[HorrorScience] The Mysterious Eyes of London (1939)

During the first seconds of The mysterious eyes of London We see a disturbing look merging with the background, perhaps the most clueless think that this image has to do with the title of the film, although in reality there is another reason for including that scene independently of the title, which by the way was changed in the American version by The Human Monster.

The real reason for the appearance of those eyes in the opening credits has a first and last name: Bela Lugosi, who turned his gaze into a kind of visual signature that represents him almost better than his own name. That look surprised many in Lugosi's (and Universal's) first big success in cinema, Dracula (1930) and continued in the following years with films such as white zombie (1932)  Therefore it is not surprising that many years later, and in films that did not touch the greatness of those aforementioned successes, Lugosi's gaze continued to be used as a lure, whether or not it has anything to do with the story to be told.

With this explained, we can continue with the film, whose first scene shows us a lifeless body floating in the Thames. Apparently This is the fifth case of a drowned person. in a short period of time, which raises suspicions throughout the city and puts police detectives on the trail of a possible murderer.

To support the investigation, a Chicago police officer will arrive to try to provide a different point of view (or become a humorous resource with his American clichés) and thus facilitate the resolution of the case.

During the investigations, the police end up reaching Dr. Orloff (Bela Lugosi) who has a small insurance business that seems to be related to the victims, since most of them had insurance with him.

Dr. Orloff, despite his collaboration with the police, is somewhat suspicious, and even intimidating, but it is not due to the script, it is due to the performance of Lugosi, who after embodying so many villains changes from an affable and kind face to a murderer's face from one sentence to the next.

Investigating a little more, the police discover that Orloff is a kind man who collaborates with various charities, especially with an asylum for the blind, where he makes the majority of donations and charitable acts, according to what the man in charge of the asylum, Mr. Dearbon, tells them.

However, the suspicions raised by their insurance business remain strong, especially when they find another drowning victim who left his inheritance in the name of Dr. Orloff, in addition to having found a paper written in Braille in a victim's pocket.

Checking the blind asylum and Orloff's office still come up with nothing clear, but everything changes with the arrival of Diana (Greta Gynt), daughter of the last victim to appear. Due to his friendship with the girl's late father, Orloff will get her a job at the blind asylum, which alarms the police officers. Could Orloff be responsible for the crimes? What role does the blind asylum have? Will Lugosi be able to contain his desire to act as if he were Dracula?

The mysterious eyes of London It is an entertaining film, which with effort remains within the approved, since it has some very notable general shortcomings, among which a limited budget stands out., which the director managed to solve by filling the film with shadows and lights. It's a somewhat cheesy resource, but I think it gives it a sinister atmosphere, which ties in very well with some moments, as its scenes go from being worthy of a regular police film to looking like classic Universal Pictures horror films.

Curiosities:

• This film is based on a novel of the same name by the prolific Edgar Wallace, published in 1924
• This was the first British film to suffer the H (Horrific) censorship classification, established in 1937, due to some "cruel" scenes in the film.
• Jess Franco called the protagonist of her film Orloff screams in the night (1962) in honor of the character in this film.