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Post by almuric on Jul 5, 2017 11:40:57 GMT -5
Our library is also getting the Criterion releases for Fiend Without a Face and Equinox, as well as the Blu-Ray of The Undying Monster with a Tom Weaver commentary.
I don't know who's doing our ordering lately, but . . . thanks.
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Post by emerald on Jul 5, 2017 12:40:27 GMT -5
Our library is also getting the Criterion releases for Fiend Without a Face and Equinox, as well as the Blu-Ray of The Undying Monster with a Tom Weaver commentary. I don't know who's doing our ordering lately, but . . . thanks. Someone with a keen appreciation of stop-motion animation, I daresay. Fiend Without a Face, hell yeah! Everything about that old movie kicks ass. The 1950's Cold War SF style, the dashing hero, the buxom heroine, the uniquely memorable sound the invisible fiends make, the glorious moment when they become visible, and most of all-- the insanely over-the-top violence of the epic climax. Like a classic 1950's genre flick somehow injected with late 1970's grindhouse genes. No other flick of its era compares. |
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Post by johnnypt on Jul 5, 2017 12:52:25 GMT -5
Our library is also getting the Criterion releases for Fiend Without a Face and Equinox, as well as the Blu-Ray of The Undying Monster with a Tom Weaver commentary. I don't know who's doing our ordering lately, but . . . thanks. Someone with a keen appreciation of stop-motion animation, I daresay. Fiend Without a Face, hell yeah! Everything about that old movie kicks ass. The 1950's Cold War SF style, the dashing hero, the buxom heroine, the uniquely memorable sound the invisible fiends make, the glorious moment when they become visible, and most of all-- the insanely over-the-top violence of the epic climax. Like a classic 1950's genre flick somehow injected with late 1970's grindhouse genes. No other flick of its era compares. And to think this used to be on WNEW's Saturday afternoon movie back in the 70s all the time, blood and all! It made a big impression on this 7 year old when I saw it. Criterion has all of the Gordon Brothers monster output thanks to this release and the Monsters and Madmen box set |
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Post by deuce on Aug 25, 2017 10:36:14 GMT -5
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Post by almuric on Sept 19, 2017 11:24:59 GMT -5
Listing of all of TCM's Horror movies for next month: thoughtcatalog.com/emily-madriga/2017/09/here-are-all-the-horror/amp/First half of the month leans heavily on Universal, second half mostly on Hammer. Only one Lugosi-Karloff movie, though --- The Black Cat --- which I already PVRed earlier in the year for my October viewing. My hold list from the library has quite a variety of stuff, from some Lugosi Blu-Rays to some of Disney's early 80's stuff from that odd period when they were trying to handle more adult fare. Should be interesting. |
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Post by johnnypt on Sept 19, 2017 12:24:49 GMT -5
Decent mix of films through the ages. Nice to see the '32 version of Old Dark House getting, they play the '63 version way too often!
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Post by paulmc on Sept 20, 2017 8:46:21 GMT -5
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Post by johnnypt on Sept 20, 2017 20:56:29 GMT -5
I wonder why this film got out of Universal's sphere of influence, it's as important to the development of horror films as all the other Universals from that era. Guess it didn't help that it got lost.
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Post by almuric on Oct 3, 2017 9:33:02 GMT -5
The Black Cat (1934) - Take Lugosi and Karloff (here billed as KARLOFF) at the height of their fame and mix them together and you get Universal's top-grossing film of 1934. A young American newlywed couple, Peter (David Manners of Dracula and The Mummy) and Joan (Jacqueline Wells) are caught up in the vengeful struggle of Vitus (Lugosi) and the man who betrayed him, Hjalmar Poelzig (Karloff). Instead of the gothic castle one might expect, Poelzig lives in a very futuristic (for the times) mansion and the juxtaposition of the modern setting with the medieval savagery gives the film a lot of its kick.
It's great seeing Lugosi at Universal before they started wasting him in red-herring roles in the early '40s. Here he gets to be a more sympathetic figure than normal, even if he has been driven to madness by his treatment in prison. Karloff is incredible, menacing in his black robes and devilish widow's peak. Of note is the suggestive way his hand wraps around the statue of a nude woman while he gazes at Joan. This was pre-Code, so director Edgar G Ulmer was able to push the boundaries very far, with hints of necrophilia, quasi-incest (Poelzig not only married Lugosi's wife, but later his daughter) and a satanic rite followed by Vitus skinning him alive.
Like many early Universal horrors, this one struggles a bit with tone. The newlyweds are fairly dull, and Joan mostly stares in horror, screams and faints, ad infinitum. And we get some comic relief policemen who aren't, but they don't last very long. When Lugosi and Karloff take center stage, this Cat creeps. It's everything you could hope for from a first-pairing of these Twin Titans of Terror.
Oh, and watch out for a young John Carradine as one of the cultists near the end.
Next: The Undying Monster
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Post by johnnypt on Oct 3, 2017 10:36:42 GMT -5
The Black Cat (1934) - Take Lugosi and Karloff (here billed as KARLOFF) at the height of their fame and mix them together and you get Universal's top-grossing film of 1934. A young American newlywed couple, Peter (David Manners of Dracula and The Mummy) and Joan (Jacqueline Wells) are caught up in the vengeful struggle of Vitus (Lugosi) and the man who betrayed him, Hjalmar Poelzig (Karloff). Instead of the gothic castle one might expect, Poelzig lives in a very futuristic (for the times) mansion and the juxtaposition of the modern setting with the medieval savagery gives the film a lot of its kick. It's great seeing Lugosi at Universal before they started wasting him in red-herring roles in the early '40s. Here he gets to be a more sympathetic figure than normal, even if he has been driven to madness by his treatment in prison. Karloff is incredible, menacing in his black robes and devilish widow's peak. Of note is the suggestive way his hand wraps around the statue of a nude woman while he gazes at Joan. This was pre-Code, so director Edgar G Ulmer was able to push the boundaries very far, with hints of necrophilia, quasi-incest (Poelzig not only married Lugosi's wife, but later his daughter) and a satanic rite followed by Vitus skinning him alive. Like many early Universal horrors, this one struggles a bit with tone. The newlyweds are fairly dull, and Joan mostly stares in horror, screams and faints, ad infinitum. And we get some comic relief policemen who aren't, but they don't last very long. When Lugosi and Karloff take center stage, this Cat creeps. It's everything you could hope for from a first-pairing of these Twin Titans of Terror. Oh, and watch out for a young John Carradine as one of the cultists near the end. Next: The Undying Monster
It's a pretty twisted picture for the time...or any time! The mansion's layout adds to the uniqueness. What does it have to do with Poe? Not much if at all. Even weirder is Universal made another Black Cat in 1941 also with Lugosi but far less interesting.
Undying Monster was one of those I never saw on TV but only found out about thanks to the Internet.
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Post by almuric on Oct 5, 2017 16:20:11 GMT -5
The Undying Monster (1942) - The success of Universal's The Wolf Man spawned a legion of hirsute horrors, from Universal's own Paula the Ape Woman to the werewolf flunky of Lugosi's vampire in Columbia's Return of the Vampire. This one certainly feels like a Universal product. Without the 20th Century Fox fanfare, you could easily mistake it for one. There's a poem that has suspicious similarities to the "even a man who is pure at heart" verse, but apparently it comes from the original novel by Jessie Douglas Kerruish. This might be summed up as "Hound of the Baskervilles with a werewolf". Only not quite. It starts and ends well (the idiotic "explanation" aside) but the middle is a muddle. It really needed to decide if it was a mystery or horror movie. If there was no werewolf, then why the heck do the wolf hairs disappear in the light? Tom Weaver, in his commentary, suggests it was to appease British censors so the film could be shown there. James Ellison is miscast as the Scotland Yard detective and the interplay between him and his female assistant is a bit mean-spirited. But the direction (by John Brahm who also helmed The Lodger and Hanover Square) and cinematography is first-rate. As it stands, it's a near-miss, worth watching once and perhaps twice with the commentary.
It could be worse, though. It could be She Wolf of London.
Next: Are we not men?
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Post by johnnypt on Oct 6, 2017 7:16:56 GMT -5
The Undying Monster (1942) - The success of Universal's The Wolf Man spawned a legion of hirsute horrors, from Universal's own Paula the Ape Woman to the werewolf flunky of Lugosi's vampire in Columbia's Return of the Vampire. This one certainly feels like a Universal product. Without the 20th Century Fox fanfare, you could easily mistake it for one. There's a poem that has suspicious similarities to the "even a man who is pure at heart" verse, but apparently it comes from the original novel by Jessie Douglas Kerruish. This might be summed up as "Hound of the Baskervilles with a werewolf". Only not quite. It starts and ends well (the idiotic "explanation" aside) but the middle is a muddle. It really needed to decide if it was a mystery or horror movie. If there was no werewolf, then why the heck do the wolf hairs disappear in the light? Tom Weaver, in his commentary, suggests it was to appease British censors so the film could be shown there. James Ellison is miscast as the Scotland Yard detective and the interplay between him and his female assistant is a bit mean-spirited. But the direction (by John Brahm who also helmed The Lodger and Hanover Square) and cinematography is first-rate. As it stands, it's a near-miss, worth watching once and perhaps twice with the commentary. It could be worse, though. It could be She Wolf of London. Next: Are we not men?
In other words it needed Laird Cregar?  And yes, the less said about She Wolf, the better! (though June Lockhart is still with us, God bless her).
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Post by almuric on Oct 7, 2017 10:21:46 GMT -5
Island of Lost Souls (1932) - Early horror movies sought to cloak themselves in literary respectability. Most were adaptations of famous works and such was the case with Paramount's entry into the first great horror cycle. Here it was the novel The Island of Dr. Moreau by H G Wells. Edward Parker (Richard Arlen) is stranded on the island belonging to mad scientist Dr. Moreau (the great Charles Laughton) who has created beast-men, from Bela Lugosi's Sayer of the Law, to Lota the Panther Woman (Kathleen Burke).
The makeup by Charles Gemora and Wally Westmore is excellent, showing beast-men in varying stages of humanity. This was pre-Code, so there's no holds barred. Moreau wants to mate Parker with the Panther Woman, which would technically be bestiality. Later, he lets Ourang into Ruth's room with the implication of rape. It gave censors the fits at the time and wasn't released in Britain until 1958, and only then after severe cuts. H G Wells wasn't impressed, but it stills holds up today, with Laughton's Moreau one of the screen's great mad doctors.
It was remade twice, once in 1977, the second time in 1996. The second remake is an infamous example of a production gone astray, with first director Richard Stanley fired and replaced by John Frankenheimer, and stars Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer creating endless drama on the set. I highly recommend the 2014 documentary Lost Souls for the hilariously tragic story.
Next: Make Mine Monogram
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Post by johnnypt on Oct 8, 2017 7:27:26 GMT -5
Island of Lost Souls (1932) - Early horror movies sought to cloak themselves in literary respectability. Most were adaptations of famous works and such was the case with Paramount's entry into the first great horror cycle. Here it was the novel The Island of Dr. Moreau by H G Wells. Edward Parker (Richard Arlen) is stranded on the island belonging to mad scientist Dr. Moreau (the great Charles Laughton) who has created beast-men, from Bela Lugosi's Sayer of the Law, to Lota the Panther Woman (Kathleen Burke). The makeup by Charles Gemora and Wally Westmore is excellent, showing beast-men in varying stages of humanity. This was pre-Code, so there's no holds barred. Moreau wants to mate Parker with the Panther Woman, which would technically be bestiality. Later, he lets Ourang into Ruth's room with the implication of rape. It gave censors the fits at the time and wasn't released in Britain until 1958, and only then after severe cuts. H G Wells wasn't impressed, but it stills holds up today, with Laughton's Moreau one of the screen's great mad doctors. It was remade twice, once in 1977, the second time in 1996. The second remake is an infamous example of a production gone astray, with first director Richard Stanley fired and replaced by John Frankenheimer, and stars Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer creating endless drama on the set. I highly recommend the 2014 documentary Lost Souls for the hilariously tragic story. Next: Make Mine Monogram It disappeared for a while and n the late 90s and early 2000s and never came out on DVD in the era. People speculated there was a rights issue, but it turned out to be an issue of finding a good enough print. When Criterion put out their restoration a few years back, it was one of the rare pictures that went from VHS straight to Blu Ray. Rumor has it that Alan Ladd and Buster Crabbe are among the beast men, good luck finding them if they are. Randolph Scott was also rumored to be a Beast Man, but since he was up for Arlen’s role at one point, it seems unlikely. |
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Post by almuric on Oct 10, 2017 9:48:41 GMT -5
Invisible Ghost (1941) - Alas, poor Bela. His turn as Ygor in Son of Frankenstein had revived his career --- briefly. But soon it was back to bit parts at the big studios. Poverty Row still saw some marquee value in the former Dracula, though, and Bela ended up making nine movies for Sam Katzman at Monogram, of which this is the first. Bela is playing Charles Kessler, a kindly man whose wife left him some years back. Bela mourns by pretending to have dinner with her on their anniversary. But wait! His wife isn't dead, she's insane and being kept safe by Bela's gardener who is afraid of letting his employer see what became of his wife. She gets loose anyhow and Bela sees her and --- hold onto your butts, people --- Bela goes into a trance and starts murdering people. How does that even?  As you can tell, the plot is typical Monogram lunacy, but well-shot and well-acted. Bela is clearly enjoying being a star again, albeit in diminished circumstances. Also of interest is Clarence Muse (who also shared the screen with Bela in White Zombie), who manages to rise above the thankless black butler role he's saddled with. As an aside, the commentary mentions that Bela was curious to know if he was still popular among African-Americans during the early '40s. Apparently horror movies did well in that community back then. Of note is Bela's first murder, a POV shot with a radio playing cheerful music in the background. It may be cheap and rushed, but there's moments of artistry. Definitely listen to the commentary by Tom Weaver if you get the chance. Tom and his guests tell you everything you ever needed to know about Invisible Ghost. Next: Why the long shadows?
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And yes, the less said about She Wolf, the better! (though June Lockhart is still with us, God bless her).