Black Dragons
About Black Dragons
After Pearl Harbor, fifth columnists meet at Dr. Bill Saunders's house in Washington. A stranger calling himself Dr. Colomb injects Saunders, then kills the men one by one and leaves the bodies on the steps of the Japanese embassy with a Japanese dagger. FBI agent Dick Martin looks into the deaths, while Alice Saunders, herself an agent, finds Colomb living in the house. A hooded Saunders explains that Colomb is Dr. Melcher, a Nazi plastic surgeon sent to Japan to remake Black Dragon agents into the likenesses of American industrialists. The Japanese meant to kill him; he swapped faces with a cellmate named Colomb, escaped, and came back for revenge. Hanlin shoots him, Melcher dies, and the ring dies with him.
Cast & crew
More about Black Dragons
Jack Dietz and Sam Katzman produced the picture for Monogram release, with Barney A. Sarecky as associate producer. Harvey Gates wrote the original story and screenplay. The AFI Catalog records that filming began on January 22, 1942.
Themes
Making
Wikipedia notes that shooting, first set for January 17, 1942, was pushed back until January 21, in the rush after Pearl Harbor.
Reviews
The Los Angeles Times wrote that those who love their mystery and their Lugosi would find the film unusually sinister.
Music
Johnny Lange and Lew Porter were the musical directors. Heinz Roemheld is credited for stock music.
Notes
- The working title was Yellow Menace. Variety reported that a film of that name had been postponed so Black Dragons could be made; other sources treat Yellow Menace as this picture's working title.
- Monogram copyrighted it on March 6, 1942, as LP11343. The AFI Catalog gives the length as 5,611 feet and the running time as 61 or 63–64 minutes.
- It opened in Los Angeles on a double bill with the Australian film Pituri, also known as Uncivilised.
- Clayton Moore, later the Lone Ranger, plays Dick Martin.
- The Black Dragon Society also appears in Let's Get Tough! (1942), written by Harvey Gates and produced by Sam Katzman.
- Carl Pierson edited, and David Milton was the art director.
Scenes
- Colomb injects Dr. Saunders during the conspirators' meeting and leaves him unable to act for himself.
- The dead men turn up on the steps of the Japanese embassy, each with a Japanese dagger.
- The hooded Saunders tells how Melcher changed a cellmate's face and walked out of a Japanese prison as Colomb.
Also available
- Internet Archive (BlackDragons)
