TaryBiggBall It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

FrogGlace In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

ActuallyGlimmer The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Kinley This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Leofwine_draca Pretty much all B-movie stars of the 1940s ended up making at least one film on behalf of the war effort, and this one is Bela Lugosi's attempt. One of the many cheapies made by poverty-row studio Monogram during the decade, this sees the former Dracula actor playing a Nazi plastic surgeon (!), come to gain revenge on the men who betrayed him. Although BLACK DRAGONS is only an hour in length, viewers will feel every second of this plodding thriller. The budget is non-existent, with the majority of the scenes taking place in someone's house; the dialogue is often absurd, and the actors interchangeable. For a thriller, it works up exactly no thrills or scares, and the only bit I genuinely liked was the climax, which reveals a fine (if a bit silly) twist in flashback.It's hard to lay blame at the door of director William Nigh, who directed dozens of films during this period, including some detective potboilers with Boris Karloff as Mr. Wong. He makes the best of what he can. It's also hard to fault Lugosi, who, despite suffering from addiction and pain at this stage of his career, is still the best thing in the film; you've gotta love his sinister persona and the dialogue he spouts on occasion. There's also a bit where he strangles somebody which is very well staged. But the rest of the cast is humdrum, enlivened only by a brief cameo from Keye Luke (one of Hollywood's most popular Chinese actors) and the appearance of Clayton Moore, better known as THE LONE RANGER, here seeming very wooden as the FBI agent. BLACK DRAGONS is a boring spy flick with only a couple of decent scenes, and it's best to pass this one up in favour of some of Lugosi's better movies.

bkoganbing It's strange that three years before appearing in Monogram's Black Dragons, Bela Lugosi got some critical acclaim for his role in the classic Ninotchka where he supported Greta Garbo. That he was now doing this kind of propaganda claptrap shows you just how his career was on a toboggan slide.The strange Mr. Lugosi arrives at the house of a noted physician and interrupts a dinner party. The guests are five industrialists who are cheerfully talking of sabotaging America's war effort. But one by one they meet their dooms at Lugosi's hands as the film progresses.Now why is Bela who is clearly not a patriotic American doing this to help the war effort? For that you will have to sit through the slightly over an hour film for that.Even for a poverty row outfit like Monogram this film was over the top in terms of wartime propaganda. Black Dragons was released in March of 1942 and the attack on Pearl Harbor is referenced so this must have been one quick job by Monogram to inflict this on the movie-going public.Clayton Moore and Joan Barclay are the love interest and of course this is an opportunity to see the unmasked Lone Ranger who was a handsome devil, why did he want to hide that is a mystery that we'll never solve.As for the reason for all this homicide, let's just say there's no honor among the Axis.

JoeKarlosi A very strange poverty row production from the period where horror star Bela Lugosi was resigned to taking whatever roles he could get. However, this entry in what we might safely call Bela's "Monogram Nine Series" is really far-out! He plays a strange visitor who first arrives at a reputed doctor's home in the guise of a patient, and then starts to take over the place, holding the doctor prisoner in his own house, and also killing a group of other important men who are associated with him. Lugosi has an old score to settle with these well-to-do types, and it involves his former association with the Nazis and the Japanese. By the time the 61 minutes are over, all will be explained (sort of!). If you're expecting too much sense out of a crazy movie like this, you can forget about watching it. This is not a horror film (though the ending may qualify) but it's a strange one and a rather offbeat curiosity for Bela Lugosi fans. He's also got a few really absurd lines which are a lot of fun. ** out of ****

randman0515 When i first heard about the movie, i figured Bela Lugosi, must be another horror, monster movie. I was greatly surprised about what i saw and i enjoyed the film very much. It supplied great drama and suspense and it kept me watching although the movie hardly lasted more than an hour. I think the story line was a good idea considering the time period and i think it also emphasized the ideas and feelings that Americans were having during that time. And of course Bela Lugosi is a great actor who keeps his audience watching and waiting for his next "strike". I didn't recognize the other actors that were in the movie, but they did very good and believable acting. This movie is a must see and should stand the test of time, although the movies i say that about don't.