Lugosi, The Dark Prince (2006)
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
Too short but incredibly entertaining documentary on the career of Bela Lugosi. Film historians, directors and friends all comment on Lugosi's work from his breakthrough success in Dracula to ending his career in the films of Ed Wood. People like Gregory Mank, Joe Dante, Kim Newman, Jimmy Sangster, Richard Gordon and Steve Haberman are several others show up to discuss the films of Lugosi and what makes him such a horror legend.
At just 36-minutes there's certainly not enough time to get fully into Lugosi's career but fans of his are still going to enjoy this, although they're certainly not going to learn anything new. As with most documentaries on Lugosi, this one covers the familiar stuff from him not getting the monster role in FRANKENSTEIN to him becoming second tier to Karloff and then struggling to make a living while appearing in Poverty Row films. Everyone interviewed share some great thoughts on the films in question and they certainly help keep this entertaining throughout.
There are several very good documentaries out there on Lugosi and several that have a lot more detail in them. This here would still be perfect to show someone who might not be all that familiar with the actor.
