Bodies are turning up in the Thames and the culprit could be the owner of an Insurance company, Dr. Orloff(Bela Lugosi), killing his clients for their claims, with Scotland yard investigator, Larry Holt(Hugh Williams) and visiting Chicago cop Patrick O'Reilly(Edmon Ryan) interested in finding the one responsible for the murders. Orloff uses phony names as beneficiaries for his clients, pocketing their money once they wash ashore dead. Orloff was forbidden to practice medicine and is more than a bit sore about it. He runs a charitable institution for the blind which is a front for his underhanded activities as a swindler, using a monstrous brute named Jake(Wilfred Walter, wearing protruding teeth to add a ghastly look, effectively making him quite menacing) to kill clients, dumping the bodies in the Thames. It's only a matter of time before his forgeries of signatures regarding fake beneficiaries is uncovered. The latest victim's daughter, Diana Stuart(Greta Gynt)wants to help capture the man who murdered her father. Such clues as tap water discovered in the lungs, and a note with braille writing(both of Diana's father) could be the break the police need to crack the case. There's a slick twist involving a Mr. Deerborne, the man who runs the institute for the blind(he himself seems to be blind as well)and Lugosi is as diabolical as ever. There's a particular scene which highlights how purely evil and insane Lugosi's madman really is as he drowns a blind violinist, Lou(Arthur E Owen) who was the cause of the braille note being found on the corpse of client Henry Stuart(Gerald Pring), laughing maniacally as he tosses him into the Thames. This very well can lead to his downfall, however, as Jake loved Lou and doesn't respond well when Diana tells him(saving her own skin in the process)of what Orloff did to him. Story-driven, THE DARK EYES OF London might be too slow for some, but Lugosi fans I imagine will find it satisfying. Being an Edgar Wallace thriller starring Lugosi might add interest. I consider this one of Lugosi's more underrated films and in the public domain I certainly recommend checking it out.
Review of The Human Monster
