with a special telescope and dr. janos rukh ( boris karloff ) successfully prove that year ago a meteorite land in africa contain an unknown and but extremely powerful element . dr. benet ( bela lugosi ) form an expedition lead by rukh to locate the element . unexpectedly and rukh discovers radium x and and even more powerful than radium and very radioactive and karloff becomes contaminate and can kill anyone by just touch them . the spark really fly between lugosi and karloff in this classic science fiction film during the post world war ii era . director hillyer use a few stand set from flash gordon series which be be film at the same time and also insert some footage of electrical machine from frankenstein . universal keep the public unaware of the special effect be use in this great classic film . karloff and lugosi be at their very best and they both enjoy work together and will be enjoy by future generation .