A Study in Classic Horror- ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1953)

If there’s one thing you can say about the Abbott and Costello monster movies, it’s that, despite the comedy, they were willing to let the monsters be monstrous.  They quite smartly leave the shtick to Bud and Lou when I’m sure it was tempting to just have Mr. Hyde slip on a banana peel. That being said, it still seems this movie could have been funnier. Not that it’s unfunny; it definitely has its moments; I certainly laughed out loud when Bud Abbott, usually oblivious to the dangers that threaten his partner, screamed in terror at his first glance at Mr. Hyde. It just doesn’t quite reach its potential.

I guess what I really wanted was a completely different script. Abbott and Costello are at their funniest when they’re doing their, mostly verbal, stage routines. Here the humor mostly boils down to Costello’s wild takes when confronted with danger. A sequence when Lou is transformed into a giant mouse gets some mileage, as does the two-Hyde climactic chase, but it still doesn’t quite hit the mark.

And then there’s Karloff. Just as with the previous Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff, his talents aren’t used to their full potential. In his performance I see ghosts of the film that could have been. It’s no secret that uncredited stuntman Eddie Parker stood in for Karloff for the Hyde scenes, and given the physical demands of Hyde in the film, I can see where they might have been difficult for the aging actor, but I would have loved to have seen what the movie could have been like if only Karloff could have played both parts; a movie where there is more to Hyde than simply running and snarling. Also, I’m afraid the characterization of Jekyll leaves much to be desired. He gets one monologue where he articulates his desire to rid the world of evil impulses thus bringing an end violence and bloodshed, but he quickly abandons that desire to become the monster so he can eliminate those he feels have wronged him. In fact, his role as the jealous older man echoes his role in The Climax. The Karloff performance I would have liked to see is the Jekyll who made that monologue juxtaposed with a more sinister conniving Hyde.

I suppose this is really more of an unfair entry on the film that wasn’t than the one that was, and I apologize for that. Overall, I certainly don’t think this was a bad film. It was still a lot of fun; I just can’t escape the notion that it could have been much more.

Supporting features:

Tom and Jerry in Fraidy Cat (1942)

The Our Gang short The Kid From Borneo (1933)

Next time:
Son of Dracula (1943) starring Lon Chaney Jr., Robert Paige, Louise Allbritton, and Evelyn Ankers

 

A Study in Classic Horror- THE CLIMAX (1944)

I’m beginning to suspect that the powers that be at Universal began to rely on Boris Karloff’s talents to bring life to weak scripts. As I discussed in my entry on The Mummy, those efforts (with the help of Jack P. Pierce’s amazing make-up effects) paid off; with The Climax, not so much. 

The main problem with The Climax is that it doesn’t know what kind of film it wants to be. Whenever Karloff is onscreen it’s a dark thriller, but the rest of the time it’s a light romantic comedy. Certainly, many of the classic horror films balance the scares and the laughs nicely, but not this time.

Karloff plays Dr. Friedrich Hohner, physician to the Royal Opera Company, whom years before fell in love with the company’s lead soprano Marcellina (June Vincent). When Marcellina’s star began to rise and their relationship began to take a backseat to her career, Hohner murdered her in a jealous rage and secretly enshrined her body in his home. Ten years later, Angela Klatt (Susanna Foster), a new soprano discovered by the company, sings with a voice much like Marcellina’s and the insane Hohner takes steps to control her, so that no one ever hears that voice but him.

As you might suspect, Karloff’s intimidating presence serves him well as usual, but the film suffers in his absence, and he doesn’t get enough screen time to keep the movie going.  Most of the film is taken up by Turhan Bey, who plays Angela’s love interest, Franz Munzer, another hero who really doesn’t take much action but spends plenty of time making moon-eyed “gee, I’m in love” faces at his beloved. One particular scene where he literally chews up his program while watching Angela sing at the opera is out-and-out embarrassing.  Of the rest of the cast, only Gale Sondergaard, as Hohner’s housekeeper Luise, is particularly engaging.

The other drawback of The Climax is that it just feels like there are too many shades of The Phantom of the Opera, and considering it features the same female lead and was filmed on some of the same sets as the 1943 version of Phantom that’s not exactly surprising. Just as I suspect the studio was looking for another Dracula with The Mummy, The Climax appears to be a further attempt to make lightning strike twice. Karloff certainly deserved a more worthy project for his color debut.

Supporting features:
Popeye in Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor (1936)

The Our Gang short A Lad an’ a Lamp (1932)


Next time:
The Invisible Man Returns (1940) starring Vincent Price, Cedric Hardwicke, Nan Grey, and John Sutton

A Study in Classic Horror- SON OF FRANKENSTEIN (1939)

Well, well, a Frankenstein movie in which Dracula is the star. I must say I’ve really been looking forward to this one, primarily for the reputation of Bela Lugosi’s performance as Ygor, and I concur that it is everything people say it is. Bela’s flair for throwing himself completely into a role really pays off here. This is the part that conclusively establishes how much more he was than simply screen presence with an accent.  Of course the Lugosi aura helps, but where many of his characters are rather one-dimensional Ygor is, at last, a character with depth, at times earning our sympathy, at others our revulsion, an echo even of the Monster who he befriends and controls.


Taking place some time after the events of Bride of Frankenstein, this story concerns the journey of Baron Wolf von Frankenstein (Basil Rathbone) back to the castle and surrounding village where his father Henry conducted his notorious experiments so many years before. The villagers remember the creature Henry Frankenstein unleashed on them all to well, and Wolf, along with his wife Elsa and his son Peter (Josephine Hutchinson and Donnie Dunagan) are greeted with a rather cool reception. Only Inspector Krogh (Lionel Atwill), who himself lost an arm to the Monster as a boy, shows them any treatment resembling respect, but he still advises them to leave for their own good. Soon Wolf encounters Ygor, an estranged villager shunned by the town having been convicted and unsuccessfully hanged for grave robbing. Ygor reveals he has befriended the Monster (Boris Karloff) Wolf’s father created, but that the Creature has fallen ill. Wolf, who had been in denial that the Monster even existed, now comes to his aid, not knowing that Ygor has been using him to enact his murderous revenge on the jury that convicted him, and so finds himself continuing the work of his father, just as the villagers feared.


Karloff is in good form as usual, though I wish there could have been more of a progression in the Monster’s development from the more articulate characterization in Bride of Frankenstein. Here he’s reverted back to the grunting and moaning Monster of the first film. Lionel Atwill gives a fine performance as Krogh, the voice of reason among all the madness. There are some rather nice scenes between him and young Donnie Dunagan as Peter. It’s a nice turnaround from the character I saw him play in Man Made Monster, which came two years later. Now, I’ve seen Basil Rathbone’s performance criticized as over-the-top, but I didn’t see it that way. I think maybe it’s because he exhibits behavior we’re used to in slapstick comedies. As things start to unravel around him, he runs around in hysterics trying to hold things together, not unlike Archie trying to keep Betty and Veronica from finding out he’s made a date with both of them on the same night. Yet Wolf’s behavior is justified. This is a man who’s found himself out of his depth trying to protect his family while trying to hide a terrible secret.  I think the performance works.


Finally, I must say I loved the art direction for this movie, particularly the enormous and sparse interiors of the Frankenstein home.  Wolf and Elsa take their meals in a virtually empty dining room while enormous twin gargoyles loom over them from a pair of fireplaces you could walk into. Young Peter’s bedroom appears to be on the farthest end of the house, accessible by a delicate-looking staircase, serving to heighten the danger he’s in when the Monster’s on the loose.


Overall, it’s not as solid as James Whale’s entries, but it’s still a worthy part of the series, a fitting swan song for Karloff’s tenure as the Monster. And congratulations to Lugosi, though I fear this is probably also the moment when his career entered into decline.


Supporting features:
Tom and Jerry in The Night Before Christmas (1941)
The Our Gang short Birthday Blues (1932)


Next time:
The Climax (1944) starring Boris Karloff, Susanna Foster, Turhan Bey, and Gale Sondergaard

A Study in Classic Horror- THE BLACK CAT (1934)

It’s amazing that a film can be so enjoyable, yet so incoherent. Plot-wise, it’s all over the place, but it’s saved by the sublime acting of Boris Karloff and the imposing presence of Bela Lugosi.

I’ll see if I can get it all straight. Lugosi is Dr. Vitus Werdegast, who has just been released from a World War I prison camp, and is on his way to the home of Hjalmar Poelzig (Karloff), whose actions during the war resulted in the deaths of many men as well as Werdegast’s imprisonment. The purpose of Werdegast’s visit is revenge, and to learn the fate of the wife and daughter he left behind. During his journey, Dr. Werdegast encounters a pair of honeymooning Americans played by David Manners and Jacqueline Wells. The three end up on an ill-fated bus trip that results in them all staying in Poelzig’s imposing mansion, so that the young bride can recover from injuries sustained when the bus crashed. Werdegast learns that his wife has died (possibly murdered by Poelzig) and that his daughter has subsequently become Poelzig’s bride. Oh, and apparently Poelzig is also the leader of a satanic cult, and Werdegast is afraid of cats.

Yes, it’s all a bit convoluted, but somehow none of that matters, because at the center of it all Karloff and Lugosi make wonderful adversaries. The way they toy with each other’s emotions and psyche becomes a waltz of intimidation. Manners and Wells seem to only be there to get into danger as the battle escalates. In fact Wells’ soul purpose is apparently to scream and be rescued. In another era this film could have been just the two men and a chessboard. The two leads are all it really needs.

Of course there are a few other elements that make The Black Cat stand out. There’s a gruesome, though mostly left to the imagination, torture scene at the end, and there’s Poelzig’s rather perverse inclination for collecting the corpses of beautiful women (including Werdegast’s wife) in glass cases. Nice components, but they’re hastily assembled. Like The Mummy, the movie’s greatest assets are its stars.

And if you’ve never read the Edgar Allan Poe story that lends its name to the film, don’t worry about spoilers. Of the three Poe adaptations I’ve viewed so far, this one bears the least resemblance to its source material. In fact, I think the only reason Lugosi’s character has a fear of cats is to justify the title.

This week’s supporting features:

Tom and Jerry in The Midnight Snack (1941)

The Our Gang short The Pooch (1932)

Next time:

She-Wolf of London (1946) starring June Lockhart, Don Porter, Sara Haden, and Jan Wiley

A Study in Classic Horror- BLACK FRIDAY (1940)

Yes, I confess. I watched this on Black Friday. I couldn’t resist, but I think it’s a much better way to spend the day after Thanksgiving than braving the stores.

Yet again, this is a film that gets lumped in with the many horror films to star Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi, but in this case it’s more of a crime thriller with some Jekyll-and-Hyde-type science-fiction elements. In fact, even though those giants of the horror genre get top billing, the standout performance is really that of Stanley Ridges.

Karloff plays Dr. Ernest Sovac, who, when his friend Professor George Kingsley (Ridges), receives a deadly brain injury in an accident, saves his life by transplanting part of the brain of gangster Red Cannon, another victim in the accident, into Kingsley’s skull. Sovac’s intentions are good initially, but when he learns that Red had a hidden fortune, greed sets in, and he begins tampering with Kingsley’s mind to bring the Cannon personality to the forefront, hoping he can learn the whereabouts of the missing loot.

Karloff turns in another good performance, as a much more subdued and benign mad scientist than we’ve been seeing. Lugosi’s role, I’m afraid, is little more than a glorified cameo, and here’s where things get a little odd behind the scenes. Apparently, Karloff was originally tapped to play Kingsley and Cannon, while Lugosi would have played Dr. Sovac. Rumor has it that Karloff didn’t feel he was up to the duality of the role, so he took on Sovac and Lugosi ended up in the much smaller part of Eric Marnay, the second in command of Cannon’s gang. In comes Ridges who plays the duality so completely I admit it took some time for me to realize the two very different personalities were not played by separate actors. Costume and make-up helped accent the difference, but a lot of the credit goes to Ridges’ vocal work and the way he carried himself physically. This could have ended up a entirely different film had the original casting remained intact. I have to wonder about if the rumor is true about Karloff’s decision. I’ve seen him play quite a diverse range of characters, yet similarly in Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Karloff plays only Jekyll while another actor plays Hyde. Ridges holds his own with Karloff quite well. Perhaps if he’d lived longer he would have achieved notoriety on par with that of his costars.

One other interesting thing that went on behind the scenes: in what was probably a publicity stunt, Bela Lugosi supposedly underwent hypnosis for a scene in which he appears to suffocate. This may have been a ploy to make up for the fact that his role was so small despite his billing. You can see how it was used to promote the film in the trailer from my last entry.

Overall, I enjoyed it, though the brain transplant plot device did severely challenged my suspension of disbelief, but as such pseudo-science is common in these movies, it was easy to forgive.

This week’s supporting features:

Goofy in Tennis Racquet (1944)

The Our Gang short Readin’ and Writin’ (1932)

I’m taking a break for the holidays. I should be back on track by mid-January, returning with:

Revenge of the Creature (1955) starring John Agar, Lori Nelson, Ricou Browning, and Tom Hennesy

A Study in Classic Horror- THE BLACK CASTLE (1952)

This is the third film I’ve watched from The Boris Karloff Collection box set that doesn’t really qualify as horror, not that I’m complaining, just a little memo to the people over at Universal’s home video department who promised it would contain Karloff’s “most frightening roles”. The Black Castle is more of an adventure film, belonging more with the likes of The Three Musketeers and The Man in the Iron Mask than Frankenstein and Dracula. I think, though, the producers wanted to convince audiences they were coming to a horror film. Apart from casting two horror icons and opening music that seems to suggest that spooky things are on the way, there’s a number of horror clichés scattered throughout. There’s an alligator pit, the threat of being buried alive, and even an opening graveyard scene serenaded by a howling wolf.

But once the opening framing sequence in the cemetery ends, the adventure plot quickly unfolds. Sir Ronald Burton (Richard Greene) disguised as Richard Beckett investigates the disappearance of two friends, last seen in the castle of the sinister Count von Bruno (Stephen McNally). Matters become complicated when Burton falls in love with the Count’s wife (Rita Corday) and has to add a rescue from a loveless marriage to his mission. It’s a simple plot, and probably not the most original, but it’s well executed and has a pretty solid cast that also includes character actor Henry Corden who would go on to be the second actor to voice Fred Flintstone.

I am somewhat puzzled as to how Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney Jr. were reduced to supporting roles at this stage in their careers, but they are good performances. Karloff plays the Count’s good-hearted personal physician. It’s always nice to see Karloff as one the good guys, and the role has some dimensions, as his sense of self-preservation is greater than his sense of justice. Chaney’s role is downright mystifying. He’s convincing as a hulking mute servant, but it’s a role that could have been played by almost any beefy actor, it’s as if he’s only there to add one more name actor to the cast.

So, not horror, but still an enjoyable ride. Two more movies to go in the box set, I’m not sure what they’ll turn out to be, but I look forward to finding out.

This week’s supporting features:

Bugs Bunny in Buckaroo Bugs (1944)

The Our Gang short Dogs Is Dogs (1931)

Next week:

Black Friday (1940) starring Boris Karloff, Stanley Ridges, Bela Lugosi, and Anne Nagel

A Study in Classic Horror- THE MUMMY’S HAND (1940)

Is this Hollywood’s first attempt at rebooting a franchise? I’m sure many who haven’t seen The Mummy’s Hand and the three Mummy films that followed it assume they are sequels to the 1932 Boris Karloff vehicle, when it is, in fact, its own series. Yet, it’s clearly conceived to build on people’s memories of the first film. The origin of Kharis, the mummy of the latter films is virtually identical to that of Karloff’s Imhotep, so much so that his origin flashback is presented with the same footage from the earlier film.

The Mummy’s Hand is enjoyable enough, even if it is a bit uneven. (Which so far seems to be a consistent characteristic of the Mummy films.) It can’t seem to make up its mind on whether it wants to be a horror, comedy, or adventure film, but at least it has a capable cast of character actors. Dick Foran and Peggy Moran establish the chemistry they will carry over into Horror Island the following year, while Wallace Ford and Cecil Kellaway make for entertaining comic foils. George Zucco is a formidable villain, and Tom Tyler is creepy enough as Kharis the mummy, even if I question the decision to black out his eyes. I’ve seen photographs of him in full mummy make-up and his own gaze is formidable enough without special effects.

The plot is rather simple, and probably launches the cliché we’ve come to associate with mummy movies: Desecrating an ancient Egyptian tomb leads to becoming the victim of that tomb’s mummified guardian. Though I never realized that a catalyst in the form of a fanatical religious cult was needed in order to restore life to the guardian, for the mummy cannot walk unless disciples of the cult give him a dose of serum derived from tanna leaves. It seems to me the cult’s value of ancient tombs over human life requires a high level of devotion, but I suppose such fanaticism can be found in modern religions to this very day.

The Mummy’s Hand reliance on comic relief can be rather jarring at times. I found it particularly odd for Ford and Kellaway to be amusing themselves with card tricks mere moments after the death of a colleague, but sometimes that’s just the way of Hollywood. It’s going to be a while before I get to Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy, but I’ll be certain to draw on memories of this film when I write my entry for it, because I could easily see the script for Hand working as a piece for Bud and Lou with only the slightest of tweaking.

This week’s supporting features:

The Silly Symphony The Skeleton Dance (1929)

The Our Gang short Shiver My Timbers (1931)

In two weeks:

The Black Castle (1952) starring Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr., Richard Greene, Stephen McNally and Rita Corday

A Study in Classic Horror- BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935)

Did anyone else ever read the monster books by Ian Thorne? They were a very accessible series on the classic movie monsters that were available in my elementary school library that I read long before I saw any of the actual movies. One of Thorne’s comments that always stayed with me stated that of all the Frankenstein films, Bride of Frankenstein most closely follows Mary Shelley’s book. Today having read the book and seen the movie, I’d say yes and no. Certainly, there are many elements from the book there, most notably the Bride herself (though she’s never completed in the book) and the scene where the Monster befriends a blind man, but the film goes in so many different directions from Shelley, I’m very reluctant to say that it closely follows anything she ever wrote. In fact, I’m rather amused by Lord Byron’s (Gavin Gordon) synopsis of the first film in Bride’s prologue to Shelley (Elsa Lanchester). He describes a series of events she never wrote. Perhaps Thorne took that prologue a little too seriously.

None of this is meant to sound like criticism. Today, I often see films that are based on books that I’ve read, and I take them on a case-by-case basis. I understand, accept, and even embrace some differences while I outright reject others. In the case if the classic movie monsters with literary origins, I’ve learned to accept them as works in their own right, more drawing inspiration from their respective books than being accurate representations of them.

Besides, there’s just so much to love about Bride of Frankenstein. I think if I had to pick one film to represent the whole of the Universal horror catalogue, this would probably be it. First, we have yet another solid performance by Boris Karloff. Many more people die at the monster’s hands in this sequel, but he still manages to remain sympathetic. His brief friendship with the blind man (O. P. Heggie) is very moving, and there’s a particularly touching moment where he looks longingly at the carving of a woman atop a sarcophagus and mutters “Friend”. The Monster is a bit more savage here, especially as his anger towards his creator mounts, but he never loses that pitiable edge.

Next we have the hilarity of Una O’Connor as Minnie, James Whale must have felt he underused her in The Invisible Man because she’s practically everywhere here. She’s part comic relief and part Greek chorus commenting on and running in and out of nearly every scene prior to the climactic sequence. It’s almost a surprise to find she’s a servant in the Frankenstein household considering her presence throughout the village.

Elsa Lanchester’s turn as the Bride is brief, but stunning. She’s not unlike a frightened feral kitten, savage yet vulnerable. I must confess, when I was a kid reading those Thorne books, I always found her a bit sexy. Her male counterparts, Dracula, the Monster and the Wolf Man easily comprise the big three when it comes to Universal’s iconic creatures, but I would place her solidly at number four.

Rounding out the standout performances we have Ernest Thesiger as Doctor Pretorius, possibly the maddest of all mad scientists and definitely one of the most entertaining. He certainly outshines Colin Clive’s crazy cackling from the first film, and makes him look quite sane when placed next to him in this one. With his campy demeanor as he introduces his collection of tiny people or his merriment as he dines in a crypt with a pile of bones as his lone party guest, they just don’t come much more eccentric. I could almost see someone giving him his own movie today, but I could not envision anyone but Thesiger in the role.

Finally, all of this comes together nicely under James Whale’s direction. His dark sense of humor reaches a pinnacle in this picture. Note how he takes one of the saddest moments of the first film, the death of little Maria, and gives it a dark punchline in the sequel by sending her parents to join her. Add Pretorius, his little people, and ditzy Minnie and there’s really a lot to laugh at in the film, yet Whale maintains a balance that keeps the film from slipping too far into silliness. The end result is a sublime and enjoyable ride.

This week’s supporting features:

Mickey Mouse in The Chain Gang (1930)

The Our Gang short Fly My Kite (1931)

Next week’s film:

Drácula (1931) starring Carlos Villarías, Lupita Tovar, Pablo Álvarez Rubio, and Eduardo Arozamena

A Study in Classic Horror- ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE KILLER, BORIS KARLOFF (1949)

I’m going to cut to the chase with a SPOILER ALERT. The title is a red herring. Of course, you don’t have much of a mystery if you reveal the killer in the opening credits, but then Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff isn’t much of a mystery to begin with. Oh, it’s fun, but I can’t help but think there was so much more that could have been done with it.
According to what I’ve read, it was originally conceived as a vehicle for Bob Hope, but following the success of Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (which I’ll get to in a future entry) Universal was eager to team the duo up with another horror legend.

With Boris Karloff’s talents and a tighter script, it could have been great; instead it’s merely good. A whodunit, set in a hotel with a gaggle of suspects, all of whom hope to pin the crime on Lou Costello, but the script doesn’t feel the need for any logical connections, and it introduces plot devices, like a procured confession signed by Costello, that are quickly abandoned. Finally, when the killer is revealed (SPOILER) it’s someone with no discernible motive whatsoever. I realize this film is primarily a comedy, but I think tightening up the mystery elements could have made the film work better as a whole.

Worst of all, Karloff is woefully underused. His best scene comes somewhere around the middle of film, when he tries to hypnotize Costello into committing suicide, so the aforementioned confession can be left with the body. A lot of laughs come from failed suicide attempts, but perhaps more mileage could have been gained had they let the motif run through the rest of the film.

More laughs result as the body count increases, and Bud and Lou find themselves hiding body after body. I think my favorite gag is where they hide a pair of corpses in plain sight by engaging them in a game of bridge. (It’s interesting to note, that the presence of onscreen corpses made the movie somewhat controversial overseas. Many such scenes were cut, which would have deprived the film of some of its funniest moments.)

So overall, funny, but not as funny as it could have been. I hope to find improvements were made when the three reteamed for Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

This week’s supporting features:

Daffy Duck and Conrad Cat in Conrad the Sailor (1942)

The Our Gang short Love Business (1931)

Next week’s film:

Man Made Monster (1941) starring Lon Chaney Jr., Lionel Atwill and Samuel S. Hinds

A Study in Classic Horror- THE INVISIBLE RAY (1936)

I’m sure if you come into this movie knowing as little about it as I did, you won’t get anything close to the plot you imagined from the title. I pictured a ray that rendered people or objects invisible. I’m still not entirely sure what the ray is that the title refers to. The posters seem to suggest it has something to do with the powers Boris Karloff’s character acquires, but posters have been misleading before. (See my entry on Night Key.)

What we actually have here is a rather sad melodrama entangled with science-fiction. Boris Karloff is Dr. Janos Rukh, a brilliant scientist who (with the help of some 1930s movie pseudo-science) proves that a meteor struck Africa millions of years ago leaving a deposit of an unknown element that will revolutionize both physical and medical science. Unfortunately, his initial exposure to it not only causes him to glow in the dark, but also makes his skin deadly to whoever else touches him. Thanks to renowned physician Felix Benet (played by Bela Lugosi) the physical attributes of his condition can be held back, but Benet can do nothing to prevent the effects on Rukh’s mind.

What follows is a tragic descent into madness. The element, Radium X, is refined and through the work of Rukh, Benet and their colleagues becomes everything they’d hoped it would be. However, the expedition to Africa has caused Rukh’s marriage to crumble, and he feels that he is not receiving his due from the other scientists for his discovery despite being awarded the Nobel Prize. His madness leads him to blame all of his misfortunes, both real and imagined, on the rest of the expedition and he decides to use his deadly powers to enact his revenge.

As is often the case, there is a romantic subplot, but this time it’s at the cost of Rukh’s marriage. Frances Drake, as Diane Rukh, really appears devoted to her husband, but events in Africa lead her to believe he no longer cares for her, and she runs to the arms of Frank Lawton as Ronald Drake. All just part of the spiral that Dr. Rukh’s life goes into. At the beginning he seems to have a lot going for him, and slowly he begins to lose it all, and more to due to happenstance than to his own faults. Very sad.

While essentially enjoyable, The Invisible Ray is also a mixed bag. It opens in a classic stylized Universal mansion complete with a laboratory and an observatory; the middle section, set in Africa, is filled with politically incorrect natives and wealthy Brits who whine about the weather and fancy themselves great white hunters, and the final act is the exploits of a serial killer in the streets of Paris. It could have been a mess, but once again the lead performances of Karloff and Lugosi manage to tie it together. Despite his eventual villainy, Karloff is easy to sympathize with, and Lugosi is a welcome surprise in a more heroic role for a change. The two have a wonderful chemistry that manages to keep the film’s lesser performances from dragging it down.

Now I find myself wondering, and I think I already know the answer, as they so often seem romantically motivated, will Boris or Bela ever get the girl?

This week’s supporting features:

Goofy in Goofy and Wilbur (1939)

The Our Gang short Helping Grandma (1931)

I’ll be taking a break for a bit now as I prepare for our big vacation, which includes my annual trip to Dragon*Con in Atlanta, Georgia (See you there!). I’ll be back the weekend of September 16 with:

Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff (1949) starring Bud Abbott, Lou Costello and Boris Karloff

A Study in Classic Horror- TOWER OF LONDON (1939)

The second non-horror entry in my study in horror, and not surprisingly, it’s from the same Boris Karloff box set as Night Key. Like Night Key, I’m sure Karloff’s reputation as a horror actor was relied upon to sell both this film and the dvds to fans of the genre. But what we really have here is a historical drama, albeit a historically inaccurate one, as it tells the, until recently, widely believed account of Richard III’s bloody ascent to the throne of England. These days we know that Richard has been viciously maligned over the centuries, so just as with Amadeus, you enjoy the film at face value rather than as a history lesson.

Karloff may have been used to sell this film, his leering face looms over the title in most of the old posters, and recent vhs covers featured only him, but this is Basil Rathbone’s time to shine. Don’t get me wrong, Karloff is great, as usual, but it’s really a minor role. Rathbone is brilliant as the duplicitous Richard, and quite scary sometimes as his machinations bring him closer and closer to the throne. Rathbone had already become Sherlock Holmes to the world by the time he was making this film, and it’s what he’s best known for today, so it was nice to get a look at his acting range here in a role that was so far removed from Holmes.

Another cast with very few weak links. (The weak links being John Sutton and Nan Grey in the obligatory romantic subplot.) A young Vincent Price, in one his earliest film roles is enjoyable as the sniveling Duke of Clarence, one of Richard’s obstacles, but I was particularly impressed by Ian Hunter and Barbara O’Neil as King Edward VI and Elyzabeth, his queen. O’Neil’s Elyzabeth is compassionate, but a powerless pawn against the politics of state. One scene in particular, in which she must make a decision she knows will seal the fate of the last two heirs between Richard and the throne, is heartbreaking. Hunter’s Edward is that rare breed of Hollywood, the morally ambiguous character. So often movie characters are quite simply good or bad with no middle ground. It’s hard to make up your mind about Edward, he’s kind and likable one moment, and the next he’s conniving with Richard, little knowing he’s just another puppet to him.

I suppose one of the reasons Tower has a reputation as a horror film, is that some elements are horrific. Boris Karloff, as Mord, the executioner and dungeon master, is ruthless and sadistic. Some of the scenes of torture and murder are terrifying, and when Mord claims his last two victims it’s as chilling as anything a bona fide horror film has to offer.

This week’s supporting features:

Donald Duck in The Wise Little Hen (1934)

The Our Gang short Teacher’s Pet (1930) featuring the series debut of Matthew “Stymie” Beard and June Marlowe as Miss Crabtree

Next week’s film:

Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954) starring Richard Carlson, Julie Adams and Richard Denning

A Study in Classic Horror- FRANKENSTEIN (1931)

I know I’ve already heaped a great deal of praise on Boris Karloff in these reviews, and I’m probably going to do a bit more here, but at least in Frankenstein we come to a film with an ensemble of memorable performances. I’ve found something to enjoy about every single movie I’ve reviewed so far, but so often in the old classics the casting is very uneven. Often they seem to be built around one or two stars that steal the production while many of the other actors practically sleepwalk through their roles. Not to say this cast is perfect. Mae Clarke, as Elizabeth, is kind of generic, and John Boles, as Victor Moritz, could have easily been written out completely without having much affect on the story, but there are so many other memorable performances it’s easy to overlook the weak links in the cast.

Colin Clive’s Henry Frankenstein is practically the consummate mad scientist. (I say “practically”, because he is due to be outdone in the sequel, but it’s too soon to get into that.) It’s a wonder that Elizabeth doesn’t break off their engagement on the spot when she, Victor and Dr. Walderman find him ranting about his experiment. His vanity is such that the second his sanity is questioned he insists the three witness the birth of his creature when seconds before he wanted to keep it a secret. Clive is almost over the top, and by the time he’s shouting “He’s alive!” and “Now I know what it feels like to be God!” he’s borderline orgasmic. Sure it seems a bit campy by today’s standards, but I’ll bet there’s many a scientist who’s had a major breakthrough that can relate to Henry’s excitement.

Other great performances: Frederick Kerr, who endows Baron Frankenstein with the demeanor of an old British colonel; Edward Van Sloan, who seems to have been relegated to the role of German mentor in many Universal monster films; the underrated actor Dwight Frye as Fritz, Henry’s sadistic hunchbacked assistant, and of course Marilyn Harris as poor doomed Maria.

And then there’s Karloff, far from his first role, this was the one that made him a star, even if he was billed simply as “?” in the opening credits. Like Chaney’s Phantom, this is another case where I wish I could witness the character’s reveal the way audiences did in 1931. It’s easy to credit Jack P. Pierce’s iconic makeup design for making the Monster memorable, but it’s Karloff’s performance that makes him menacing one moment then childlike and sympathetic the next. One need only look to one of the film’s most famous scenes to know that this role was more than stumbling around and growling. The scene between the Monster and little Maria may be one of the most finely crafted scenes in the whole Universal Horror canon. It is the one moment in the film when the Monster experiences any joy. He plays Maria’s floating flower game with the enthusiasm of an amused toddler, which is what makes the scene’s outcome so much more tragic. Yes, you feel terrible for the fate of the little girl, but you also feel for the Monster and his lack of understanding of what he’s done. Curiously, the scene was censored for years, instead of ending with Maria being tossed in the water and the Monster running away confused, it ended with him grabbing her as she screams “You’re hurting me.” Leaving Maria’s fate to the audience’s imagination made it seem worse than was originally intended and probably made it harder to sympathize with the Monster, especially later on as her near catatonic father carries her limp body through the village streets.

Much of why the film works so well is probably due to the director, James Whale. Whale took on the film because he wanted to break free of the war films he’d become associated with, and ironically today he is best remembered for his horror films. Some of Whale’s trademarks are already apparent here, such as his dark sense of humor and his affection for older British character actors, like Kerr, in this case.

Now, I can’t ignore the fact that the story bears little resemblance to Mary Shelley’s novel. In the film Dr. Frankenstein shuns his creature when he beings to show violent tendencies, in the novel it’s merely because he’s ugly. In the novel, the Monster learns to speak and therefore articulates his misery, while the film only gives us precious glimpses at why we should sympathize with him. (Hats off to Karloff and Whale for making it work.) In fact, I’d say Dr. Frankenstein is the bigger monster in Shelley’s book, which was probably her comment on how superficial people can be. The movie seems far more concerned with entertaining than making a statement. I’m not criticizing here, I’m just observing. I love both works for different reasons. The two have become intertwined; the scarred creature with the flattened head and electrodes in his neck has become the image of Shelley’s Creature in our collective subconscious. I’m sure that’s how most people imagine the Creature when they read the novel, even if they’ve never seen the movie. One work manages to fuel interest for the other.

This week’s supporting features:

Bosko in the Looney Tunes short Congo Jazz (1930)

The Our Gang short When the Wind Blows (1930)

Next week’s film:

The Inner Sanctum mystery Calling Dr. Death (1943) starring Lon Chaney Jr., Patricia Morison and J. Carrol Naish