Well, I mentioned on Monday that this week is the Boris Karloff Blogathon over at the awesome blog, Frankensteinia.  There are over 100 blogs participating in this event to celebrate Boris Karloff’s 122nd birthday.

This past October, for my Halloween celebration called AWESOME-tober-fest, my theme was Frankenstein and I reviewed the three original Boris Karloff Universal Frankenstein movies; Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein and Son of Frankenstein. In each of these, Karloff played the role that he made famous, the Frankenstein monster.  All were fantastic movies and, to me, earned their status as classics.

However, after Son of Frankenstein, Karloff did not return to the role of the monster in any Universal motion picture.  The fourth Frankenstein movie, Ghost of Frankenstein (1942) featured The Wolf Man’s Lon Chaney Jr as the monster.  The fifth movie, Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man (1944) had Dracula’s Bela Lugosi in the monster role.  Interestingly, Lugosi was originally offered the Frankenstein monster role in Universal’s 1931 movie but turned it down thinking it was beneath him to play a mindless brute.  This rebuttal lead the way for Karloff to take over the role.  Glenn Strange would then assume the monster role in this movie,  House of Frankenstein (1944) as well as Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)  and House of Dracula (1945).

So, House would be the third Universal Frankenstein movie to not feature Karloff in the role of the monster, but Karloff did return to star in this movie.  And this is the movie I decided to review for the Boris Karloff Blogathon.

So, yes, Universal was able to get Karloff to return to the Frankenstein franchise, but not as the monster.  Karloff instead plays the mad scientist, Dr Gustav Niemann.  It’s also interesting to note that Universal tried to get Bela Lugosi to reprise the role of Dracula for this movie, but the actor had a last minute scheduling conflict and John Carradine was hired as Dracula instead.

The story is somewhat jumbled.  it involves a series of set pieces that are loosely tied together by Karloff’s mad doctor and his hunchbacked assistant.  Karloff and the hunchback start off the movie in jail.  They wind up escaping jail (because a lightning storm destroys the building…?!) but not before Karloff dramatically announces to no one in particular that he is going to continue Dr Frankenstein’s work and give his hunchbacked assistant a beautiful body (odd choice of words, Doc).  Oh, and he’s going to get revenge on the guys who put him in jail.  This leads the doctor and assistant to a traveling carnival.  Karloff kills the carnival owner and assumes his identity and shockingly no one really notices (or cares) about the identity switch.  By sheer coincidence, one of the carnival’s horror attractions is the remains of Count Dracula.  Karloff revives the Count and orders him to kill one of the men who put him in jail.  Dracula does (I don’t know why he follows Karloff’s orders), but is double-crossed by Karloff who steals Dracula’s coffin and strands him outside during sunrise and the Count dies not 30 minutes into the movie.  Karloff moves on to the next village where he happens upon the remains of Castle Frankenstein and the bodies of Lawrence Talbot aka The Wolf Man and Frankenstein’s monster preserved in the frozen lake (both monsters drowned in the lake at the end of Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man released earlier that year).  Karloff revives Talbot, promises him a cure for his lycanthropy if he kills some men, Talbot agrees, wolfs out and starts slaughtering people (Karloff is a very convincing guy).  The rag tag group of killers and monsters take on a runaway gypsy who falls in love with Talbot.  The hunchback becomes jealous because he falls in love with the gypsy.  Towards the end, as the group is pursued by angry villagers (staple of all horror movies), the gypsy woman kills Talbot (again, he’s died like 4 times up to this point) with a silver bullet and is herself accidentally killed.  The lonely hunchback blames Karloff for the gypsy’s death.  The hunchback tries to kill Karloff but the revived Frankenstein monster kills the hunchback and carries the mad doctor’s dying body into the marshes while chased by the aforementioned villagers.  While in the marshes, the Frankenstein monster gets trapped in quicksand and both he and the doctor drown.  End scene.

House of Frankenstein was the first of Universal’s “monster rally” movies that cobbled together multiple monsters from the Universal horror stable.  This concept would be repeated in The House of Dracula the following year.  Universal at this point only cared about maximizing profit from their horror characters and cared little about continuity or story telling.  And it shows in this movie.  Early drafts of the script included several more monsters like The Mummy and The Invisible Man.  I was hoping this would be as fun as Son of Frankenstein but it felt a little rushed and disjointed.  Dracula dying so early was disappointing because he doesn’t interact with the other monsters at all.  Boris Karloff is fun to watch as the completely insane and over the top Dr Niesmann.  Karloff really relishes playing this role and you can tell he had a lot of fun.  John Carradine was adequate as Count Dracula, but having Lugosi return would have been ideal.  Lon Chaney as the Wolf Man is always fun to watch, he is my favorite monster and I love watching that character.  Glenn Strange does a very good job in his first time as the monster, but it helped that he had Karloff himself on set to coach him in the nuances of the character.

Overall, this movie is not great, but it’s fun.  The best part is watching Karloff go completely nuts as the mad doctor.  Seeing the parade of monsters is the second best part of the movie.  I would recommend this to Universal horror fans, but maybe not to the average horror fan.  As for re-watchability, I think Son of Frankenstein is my favorite.  I could watch Basil Rathbone tear it up in that movie for hours.  This is definitely interesting enough to keep you interested for the majority of the movie, but the plot skips and jumps through huge plot holes.  So turn your brain off when you watch this movie and prepare to watch pretty much every character in the movie die. But don’t worry, they’ll all be resurrected in a few years for House of Dracula.

Well, I watched a lot of Frankenstein movies this year.  I still haven’t seen Ghost of Frankenstein, but I’m not in a huge hurry to see that one.  Maybe next Halloween. I think I’m going to take a break from horror movies for a while. I almost burned myself out on them.

Remember, check out Frankensteinia for a lot more stories and pictures celebrating Boris Karloff.

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He reeks of death.  But death is his trade and he has a taste for it.  Yet he’s never “killed in hot blood” before, never killed in war.

As Mord, the royal executioner and ally to King Richard III (Basil Rathbone), Karloff personifies the cruel representation of political violence behind the throne, the workmanlike brute force that does his master’s bidding to preserve the peace.

Mord may hide behind the throne, but Karloff’s gleefully morbid turn is nakedly, aggressively terrifying.  He is the prototypical executioner, the death dealer of our childhood nightmares.  The first moment we see the powerfully built but cadaverous looking Mord–hunched over his grinding wheel, sharpening his oversize axe with a black raven perched on his shoulder–it’s like watching Cain himself readying the next murder.  But where Cain acted impulsively, emotionally… Mord is pure professional.  There is little overt art to his blood-letting, hence why he yearns for something a little more exciting, creative, arousing.  Karloff is almost touching as he pleads to Rathbone to take him into battle.  Warfare must be a wonderful, crimson bounty for a man like Mord.  The opportunities for passion are no doubt endless.  God knows how energized Mord will be when he returns from murder on such scale.

Foto promocional para Bedlam (Mark Robson, 1946)

Só para lembrar que está rolando um Blogathon do tio Karloff comandado pelo Frankensteinia, onde podem ser encontrados links de todos os blogs participantes. E porque hoje é aniversário dele e amanhã é o de mamãe, embora ela divida o nome e aparência com Elsa Lanchester. Ainda bem.

Two very important dates happened this week in pop culture.

First, Back to the Future Part II turned 20 years old.  Can you believe it?  Back to the Future was one of my favorite movies of all time (if not my favorite) and I loved both of the sequels.  Part II was released on November 22, 1989.  So happy birthday, Back to the Future Part II!  I’ll be sure to have a celebratory article up this week.

The other event is Boris Karloff’s birthday.  Today is Boris Karloff’s birthday (122 years old!).  Having just gone through AWESOME-tober-fest where the theme was Frankenstein, I was acutely aware that Boris’ birthday was fast approaching.  The Frankenstein blog, Frankensteinia, is hosting a Boris Karloff Blogathon this week. Click on over and check out all the cool articles about Frankenstein, Boris Karloff and everything having to do with Mr Karloff. It’s a ton of fun.  I’ll also have a review of House of Frankenstein, Boris Karloff’s final Universal Frankenstein movie this week.

Stay tuned!

…gibt es auf einer Seite namens Golden Age Comic Book Series, die ich heute grade via Nerdcore entdeckt habe. Übrigens ist das hier grade eine Premiere: Der erste Blogeintrag, den ich aus der Uni, ganauergesagt von einbem Stabi-Computer schreibe. Und das alles nur weil eine gewisse Person mir verboten hat nach Hause zu gehen Aber zurück zum Film. Neben Bildern von sehr interessanten Vintage-Comics  oder auch von Marilyn Monroe gibt es hier auch extrem coole alte Filmposter zu finden, z.B. alte Horror-Schinken mit Bela Lugosi und Boris Karloff oder aus dem (S)Exploitation-Genre (zu deutsch frei übersetzt etwa:  Softporno mit künstlerischem Anspruch) . Beispiele für beides siehe unten. Allesamt sehr künstlerisch gestaltete Poster zu Filmen, von denen man nicht gadacht hätte, das es sie geben könnte. Leider ist kein Shop dabei, wo man die Dinger kaufen könnte – muss ich doch wieder auf’m Flohmarkt am Sonntag schauen.

Mehr gibt’s unter: http://goldenagecomicbookstories.blogspot.com/

Zum Beispiel die hier:

Und zum Exploitation-Genre:

The Boris Karloff blogathon is now loose upon the world. You can read more about the week-long event here and the first post here, which includes a message from Boris’ daughter Sara Karloff.

I’ll be contributing at least one post sometime this week, although I hope to get two done if time permits.  I do love me some Karloff.

Hope to hear from some of you here or on Facebook, Twitter, or wherever else.  And I’m looking forward to reading some of the more than 100 various bloggers who are joining in.

    “Black Friday” is an odd film for Universal to have included in the new ‘Bela Lugosi Collection’ recently released. This is mainly  due to the fact that Lugosi’s role in the film is small, blink and you will miss him.  The film really belongs to Karloff. Lugosi’s character, though he gets second billing is minor in the film and on top of that, Lugosi and Karloff do not even have one scene together.  Various sources have pointed out that Karloff was originally scheduled to do the dual role of Professor Kinsley and gangster Red Cannon with Lugosi as Dr. Ernst Sovac, the role eventually played by Karloff. Apparently, uncomfortable with the dual role, Karloff switched parts taking on the role of the mad scientist, a part he could play with one hand tied behind his back. Lugosi, for some reason, either chose or was regulated to the minor role of mob guy, Eric Marnay, instead of the larger and more appealing part of Kingsley/Cannon.

    Told in flashback, we meet Dr. Ernst Sovac (Karloff) as he walks the last mile to the electric chair for the murder of his friend, the mild mannered college professor, George Kingsley (Stanley Ridges). On his way to the chair, Sovac hands over his notes to the one newspaper man who has been kind to him. From here on the film goes into the past as the story unfolds.

    Eric Marney and some of his boys attempt to bump off mob boss Red Cannon. Cannon’s car swirls off the road severely injuring Professor Kingsley. At the hospital, we discover Kingsley has a brain injury and the hoodlum Red Cannon a severe spinal injury.  When Sovac learns that Cannon has $500,000 in stolen money hidden somewhere, he begins to think how that kind of money can be used to fund his scientific research.  He performs an illegal and dangerous brain transplant, taking Cannon’s brain and replacing it inside that of his friend, the Professor.    

   The experimental operation is a success and Kingsley soon recovers, almost. Now, I am no scientist but it seems to me that if it were even possible to do a brain transplant, the personality of the brain, no matter what body it was in, would not change, logically gangster Cannon’s brain in the Professor’s body would still act like Cannon. Well, not so fast in movie land… After the operation, the Professor seems to be just like his old self, the gentile mild mannered man he always was. Somehow, Cannon’s personality has been suppressed, at least for now.

   Sovac, convinced that Cannon’s brain knows the where bout’s of the half million dollars is going to force his personality to emerge. This should not be too difficult since the Professor’s brain is not there any longer to begin with! Sovac attempts to extract the information by taking the professor to  New York City to haunt the places Cannon was familiar with. Amazingly, Cannon’s personality begins to surface, only he is more interested in getting even with his hoodlum associates  and his former lover (Anne Nagel), than showing Sovac the money. One by one, Kingsley/Cannon is knocking off his former cronies including Marney, who suffocates in a small closet.

    “Black Friday” is a strange brew of sci-fi, mad scientist and small time gangsters.  Co-written by Curt Siodmak who seemed to have a thing for “brain” movies previously writing the novel, “Donovan’s Brain” which was adapted three times for the screen, (The Lady and the Monster (1944), Donovan’s Brain (1953) and The Brain, in1962). Siodmak also was the screenwriter for the low-budget 1955 film, “Creature with the Atomic Brain.”  The direction by Universal hack Arthur Lubin is uninspiring to be kind. Lubin is probably best known for directing  Abbott and Costello movies (Buck Privates, Hold That Ghost), Francis the Talking Mules movies and  the Nelson Eddy 1943 version of “The Phantom of the Opera.”

    By 1940, when this film was made Lugosi’s career had seen better days. While there was still a few good films coming (The Body Snatcher), some fair ones (Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man) his filmography was becoming filled more and more with poverty row throwaways like “Ghost on the Loose”, “Spooks Run Wild” and “Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla” with Martin and Lewis imitators Duke Mitchell and Sammy Petrillo.  Stanley Ridges in the duel role of the kindly Professor and the gangster is the real star in this film with his Jekyll/Hyde transformation smoothly done. The change in character is primarily accomplished with voice modulation and facial mannerisms than with makeup. “Black Friday” is a bit messy, totally unbelievable yet remains fun to watch.

On November 23:

1644  Areopagitica, a pamphlet decrying censorship, and written by John Milton was published.

1859 Billy The Kid, American outlaw, was born.

1869  the clipper Cutty Sark was launched – one of the last clippers ever to be built, and the only one still surviving.

1887  Boris Karloff, British actor, was born.

1888 Harpo Marx, American comedian, was born.

1889 The first jukebox went into operation at the Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco.

1936  The first edition of Life was published.

1947 A civic funeral was held for the 41 victims of Ballantynes fire.

1949  Sandra Stevens, British singer, member of pop group Brotherhood of Man, was born.

1955 The Cocos Islands were transferred from the control of the United Kingdom to Australia.

1963 The BBC broadcast the first ever episode of Doctor Who, starring William Hartnell.

Sourced from NZ History Online and Wikipedia.

Frankenstein is a 1931 horror film from Universal Pictures directed by James Whale and very loosely based on the novel of the same name by Mary Shelley as well as the play adapted from it by Peggy Webling. The film stars Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, John Boles and Boris Karloff, and features Dwight Frye and Edward van Sloan. The Webling play was adapted by John L. Balderston and the screenplay written by Francis Edward Faragoh and Garrett Fort with uncredited contributions from Robert Florey and John Russell. The make-up artist was Jack Pierce.

Trivia:

• In one scene, the Monster (Boris Karloff) walks through a forest and comes upon a little girl, Maria, who is throwing flowers into a pond. The monster joins her in the activity but soon runs out of flowers. At a loss for something to throw into the water, he looks at Maria and moves toward her. In all American prints of the movie, the scene ends here. But as originally filmed, the action continues to show the monster grabbing Maria, hurling her into the lake, then departing in confusion when Maria fails to float as the flowers did. This bit was deleted because Karloff – objecting to the director’s interpretation of the scene – felt that the monster should have gently put Maria into the lake. This scene is restored in the videocassette reissue.
• Bela Lugosi was offered the role of the monster, but refused on the grounds that his character would not speak (though he eventually played the role in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)). Lugosi also insisted on creating his own makeup for the Monster, but his design was rejected. According to film historian Richard J. Anobile, Lugosi was originally offered the role of Dr. Frankenstein by original director Robert Florey, but Carl Laemmle insisted that Lugosi play the monster. Test footage of Lugosi in Monster make-up was filmed by Florey on the set of Dracula (1931). Soon after, Florey was replaced by James Whale as director, and Lugosi was replaced by Karloff.
• Those originally considered for the cast included Leslie Howard as Henry Frankenstein and Bette Davis as Elizabeth. Director James Whale insisted on Colin Clive for the role of Henry.
• John Carradine turned down the part of the Monster because he considered himself too highly trained to be reduced to playing monsters.
• After bringing the monster to life, Dr. Frankenstein uttered the famous line, “Now I know what it’s like to BE God!” The movie was originally released with this line of dialogue, but when it was re-released in the late ’30s, censors demanded it be removed on the grounds that it was blasphemy. A loud clap of thunder was substituted on the soundtrack. The dialogue was partially restored on the video release, but since no decent recording of the dialogue could be found, it still appears garbled and indistinct. The censored dialog was partially returned to the soundtrack in the initial “restored version” releases. Further restoration has now completely brought back this line of missing dialog. A clean recording of the missing dialog was reportedly found on a Vitaphone disc (similar to a large phonograph record). Modern audio technology had to be used to insert the dialog back into the film without any detectable change in the audio quality.
• According to the TLC network program “Hunt for Amazing Treasures”, a unique six-sheet poster for the original 1931 release, showing Karloff as The Monster menacing Mae Clarke, is worth at least $600,000 US and is possibly the most valuable movie poster in the world. The only known (original) copy is owned by a private collector.
• Boris Karloff offered to remove his partial bridgework as part of the monster make-up process to create the sunken cheek look.
• Ken Strickfaden, who created all the electrical effects for the movie, also doubled for Boris Karloff during the sequences that showed the million volt sparks playing over his body. The same machines were later used in the comedy Young Frankenstein (1974).
• Child actress Marilyn Harris had done several takes of the drowning scene, none of which turned out quite right. Although wet and tired, she agreed to do one last take of the scene, the one that appears in the finished film, after director James Whale promised her anything she wanted if she would do so. She asked for a dozen hard-boiled eggs, her favorite snack. Whale gave her two dozen. The DVD commentary for the film suggests that Harris wasn’t actually a good swimmer, quoting Harris as saying that she had only a couple of swimming lessons before filming and had never dived under water before.
• John Huston wrote an early version of the warning speech given at the start of the film.
• The method of animating the creature is never discussed in Mary Shelley’s novel. In the book, Frankenstein, narrating, refuses to divulge how he did it so no one can re-create his actions. However, the use of lightning to resurrect the monster has become the accepted methodology and appears in virtually every Frankenstein movie since.
• According to The People’s Almanac, at one point the movie was to have included a line of dialogue giving the Monster the name, Adam. The Almanac indicates that an early print of this film may have indeed been released with just such a scene, but that it was cut when audiences began referring to the Monster by the name Frankenstein.
• John Carradine, who later played Dracula in the Universal horror films, once claimed he was considered for the role of the Monster.
• The Monster in this film does not physically resemble Mary Shelley’s character. It was make-up artist Jack P. Pierce who came up with innovations such as the Monster’s flat head, the bolts through the neck, the droopy eyelids, and the poorly-fitted suit. Any future Frankenstein film that features any of these physical abnormalities is taking its inspiration from Pierce’s make-up work.
• The popular image of Frankenstein’s monster as green-skinned was sourced in this film. Actually, Jack P. Pierce’s monster make-up gave the monster yellow skin, one of the few consistencies from Mary Shelley’s original description of the monster.
• Some of the sets had originally been constructed for Paul Leni’s The Cat and the Canary (1927) which Universal had produced four years earlier.
• What are commonly called bolts on the neck of the monster are in reality electrodes.
• The film was banned in Kansas upon its original release on the grounds that it exhibited “cruelty and tended to debase morals”.
• A 20-minute test reel, starring Bela Lugosi as the monster and directed by Robert Florey, was filmed on the Dracula (1931) sets. This footage has not been seen since 1931 and is now considered lost. Only a poster, featuring the vague likeness of Bela Lugosi as a 30 feet colossus, remains.
• The set design of the windmill sequence was inspired by a building in Los Angeles that housed a local bakery, Van de Kamp, which displayed a large windmill as its corporate logo.
• Actor Edward Van Sloan, who played Dr. Waldman in the film, appeared in the now-lost test reel with Bela Lugosi as the Monster. In an interview conducted shortly before his death, Van Sloan remembered that Lugosi’s makeup resembled The Golem, with a large broad wig and “a polished clay-like skin.” Unfortunately, no footage of the test or any photographs of Lugosi in this makeup are known to exist.
• The movie’s line “It’s alive! It’s alive!” was voted as the #49 movie quote by the American Film Institute (out of 100).
• Carl Laemmle Jr. offered James Whale a list of 30+ film adaptations he could direct and Whale picked this one. Whale said he did so because he wanted to get away from the war pictures with which he had so far been associated. Ironically, Whale is now, by far, best-remembered for his four horror films.
• The casting of the monster was the most difficult aspect of the casting process. James Whale happened to spot Boris Karloff in the Universal commissary and passed him a note offering a screen-test, which Karloff jumped at. Karloff later joked that he was offended by being viewing as such an ugly character, since on the day that Whale spotted him, he was wearing his most elegant suit and thought he was looking handsome.
• Edward Van Sloan (Dr Waldman) also makes an uncredited appearance as himself in the film’s prologue, in order to warn audiences of what follows.
• The monster make-up design by Jack P. Pierce is under copyright to Universal through the year 2026, and licensed by Universal Studios Licensing, Inc.
• By the time the ending of the film was changed, allowing Henry Frankenstein to live, Colin Clive was no longer available for additional scenes. For the shot of Henry in long shot in the bedroom behind his father, he was played by another actor; tradition has long held that it was future cowboy star Robert Livingston filling in for him.
• Dr. Frankenstein’s first name is Henry, while his best friend’s name is Victor Moritz. In the novel, the doctor’s name is Victor Frankenstein, while his best friend is Henry Clerval.
• Boris Karloff is considered a late bloomer in Hollywood. Frankenstein (1931) premiered when he was 44 years old.
• During production there was some concern that seven-year-old Marilyn Harris, who played Maria, the little girl thrown into the lake by the creature, would be overly frightened by the sight of Boris Karloff in costume and make-up when it came time to shoot the scene. When the cast was assembled to travel to the location, Marilyn ran from her car directly up to Karloff, who was in full make-up and costume, took his hand and asked “May I drive with you?” Delighted, and in typical Karloff fashion, he responded, “Would you, darling?” She then rode to the location with “The Monster.”.

    I recently purchased the just released Bela Lugosi Collection and the 1935 feature, “The Raven” was my first selection. Having previously seen the dark erotically charged and best of the lot, “The Black Cat”, I decided to start with the films I have yet to view.

    With a short running time of 61 minutes, the film waste no time quickly establishing its storyline. There is a car accident in which our beautiful leading lady Jean Thatcher ((Irene Ware) is severely hurt and in need of a precise and detailed operation. Jean’s father, Judge Thatcher (Samuel S Hinds) pleads with retired doctor Richard Vollin (Bela Lugosi) to perform the operation. Vollin is an egotistical madman with an obsession for Edgar Allan Poe. He refuses to perform the operation until the pleading Judge mentions that the other doctors have admitted they cannot perform the delicate procedure and he is the only one capable of guaranteeing a successful outcome., they all admit, he is the best. After hearing this admission, Vollin and his oversized ego agree to perform the operation.

    The surgery is a success and Jean is ever grateful to the Doctor who has developed more than just doctor/patient feelings toward the attractive and engaged young woman. When Judge Thatcher notices the Doctor’s fondness for Jean he confronts him only to have Vollin admit his love. Vollin refuses to stay away from her, infuriated by the Judge’s response,  he comes up with a plan to seek revenge.

    When escaped murderer Edmond Bateman (Boris Karloff) seeks Vollin’s help in transforming his face so he can live anonymously, Vollin only promises to give him a new face if he will agree to help in seeking his murderous revenge. When Bateman refuses, Vollin goes along with the facial operation but turns Bateman into a hideously disfigured ogre. He now promises Bateman that he will fix his face only if he helps him with his torturous vengeance driven plan.

    Inspired by Poe’s classic poem, screenwriter David Boehm created a story filled with Poe touches. The poem itself is used twice, early in the film we see Vollin recite it and later on, Jean performs an interpretive dance as the poem is read on stage, a performance she dedicated to the Doctor. Vollin’s Poe fetish is also seen in various torturous devices that he will use before the film ends such as a pendulum swinging  and  a shrinking room.

Though Karloff is given top billing, and supposely a higher paycheck, he does not appear until approximately 15 minutes or so into the short feature, subsequently this is really Lugosi’s film. His character dominates the proceedings, with mad insane delusions that he is a Godlike figure. Lugosi’s tendency to overact works well here considering that he see himself as superior to all.

    The film turned out to be too strong in its horror for the audiences of its day. The combination of disfigurement, torture, strong desires, and glee, to inflict pain apparently turned off the moviegoers.  Today, these elements are partially responsible for what holds the film’s interest to modern day audience. Karloff as the disfigured murderer Bateman comes off again as the most sympathetic figure in the film. A killer who does not want commit another crime, tragically left at the mercy of the revenge seeking mad doctor.

        While not in the same class as Edgar Ulmer’s “The Black Cat”, and none of the other entries in this collection are, “The Raven” is a nice minor piece of 1930’s horror that is well worth watching despite some obvious problems like the awfully quick operation and recovery of Bateman and some dated dialogue that is unintentionally humorous. The film contains many of the atmospheric standards of the horror film of its day, including  a strange eerie house, and stormy nights along with a nice Franz Waxman score. The ending is a bit too abrupt and does not contain the tense dramatic build up that it would have made it more satisfying. Still, this is a  decent  and entertaining film.

Tower of London (1939) black-and-white historical film released by Universal Pictures and directed by Rowland V. Lee. It stars Basil Rathbone as the future Richard III of England, and Boris Karloff as his fictitious club-footed executioner Mord. Vincent Price appears as George, Duke of Clarence. Actor John Rodion, who appears in a small role, is actually Rodion Rathbone, Basil’s son.

The film is based on the traditional depiction of Richard rising to become King of England by eliminating everyone ahead of him. Each time Richard accomplishes a murder, he removes one figurine from a dollhouse resembling a throneroom. Once he has completed his task, he now needs to defeat the exiled Henry Tudor to retain the throne.

The plot was not derived from Shakespeare’s Richard III, but rather was written by Robert N. Lee (director Rowland V. Lee’s brother) after reading a great deal of British history. George, Duke of Clarence (one of Richard’s brothers) is depicted as something less than the tragically noble figure found in Shakespeare. Ian Hunter portrays Edward IV, who is not depicted here as the feeble, dying King found in Laurence Olivier’s 1955 film version of Shakespeare’s play. The exterior castle sets constructed for this film became a staple of the Universal backlot and could be seen time and time again in subsequent films (most prominently in the 1952’s The Black Castle).

The film inspired a 1962 remake with Vincent Price now in the lead role. The remake was made on an extremely low budget, was shot in black-and-white with a small cast (and used stock footage from the 1939 version for the battle sequences), and placed far more of an emphasis on genuine horror. Price later told Rathbone’s biographer Michael Druxman that he felt Rathbone’s performance as Richard was probably more historically genuine than either Laurence Olivier’s or his own.

Cast
  Basil Rathbone … Richard – Duke of Gloucester
  Boris Karloff … Mord
  Barbara O’Neil … Queen Elyzabeth
  Ian Hunter … King Edward IV
  Vincent Price … Duke of Clarence
  Nan Grey … Lady Alice Barton
  Ernest Cossart … Tom Clink
  John Sutton … John Wyatt
  Leo G. Carroll … Lord Hastings
  Miles Mander … King Henry VI

Make Up Department
  Sam Kaufman … makeup artist
  Otto Lederer … makeup artist
  Jack P. Pierce … makeup artist

Amazon Specials!

Aunque ha participado en unos cuantos proyectos más desde entonces, es Venus, de Roger Michell (2006), la última ocasión en que Peter O’Toole, actor de amplia y muy irregular filmografía (nos quedamos con lo mejor, Lawrence de Arabia, Becket, Lord Jim, La noche de los generales, El león en invierno, Adiós Mr. Chips o El último emperador), nos ha obsequiado una vez más con una interpretación memorable encarnando de nuevo a un personaje carismático y atormentado al estilo de los que le han dado fama y reconocimiento pero con tintes mucho más amables que de costumbre, gracias al cual obtuvo una nominación al Oscar. Esta vez da vida a Maurice, un actor en los últimos momentos de su carrera que todavía realiza pequeños papeles televisivos y cuyos momentos de ocio transcurren en compañía de sus camaradas Ian (Leslie Philips) y Donald (Richard Griffiths), actores jubilados como él. Los tres se reúnen diariamente en un bar para hablar del pasado y del presente, chincharse, lanzarse dardos irónicos y tomar una copa en un ambiente de camaradería y recuerdos. Al menos es así hasta que Ian manifiesta su preocupación por la llegada de Jessie (Jodie Whittaker), la hija adolescente de su sobrina, que viaja a Londres para atenderlo como enfermera las veinticuatro horas por la falta de alicientes y de posibilidades laborales en el campo. La chica modosita, tímida y apocada amante de la vida tranquila y de la música de Bach que él espera es una joven muy distinta, devota de la comida basura, sin experiencia como enfermera y con un gusto por las bebidas alcohólicas impropio para su edad.

Curiosamente, y utilizando como metáfora de su relación la historia que rodea la pintura de Velázquez La Venus del espejo, será Maurice y no Ian quien conecte más fácilmente con la recién llegada, de manera que las cada vez más horas que comparten y que sirven a Ian para escapar de la perniciosa, para él, influencia de la joven, les ayudan a establecer un extraño vínculo que se mueve en el fino límite de la amistad, la relación paterno-filial, el nacimiento a la vida adulta, el último aliento de deseo carnal de un anciano, la necesidad de paliar sus respectivas soledades y, sí, también el amor, extraño, entre crepuscular, ingenuo y morboso, pero amor. Así, Jessie se abrirá a un mundo que desconoce (los teatros, los museos, las tiendas caras de la City) y Maurice sentirá nostalgia por un tiempo que ya hace mucho que pasó, volviendo a sentirse joven al internarse con una chica joven en la vida nocturna de Londres; sólo su trabajo y su mujer (Vanessa Redgrave), con la que ya no vive pero con la que sigue manteniendo el trato, pone un punto de sensatez en su vida.

La película está construida a la medida de O’Toole, existe por y para él. Tras más de veinte años en papeles menores o secundarios, incluso en producciones mediocres y malas, vuelve por todo lo alto para dar una lección de lo que significa interpretar, manejando su espléndida voz y su todavía mejor dicción a capricho (se recomienda encarecidamente más que nunca la versión original), y haciendo de su rostro un mapa de emociones. Consigue dotar a su personaje de una fuerza difícilmente igualable, quizá porque en cierto modo se interpreta a sí mismo y cede al personaje de Maurice buena parte de su propio bagaje para componer ese actor prácticamente acabado que lucha por ofrecer la mayor de las dignidades al menos una última vez, tanto en su carrera como en su vida personal.

Como complemento, un guión acertadísimo, tanto en los aspectos más dramáticos como con los toques de humor y sarcasmo, incluyendo fragmentos y réplicas desternillantes que explotan las manías, rarezas de los ancianos, y también sus carencias y remilgos a la hora de adaptarse a los nuevos tiempos, en el que la mayor virtud consiste en tratar temas espinosos, o que en otras manos daría lugar a aspectos morbosos, con elegancia y tacto, consiguiendo salir más que airoso. Con alguna que otra debilidad en el aspecto visual, predomina en la película la atención al texto del guión y a la caracterización de los personajes sobre cuestiones como el diseño de producción y la ambientación.

Bordeando, sin pringarse, aguas pantanosas como el morbo, saliendo indemne de los peligros del sentimentalismo o de la lágrima recurrente, la película es un acertado ejercicio de equilibrio entre drama y comedia en la que la ironía somardas y algunos momentos descacharrantes se alternan con una emotividad que en ningún caso es fácil ni gratuita, que conmueve sin apelar a lugares comunes o tópicos sentimentales, y cuya mayor expresión tiene lugar cuando Ian y Maurice visitan en una iglesia londinense, con nostalgia contenida, las lápidas de algunos de los más célebres actores británicos de todos los tiempos y se detienen ante los nombres de Boris Karloff, Laurence Harvey o Robert Shaw. Un homenaje más que merecido a la vida y obra de tantos actores y actrices que nos han hecho un regalo inmejorable: la oportunidad de disfrutarlos para siempre en la pantalla.

The Invisible Man is a 1933 horror film based on H. G. Wells’ science fiction novel The Invisible Man, published in 1897, as adapted by R. C. Sherriff, Philip Wylie and Preston Sturges, whose work was considered unsatisfactory and who was taken off the project. The film was directed by James Whale and stars Claude Rains, in his first American screen appearance, and Gloria Stuart. It is considered one of the great Universal Horror films of the 1930s, and spawned a number of sequels, plus many spinoffs using the idea of an “invisible man” that were largely unrelated to Wells’ original story.

In his first American screen appearance, Rains portrayed the Invisible Man (Dr. Jack Griffin) mostly only as a disembodied voice. Rains is only shown clearly for a brief time at the end of the film, spending most of his on-screen time covered by bandages.

In 2008, The Invisible Man was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.

Trivia:

• Boris Karloff had been the studio’s original choice for the role of the Invisible Man. He turned down the role
  

  Gloria Stuart

  because he would not be seen on screen until the end. Director James Whale wanted someone with more of an “intellectual” voice than Karloff. He selected Claude Rains after accidentally hearing Rains’s screen test being played in another room. (Until this film, Rains had primarily been a stage actor. Although he had appeared in one silent movie in 1920, this was his first sound film.)

• In order to achieve the effect that Claude Rains wasn’t there when his character took off the bandages, the director had Rains dressed completely in black velvet and filmed him in front of a black velvet background.
• On the DVD short documentary, Claude Rains’ daughter tells of a time when the two went to see this movie in the theater years after it was made. It was bitterly cold and his face was completely covered by a hat and scarf. When he spoke to ask for the tickets, the attendant immediately recognized his voice and let them in for free.
• Although the actor under the bandages was usually Claude Rains, particularly in the sequence set at the inn, often it was a double. You can tell him apart from the real Claude Rains because he is taller and has aquiline features, with a nose so prominent that it is visible even through the bandages. Rains’s dialogue was all pre- or post-recorded and dubbed onto the soundtrack.
• When screenwriter R.C. Sherriff came to Hollywood to write The Invisible Man (1933), he asked the staff at Universal for a copy of the H.G. Wells novel he was supposed to be adapting. They didn’t have one; all they had were 14 “treatments” done by previous writers on the project, including one set in Czarist Russia and one set on Mars. Sherriff eventually found a copy of the novel in a secondhand bookstore, read it, thought it would make an excellent picture as it stood, and wrote a script that (unlike the Universal versions of Dracula (1931) and Frankenstein (1931)) was a closer adaptation of the book.

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I have only seen a handful of his films, but I have enjoyed Roger Corman’s directorial efforts so far. How bad could things go with Jack Nicholson and Boris Karloff on board?

Lt. Andre Duvalier, a French soldier separated from his regiment, comes upon a beautiful and mysterious woman. After leading him to clean drinking water they stroll together to the sea where she walks into the rough waters and disappears. Duvalier’s attempt to follow her is thwarted when a bird attacks him, rendering him unconscious. When he awakes in the home of an old woman she claims to have never seen the woman. Unable to put her out of his mind, he journeys on, and is eventually led to the castle of Baron Van Leppe. His mysterious beauty is linked to the castle, and the Baron himself, and Duvalier is determined to unlock the secrets.

I might have found this considerably less tolerable had Nicholson and Karloff not appeared. I’ve always been a Nicholson fan and who doesn’t enjoy Karloff? I would not say this was a shining moment for either actor. Nicholson as a French officer? No accent to be found of course, and perhaps that is best. I feel relatively confident that a French officer, or just your average dude could have pried off and made short work of a single bird. The bird actually had a back story which added to the convuluted silliness of the proceedings. As for unlocking the Baron’s secret, you can pretty much guess what that is well before it is divulged. Duvalier is all business and never really seems all that shocked or surprised by the goings on. Granted, it’s not exactly terrifying, but it is certainly peculiar, so more reaction would probably have been appropriate. There are a few more scene and story related issues I could list. To be honest, I don’t really want to spend too much more time on this review, it just didn’t move me. The plot gets even shakier and more illogical as it moves along. In short, story is not ‘The Terror’s’ strongest point.

It does have some lovely sets like a big old caverness castle with secret passageways and a spooky graveyard. It also has a nice dream-like look about it that makes it easy to watch. The capable and likeable cast of Boris Karloff, Jack Nicholson, Sandra Knight and Dick Miller help make up for some of the films lesser qualities. It is so much easier to review films I really enjoyed or out right hated. These middle of the road flicks cause me writers block. ‘The Terror’ is forgettable but not unwatchable. Rent at your own risk.

Dungeon Rating: 2.5/5

Directed By: Roger Corman

Starring: Boris Karloff, Jack Nicholson, Sandra Knight, Dick Miller, Dorothy Neumann, Jonathan Haze

[Note: I started writing this several nights ago, but time constraints and festivities prevented publishing it till now, when it's not really still relevant. Enjoy!]

It’s almost Halloween again. I’ve been blogging pretty rarely lately – and with a good reason, which is “real life” – but something about this season (and who I am) makes me want to watch, read, and write about horror. So I think I’ll spend a little time discussing the horror genre, especially as it’s represented in film. As I came to WordPress, I saw this post, “Quelles Horreurs!” by titirangistoryteller, listed among the “Freshly Pressed.” I’m always up for someone else’s insights into a genre I love, so I clicked and read the post… and immediately went, WTF? Granted, I’ve read way more inane commentary on horror. This is just kind of mediocre. But still, it’s full of what frustrates me about shoddy, poorly-researched film discussions: it’s full of generalizations, broad leaps of logic, and takes tiny samples as being representative of a much broader whole.

For example: “The sixties had an outpouring of B-grade horror flicks, most of which starred Vincent Price, Christopher Lee or Boris Karloff…” The first clause here isn’t so bad, although the usage of “B-grade” is dubious, and maybe they should be penalized for use of the word “flicks,” but claiming that most 1960s B-movies had either Price, Lee, or Karloff? Man, those guys must’ve been working overtime! They were all prolific actors, and they were in some of the best-remembered B-movies of the ’60s (though I would want to explore further what that term, B-movie, actually means), but please just think about what you write and do some fucking research. The fact is that hyperbole-based writing is rarely genuinely informative, nor does it get across much about the actual content or meaning of the films. And beyond that, it pisses me off.

That said, let’s actually talk about horror. Price, Lee, and Karloff are legends within the genre, though it’s totally meaningless to declare them emblematic of an entire decade’s B-movies. Why not look at their legacies? Karloff was born William Henry Pratt – switched from a very English name to a mysterious, vaguely Russian one. After countless supporting roles, he was called “?” in the opening credits of James Whale’s Frankenstein. And Karloff’s career began in earnest, lumbering and moaning as he traversed the European countryside, an ugly patchwork of dead tissue revived by lightning, gentle at heart but brutal in body. If you want to explore Karloff’s legacy, I recommend another B-movie of sorts, Peter Bogdanovich’s Targets. It’s not so much straight horror as the kind of horror movie Bogdanovich, fresh from writing about film for Esquire and now a student of Roger Corman, would make, doubling back on its artistic antecedents and contrasting them with the horrific present-day. At the center of it all is an aged Karloff in a quasi-autobiographical role, close to death and ready to set aside a career as a movie monster.

What is a monster, anyway? Is it the mad scientist or his creation? Do they each share in the monstrosity? Is a vampire a human being, or something else altogether? It’s so fun to ponder these questions within the fictitious constraints given to us by a body of films. What do you remember about Karloff’s Monster? His hulking gait, his way of going, “Ehhhh!”, his dislike of fire, or was it the neck bolts? Another cinematic reference pont is Victor Erice’s magical 1973 film about childhood, The Spirit of the Beehive. Ana Torrent stars as a little girl in Franco’s Spain who sees a screening of the original Frankenstein and begins seeing the monster all around her. When children see horror movies, it can affect them, for better or worse (in my case, I’d say “for better”).

Erice’s film also connects to a tendency in horror film which I was discussing on a little radio show last Wednesday: transmuting trauma and familial dysfunction into the strange or supernatural. This isn’t a new observation by any means, but it’s something I frequently find interesting. In horror, you don’t have to talk about emotional, psychological, and sexual issues directly; you can turn them into another form. Consider David Cronenberg’s The Brood (1979): early on, a young man’s resentment of his father is manifested in a tumor on his neck. Later on, a woman’s antipathy toward her husband and protectiveness toward her son… well, it’s better to watch the movie and be disgusted.

The point is that when we don’t have to follow normal physical and biological laws (e.g., they’re being transgressed by agents of the paranormal), we can have different kinds of tension and pain exhibited in unusual ways. In The Exorcist (1973), for example, the complexities of a mother/daughter relationship troubled by divorce, dating, and the onset of adolescence are blown up (in all senses of the phrase) via the horrors of demonic possession. Sure, a lion’s share of the horror comes from the explicit, nearly X-rated gore (whether we’re talking crucifix masturbation, spider walking, or just pea soup), but it’s contextualized and given emotional heft by the pre-existing difficulties between Chris and Regan MacNeil.

Unfortunately, at this juncture, it’s been so long since I started writing this post that I’ve lost track of what my argument was. But that aside, horror films serve many important roles in our common culture, and they’ve often turned out to be masterpieces – whether low-budget art horror films like Carnival of Souls, auteur triumphs like The Shining, or classical Hollywood productions like Dracula. The scope of horror is so wonderfully broad, perhaps because people can be scared in so many ways, and for so many reasons. You can indulge in the self-aware excess of The Evil Dead, or in the measured blood-letting and psychological brutality of Cries and Whispers. Hopefully I can get my mind back on track and write more along these lines in the near future. Till then, pleasant nightmares.

It’s been  a bit of a monster-fest around here lately. I promise to write something about Bela Tarr, and a piece on Shinoda’s Double Suicide will follow shortly. In the meantime, let’s all enjoy the spectacle of Boris Karloff hanging out with a family (does anybody know who they are?) on the set of 1939’s Son of Frankenstein. I love these backstage portraits, especially when they show such an iconic figure with his guard down. So complete is Karloff’s physical performance, and so distinctive the make-up that completes the character, that it is strange to see him acting loose and cool. These shots (there’s another one I’ve seen of him taking a cup of tea and cigarette break with Colin Clive) demonstrate the totality of his onscreen presence – all it takes is a bit of slouching or an incongruous prop and all of a sudden he’s just some guy again, albeit one with some apparent cranium issues.

[Picture sourced from Dr Macro's incomparable gallery of high quality movie scans.]

“The Walking Dead” is a blend of gangster film, horror with a touch of science fiction tossed in.  Directed by Warner Brothers’ stalwart Michael Curtiz, who previously dabbled in the horror genre with “Doctor X” and “Mystery of the Wax Museum”, this 1936 film, is an engaging oddity that should not be missed. The film stars Boris Karloff as John Ellman, a down on his luck ex-convict who innocently gets mixed up with some underworld characters. He is framed for the murder of a judge who just convicted one of their buddies to a long prison term.  Two young medical assistants, Nancy (Marguarite Churchill) and Jimmy (Warren Hull) are witnesses to Ellman’s frame-up but do not come forth and say anything until the last minutes before his execution. By the time, the Governor is reached to stop the electrocution it is too late. Dr. Evan Beaumont (Edmund Gwenn), who Nancy and Jimmy work for, wants Ellman’s body for his experiments in bringing people back from the dead. Beaumont’s experiment is successful and Ellman is brought back to life.

Though he is alive, Ellman is not quite the man he used to be. He cannot remember much except who framed him and that he has an affinity for wanting to spend time at the cemetery where he says he feels that this is where he belongs.  Zombie like, Ellman soon begins to go after each of the men responsible for his frame-up and one by one, they begin to die, though more from fright than from Ellman actually doing anything.

What makes the film exceptional is the cinematography by Hal Mohr. The film is gorgeously shot with eerie long shadows. Most spectacular is the buildup to Ellman’s execution, poignant cello playing, and shadows of the jail cell bars flowing dramatically across the floor. The film is worth seeing for this scene alone.

Along with Karloff, the film’s cast includes Ricardo Cortez as Nolan, the mob’s slime ball lawyer, Barton MacLane as one of the gangsters and Joe Sawyer as the shooter appropriately named “Trigger.” Edmund Gwenn, best known as the real Santa Claus in “Miracle on 34th Street” is the research doctor who is more interested in what it is like to be dead than in saving Ellman’s life. As Ellman lays on the ground dying the Doctor drills him, “What’s it like to be dead…tell me!”  In his final words, Ellman begins to tell him, “After the shock, I seemed to feel peace and….” He never finishes the sentence.

Karloff of course has been resurrected from the dead more times cinematically than anyone has except for you know whom, I count at least four. He first rose from the dead as the monster in the 1931 James Whale classic “Frankenstein” (it’s alive! it’s alive! cried Dr. Frankenstein) followed by “The Mummy” in 1932.  In 1936 came this film, and since you cannot keep a good man down, or dead for that matter, he came back one more time in Columbia’s 1939 low budget “The Man They Could Not Hang” , a film with some similarities to this one.   With his hallow cheeks and mournful look Karloff makes an effecting brain dead zombie that will keep haunting you long after the film’s short running time ends.

amo essa foto, essa cara de bonzinho do tio Boris me mata…

PS-e pensar que ele só pegou esse trampo por que o Bela(lugosi) não quis fazer um personagem com maquiagem tão carregada, sorte nossa, não?

Piqued by a reference on Bones, featuring an actual mummy and “Bones” Brennan naming the film as a childhood favorite that sparked her interest in forensic anthropology, we followed our Halloween viewing of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! with the original The Mummy with Boris Karloff through Netflix, in glorious black and white. What a great movie, and what a fascinating fellow Karloff was! Despite some hilarious archaeological gaffs in the beginning (people handling fragments of stone and ancient scrolls of papyrus with their bare hands), the film has lots of creep factor, lots of tension, and some fairly authentic-looking reproductions of ancient Egyptian artifacts, plus a nifty Egyptian laborers’ work song that had John and me rocking out. *g* Karloff, who was tall and slim but not freakishly tall or massive, has one of those long, angular faces that lends itself to makeup and prosthesis, rather like Ron Perlman these days. Despite his many gruesome roles, in private life he was a gentle man and a gentleman, too, a hard-working actor who was forty-four when he found his breakout role as James Whale’s monster in Frankenstein, fifty-one before he became a father. I’d like to see Frankenstein now; it’s one of many films I caught bits of on broadcast tv as a child but have probably never watched all the way through.

Watching It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! is a yearly ritual for me, and I never get tired of those alto flute solos, or of the World War I Flying Ace’s battle with the Red Baron and his trek through the French countryside. In my memory that sequence goes on for hours, moody landscapes and the haunting flute part. I said to John that that was probably the first glimpse I had of what the shakuhachi tradition tries to do, the flute as an instrument of spirit, an embodiment of Spirit through the breath.

Our public television station favored us over the past two weekends with the Jeremy Brett version of “The Sign of Four”. I have never been a Holmes fan before, but now I’m completely enthralled with the Brett series, and also with David Suchet’s Poirot. “The Sign of Four” is a more complex story than the usual 45-minute episode, with lots of exterior shots and lots of obvious if beautiful matte paintings for backgrounds, rather like Original Trek. The final exchange of dialogue is just a killer: “What an attractive woman,” says Watson, rather wistfully. (Yes, and young enough to be your daughter, John!) Holmes, collapsed on a narrow bed with limbs sprawled out, replies, “Was she? I hadn’t noticed.” Oh, Sherlock.

Meanwhile, we have finished season four of Deep Space Nine, with Odo’s shocking punishment by his people and Salome Jens’ amazing authority and confidence as the female Founder, and have season five on tap and the first season of the animated series Batman Beyond. We also viewed Mask of the Phantasm again, and yes, I still think it’s an enormously better movie than either of those with Christian Bale, and it’s also the only movie to give Bruce Wayne a compelling love interest–a smart, sexy redhead with some martial arts training. Bruce likes a woman who can trip him over her hip. *g*