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Film: The Return of Chandu
Year: 1934
Director: Ray Taylor
Writer: Barry Barringer
Starring: Bela Lugosi, Maria Alba and Clara Kimball Young
Review:
This was a movie that I learned about after watching the original, Chandu the Magician. Now I searched for this and I didn’t do well at first. I thought I found this on Prime Video. That turns out to be an hour-long version that is only giving the first four chapters. On YouTube, I did find the full three and half hour cut that I ended up watching as well.
Synopsis: the cult of Ubasti, headquartered on the isle of Lemuria, believes that Princess Nadji (Maria Alba) of Egypt is a reincarnation of their long-dead goddess, Ossana, and intend to sacrifice the princess so that their leader can be resurrected.
I’ll preface here that this is told in twelve chapters as it was a serial that would show before the main feature at the theater. We start then at an airport. Two guys inquire about a specific plane that is thirty minutes late. They want to know if a Frank Chandler is aboard. The man working confirms this. Frank is also known as Chandu (Bela Lugosi). When he does arrive, these guys watch him as he goes into a phone booth.
He is heading to see his family who are throwing a party. Frank’s sister is Dorothy Regent (Clara Kimball Young). She has two adult children, Bob (Dean Benton) and Betty (Phyllis Ludwig). Staying with them is Princess Nadji (Maria Alba). She is an Egyptian princess that fled with the help of Chandu since she was kidnapped. She is concerned that people are still after her. She doesn’t feel safe unless Chandu is there to protect her.
Her worry grows when Dr. Varra joins the party. His real name is Vindhyan (Lucien Prival) and he’s a high priest of the cult of Ubasti. He is joined by his associate, Sutra (Cyril Armbrister). They have a plan to kidnap her. The Regents don’t realize that members of their staff are secretly in this cult. Chandu saves the day, using his magic to give the henchmen at the airport the slip, traveling a great distance fast and preventing Nadji from being poisoned. He interrogates a member of the staff, Nito (Frazer Acosta), trying to figure out where the cult meet in California. Someone kills him before he can fully reveal the location.
This becomes a cat and mouse game as Nadji is kidnapped. Chandu along with his family must do what they can to save her. This will lead me to need the help of Capt. Wilson (Wilfred Lucas) and another white magician, Tyba (Josef Swickward). The problem though is that Vindhyan isn’t alone and their black magic is powerful. This fight goes all the way to the isle of Lemuria, where the cult of Ubasti is the strongest.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that I cut what happens in this to condense it down. Since this is a serial, each chapter starts with getting the viewer up to speed as to what happened previously. It always ends on a cliffhanger as well. I thought that this did well without cheating when it comes back, we just get more information than we were given previously. The chapters do make for repetition though since they follow the same formula. It wasn’t meant to be watched straight through like I did. I would be intrigued to watch an edited version though that is more straight forward though. I’d bet it could be presented under the three-hour mark.
Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, ahead of coming into the original Chandu movie, I thought that Lugosi played the title character. He doesn’t. I looked it up to confirm that he was a villain named Roxor. What is interesting is that this sequel has him taking over as the titular character. The only issue I have there is that he’s supposed to be a white person who was raised in Asia in the arts of the Yogi. What is funny there is that they’re making this out to be a mystical art where people can use magic. I like that aspect of the story, especially going up against a cult that uses black magic. I’ve just personally done yoga and know people who are considered Yogis, they don’t have magical powers. It is the time that this came out and how this was something taboo in the 1930s.
Sticking with the idea of the villains, I like them. It is interesting that early into this movie, Chandu is asked by Bob if his power is stronger than the cult of Ubasti. He doesn’t know. I like this idea that he’s powerful but could be going against something greater than him. We need to be assessed by something stronger as it creates easy tension. Adding on to that, I like that on this island, there are so many black magicians that Chandu can’t use his power. It also explains why Tyba is as helpless as he is, especially while imprisoned. It shouldn’t come as a shock that good defeats evil, but this is a classic concept that is still used today. What is important here though is seeing how Chandu can get his power to work.
The last bit for the story that I wanted to delve into would be with the masterplan of the cult of Ubasti. They want to believe that their goddess, Ossana’s soul is inside of Nadji. They need to sacrifice the princess to return her to life. In doing so, their island will return from the ocean. It is partially still there. I take this is borrowing from the legend of Atlantis so there is more submerged into the ocean. It also seems to me that with her return, they would become even more powerful with their magic. This is again a classic idea and narrative device. My only issue is something that happens late where it allows the prisoners to be set free. That felt just like a plot convenience. It does redeem itself there, so it didn’t ruin it for me.
Where I think I’ll go then is the acting. Even though it is odd to me that Lugosi takes over as the title character, I thought he was good here. I don’t know if his ethnic background fits, but he was a big name so they were using that to sell tickets. He still works in the role. Alba is Spanish so it doesn’t necessarily work for her to play an Egyptian. I can overlook it though with the Moors ruling Spain and they went with someone of color. She’s also attractive. The only issue is that she’s written mostly as a damsel in distress so I just wanted a bit more there. Young and Ludwig are about the same as well. I do like that they’re both headstrong at least and don’t always fall for the traps that the villains use. Benton is fine as the younger male helping his uncle. I like Prival, Murdock MacQuarrie, Armbrister and J.J. Clark as members of the cult. I would like to have seen more people of color here, but I’m also glad they didn’t. That would be typecasting them as villains which we did see even early in cinema. Other than that, Swickward and the rest of the cast rounded this out for what was needed.
All that is left then is filmmaking. My biggest issue is hard to hold against this serial. It is edited in a way where you’d see the 20-to-30-minute segment, it would end in a cliffhanger to get you back into the cinema. I’d be curious to see a fan edit where they make it more seamless. I am glad that they didn’t cheat with the cliffhangers though. I’d say that I like the locations they use from the Regent estate to the yacht and finally the island. The cinematography to capture these places was good as was the framing. This last part helps with ensuring the cliffhangers aren’t cheated as well. Other than that, I love the drum theme that the cult of Ubasti uses. I’ve heard it somewhere else, but I can’t place it at this time. It is unnerving and has an added atmosphere for me.
In conclusion, this is a solid serial. I thought that the story we got was interesting. We take a character like Chandu that can use magic and put them against a cult that has strength in numbers. Their mission is one that isn’t original but has darkness to them. Even though I don’t know if Lugosi fully fits the role. His performance is good. The rest of the cast around him works as well. This is made well enough. The different locations are good, as were the cinematography, framing and the sound design builds the atmosphere. My only issue is with the editing, but it isn’t designed to watch straight through like I did. Not one I can recommend to everyone unless you’re a Lugosi, Chandu fan or interested in a serial from the 1930s with light horror elements.
My Rating: 6.5 out of 10