND VIDEO
This is a pretty crisp print with
the expected hairs and scratches
from a film of this year and rareness.
EXTRAS
The Professor appears as
a second feature on Sinister’s
Tales Of Frankenstein VHS.
Since “Tales” is available
from a few different companies on
DVD, and The Professor
is such a rarity, I decided to review
just that. Anyway, that said, there
are a few trailers at the start
of the tape and ten minutes of drive-in
intermission shorts between the
two features. Tales Of Frankenstein
is an enjoyable half hour tv pilot
from the 50s that never turned into
a series. It’s worth seeing
and features a monster in make up
that you’d expect to see at
your door on Halloween.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The Professor was ok, but
definitely not essential. If you
like odd rarities like this, you
may be interested, but if not, it’ll
just seem boring. |
That'll be the day...
Abracadabrah!
Stalking the lab
Prof. Trisler
|
