tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75894052200083275512023-11-16T05:39:12.164-06:00The Horror Incorporated ProjectLurking among the corpses are the body-snatchers....plotting their next venture into the graveyard....the blood in your veins will run cold, your spine tingle, as you look into the terror of death in tonight's feature....come along with me into the chamber of horrors, for an excursion through.... Horror Incorporated!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger171125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7589405220008327551.post-81640000921383788132016-05-30T18:58:00.004-05:002016-05-30T18:58:46.913-05:00This Neighborhood Terrifies Me<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW5TQKruR_Re8VXQCEHXQGFqSV7RYd6jx-tmWBYbT1mMZ9kfwm31JSi7OWYQj8t7LrE8_Rq6b-M29ZU-7ijG_o7gavJAjeysdko7XltA6Iwg22ZTv0yLYHv-jTOnzdQKLpKRPQRRajY_8/s1600/fright-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW5TQKruR_Re8VXQCEHXQGFqSV7RYd6jx-tmWBYbT1mMZ9kfwm31JSi7OWYQj8t7LrE8_Rq6b-M29ZU-7ijG_o7gavJAjeysdko7XltA6Iwg22ZTv0yLYHv-jTOnzdQKLpKRPQRRajY_8/s320/fright-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
The Horror Incorporated Project has officially moved! You can find us at <a href="http://horrorincorporatedproject.wordpress.com./">horrorincorporatedproject.wordpress.com.</a> The <a href="http://www.horrorincorporated.com/" target="_blank">horrorincorporated.com </a>address now redirects to that site. So bookmark us at the new digs, if you haven't already done so.<br />
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Farewell, BlogSpot home! Such memories.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7589405220008327551.post-81785713500141803652016-05-14T18:36:00.006-05:002016-05-14T18:38:36.210-05:00New Look For the Project<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6wA9lFaBFxjS8XZk9lPjuDZdTNf112vm84-4_MIz6N-x9P8wFJT6t3ZnjPTJS_sNq4OmYtFHwRO0T7Xl13p9lVQfBZj46fvgcrnKK1GgcVTceIRNTFe6lY9TouQ9-DJA6BjXDUsVcqGA/s1600/monsterbackground2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6wA9lFaBFxjS8XZk9lPjuDZdTNf112vm84-4_MIz6N-x9P8wFJT6t3ZnjPTJS_sNq4OmYtFHwRO0T7Xl13p9lVQfBZj46fvgcrnKK1GgcVTceIRNTFe6lY9TouQ9-DJA6BjXDUsVcqGA/s1600/monsterbackground2.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I'm working on switching the Horror Incorporated Project from our old home on Blogger to a new Wordpress platform. Moving data from one platform to another isn't hard,
but it takes a lot of monkeying around after the fact. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Once I get everything
in place, I'll redirect traffic over to the new digs.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In the meantime, I wanted to give my faithful readers a chance to weigh in on the changes. <a href="https://horrorincorporatedproject.wordpress.com/2016/05/14/its-kind-of-an-experiment/" target="_blank">You can see the new look here.</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Happy to hear what you think.</span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7589405220008327551.post-6443040719113420042016-04-28T14:49:00.002-05:002016-04-29T18:17:04.325-05:00Gog on Blu-RayIvan Tors' <i><a href="http://untitledhorrorincorporatedproject.blogspot.com/2013/08/saturday-november-6-1971-noon-gog-1954.html">Gog</a></i> has popped up a couple of times on Horror Incorporated and I noted at the time that it's not available in the scope / 3D format in which it was originally released. But that's changed! A delicious restoration was released on Blu-Ray by Kino Lorber last month - and it looks beautiful.<br />
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It's available from Amazon. Maybe I'll write a review of the Blu-Ray release next time it comes up on the schedule.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7589405220008327551.post-73480054120598671192016-04-24T22:26:00.002-05:002016-04-24T22:36:25.203-05:00Saturday, October 7, 1972: Dr. Renault's Secret (1942) / The Devil Bat (1940)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkiOozr1N9jbgYrNyXBD5r9YSAHue7f6Ncujh4Azmuw-4vQCyidFlPDWbolVLXuF75abk-3v-2f7Je0zSMOjKep5C0als7ERlakS_x0_8qbt57NFgpddlnljq00ePrnvXE2idTVOV5xFg/s1600/drrenault1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkiOozr1N9jbgYrNyXBD5r9YSAHue7f6Ncujh4Azmuw-4vQCyidFlPDWbolVLXuF75abk-3v-2f7Je0zSMOjKep5C0als7ERlakS_x0_8qbt57NFgpddlnljq00ePrnvXE2idTVOV5xFg/s1600/drrenault1.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /><b><br /></b><b>Synopsis:</b> <i>Dr.
Larry Forbes (Shepperd Strudwick) arrives in a remote French village to
see his fiance, Madelon Renault (Lynne Roberts) and to meet her uncle,
the renowned scientist Dr. Robert Renault (George Zucco). Forbes stops
at an inn near the village, where he is supposed to meet someone who
will take him to the Renault house. But he learns that they will have
to cross over a bridge that has been washed out; and as a result he is
stranded in the town overnight. He meets Renault's gardener Rogell
(Mike Mazursky) and another of Dr. Renault's servants, a strange
taciturn man named Noel (J. Carrol Naish). </i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i><i>Noel
says he is from Java, and he seems gentle and sensitive, but also
uncomfortable, apologizing repeatedly for his behavior, even when he's
done nothing wrong. But he becomes enraged when a drunk inn patron
makes a remark that Noel sees as insulting to Madelon. Noel grabs the
man and seems ready to attack him. But Larry calms him down and the
situation is defused.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i><i>When
he goes up to retire that night Larry finds the drunk has stumbled
into his room by mistake and is snoring away on the bed. Larry, amused,
goes to sleep in the drunk's unoccupied room next door. But in the
morning the drunk is found murdered, strangled by a very powerful
assailant. The police question everyone closely, particularly Rogell,
who has a criminal record, as well as Noel, who was seen to argue with
the murder victim a few hours before the crime.</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhICKeNsaHdW7XDXpvsBrDgKqPamz7PyKqf_4WyJQSLCF-i_G7216tJv_7gDyK7HMtA7TJgQemHdg4KQ_GzpFxYlg5WlA6P5vrDYgreUiNN63J4xCuX5G_odMCi_oKfIJSLXevMdY-pL7E/s1600/drrenault4.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhICKeNsaHdW7XDXpvsBrDgKqPamz7PyKqf_4WyJQSLCF-i_G7216tJv_7gDyK7HMtA7TJgQemHdg4KQ_GzpFxYlg5WlA6P5vrDYgreUiNN63J4xCuX5G_odMCi_oKfIJSLXevMdY-pL7E/s1600/drrenault4.jpg" /></a></i></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i><i><br /></i><i>The
police are unsure of whether the intended victim was the drunk or Larry
himself, who was after all sleeping in the wrong room. Nevertheless,
Larry, Rogell and Noel head out to the Renault estate. Noel drives,
and as the car reaches a bend in the road, he abruptly slows the car
down to a crawl. To Larry's astonishment, as they proceed around the
curve they see a dog crossing the road. Had Noel not slowed down he
would have hit it. But how did he know it was there?</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i><i>Larry
seems to find a kindred spirit in Dr. Renault, who has a keen and
curious mind. But something bothers Larry about Noel, and he can't
put his finger on what it is. Noel seems gentle and kind, extremely
loyal to Madelon, but can fly into a murderous rage if provoked.
Animals don't seem to like him, and he doesn't seem to like them. He
has enormous strength -- more than any one man ought to have. He has
senses much keener than any human. And it comforts him greatly when the
barber in town gives him a good close shave....</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Comments: </b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">By my count this is Horror <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Inc<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">orporated's third <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">broadcast <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">of <i>Dr. Renault'</i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>s </i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Sccret</i>, a Fox <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">release</span></span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">starring <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">J. Carrol Naish and George Zucco, two fa<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ces familiar<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> to us from <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Universal's golden ag<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">e of <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">horror</span></span></span>. <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Naish in particular help<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">s to redeem the dubious premise with a remarkably sensitive p<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">erformance; <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">if he felt at all embarrassed playing a manscaped gorilla trying to pass for a man,<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> it isn't obvious here.*</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">John Landi<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">s, commenting <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">at <a href="http://trailersfromhell.com/">Tr</a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://trailersfromhell.com/">ailers From Hell</a>,<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> calls it "a very well<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">-<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">made, stupid programmer" but he cl<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">early has a lot of affection<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> for it<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">he seems to<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> be a big fan <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">of George Zucc<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">o too, and really, who isn't?) </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://fantasticmoviemusings.com/2014/10/24/dr-renaults-secret-1942/">Dave Sindelar </a>is more forgi<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ving of the p<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">icture th<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">an I am, calling it <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"a lit<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">tle gem"<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">, and I concede that <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">the<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> less you expect from it, the better it plays. <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Naish and <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Zucco are both outstanding here (Zucco <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">would have made a delightful Hitchcoc<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">k villain<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">)<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and in <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">purely technical terms it has a polish and snap to it that is <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">distinctly lack<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">in<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">g in even the <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">best poverty ro<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">w entries, <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">including our second <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">feature,<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <i>The Devil Ba<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">t.</span></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">While it isn't obvious at first glance, the story of<i> Dr. Renault's </i><i>Secret</i> resembles that of <i>Frankenstein</i>. Victor Frankenstein imbues a living creature with sentience but won't take responsibility for his actions, leaving his creation to suffer the cruelties inflicted by Fritz. In <i>Dr. Renau</i><i>lt's Secret</i>, Renault himself taunts and belittles the simple and childlike Noel, leaving us to wonder why he would create a human life if he places so little value in it. And like many scientists in the post-<i>Frankenstein</i> era, Dr. Renault conducts research for no reason but to inflate his own ego by meddling in God's domain. Both movies feature physical and quite sympathetic performances by the actors portraying the monsters. And, of course, neither Frankenstein nor Renault publish their results in any peer-reviewed journals.</span></span><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">*George Zucco was in so many <i>Shock!</i> package movies we never have to wait long for him to appear, but we haven't seen a lot of J. Carrol Naish lately. <i> Dr. Renault's Secret</i> popped up a couple times earlier in 1972, but before that his most recent appearance on <i>Horror Incorporated </i>(not counting his small role in <i>The Beast With 5 Fingers</i>, which we saw in May) was in <i>House of Frankenstein</i> on June 5, 1971. The last time we saw <i>Calling Dr. Death,</i> which featured Naish as a dogged police detective, was way back on February 14, 1970. Speaking of<i> Calling Dr. Death</i> and the other Inner Sanctum mysteries, they turned up pretty frequently in <i>Horror Incorporated's</i> first year, but they seem to have disappeared - the last one broadcast was <i>The Frozen Ghost</i> on Saturday, September 12, 1970, more than two years ago.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>The Devil Bat</i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD5FMpi9ZAnAZqH_GKnItyof7eiNlqahhwlIj3_UJzkBlaPl89GqsZXuxOiRHd8q2pkqVKM8x7_cUJONwU9VU5H6-ACGlJ1dZZ43xGiSvQTx4wMGS7B268Z42E7Z9yGaMUFtXNE9AkYYE/s1600/devilbat4.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD5FMpi9ZAnAZqH_GKnItyof7eiNlqahhwlIj3_UJzkBlaPl89GqsZXuxOiRHd8q2pkqVKM8x7_cUJONwU9VU5H6-ACGlJ1dZZ43xGiSvQTx4wMGS7B268Z42E7Z9yGaMUFtXNE9AkYYE/s1600/devilbat4.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>S<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ynopsis: </span></b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Dr.
Paul Carruthers (Bela Lugosi) is a brilliant chemist who works for a
cosmetics company. Years ago the company had given him a choice: he
could be compensated with <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">a share in the profits,</span> or with a straight salary. He
chose the latter. Unfortunately for him, the company went on to become a
huge player in the cosmetics industry, and it's clear that the
percentage deal would have made him extremely wealthy. As it is, he's
well-compensated, but he missed out on a fortune that he himself helped
to build. The Heath family, which owns the company, is aware of how much
they owe Dr. Carruthers. As far as they know, he's as happy as a clam
in his laboratory.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>The
Heath family decides to throw a party in Dr. Carruthers' honor - and
they also secretly plan to award him a bonus check of $5,000. But the
good doctor is late to his own party. He's busy working. You see,
behind a secret passage in his laboratory is another lab -- and in this
one he is breeding giant carnivorous bats! And that's not all -- he has
created a scent that drives the bats wild with rage. </i></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz43u8b7Rkk_iGS3IsZgrKFvA5w94b1RAJty7AFzrIEsLjWssrBTv1GUvEPe6M9g3CQe12tZoRY-HVJbw9tscfMW3d8CzIBVSpfMhcRmW4UddHoNV5PLXDskIgCsHJDSvAqNtlw9IpkL4/s1600/devilbat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz43u8b7Rkk_iGS3IsZgrKFvA5w94b1RAJty7AFzrIEsLjWssrBTv1GUvEPe6M9g3CQe12tZoRY-HVJbw9tscfMW3d8CzIBVSpfMhcRmW4UddHoNV5PLXDskIgCsHJDSvAqNtlw9IpkL4/s1600/devilbat.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>After
Carruthers fails to show up at his own party, young Roy Heath (John
Ellis) decides to drop by and give Dr. Carruthers the check in person.
When he finds Carruthers the scientist seems delighted by the check, and
he gives Roy something in return - a bottle of experimental shaving
lotion. "Be sure to put some on the tender part of the neck,"
Carruthers advises, and Roy, gamely, does so. But he doesn't walk more
than fifty or so yard out in the open before a giant bat swoops out of
the sky, killing him.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>At
the offices of the Chicago Daily Register, smart-alec reporter Johnny
Layton (Dave O'Brien) is sent out to cover the story. Chief Wilkins of
the Heathville police tells Layton that Roy was attacked by some kind of
animal; moreover, there were hairs found on the victim that seemed to
be those of a mouse. Layton wonders if the hairs might be from a bat --
as bats and mice are quite similar -- and asks if he can "do some
sleuthing around" on the case, and the police chief says it's fine by
him.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>At
the Heath estate, Johnny interviews Mary Heath (Suzanne Kaaren), and
it's clear that a mutual attraction is brewing. Dr. Carruthers agrees
that Roy was attacked by an animal, and that night Layton and his
sidekick / photographer "One-Shot" McGuire (Donald Kerr) wait out at
the edge of the Heath grounds hoping the creature will show up. Mary
comes out to keep Layton company, and before long they are joined by
Heath sibling Tommy (Alan Baldwin), who's just been to visit Dr.
Carruthers and who has also received a bottle of the special shaving
lotion. After Tommy scoffs at the idea of an animal killing Roy, he
strides off toward the mansion. But soon the others hear him calling
for help -- and arrive just in time to see Tommy attacked by a giant
bat!</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Now
it's a big story -- the Daily Register is running banner headlines
about the "Devil Bat" -- but Layton's editor isn't satisfied. They need
a picture of the bat, and Layton gets an idea: One-Shot can get the
local taxidermist to create a fake Devil Bat, take a picture of it, and
fool the editor. Unfortunately, a "Made In Japan" tag gives away the
ruse, and both Layton and One-Shot are fired. Now they have two tasks:
find out the truth about the Devil Bat, and find a way to get their old
jobs back....</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Comments</b>: As I've noted a number of times on this site, Universal responded to Bela Lugosi's success as the star of <i>Dracula</i> with <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">an ambivalent <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">strategy:</span></span></span> they relegated him to minor roles<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">, while at the same time playing </span>up his name in the marketing materials.<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Slowly but surely they edged Lugosi <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">right off the lot.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But in the poverty-row houses Lugosi was <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">never an<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ything less than </span></span>a <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">genuine star</span>, and <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">he won <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">the lion's share of screen time even when the sc<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ripts were poor and budgets were m<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">eager -- wh<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ich was approximately<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> always. <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Proba<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">bly <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">the best <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">of these Lugosi pr<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ogrammers was PRC's <i>The Devil Bat</i>, a<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> film that attacks --with<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> great relish -- a premise that <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">one <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">might describe as, erm, "batshit crazy".</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Indeed, the craziest thing about Dr. Carruther's revenge plot <i>isn</i><i>'t</i> that he breeds huge carnivorous bats and unleashes them to kill his enemies. It's that <i>his plot</i><i> ac</i><i>tually works</i>. No sooner do his intended victims step out the front door than a bat swoops in and rips out their jugular veins. If Carruthers was interested in getting rich, he should have just patented his process and sold it to the military -- imagine entire Panzer divisions scattering in terror as clouds of huge, bloodthirsty bats descend from the skies!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Now that we're thinking about it, why would Dr. Carruthers use a bat at all? Most bats eat insects or fruit (vampire bats drink blood, of course, but they're pretty dainty about it; they nibble through skin with their teeth and lap up whatever small amount of blood comes out. Getting killed by one of them would take quite a while).</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Hence stage one in Dr. Carruther's plan: using electricity (or something) to make his bats super-sized. Stage two: conditioning the bat to react with rage at a specific smell (e.g., Old Spice aftershave). Then, stage three: get his unlucky victim to slap on some lotion while inside his house, usher them out the door, run down to the basement, pull the lever releasing the killer bat, and hope for the best.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Sorry, but this seems like an awful lot of work. I get that using a .38 would rob you of the poetic justice of killing the Heaths with their own products, but really. If you're so determined to outsource your murders to an animal, why not condition a mountain lion or a bear to go after your quarry? At least they've been known to kill people.<b>*</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I guess this is why they call them "mad scientists" and not simply "unreasonably angry but nonetheless practical scientists". <i>The Devil M</i><i>ountain Lion</i> wouldn't have looked right on a movie marquee either. Still, </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">can't imagine pitching <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">t<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">his story to</span></span></span> an<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">y fil<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">m studio<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">. Even <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Universal -- which released plenty of dogs from its cinematic kennel over the years -- wouldn't have touched this one with a ten-foot pole</span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">. <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But all th<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ing<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">s were possible at PRC, and</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span>even stup<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">id ideas could get<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> green<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">lighted, provided they were lurid and exciting enough. And this one was both. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">_____________________</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">*If it were me, I'd breed skunks to react with rage at the smell of the lotion; it wouldn't kill the Heaths, but it would sure be entertaining.</span></span>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7589405220008327551.post-14243055839500823732016-04-08T16:08:00.000-05:002016-04-10T11:50:42.798-05:00Saturday, September 23, 1972: The Ape (1940) / Monster A Go Go (1965)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2XJRfu8VGu-523MUYt6ikfaHs8gcarqGUBOolYeKVK490W1pwtblnB067xEwQ6diZNvWxqsuJAyuEGcsCWTxLAwWhiAFHnvLDZlPN-NjvJqJscdadLDSF6hc6CXrQaedQT9Buq4RxonY/s1600/ape1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2XJRfu8VGu-523MUYt6ikfaHs8gcarqGUBOolYeKVK490W1pwtblnB067xEwQ6diZNvWxqsuJAyuEGcsCWTxLAwWhiAFHnvLDZlPN-NjvJqJscdadLDSF6hc6CXrQaedQT9Buq4RxonY/s1600/ape1.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Synopsis:</b> Dr. Bernard Adrian (Boris Karloff) is widely disliked by his small town neighbors. The locals have few rational reasons for their hostility. Dr. Adrian keeps to himself, but when dealing with his neighbors he is civil enough. Nevertheless there is a general feeling that doesn't belong, and the distinctly vague complaint that he "experiments too much".</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>The one person in town who adores Dr. Adrian is Frances Clifford (Maris Wrixon), a young woman stricken with polio. Dr. Adrian dotes on her like his own daughter, and this causes resentment from Frances' jealous jerk of a boyfriend Danny (Gene O'Donnell).</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Dr. Adrian has been experimenting with the spinal fluid of animals, and he believes he is getting closer to perfecting a serum that will cure those who've been stricken with polio. At about the same time, a circus comes to town, and Dr. Adrian encourages Danny to take Frances to see it. Late the same night, an ape badly injures its trainer and escapes from the circus. The trainer is brought to Dr. Adrian's surgery, but it is clear that the man has little chance of survival.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFPrYXUJo-OYvzdcJsq-A2TmwLliZIJNg1wG8tzxWUi7tN5hTd4t9TknvcC4OIA63nLP_t08ScGZZU3g8IDIkSZdPQE8IO8iViYoGne0S65A-FK-GtVckb6clVc5P6ZOUIK_i4O9RRbz8/s1600/ape2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFPrYXUJo-OYvzdcJsq-A2TmwLliZIJNg1wG8tzxWUi7tN5hTd4t9TknvcC4OIA63nLP_t08ScGZZU3g8IDIkSZdPQE8IO8iViYoGne0S65A-FK-GtVckb6clVc5P6ZOUIK_i4O9RRbz8/s1600/ape2.jpg" /></a></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Soon Dr. Adrian has created a human serum and he begins to treat Frances with it. The serum causes great pain to her legs, which alarms Danny, but Dr. Adrian sees this as an encouraging sign, since the paralysis had left her without any feeling in her legs whatsoever. Meanwhile, the ape, which is still on the loose, kills another man, and Dr. Adrian must sign the death certificate.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Frances' reaction to the spinal fluid treatment is encouraging. While the pain in her legs is growing worse, she is able to move her foot a little -- a clear sign that Dr. Adrian's treatment is working.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Late one night the ape breaks into Dr. Adrian's lab. Dr. Adrian is able to kill it but not before it smashes his vials of serum. He decides to keep the ape's death a secret.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Soon the county coroner comes to visit Adrian. It seems the two victims of the ape were both found to have puncture wounds in the spine -- as though Dr. Adrian had injected something into the men -- or extracted something.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Before long, Dr. Adrian <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">is wearing the ap<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">e's <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">skin<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and prowling th<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">e neighborhood, knowing that <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">the gorilla will <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">be blamed for the <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">murders he needs to commit in order to <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">help <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Frances</span>....</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></i></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeDtOu2AbL4BdvSpWV7j3Sfu9Gbt5O0zXHC0uLCxXcsPySAJEavQSIdG2HLtxr6QBSN5Dhp4eCvd92k7b1WW-7315bswUda3sbjsARyyWU0gA0ZZoFpwwRX9OXZgEBvBRRjFvYDVEK_TY/s1600/The-Ape-1940.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeDtOu2AbL4BdvSpWV7j3Sfu9Gbt5O0zXHC0uLCxXcsPySAJEavQSIdG2HLtxr6QBSN5Dhp4eCvd92k7b1WW-7315bswUda3sbjsARyyWU0gA0ZZoFpwwRX9OXZgEBvBRRjFvYDVEK_TY/s320/The-Ape-1940.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<b><br /></b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia";"><b>Comments:</b> Dave Sindelar (of <a href="http://www.scifilm.org/index.html">Fantastic Movie Musings and Ramblings</a> fame) says that the ending to this movie nearly brought him to tears when he was a kid. And that might be the nicest thing anyone's ever said about it. <i> </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>The Ape </i>is certainly a better movie than <i>Monster a Go Go</i>, tonight's second feature. But nearly every film can safely<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> make<i> that </i>claim.</span> No matter how much goodwill I bring to watching <i>The Ape</i> I find myself periodically checking my watch. And the movie is only 57 minutes long.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Curt Siodmak wrote the screenplay, but there's nothing to tip you off that he worked on it aside from a preoccupation with spinal fluid. Say what you like about Siodmak, he was a solid craftsman, but for whatever reason - most likely a poverty-row insistence that good money ought not to be wasted on frills like second drafts -- the script isn't even competent.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia";">There are plenty of plot holes and general nonsense to be found here</span><span style="font-family: "georgia";">, but I think the biggest problem is the character of Dr. Adrian himself. Not only does he violate the laws of God and man in his quest to procure spinal fluid for young Frances' serum (we expect that; it's a given for the mad scientist subgenre) but he abandons all common sense along the way. Dressing up like a gorilla doesn't do him any good unless somebody sees him (the gorilla costume doesn't give him the <i>strength</i> of an ape, it just makes him <i>look</i> like one); and if somebody sees him they're likely as not going to shoot him (Dr. Adrian's final tally while wearing the ape suit: shot three times, stabbed once). Had he skulked around as Dr. Adrian, he could have dreamed up some excuse for doing so if caught -- looking for the gorilla, for example. That's what the rest of the yokels are doing out in the woods in the middle of the night.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Even setting this aside, what was Dr. Adrian going to do, once he has strangled someone out in the woods in the guise of the gorilla? Why, insert a needle into the base of the skull and withdraw spinal fluid, of course. That an autopsy would quickly discover this never seems to occur to Dr. Adrian, even though autopsies revealed exactly that in both of the previous two victims. How would he explain<i> that?</i> "Oh, I was<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span>walking out in the woods and this fellow was lying there, dead. So...."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As long as Dr. Adrian is acting irrationally, why not <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">murder</span> Frances' jerk boyfriend Danny, whom he at least has a reason to kill? For all Dr. Adrian's avuncular kindness to the young girl, I'm not entirely convinced his motives are as pure as he lets on. So murdering Danny would be a more interesting plot development than strangling some unsuspecting townie.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Aside from one William Henry Pratt, a.k.a. Boris Karloff (who could probably play these sorts of roles in his sleep by this time), this film features the lovely Maris Wrixon as Frances. Wrixon was an up-and-coming actress on the Warner lot who never quite made it as a star, and she spent more time loaned out to Monogram than she ever did at the studio that actually signed her contract. After Warner dropped her, she quickly vanished. But she was a winning presence here, as she was in another Monogram mad scientist picture, the John Carradine vehicle<i> The Face of Marble.</i> </span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Monster a Go Go</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6CpHxv2cKrobkHC6nf3sly8l7qSnXVjpMGcCrd-vRFWH-rpkJi7HIjBMqg2-aCcR7_SD4gYBhFpfgHE295w-gIVJGqyA2O2sjWxgQ2T1E5DU-PG0RTo7whyphenhyphenday_wUTJgdVS-ZElyk-ew/s1600/monster1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6CpHxv2cKrobkHC6nf3sly8l7qSnXVjpMGcCrd-vRFWH-rpkJi7HIjBMqg2-aCcR7_SD4gYBhFpfgHE295w-gIVJGqyA2O2sjWxgQ2T1E5DU-PG0RTo7whyphenhyphenday_wUTJgdVS-ZElyk-ew/s1600/monster1.jpg" width="210" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Synopsis:</b> <i>A Mercury space capsule returns to Earth far off course, landing in the Illinois countryside. Dr. Chris Manning (Peter Thompson) and Dr. Steve Connors (Philip Morton) are dispatched by NASA to recover the vehicle. They find that it was badly damaged upon re-entry and contaminated with massive amounts of radiation. The astronaut, Frank Douglas (Henry Hite), is nowhere to be found.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Before long, reports of a ten-foot tall creature wearing a silver suit begin to filter in. The thing is wandering across the countryside, leaving bodies and destruction in its wake. Manning and Brent quickly realize that this is Douglas, irradiated and apparently mutated into some kind of monster.</span></span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Dr. Conrad Logan and his assistant, Dr. Nora Kramer (Losi Brooks), try to work out what has happened to Douglas. They determine that the emits a field of deadly radiation around it that extends out about 10 feet. The field is gradually growing, and if the creature isn't stopped the field will grow to hundreds of feet in diameter. This is especially troubling since the monster is making its way toward Chicago.</span></span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Dr. Logan manages to capture the creature and gives it doses of an anti-radiation drug. But it breaks loose and heads toward the city. </span></span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The civil defense forces manage to corner the thing in the sewers of Chicago. They pursue it, but what can they do, even if they manage to corner it?</span></span></i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifpBrw6UNoG98XXpW6lyCE2j6P1jdJgKRWB2vMZVz9E7PM-4a3EzUgwJUUC9qzcgmiR0X_jJmpgtxekUIbxGNkzEq6KrenEk2VhNX-ZPEpIskQ1wEs68ISGEjoq3_srxDLAKQlhl-hQEc/s1600/vlcsnap-2016-04-01-23h24m31s417.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifpBrw6UNoG98XXpW6lyCE2j6P1jdJgKRWB2vMZVz9E7PM-4a3EzUgwJUUC9qzcgmiR0X_jJmpgtxekUIbxGNkzEq6KrenEk2VhNX-ZPEpIskQ1wEs68ISGEjoq3_srxDLAKQlhl-hQEc/s320/vlcsnap-2016-04-01-23h24m31s417.png" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Comments:</b> You <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">would think<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span>a movie about the hunt for a<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">n astronaut<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">-turned-radioactive<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">-monster<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> that<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">'s </span>shambling through the woods, <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">killing <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">teenagers <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">whil<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">e they make out in their ca<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">rs</span>, would <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">be at least mildly interesting. But <i>Monster a </i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Go Go </i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">is <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">about as exciting and suspenseful as a how-to video about drywall installation</span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The movie</span></span> is an almost unwatchable mashup of terrible footage shot by Bill Rebane (the clueless, utterly talentless director of <i>The Giant Spider Invasion</i>) and unrelated scenes added by the sharp-eyed exploitation director Herschell Gordon Lewis (I previously posted <u><span style="color: #0066cc;">a review</span></u>, if you're interested). The title <i>Monster a Go Go</i> was apparently Lewis', and it might be the best thing about the movie; along with the opening credits, which show the mutated astronaut's silver boots stomping a<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">long</span>, superimposed over a starry background, as rock-n-roll thumps and<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span>twangs <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">away</span> in the background. It sets a tone to which the movie seems to aspire, but never achieves: cool and trippy, a waking dream informed by all the square sci-fi movies of the past. <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Handled right, i</span>t could have been a clever and arty and slightly subversive r<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">omp</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">B</span>ut <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">the counterculture ha<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">d<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> not</span> yet seeped into science fiction films, and wouldn't until the 1970s, w<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">hen</span> indie films like <i>Dark Star, Zardoz</i> and <i>A Boy and His Dog</i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span>began turn<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ing</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">up in</span> cinemas<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> --</span> movies filled with irony and an<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">tiheroes</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and </span>downbeat endings. In any case, <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Rebane's material isn't <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">even <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">competent on its own terms; a<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">nd Lewis<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">, though at least able to <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">discer<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">n what a drive-in audience <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">might like,</span></span></span></span> isn't interested in any<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">thing more th<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">an showing so<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">me <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">horny <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">teenagers in dange<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">r.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In the end, what Rebane contributed was beyond anyone's a<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">bil<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ity</span></span> to redeem. He had apparently never heard the phrase "show, don't tell" in relation to screenwriting, and his scenes are painfully static<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">. Without fail the most</span> interesting incidents occur offscreen, and we only hear about them third-hand<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> as characters <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">stand around and <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">endlessly<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> drone on</span></span> about them. <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Ne<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ver has a movie worked so hard to drive away <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">its</span> audience.<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I thought <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">of </span>adding</span> something about the movie's daff<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">y and nonsensical ending, but it hardly seems worthwh<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ile<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">.<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> I suspect <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">very few people </span>who started watching this turkey made it all the way <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">to the end</span></span>. Let's just assume that no<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> who one <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">saw this one on <i>Horror Incorporated </i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">got that </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">far.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7589405220008327551.post-79144435068378300472016-03-23T01:40:00.000-05:002016-03-23T18:02:27.562-05:00Saturday, September 16, 1972: Ambush In Leopard Street (1962) / Ghost Ship (1952)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoM3D4XLATpCr0MoF011tLZpwxa2ZNpvlBqN_e-hRMQlpmuVxbHBlJhJPQ646S_2DswROKfn_amehwPiLFaYcXNTL51SdrOE_FP9fTI_PB6nnm1D4k-sydHTnG38-n6WIwyCUCWHsMjd0/s1600/vlcsnap-2016-03-15-23h07m36s274.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoM3D4XLATpCr0MoF011tLZpwxa2ZNpvlBqN_e-hRMQlpmuVxbHBlJhJPQ646S_2DswROKfn_amehwPiLFaYcXNTL51SdrOE_FP9fTI_PB6nnm1D4k-sydHTnG38-n6WIwyCUCWHsMjd0/s320/vlcsnap-2016-03-15-23h07m36s274.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Synopsis:</b></span> <i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Small-time criminal Harry (Michael Brennan) has been tipped off to a potential big score, far bigger than anything he's ever been involved in. A half a million pounds' worth of cut diamonds are due to be shipped across London by a boutique jeweler as part of a commission. Harry teams up with old cronies Nimmo (Bruce Seton) and Danny (Lawrence Crain), and outside man Kegs (Norman Rodway). Together they draw up a plan to ambush the van carrying the diamonds at its most vulnerable point -- while it's on the narrow, secluded Leopard Street.</span></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Harry knows the cargo and he knows the route. The only thing he doesn't know is exactly when the shipment will be moved. In order to find out, Harry recruits his brother-in-law Johnny, a good-looking kid with an insouciant charm and a clean record. Harry plans to arrange a chance meeting between Johnny and Jean (Jean Harvey), a lonely secretary who works for the jeweler. Johnny's task is to start up a romance, and get her to spill the beans about the date of the shipment.</span></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ2OopWZXt5P6P1nOlh6NI0i2V3ZgNjkSmomSO2YA8coFow8fnuR0Q-iXG-k5I1sYdIVXx2uAXCrZ_mlXyLoUENThWfVaQ6970orndlOoj7s8ekFdzeKG1YzayihR8lQm-RHmQyEiCOxA/s1600/vlcsnap-2016-03-14-23h09m30s320.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ2OopWZXt5P6P1nOlh6NI0i2V3ZgNjkSmomSO2YA8coFow8fnuR0Q-iXG-k5I1sYdIVXx2uAXCrZ_mlXyLoUENThWfVaQ6970orndlOoj7s8ekFdzeKG1YzayihR8lQm-RHmQyEiCOxA/s320/vlcsnap-2016-03-14-23h09m30s320.png" width="320" /></span></i></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Harry's wife Cath is angry at him for dragging her kid brother into his seedy business, but Harry insists that the payoff will be enough to set the kid up<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> fo<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">r whatever in life he <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">wants to do</span></span></span>. Anyway, he promises, this is his last job.</span></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Johnny is successful in winning over the romantically gun-shy Jean, but as the two grow closer he begins to have second thoughts. Is he really starting to fall for her? And if so, can he go through with the deception?</span></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Meanwhile, Nimmo gets beat up by thugs working for Big George, a gangster f<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">u</span>rther up the food chain. Big George has decided he's going to take the diamonds from under Harry's nose, and he's not above kidnapping Harry's daughter in order to make sure he gets his way....</span></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjdN8Ero7YoHMfXS9hKDbqVAxZl5f8FNGYyGPOlxdCdi65KtA0iaCY8ugjH0GfrCK5btvTCctqXGXZqqtk-UGzmz72gdZ-vG57I6C5XxalTEGnWGZff8F8HOsFKuEYvmoBqEQ3fxPxFqg/s1600/vlcsnap-2016-03-14-23h26m06s203.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjdN8Ero7YoHMfXS9hKDbqVAxZl5f8FNGYyGPOlxdCdi65KtA0iaCY8ugjH0GfrCK5btvTCctqXGXZqqtk-UGzmz72gdZ-vG57I6C5XxalTEGnWGZff8F8HOsFKuEYvmoBqEQ3fxPxFqg/s320/vlcsnap-2016-03-14-23h26m06s203.png" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Comments:</b> <i>Ambush In Leopard Street</i> isn't the first crime drama to be broadcast on <i>Horror Incorporated</i>, but the ones that we've seen so far (like<a href="http://untitledhorrorincorporatedproject.blogspot.com/2014/01/saturday-january-1-1972-invasion-of.html"> <i>The Island Monster</i></a> or<i> <a href="http://untitledhorrorincorporatedproject.blogspot.com/2010/12/saturday-august-15-1970-mummy-1932-face.html">The Face Behind the Mask</a></i>) at least feature a recognizable horror star. Tonight we have a low-budget British heist picture, with no stars at all. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I'm sorry to report there are no leopards in it either.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Giving the film a fair assessment isn't easy; the only extant version seems to be a 57-minute DVD release from Renown -- 16 minutes shorter than the original theatrical cut. I suspect that's why the plot seems as choppy as it does.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But I don't need the extra 16 minutes to tell you that the plot is simple - perhaps too simple - and director J. Henry Piperno fails to provide even the slightest spark of visual interest. The interior sets are dingy and uninteresting with only the most rudimentary lighting; and the frame compositions are pedestrian and unimaginative. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In Piperno's favor, the focus on small-time London hoods has real potential, and the actors are generally doughy and unattractive -- that is to say, they look like real people, not movie stars. On top of this, the street scenes (actually shot in Ireland) lend credibility to this story about the criminal bottom-feeders in London's rougher quarters. In the hands of a more talented director <i>Ambush In Leopard Street</i> might have been a raw, documentary-like thriller, but the movie tries to follow the template of better-known heist pictures of the 1950s. There's just not enough suspense to make it work. As a result it comes off as plodding and dull.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioD8Wh3V9RiDP1KPFvz3_lF2r-igALKM9Y5EzL34C5GbVK4HSiNoCncXzyHEFs5Y0savuYS3s0ELwPTT8L1klYWtaTjvfWEqWouwU8dfGRb_dsFU2KZUHszBVQb_OFlbwZagTbXdPC-2M/s1600/vlcsnap-2016-03-14-23h27m39s039.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioD8Wh3V9RiDP1KPFvz3_lF2r-igALKM9Y5EzL34C5GbVK4HSiNoCncXzyHEFs5Y0savuYS3s0ELwPTT8L1klYWtaTjvfWEqWouwU8dfGRb_dsFU2KZUHszBVQb_OFlbwZagTbXdPC-2M/s320/vlcsnap-2016-03-14-23h27m39s039.png" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There are also a number of plot holes that dog the movie from the start. There's no real reason to think Harry's plan should work, since it hinges on a number of factors he can't control: that Jean knows the precise timing of the shipment, that a novice con man like Johnny will be able to wheedle the information out of her<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">,</span> that the van wouldn't take an alternate route or change the schedule at the last moment.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">For that matter, sending two guys in a van seems an extremely risky way to carry what would be equivalent today to $9.6 million in diamonds. It seems likely that, even in 1962, the shipment would be outsourced to couriers in an armored car. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This was a rare starring role for Michael Brennan, an extremely prolific actor who usually played thugs and bartenders<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">. H</span>e <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">was in</span> <i>Thunderball </i>and played a club fighter in "The Girl Who Was Death", an episode of TV's <i>The Prisoner. </i></span><br />
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<i>Ghost Ship </i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgBuf9Bm2QvSBNLzChMK4nRWQPhF3dux54zuJH1eR5HvdysSV5sYXd4-Gi6H3VSPXxY7_Pwrwof1AlIqCEQfpMQs0tb7nh_vwKrNdBFKsThnrSaivjnUxortWP8M2RSzTtuswvzpjPHOE/s1600/ghostship52.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgBuf9Bm2QvSBNLzChMK4nRWQPhF3dux54zuJH1eR5HvdysSV5sYXd4-Gi6H3VSPXxY7_Pwrwof1AlIqCEQfpMQs0tb7nh_vwKrNdBFKsThnrSaivjnUxortWP8M2RSzTtuswvzpjPHOE/s320/ghostship52.png" width="179" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><b>Synopsis: </b>Guy Thornton (Dermot Walsh) and his wife Margaret (Hazel Court) have recently returned to England after a few years of living in the U.S.A. Guy was in the Canadian navy during the war and the two have the idea of buying a yacht and using it as their home. They see an advertisement for a diesel ship called the </i>Cyclops<i>; upon looking at the ship Guy can see that while it's long been neglected, under all the grime and the peeling paint is a beautiful yacht -- exactly what the couple has been looking for. The dealer seems reluctant to sell, though, telling the couple a strange story that he wants them to consider before purchasing.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>The </i>Cyclops<i> had been owned by a married couple, the Martineaus, who one day drew the ship out from her berth -- the very berth she is resting in now, the dealer says -- and set out on a pleasure cruise in the English Channel. With them was the ship's engineer, a very capable man. Some weeks later the Cyclops was discovered, drifting and abandoned. She was found to have absolutely nothing wrong with her. The three people on board had simply vanished.</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY6mqxhx5HKM6_3k5i6KFd5W0soVF_cYZKPh0U_rsHprtfv9xbJ5BW5cypj69XAUpvDVP_nz8ZBzFqEX5X2uJqADX14nr0clVb1wDWTc9ZM9GxLdVnPEzV1Y9ilVB0y22jZslrGFJQpCE/s1600/ghostship1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY6mqxhx5HKM6_3k5i6KFd5W0soVF_cYZKPh0U_rsHprtfv9xbJ5BW5cypj69XAUpvDVP_nz8ZBzFqEX5X2uJqADX14nr0clVb1wDWTc9ZM9GxLdVnPEzV1Y9ilVB0y22jZslrGFJQpCE/s1600/ghostship1.jpg" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>After an inquest the ship was put up for sale. The new owners became alarmed by many odd things happening on board - a persistent smell of cigar smoke, even though no one on board smoked them; and the ghost of a man that sometimes appeared in the engine room. The owners put the ship up for sale, but the Cyclops' reputation as a haunted vessel has dogged her since.</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>The Thorntons don't believe in ghosts, but do see the ship's dodgy reputation as a way to get a good price for her. They throw themselves into renovating the Cyclops, and after a great deal of hard work a very handsome yacht emerges. But hiring a crew is nearly impossible: no sailor wants to work on a haunted ship. And before long, Margaret begins to note the overpowering smell of cigar smoke on board, and Guy sees the ghost of a man staring at him down in the engine room....</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Comments:</b> Not to be confused with the 1943 Val Lewton film of the same name, <i>Ghost Ship</i> isn't a movie that goes for outright scares, but instead cultivates a growing sense of unease. As horror movies go, it's fairly low-intensity. And given the film's provenance this shouldn't come as a surprise.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">British horror in the pre-Hammer days tended to be quite understated, and this film is no exception. It's a ghost story in the classic sense, one that deftly frames the central mystery of the <i>Cyclops</i>: what happened to the Martineaus and their engineer? As in many haunted-house stories the couple reaches a crisis point when they realize they were wrong to scoff at the ghost stories (horror films always exact a penalty to scoffers) but find they are trapped. They have sunk all their money into buying and renovating the ship. They can't flee the <i>Cyclops</i> and must find a way to rid her of the ghostly infestation.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgnVc80NnWLZAXo9QiaZ4UKiFQFz7rUDCeM3eTcREYcN94_YlOGDrKpu7LYYxwm67Rb9_NTQFBeByQaRupzMU2H2czX5QgdLd2v99Qd5kP_1LPOoAUyv6Gl2sx35DDef685JABJic0OCk/s1600/ghostship3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgnVc80NnWLZAXo9QiaZ4UKiFQFz7rUDCeM3eTcREYcN94_YlOGDrKpu7LYYxwm67Rb9_NTQFBeByQaRupzMU2H2czX5QgdLd2v99Qd5kP_1LPOoAUyv6Gl2sx35DDef685JABJic0OCk/s320/ghostship3.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Margaret, who is the more open-minded of the two, confesses to Guy that she has called in an expert from a psychic research organization to assist them. Guy is unhappy about this at first, certain that he's opening their home to a crackpot or a con artist, but finally relents. "What have we got to lose?" he says.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Ten pounds," Margaret replies. "That's their fee."</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Expecting a colorful charlatan, the Thorntons are surprised to meet Dr. Fawcett, an earnest parapsychologist armed with nothing more exotic than a box full of tuning forks, which he uses to demonstrate the way in which sound waves pass through air and other media, such as water. It's the same, Fawcett says, with psychic vibrations. It's a rather long scene and no film would risk boring the audience with anything like it today, but there's a charm and innocence to it that I found appealing.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kUb2C8cG23o" width="420"></iframe> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The beautiful Hazel Court appeared a number of horror films, most notably Hammer's<i> The Curse of Frankenstein</i> in 1957, Corman's<i> Masque of the Red Death</i>,<i> The Raven</i> and<i> The Premature Burial</i><i> </i>in the early 1960s. To me, however, her most impressive credit is her appearance as Ellen in the completely unhinged <i>Devil Girl From Mars.</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Dermot Walsh, like his fellow castmembers, was a bread-and-butter actor who could easily jump between lead and supporting roles, and seems to have done a fair amount of stage work in his long career.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But the real star of the movie is the<i> Cyclops</i><i>,</i> the beautiful steam yacht at the center of the story. Unsurprisingly, the yacht was owned by writer and director Vernon Sewell. Looks like the clever Mr. Sewell was able to write off some maintenance work on the ship out of the film's budget. And why not? </span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7589405220008327551.post-89659100563689813922016-03-20T18:26:00.001-05:002016-03-22T09:13:35.209-05:00The Strange, Sad Case of "Loving The Classics"<br />
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<br />
Loving the Classics is a gray-market film distributor out of Appleton, Wisconsin that I've bought from a number of times over the years, and in the early days of this blog it was one of the places I linked to when talking about where to buy hard-to-find movies. For an operation catering to the film collector market they had a pretty deep catalog, a busy, well-organized web presence and a fairly aggressive email outreach to buyers. They would offer a lot of sales and specials, and their films came in handsome snap cases emblazoned with cover art and the LTC logo.<br />
<br />
But Loving The Classics has not been my go-to purveyor for a long time. The main reason is that they have been painfully slow on the fulfillment end. An order with them took at least three weeks to fulfill, usually more. And if there was a problem with the disc - as sometimes happened - LTC would take its time sending a replacement.<br />
<br />
Things took a turn for the worse late last summer. Customers began complaining on the company's Facebook page that orders weren't being fulfilled. Despite a few cheerful replies that they were "behind" on filling orders, things only went downhill from there, and the complaints grew. <br />
<br />
It was around this time that I ordered a title from them, and a long wait (around six weeks) a disc arrived in the mail. But the movie I ordered wasn't on it. Instead, there was hodge-podge of short subjects on the disc, with the movie I wanted nowhere to be found.<br />
<br />
I sent numerous emails to the customer support address. No response.<br />
<br />
I called the phone number listed on their site. It rang into an after-hours message, even during business hours. I never got a call back.<br />
<br />
Eventually, I packed up the disc and mailed it back to the company, with a note explaining the problem. No response to that either.<br />
<br />
Finally - having run out of other ways to reach them -- I posted on the company's Facebook page. There was no response to that either, and after a month or so I gave up.<br />
<br />
But just last week I got the following email:<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Hello,<br />
<br />
I'm sorry no one has been in touch sooner, but we don't spend a lot of time on
Facebook. I see from your post that you have had a problem dealing with us and
for that I am truly sorry. I would like to get the situation resolved to your
satisfaction and I do hope you will give us that opportunity. I look forward to
hearing back from you when you have a free moment. <br />
<br />
Sincerely,<br />
<br />
Brenda<br />
Customer Service<br />
LovingTheClassics.com</span></b> </blockquote>
<b><o:p></o:p></b><br />
This was a nice (though probably canned) note to receive after nearly six months of silence, but it puzzled me. Consider the first sentence: <i>I'm sorry no one has been in touch sooner, but we don't spend a lot of time on Facebook.</i><br />
<br />
The obvious response to that is, <i>why not?</i><br />
<br />
If your company maintains a Facebook page, doesn't it make sense to check the page regularly -- at least once a day -- in case there are customer complaints that require follow-up?<br />
<br />
So - they don't spend much time checking voicemail, email or peeking into the mailbox either, judging by how quickly they've responded in <i>those</i> areas.<br />
<br />
It certainly didn't surprise me when my response to Brenda's email went unanswered.<br />
<br />
Anyway, a quick Google search indicates that the LTC staff has been busy -- posting missives claiming they're being unfairly targeted by their enemies (whoever they are). These posts have appeared on a number of web sites -- including (for some reason) LinkedIn:<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihyphenhyphenr_w1Vca8_ZVatDhfYmTuof4JbLNfa1uborh9faUN54jsQNsCPy-isOxXY46J7qRv5OnbDcHNndmWJxWx-fKYzYB7sxVVg7jKdk0RokbAP16pNfqEf-WK7QgVEPCDGnH2CzTKGvVKq8/s1600/loving-the-classics-reviews-reflect-the-esteem-and-reputation-of-the-website-1-638.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihyphenhyphenr_w1Vca8_ZVatDhfYmTuof4JbLNfa1uborh9faUN54jsQNsCPy-isOxXY46J7qRv5OnbDcHNndmWJxWx-fKYzYB7sxVVg7jKdk0RokbAP16pNfqEf-WK7QgVEPCDGnH2CzTKGvVKq8/s320/loving-the-classics-reviews-reflect-the-esteem-and-reputation-of-the-website-1-638.jpg" width="247" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Curiouser and curiouser.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
The manifesto claims that everyone thinks Loving the Classics is a great site, and their customer service is wonderful, and anyone who says otherwise has either missed all the glowing testimonials on their web site, or is a nefarious nogoodnik trying to wreck the reputation of a wildly successful and eminently responsible company which brings joy to millions. North Korea couldn't write a more zany or paranoid press release. The only thing missing is a declaration that Loving the Classic's enemies are sniveling capitalist dogs who will soon die in a storm of atom bombs.<br />
<br />
So in the end, what's the story on Loving the Classics? Spectacularly inept and self-destructive company? North Korean front organization? Mafia vanity project? CIA false-flag operation? We may never know.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7589405220008327551.post-47994266721166889492016-03-14T21:59:00.000-05:002016-03-14T21:59:07.055-05:00Friday, September 15, 1972: Cry of the Werewolf (1944)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLOwdNzrrdr185j7PExgm8JlLr3CUYgVt6HPZCMX_TJouFsvdRRr_oMjqihSB8lEI1ZvZ5gtZgbP5j4PONGQxXArxuEFJbnWXY4u65ZCQVoM-ja_GRA8GeRAvs_Bz_jipoogU7WVDrBhQ/s1600/Cry+of+the+Werewolf.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /><img border="0" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLOwdNzrrdr185j7PExgm8JlLr3CUYgVt6HPZCMX_TJouFsvdRRr_oMjqihSB8lEI1ZvZ5gtZgbP5j4PONGQxXArxuEFJbnWXY4u65ZCQVoM-ja_GRA8GeRAvs_Bz_jipoogU7WVDrBhQ/s320/Cry+of+the+Werewolf.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Synopsis:</b> Dr. Charles Morris (Fritz Leiber)
operates a museum of the occult, located in the former mansion of a
famous Gypsy queen named Marie LaTour. Dr. Morris tells assistant
Elsa Chauvet (Osa Massen) that he is about to publish a ground-breaking work on
Marie LaTour, which will reveal important new information about her life. </span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Elsa leaves to pick up Dr. Morris' son Bob (Stephen Crane) at the train
station, but when the two of them return to the LaTour mansion they find Dr.
Morris has been killed by an animal - apparently a wolf. Moreover, the
notes he has compiled for his manuscript have been tossed into the fireplace
and are mostly burned, and a tour guide who was present at the museum (John Abbott<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">)</span> is now
babbling incoherently, his mind apparently broken by what he witnessed. </span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br />
</span></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Bob and Elsa devise a way to reconstruct some of the information from the
burned notes, and this leads them to investigate the mythology and practices of
the Gypsies. Marie LaTour had purportedly been a werewolf, and as the
Gypsies are a matriarchal society, her daughter -- also named Marie LaTour (Nina Foch)--
has inherited her lycanthropy. </span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br />
Meanwhile, Lt. Barry Lane (Barton McLane) doggedly tries to solve the murder
without resorting to occult explanations. This is surprisingly difficult,
since Elsa, his first prime suspect, is cleared because her fingerprints don't
match those found at the scene of the crime, and museum janitor Jan Spavero,
his second prime suspect, ends up getting mauled by a wolf. ...</span></span></i>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">
</span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnQYnBE57mXyHMTQHCoJuabCws5wLHvdlgWUwQ7QG24bXLxW3x41vDwgRJhRevjCSws2WEgTPkot0quUuZUG7ITa2PzgB1sXc6WhyQ7WnEa2kBZEJ2JSnwu_Yt9MSXlKKIGDQMj8YJFnI/s1600/cry_werewolf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnQYnBE57mXyHMTQHCoJuabCws5wLHvdlgWUwQ7QG24bXLxW3x41vDwgRJhRevjCSws2WEgTPkot0quUuZUG7ITa2PzgB1sXc6WhyQ7WnEa2kBZEJ2JSnwu_Yt9MSXlKKIGDQMj8YJFnI/s1600/cry_werewolf.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Comments:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Like its <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">predecessor </span><i>Ret</i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>urn of the Vampire</i>,</span></span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">this <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">r<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">are <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">C<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ol<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">umbia horror outing </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">be<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">gin<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">s <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">with <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">a head-scr<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">a<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">tching </span></span></span></span>opening crawl:</span></span></span></span> <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> The ancient belief is still held by many that anything that happens in the world is never lost. No sparrow falls unnoted -- no<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> tree crashes in the <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">forest unheard. T<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">he sorrows, the joys<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">, the loves and the hates of past generations live on in people's memo<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ries, in their legends and their stories.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Perhaps <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">our story is something that has lived on in a person's memory or perhaps it is just a legend -- </span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></i></blockquote>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><i>Return</i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">of</span> the Vampire's</i> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">title card was <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">confusing and</span> unnecessary, but at least it knew when to quit. This one <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">won't s<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">hut up.<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDQNXEcHj83e9WtV811YBgv9f9tnYsB-ZFtUSr7_USFk3IuHD4izKxboozILR6sgX_nQ-6XVODdUXb8BpRbyqkTqC4x6BBN6H_eZtoqizwYi4TS_hAfVB6t1JAUnyPNBAfCOymkhDp0FA/s1600/vlcsnap-2016-03-08-21h57m19s078.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDQNXEcHj83e9WtV811YBgv9f9tnYsB-ZFtUSr7_USFk3IuHD4izKxboozILR6sgX_nQ-6XVODdUXb8BpRbyqkTqC4x6BBN6H_eZtoqizwYi4TS_hAfVB6t1JAUnyPNBAfCOymkhDp0FA/s320/vlcsnap-2016-03-08-21h57m19s078.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blah, blah, blahbity blah blah....</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></span></span></span></span><br /></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="Apple-converted-space">But <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">instead of just <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">tapping our feet<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> and </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">waiting impatiently for the movie to start, let<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">'s <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">pause and examine this title card <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">for a moment</span>. The <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">first thing we notice is that the language is </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">almost com<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ically grandilo<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">quent<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">; one can imagine John Abbott<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">'s </span>tour guide delivering <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">all t<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">his</span> mumbo-jumbo</span> in his smooth Shakespearean cadence<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia";">But what, if anything, does it all mean?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia";">First we are assured that the idea that "anything that happens in the world is never lost" is an "ancient belief that is still held by many". This is a bit vague but we are immediately given two examples of the sorts of things that aren't lost. First: "No sparrow falls unnoted". This is clearly derived from Matthew 10:29-31:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span class="text Matt-10-29" id="en-KJV-23447"><sup class="versenum">29 </sup>Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span class="text Matt-10-30" id="en-KJV-23448"><sup class="versenum">30 </sup>But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span class="text Matt-10-31" id="en-KJV-23449"><sup class="versenum">31 </sup>Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="text Matt-10-31" id="en-NIV-23449"><span class="woj">The second example, "No tree crashes in the forest unheard" is presumably based on a well-known philosophical riddle -- "if a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear, does it make any sound?" It's a conundrum that's been posed in various forms since the 19th century. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="text Matt-10-31"><span class="woj">These two examples are actually incompatible, because the first refers to a New Testament assurance that God <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">watches over the universe and is aware of everything that happens</span>; and the second to a epistemological riddle about whether, outside the range of human perception, anything can be said to happen at all. Yet here they are cludged together, pressed into the service of another idea that immediately follows: "t<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">he sorrows, the joys<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">, the loves and the hates of past generations live on in people's memo<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ries, in their legends and their stories." </span></span></span></i></span></span></span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia";"></span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia";">Note that the <i>memories</i> themselves aren't said to live on; this is something more primal. Only the strongest human emotions - "the sorrows, the joys, the loves and the hates of past generations" are carried over, like layers of sediment. This seems to be a little bit of foreshadowing, prepping us for the ancient gypsy resentments against prying outsiders, which will figure prominently in the plot.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We come now to the final line in the card:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia";"></span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia";">Perhaps </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">our story is something that has lived on in a person's memory or perhaps it is just a legen<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">d.</span> </span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia";"> Up to this point, <i>Cry of the Werewolf's</i> opening crawl seemed to be working (however imperfectly) toward some kind of a point; but now the whole thing suddenly runs off the rails. The final sentence contains the qualifier "perhaps" not once but <i>twice</i>; and it can't decide what we're about to see falls under "memory" or "legend". In fact, faced with this choice, it hedges yet again, first proffering "memory" and ending meekly with "just a legend". </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia";">We've seen some bad opening crawls on Horror Incorporated -- remember this one from <i>The Beast With 5 Fingers</i>?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia";"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAOKF8SgojHkuWixfpJPZq_8B80OJ7knFh2kFDXZnfGDveA7VRjk4TEsQw_J60xSDBRlBeboD3BbMRNzFI7Glt0uyHUdFPYAJU8NuwB8xEKw707mJ5nhxN6XmM3E5-knWhStZTiuL-JnM/s1600/handy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAOKF8SgojHkuWixfpJPZq_8B80OJ7knFh2kFDXZnfGDveA7VRjk4TEsQw_J60xSDBRlBeboD3BbMRNzFI7Glt0uyHUdFPYAJU8NuwB8xEKw707mJ5nhxN6XmM3E5-knWhStZTiuL-JnM/s1600/handy.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia";">An opening crawl is rarely a good idea. They are usually tacked onto the front of a movie because someone has gotten scared that the audience won't be able to follow what's happening -- never a vote of confidence. In <i>The Beast With 5 Fingers</i>, the crawl is evidently used to reassure the audience that what they're about to see isn't actually a horror movie. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia";">I'm not sure what<i> Cry of the Werewolf </i>is using the crawl for; it winds up as little more than a bit of cinematic throat-clearing, and was presumably dropped into an early draft of the scr<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">eenplay and no one had the sense to take it out.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia";"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Even when a crawl is necessary to set the scene, it has to be very carefully written; every word counts. Here's an example of one that does everything right:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia";"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iXDnFYu91vY" width="560"></iframe><br /></span>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7589405220008327551.post-4390581526023139742016-03-06T21:20:00.002-06:002016-03-06T21:21:08.285-06:00Interlude: Dinosaurs Are Coming To This TownFrom 1989, here's an impressive TV commercial promoting limited edition dinosaur stamps from the U.S. Postal Service. It's a clever pastiche of 50's sci-fi movies, directly referencing<i> Invasion of the Body Snatchers </i>and <i>It Came From Outer Space. </i>The woman who appears at the end reminds me a bit of the Joan Weldon's character in <i>Them!</i> -- another film set in the desert southwest.<br />
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The ad was clearly done with affection by someone who knew these films.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hQxjaH6zp3o" width="420"></iframe><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7589405220008327551.post-78265648546337737512016-02-29T22:33:00.001-06:002016-03-01T08:09:54.346-06:00Saturday, September 9, 1972: The Black Sleep (1956) / Bury Me Dead (1947)<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_LG8_IlT12LW-cOFr30o9IEagPBgpANcI3boQiTYlIAEL0KfXuIqt1ZuOeLq4ok2P8UpS_xE-vjATX1ondc7VfpZQv0-mbgFR_DNQxz_dpFYR84SgYuFgHMx4ftUhFe1ww1KIXybcez8/s1600/black_sleep_poster_02.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" gsa="true" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_LG8_IlT12LW-cOFr30o9IEagPBgpANcI3boQiTYlIAEL0KfXuIqt1ZuOeLq4ok2P8UpS_xE-vjATX1ondc7VfpZQv0-mbgFR_DNQxz_dpFYR84SgYuFgHMx4ftUhFe1ww1KIXybcez8/s320/black_sleep_poster_02.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><b>Synopsis:</b>
Dr. Gordon Angus Ramsey (Herbert Rusley) has been convicted of murder.
On the eve of his hanging, he is visited by one of his old medical
school professors, Sir Joel Cadman. Ramsey swears to Cadman that he
didn't commit the crime, and Cadman seems sympathetic. He gives Ramsey a
vial of powder and instructs him to mix the powder with water and drink
before dawn on the morning of his hanging. This, Cadman promises, will
put him in a such a state of torpor that he will not be aware of the
hanging at all. He also assures Ramsey that his body won't be turned
over to the medical college for dissection, as is normally done with
convicts' bodies; instead, the body will be turned over to Dr. Cadman
himself.</i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i><i>When
the guards come for Ramsey the next morning they find his dead body
lying in the cell. The body is transferred to Dr. Cadman, who once back
at his lab gives it an injection. At once the body goes into
convulsions; minutes later, Dr. Ramsey has come back to life.</i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i><i>This,
Dr. Cadman tells an astonished Ramsey, is the work of an ancient
drug known as the Black Sleep; it perfectly simulates death; and as long
as the antidote is given within 24 hours, the patient can be revived. A
grateful Ramsey agrees to assist Dr. Cadman with his brain research.</i></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL6SqyJRNUvE7BtyCuj1u9E0TqGCCtIrlNoXYKC_yrlIAo0C_5Jhu9JSbqQU7_iFodnFmm0JPReKmS8TS9m0XJWzQ3sRVsNqLwwfChWts39jTLAOLWsWJ3flUn8AC544kHvDENxBbfuRg/s1600/blacksleep2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" gsa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL6SqyJRNUvE7BtyCuj1u9E0TqGCCtIrlNoXYKC_yrlIAo0C_5Jhu9JSbqQU7_iFodnFmm0JPReKmS8TS9m0XJWzQ3sRVsNqLwwfChWts39jTLAOLWsWJ3flUn8AC544kHvDENxBbfuRg/s1600/blacksleep2.jpg" /></a></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>While
at the Cadman estate, Ramsey witnesses young Laurie (Patricia Blair)
being attacked by a wild-eyed patient, Mungo (Lon Chaney, Jr). Mungo
seems deranged and is apparently carries a visceral hatred for Laurie.
Ramsey tells Cadman that Mungo reminds him of someone he once knew,
Professor Monroe, who was one of his instructors in college. Cadman
tells him that Mungo is indeed Professor Monroe; moreover, Laurie is his
daughter.</i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i><i>Dr.
Ramsey assists in experimenting with the brain of a cadaver when he
notices cerebral fluid running down the surface of the brain. How can
this happen on a cadaver? he asks Cadman. It isn't a cadaver, Dr.
Cadman replies. The man they are experimenting on is alive, kept in a
state of suspended animation by the Black Sleep.</i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i><i>When
Dr Ramsey protests, Cadman tells him that this is the only way to
conduct the research that will benefit all mankind. He reminds him that
Dr. Monroe will benefit when he is able to unlock the mysteries of the
human brain; so will Dr. Cadman's wife, who has been in a trance-like
state since a brain injury.</i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i><i>But
little does Dr. Ramsey know that Cadman was the one who arranged for
him to be tried and convicted of murder, in order to recruit him as an
assistant in his ghoulish experiments....</i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Comments:</b> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The mid 1950s w<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ere</span> an unusually fallow period for horror <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">films.</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Universal<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">had quite deliberately walked</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> away from th<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">e<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> gen<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">re more than <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">once</span></span></span></span>, re-enteri<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ng the boneyard only when the money <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">se<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">emed</span></span> too <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">good to resist (<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">first,</span> after the smash re-re<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">lease of<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i> Dracula </i>and <i>Franken</i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>stein</i> on a double bill in 1<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">938; the<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">n after<i> </i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Creature From the Black La</i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>goon's</i> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">success <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">pointed toward a lu<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">crative franchise</span></span></span></span>)<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">. What horror <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">there was to find <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">in Hollywood </span>in the 50s was usually dressed up in the trapping<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">s of science fiction<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">:<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <i>T</i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>a</i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>rantu</i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>la's </i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">economy<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">-<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">sized</span></span> arachnid<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> was th</span>e<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> product of an</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">e<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">xperimental <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">radioactive</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> nutrient. <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Invasion of the Body Snatchers</i>, like <i>It Conquered the World</i>, <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">placed its horror within <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">the framework of <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">an <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">alien invasion plot</span></span></span>. <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Even <i>The Mole Peo</i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>ple</i> began with an odd pre-credit sequenc<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">e <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">in whi<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ch </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">a hapless <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">real-life academic</span> (Frank C. Ba<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">xter, a professor of English at USC) </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">attemp<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">t<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">s</span></span> to convince the audience that a <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">subterranean race <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">of h<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">umanoids <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">i<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">s<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> scientifically plausible -- or at least, no<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">t as crazy a<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">s it <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">might first seem<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In England, Hammer Studios was <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">working <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">in the other direction</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">; their science fiction<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">tropes w<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ere <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">seen</span> as a gateway into horror, not the o<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ther <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">way around</span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">. <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>The Quatermass </i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Xperi</i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>ment (a<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ka The Creeping Unknown)</span></i> i<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">magined a tr<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ip <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">into outer space <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">causing a<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">n astronaut to<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> chan<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ge slowly into a monster. That film </span></span></span></span></span></span></span>y<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ielded a follow-up (though not a se<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">quel) </span>called <i>X the Unknown</i> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(written by <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">novice screenwriter Jimmy Sangster</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">) about <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">gloppy </span>radioactive <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">sludge that threatens to envelop the world</span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">. By </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">1958 Hammer<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> would abandon science fiction entirely for the </span>Technicolor stylishness of <i>The Curse of Frankenstein, </i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">the first <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">stop on </span></span>the studio's remarkable <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">run of <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">gothic horror films<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">.</span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Hammer<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> didn't simply ape the period drama<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">s of <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Universal's golden age; <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">it</span> reinvented them, adding <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">blood, sex appeal and a good dollop of <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">tongue-i<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">n-cheek <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">humor. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Humor <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">is somethin<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">g sorely lacking in <i>The Black Sleep</i>, and I can't think of a film <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">more in need of it</span>. <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Even the Universal classics it <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">imitated <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">knew <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">better than to take it all too seriously<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">; <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">but <i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">T</span>he </i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Black Sleep </i>does take it too seriously, every tedious<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">, cliche-ridden minute<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> of it.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The movie is <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">so derivative that <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">there's no<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">t a surprise to be <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">found anywhere in it. From the moment <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Cadman</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"saves" <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Ramsey's life </span></span></span></span></span></span>we <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">already suspect what he's up to<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">; and as for the s<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ec<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ret la<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">b<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">, the somnambulant wife and the colleag<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ues turned to vicious maniacs by <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">unne<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">cessary s<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">urgery</span></span></span></span> -- we<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ll, </span>we've seen those plot devi<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ces </span>in a dozen po<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ver<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ty-row quickie<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">s. The only novelty the movie has to offer is the all-star lineup of horror actors, and even<i> that</i> is botched. <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>The Black Sleep</i> markets itself as <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">something of a monster rally, but ins<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">tead of <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">beloved horror star<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">s in an over-the<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">-top competition for screen time (which could easily have been arranged)<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> the actors <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> are <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">instead relegated to the <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">smallest and most inconsequential roles in<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> the film. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It doesn't bother me in the slightest that John Carradine is stuck down in a basement<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> cell <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">shouting</span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">some nonsense about<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> the Crusades; I<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">'m sure it didn't bother hi<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">m. And Tor Johnson standing around with his mouth hanging open was <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">pushing the limits of the man's acting range. But Lugosi, cripp<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">led an<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">d drug-addled <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">though</span> he was, surely could have <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">been offer<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ed more than the role of a mute butler<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> (<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">faring even worse than he did in<i> The Body Snatche</i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>r</i>)<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">. <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It's hard to watch him in these scenes<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">. </span>R<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ail-thin<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">, </span></span>stoop-shouldered<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">, seemingly defeated,<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> it is d<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">i<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">fficult to <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">believe</span> that <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">the part was anything more than an afterthought. It's <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">also difficult to believe, seeing him here, that he <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">had once been <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">one of the highest-paid <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">actors in Hollywood.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Lon Chaney, Jr<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">. was <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">younger than Lugosi <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(about <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">50 when <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">he worked on <i>The Black Sleep</i>)<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">; and while h<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">is <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">alcoholism had taken a<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> significant toll on him he <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">was still worki<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ng steadily<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">; h<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">is ability <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">to memorize dialogue was impa<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ired but he could have been given more to do than to charge around as the ridiculou<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">s M<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ungo, a part that <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">could have been played by anyone. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span><i><br /></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Basil Rathbone, of course, was not a horror star per se but <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">horror fans of the time would have remembered him from Son of Franke<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">nstein, and he is perhaps the best thing about <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">the film<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">, in spite of the <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">standard-issue mad scientist plot he is droppe<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">d <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">into. I <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">greatly admire Akim Tamiroff<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">, who would play Uncle J<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">oe Grande in Orson Welle's <i>Touch of Evil</i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> two years later. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Bury Me Dead</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo11zXdDC5j5JNrklHZCsqWt2FGKSjM34d02ArMaTL6vZc86WQqQuvFYahGdsdkDtLn9HXEsfGTK8ZFX6vFkeihZ4AV1pcNByXXI0HVUmaiNR0MU18ZEo_wF3UWkwzxoa3IUZEogDdg6A/s1600/bury_me_dead.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo11zXdDC5j5JNrklHZCsqWt2FGKSjM34d02ArMaTL6vZc86WQqQuvFYahGdsdkDtLn9HXEsfGTK8ZFX6vFkeihZ4AV1pcNByXXI0HVUmaiNR0MU18ZEo_wF3UWkwzxoa3IUZEogDdg6A/s320/bury_me_dead.jpg" width="214" /></a></span></div>
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<b>Synopsis:</b> <i>A
funeral is being held for heiress Barbara Carlin (June Lockhart), a woman
killed in a stable fire on her family's estate. But almost as soon as
this fact is established, we learn that Barbara isn't dead at all. She
attends the funeral hiding behind a black veil, musing that her husband
Rod Carlin (Mark Daniels) doesn't seem very broken up about her death.
When the graveside service has concluded, Barbara approaches the family
attorney, Michael Dunn (Hugh Beaumont) and reveals to him that she's
still alive. She tells him that she believes someone started the fire
in an attempt to kill her, but got the wrong person; the body recovered
from the horse barn was burned beyond recognition and identified only by
a diamond necklace that belonged to Barbara.</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Barbara
is particularly troubled by the question of who was actually killed in
the fire, because she thinks it might be her younger sister Rusty
(Cathy O'Donnell). Rusty has a history of mental illness and often
disappears for extended lengths of time. But she finds Rusty safe and
sound, though still embittered that she was cut out of her father's will
because she was adopted. With Rusty eliminated as a possible victim,
she goes to confront Rod, who claims to be delighted that Barbara is
still alive -- even though he has been carrying on with goodtime girl
Helen Lawrence (Sonia Darren), who had previously told Rod that she'd
like to be the next Mrs. Carling. </span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><br /></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
<i>Barbara had
had a dalliance of her own with dim-witted palooka George (Greg
McClure), who'd previously been seen around with Helen. Rusty still
harbors a grudge against Barbara for stealing the big lug away from her,
but it might be that Barbara was trying to save Rusty from a bad
situation. </i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><br /></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
<i>Barbara finds
there are plenty of people who might have wanted her dead. But not only
does she not know who committed the murder, she still doesn't know who
the victim was....</i></span></span><br />
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<b>Comments:</b> I've written about<i> Bury Me Dead</i> before, and as often happens <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I wound up feeling </span>more charitable toward the film <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">on subsequent viewings</span>.</span></span><br />
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Don't get me wrong. The movie has plenty of flaws; it's cheap and a bit
dreary, its second act is muddled and a lot of plot points appear to
have been thrown in simply to pad its 65-minute running time. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
But it does have a few things going for it. June Lockhart, who seems a
good deal older than her 22 years, effectively anchors the film as
Barbara, and Hugh Beaumont is convincing as the buttoned-up family
attorney Michael Dunn. I've written favorably in the past about Cathy
O'Donnell's portrayal of Rusty, and I also liked Sonia Darren, who
didn't have a huge role but still managed to stand out as Helen.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The
movie also gets off the blocks quickly with the fire that supposedly
kills Barbara. It's an exciting way to start a movie and the central
mysteries -- who started the fire, and who died in it? -- are raised in
the first few minutes, and for a poverty row quickie, that's a definite
plus. Don't look too closely at the stock footage used for the fire,
though -- it's clear that the structure that's burning is a house, not a
barn.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9fSXLE1dZhlhsRva1BONrlpqDPTArlW1onFOGUmAd4SHst9eSoKipENEJvK4sFd7S40UdmA3rj7VsX4scPWQa6rZGK124ehpDN5Z_GM58e23eJ9hkWb7deAGdyI8UVX5C-FyYGz_bFnM/s1600/Bury_dead_4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9fSXLE1dZhlhsRva1BONrlpqDPTArlW1onFOGUmAd4SHst9eSoKipENEJvK4sFd7S40UdmA3rj7VsX4scPWQa6rZGK124ehpDN5Z_GM58e23eJ9hkWb7deAGdyI8UVX5C-FyYGz_bFnM/s320/Bury_dead_4.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Something
that strikes me as a little unusual for a film from this era is its
understated but unmistakable sexual politics. Barbara's estranged
husband Rod is carrying on with Helen -- not an unusual plot point in a
movie from this era -- but what is unusual is that Barbara gives as good
as she gets, engaging in a fling with George. The fact that George is
Rusty's boyfriend at the time makes her seem all the more wanton by the
standards of 1947. Also, Barbara is not only the protagonist but an
active agent throughout, which wasn't the case in Lockhart's starring
role in <i>She Wolf of London</i> -- a film in which the woman presented to us as the protagonist had almost no influence on the events around her.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Bury Me Dead</i> is often listed as a noir but I don't <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">think it qualifies</span>; i<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">n spite of its title (and <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">a <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">central plot gimmick</span> reminiscent of <i>D.</i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>O.A.<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">)</span></i> i<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">t really plays more as a light-heart<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ed murder mystery<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">. </span>Barbara <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">never seems <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">terribly concerned or upset that someone has tried to kill her; she just turns </span></span>up to face <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">a series of </span> p<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">otential <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">murderers one by one<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">, <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">to see if their <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">reaction to seeing her alive will<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> betray their guilt. <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This makes her seem more like <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">she's <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">a character </span>in a murder<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> mystery party<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> than someone <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">trying to corner a would-be assassin.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A
full restoration of this film would be nice, but is probably unlikely
to ever happen. John Alton's compositions are intriguing and were no
doubt perfectly lit, but you can't tell that from the muddy prints used
to strike the DVD copies.</span></span><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7589405220008327551.post-90383768270121798262016-01-31T23:25:00.002-06:002016-01-31T23:25:56.267-06:00Friday, September 8, 1972: The Lodger (1944)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNy7vLpw1hqWhhimroyWvndg4uEsvrx0-AsuDiGsVmx5_g4RCCZhIj7ernp4r-pBy2xDE9AUBj6BPd6Els0s6DSzIKwW-Id0deFForOaIRKNobUwkqIFJ_X461mWnT_2TMrnC6uBn-SBY/s1600/lodger1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNy7vLpw1hqWhhimroyWvndg4uEsvrx0-AsuDiGsVmx5_g4RCCZhIj7ernp4r-pBy2xDE9AUBj6BPd6Els0s6DSzIKwW-Id0deFForOaIRKNobUwkqIFJ_X461mWnT_2TMrnC6uBn-SBY/s1600/lodger1.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Synopsis:</b>
<i>On a foggy night in London, police are on the lookout for the notorious
serial killer Jack the Ripper, who has already claimed three victims in
the seedy neighborhood of Whitechapel. Despite the heightened police
presence, the killer strikes again. One woman claims to have seen a man
fleeing the scene of the crime, but she did not see his face.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Later
that evening, the newspaper special editions hit the streets, and
people eagerly come out from their homes to buy the latest news. One of
these people is Robert Bonting, a down-on-his-luck investor whose wife
Ellen has decided to let out one of the rooms in the house until their
fortunes recover. A man arrives in response to her advertisement: a
tall, hulking doctor who calls himself Mr. Slade, who rents the room on
the spot after only the most cursory look at it. He tells the Bontins
that he tends to keep odd hours, and he insists on using the back door
to the house to enter and exit. He also avidly relates to Ellen some
Bible verses related to the dangers of wanton women, and he tells her
that the worst types are women of the theater. His own brother, he
relates, was ruined by such a woman. Ellen tells him that her own
daughter is performing in a music hall show, and that when he meets her,
she will surely change his mind about the bad sort of women who perform
in the theater.</span></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt2_7zYoo29-BE4eTNkIJxX9YmkVXBmAJ9pWk-13RQpHJI2lIPMe0oGbDERUx9jJAVQSPd_KEAJY8QNEL7pJ0q2Vxs2GG9OP0KUhxMIN5xPMau3WWsCtc1I9aJ4JiQoQQ2JKLg0F1HVsg/s1600/lodger3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt2_7zYoo29-BE4eTNkIJxX9YmkVXBmAJ9pWk-13RQpHJI2lIPMe0oGbDERUx9jJAVQSPd_KEAJY8QNEL7pJ0q2Vxs2GG9OP0KUhxMIN5xPMau3WWsCtc1I9aJ4JiQoQQ2JKLg0F1HVsg/s320/lodger3.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This
woman is the Bonting's niece Kitty Langley (Merle Oberon), who does
make an impression on the ungainly Mr. Slade. Clearly he is torn
between his attraction for Kitty and his disapproval of the shameless
board-treading strumpets of the London theater. Meanwhile, Ellen is
growing suspicious of Slade; he appears to trained as a surgeon, as the
Ripper is believed to be; he keeps strange hours; he harbors a deep
resentment toward women. A police detective finds himself attracted to
Kitty, and he begins to wonder if Ellen might be on to something....</span></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Comments:</b> Published in <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">1914<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">by <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Mar<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ie Bello<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">c Lowndes, <i>The Lodge</i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>r </i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">t<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ells</span> the story of t<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">he down-on-their-luck<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">family called the </span>Buntings</span>, who <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">rent a <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">pair</span> of rooms to a strange<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">r <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">who goes by the name of Sleuth<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">. Before long, a series o<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">f grisly murders t<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ake plac<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">e in their <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">London neighborhood</span> and </span></span></span></span>the<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Buntings</span></span> be<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">gin to suspect the<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ir own <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">tenant</span> is the culprit<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">.<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Even though the novel's <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">mysterious <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">killer </span></span>is known <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">as "The Avenger", <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">he is clearly mode<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">led on</span></span> Jac<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">k the Ripper, who had terrorized the city<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">some 20 years earlier<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> (<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Lowndes, in fact, </span>was<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> inspired <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">by r<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">umors</span></span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">in her own ne<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ighborhood of a family <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">that might have unwittingly housed<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> the Ripper).</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> Brooding and <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">suspenseful, <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>The Lodger </i>was a bestseller, and wa<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">s a<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">dapted for the scre<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">en a number of times, first and perhaps most famously by <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">a young <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Alfred Hi<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">tchcock in 1927.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Hitchcock<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">'s silent version<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> was a hit, and <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">T<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">wickenham <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Studios' 1932 remake, a <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">t<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">alkie,</span></span> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">retained its contemporary</span> setting<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">. But </span>it wasn't until <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">John Brahm<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">'s 1944 version <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">that<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>The Lodger </i>finally became a perio<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">d piece<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> set in<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> Victorian London, with<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Jack the Ripper clearly identified as the killer<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Unlike Twickenham's low-budget version, this one is clearly an A-picture. We have first rate production values -- the film's opening shot is a slow pan over the fog-shrouded streets of Victorian London that is almost unbroken; and we have a very strong cast of well-known actors who do very well indeed with the material they're given. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So overpowering is the presence of Laird Cregar and Merle Oberon in this film that it's easy to forget that two other high-powered actors are to be found in <i>The Lodger</i>. Sir Cedric Hardwicke plays the somewhat scatterbrained Mr. Bonting, a man who recently lost his fortune in an unwise investment, and whose wife is renting rooms in the house in order to gather the seed money to put him back in business. Hardwicke seems to be enjoying himself playing somewhat against type as a wiggy and slightly ridiculous character, and he is the closest we come to comic relief in this decidedly humorless melodrama.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A badly-needed bit of humor comes up in the scene between Inspector John Warwick and Kitty in the "Black Room" -- Scotland Yard's museum devoted to brutal crimes. That old smoothie George Sanders plays Warwick with his usual droll irony, and he functions as a believable romantic interest for the Merle Oberon character. In the final act he acquits himself well as an action hero, leading the police in a suspenseful chase through the Whitechapel theater where the Ripper is hiding. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The final act notwithstanding, "suspense" isn't the word that comes to mind upon viewing <i>The Lodger</i>. Throughout the first part of the film the audience should be wondering -- just as the characters do -- if there's really any reason to suspect Slade, or if the Bontings are just jumping at shadows like the rest of London's population. But there's no suspense about Slade at all; we know he's the Ripper long before anyone else does. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Slade is so profoundly unbalanced and threatening around Kitty that everyone seems to know she's in danger except her; she is so oblivious to Slade's wild-eyed talk about the danger of beautiful women and how their evil must be" cut out of them" that I started to think there was something wrong with her. I suppose that, in Hollywood of the 1940s, a women can't be pure of heart unless she's unable to tell when she's in danger from an obsessive man. But unfortunately, beautiful women tend to attract a lot of unwelcome attention; and as a result they tend to see more rather than less of the dark side of human nature.</span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7589405220008327551.post-36135451811514617562016-01-18T19:52:00.000-06:002016-01-18T19:52:35.605-06:00Saturday, September 2, 1972: The Phantom of Crestwood (1932) / The Brute Man (1946)<br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoThfIhsS5xqrgm46e8CxHg2ICPn4hDHiFAEn1siS_KQgJcbLWZEwjIGq7I7PA2IUJtCvAQ4Mf37KUnmVuCWaNIl1PzWEh9W0UW3C03bTjv7q6L1L1EoWrZA7hcBPysyS_bFh3XpDYG6U/s1600/imagesCA4KXD4A.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" iya="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoThfIhsS5xqrgm46e8CxHg2ICPn4hDHiFAEn1siS_KQgJcbLWZEwjIGq7I7PA2IUJtCvAQ4Mf37KUnmVuCWaNIl1PzWEh9W0UW3C03bTjv7q6L1L1EoWrZA7hcBPysyS_bFh3XpDYG6U/s1600/imagesCA4KXD4A.jpg" /></a></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Synopsis:</b>
Jenny Wren (Karen Morley) is a professional gold-digger who has grown tired of her
racket and has decided to retire. Her disillusionment stems from the
recent death of Tom Herrick (Tom Douglas) a young man whom Jenny had
strung along -- until she discovered that his wealthy father had
disowned him because of their relationship. Jenny dumped Tom on the
spot, telling him that the only thing she'd been interested in was his
money. Despondent, Tom threw himself off a
cliff and Jenny has been haunted by his death ever since.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">She plans to
leave her lavish Los Angeles apartment behind and sail away to Europe. A
prospective buyer for the apartment appears unannounced, a man who goes
by the name of Farnsbarnes (Ricardo Cortez). In fact, the man is a
career criminal named Curtis who has been dispatched to find incriminating letters known to be in
Jenny Wren's possession. </span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Jenny
needs a retirement nest egg, so she visits bank manager Priam Andes
(H.B. Warner) and instructs him to throw her a farewell party at
Crestwood, the Andes family retreat, and to bring along three of his
business associates --Eddie Mack (Richard "Skeets" Gallagher), William
Jones (Gavin Gordon) and Senator Herbert Walcott (Robert McWade) -- each
of whom is on the list of her wealthiest clients.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiXgdcyg-Jm0cRVsuuOngHnNefjUfSZYGYysm-bTxaYKzCRtux8WyHJKUl3iN7HkGn-CxaqP7dYJlXkDZ1u1OoCVox9n6duGceR7EhU7tpokYd7fP61xAK90Jm0RItLo4uYxdN2o9rfpE/s1600/vlcsnap-2013-03-20-19h31m08s220.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiXgdcyg-Jm0cRVsuuOngHnNefjUfSZYGYysm-bTxaYKzCRtux8WyHJKUl3iN7HkGn-CxaqP7dYJlXkDZ1u1OoCVox9n6duGceR7EhU7tpokYd7fP61xAK90Jm0RItLo4uYxdN2o9rfpE/s320/vlcsnap-2013-03-20-19h31m08s220.png" width="320" /></a></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">When the men
arrive -- not suspecting a shakedown -- Jenny demands that they pay her a
total of $150,000 as a farewell gift. The men balk, insisting that
they are unable to raise that kind of money. But Jenny is undeterred.
They will find a way, she says -- because if they don't, she will
release enough evidence of their indiscretions to ruin them all.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Curtis arrives at
Crestwood with a few of his henchmen. At just about the same time a
ghost appears -- the ghost of poor Tom Herrick. Moments later Jenny ends up dead,
the back of her neck punctured by one of the hefty steel darts used in
the game room. </span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Now Curtis, fearing he'll be accused of the crime, must play detective in order to find out who killed
Jenny Wren, and unmask the Phantom of Crestwood....</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_qjr9eA71S22ha7asdZIlaczXT4PLqlVSkGQp92A9vKk1n7NQKX8w72Wp6i21hZbu0KVNfeGiDX1SSPq9fEK9P2T7_qHJlIPVyAITcV9v6mAMFo28kj8dXFKwHRSjA1hTmwntwYiiMuA/s1600/vlcsnap-2013-03-20-19h36m24s50.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_qjr9eA71S22ha7asdZIlaczXT4PLqlVSkGQp92A9vKk1n7NQKX8w72Wp6i21hZbu0KVNfeGiDX1SSPq9fEK9P2T7_qHJlIPVyAITcV9v6mAMFo28kj8dXFKwHRSjA1hTmwntwYiiMuA/s320/vlcsnap-2013-03-20-19h36m24s50.png" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Comments:</b> This RKO thriller has become something of a mainstay on <i>Horror Incorporated</i>. This is the fifth broadcast of the old-dark-house whodunit, and if that doesn't sound like all that many, keep in mind that we first encountered <i>The Phantom of Crestwood </i>less than a year ago -- its first broadcast date was Saturday, November 6, 1971, on the noontime edition. Fortunately, it holds up quite well to repeated viewings. Part of its charm is the winning cast led by Karen Morley and Ricardo Cortez, but it is also a cleverly plotted mystery which, through deft writing, never telegraphs its punches. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In order for a murder mystery of any kind to be fair, the writer must provide the viewers with all the clues necessary in order to solve the mystery themselves. However, the writer will also go to great lengths to disguise these clues as irrelevant information, hoping the viewers won't pick up on them. <i>The Phantom of Crestwood</i> performs this sleight-of-hand quite well. For example, early in the film Jenny Wren is talking to her kid sister Esther, who has borrowed some of Jenny's clothes before and wants to do so again for a party. This will prove to be an important clue in Jenny's murder, but cleverly, the screenwriters palm off their discussion about Jenny's clothes as a point of conflict between the two. Esther admires Jenny's lifestyle but has a definite distaste for the more provocative clothes in big sister's wardrobe -- the "little black things" that Jenny has. Jenny pretends to be puzzled at her sister's disapproval and notes slyly that "some have liked them quite a lot", which was a fairly racy line for 1932. We accept that the purpose of the scene is character development -- to underscore the innocence of Esther versus the jaded worldliness of Jenny, and we are quite likely to have forgotten this scene by the time Jenny's murder has taken place. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Similarly, Esther's engagement to Frank Andes is presented to us as a point of conflict between Jenny and the stuffy Priam Andes. We know that Priam is keenly embarrassed by Jenny's out-of-context appearance and her insistence on a payoff. As if this isn't enough, Frank and Esther's romance brings Priam to the uncomfortable realization that he and Jenny may well end up being -- gulp! -- brother and sister-in-law. It's delightful for us to watch Priam squirm under these circumstances, and there's no doubt that Esther is going to bring a whole fish-out-of-water vibe to future Andes family gatherings, but what we miss in all the fun is the fact that Frank's reckless decision to marry below his station might drive someone in his starchy, old-money family to....<i>dun dun dun!</i>.....murder!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgosRUb__IyX4RtAKgkPXkfE4OTMphgMyaksaEjV72QEe2UPlqKXLLgXVmPm3PB8fGtKoU9qPZ4awTH-gsrHRJZCGMGdXdmwkC0EzopX7lTM2NBWuLQ_Ff9IRhhmJeGqbZJPS7GWtx1uQM/s1600/phantom1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgosRUb__IyX4RtAKgkPXkfE4OTMphgMyaksaEjV72QEe2UPlqKXLLgXVmPm3PB8fGtKoU9qPZ4awTH-gsrHRJZCGMGdXdmwkC0EzopX7lTM2NBWuLQ_Ff9IRhhmJeGqbZJPS7GWtx1uQM/s1600/phantom1.jpg" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But let's turn for a moment to a more trivial matter. One thing that has bugged me over repeated viewings of this film is the exchange early on between Curtis and and L.A. plainclothes detective who recognizes him out on the street. The detective asks Curtis for his name.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Farnsbarnes," Curtis says, drawing out each syllable.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"How do you spell that?" asks the detective.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"The same way you pronounce it," Curtis replies smoothly.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There's something about the name "Farnesbarnes" and the comical way Curtis says it that suggests it's an inside joke of some kind, but I had no idea what it might be and in any case wouldn't know where to begin looking for such information. Fortunately, Cliff Aliperti at <a href="http://immortalephemera.com/30681/farnesbarnes-or-farnsbarns-origins/">Immortal Ephemera</a> is made of sterner stuff, and he did a rather exhaustive search to see if "Farnesbarnes" was a joke that audiences in 1932 would get -- a reference to a character in the news or in fiction, perhaps, or a name that might, in those days, have been shorthand for a certain type of person -- the way "Casper Milquetoast" became shorthand for a timid, ineffectual person. We know what a milquetoast is, but what's a farnsbarnes?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Aliperti never finds a definitive answer, but came up with this intriguing tidbit about the name CHARLIE FARNSBARNS from Nigel Rees' reference book <i>Phrases and Sayings:</i></span><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><b>CHARLIE FARNSBARNS: </b>A twit whose name one can’t remember....."Charlie" is a name given to an ordinary bloke; ‘Farnsbarns’ has the
numbing assonance needed to describe a bit of a nonentity. I suspect the
phrase came out of the services (probably RAF) in the Second World War.... </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So there's no final answer from Aliperti, but I think he's on to something. Farnsbarns seems to be a mumbly, faintly ridiculous name; perfect for baiting a dim-witted plainclothes cop. It might not be the answer Aliperti was looking for, but kudos to him for giving it the old college try. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>The Brute Man</i></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg8uDexblsNCkRL18YEScyk4N1ZaCHE-LpvLbaaNLSUgLQMGUlbyft6HGUSE9nRUVs4undZ_gI92g7Uzv121X0qNtlf9EMj8jKsLuD23kimUQsE5SVJbgajJ5GhmnhjEYsKeZh91eoaAs/s1600/bruteman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg8uDexblsNCkRL18YEScyk4N1ZaCHE-LpvLbaaNLSUgLQMGUlbyft6HGUSE9nRUVs4undZ_gI92g7Uzv121X0qNtlf9EMj8jKsLuD23kimUQsE5SVJbgajJ5GhmnhjEYsKeZh91eoaAs/s320/bruteman.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Synopsis</b>:
<i>The city is being terrorized by a spine-snapping brute called The
Creeper (Rondo Hatton), a grotesque character who prowls the streets at
night and seemingly kills at random. The police are under enormous
pressure to capture him, but so far they don't have a name, or even a
clear description.</i></span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">One night the
killer strikes again, and this time his victims are a professor at
Hampton college and a woman named Joan Bemis, whom the Creeper seems to
know.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The police manage
to corner their suspect in an apartment house; in order to escape, the
Creeper enters the apartment of a young woman named Helen (Jane Adams).
Because Helen is blind, she isn't repelled by his appearance. He asks
for her help, and she agrees, saying that she has a gift of sensing a
person's true nature. When the police knock on her door, she tells them
that she doesn't know of any suspicious characters in the area.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Helen knows only
that she's met a man who is in some sort of trouble, and she is certain
that he is innocent of whatever he's been accused of. For his part the
Creeper is glad to know someone who doesn't scream and run away when he
enters the room, and a rather unlikely friendship ensues.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Soon enough the
Creeper has murdered a delivery boy who brought groceries to the
waterfront storage shed he's been living in. Here the police discover
an old newspaper clipping of three college chums, circa 1930: Clifford
Scott, Virginia Rogers and Hal Moffat. </span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">When the police
look for Clifford Scott and Virginia Rogers they discover the two are
now married; and that the third person in the photo, Hal Moffat, was
Clifford's college roommate as well as a rival for Virginia's
affections. The late Joan Bemis was also a close friend of the trio. A
star athlete, Hal's face was hideously disfigured in a lab accident.
The accident seems also to have affected his "glands and nerves", not to
mention his mind; because all these years later Hal has decided to get
revenge on all those who spurned him in college.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Meanwhile,
learning that Helen needs $3,000 to pay for an operation to cure her
blindness, Hal decides to get her the money -- even though he knows that
she will be repelled by him if she's able to see him. Nevertheless, he
goes to Clifford and Virginia and demands money. Clifford gives him a
box of expensive jewelry, but manages to put a couple of .38 slugs into
him before he's murdered himself. </span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Wounded, Hal
delivers the jewelry to Helen, determined that she go ahead with the
operation. But when the police find her and tell her who she's
befriended, she agrees to help them find their quarry. Angered at her
public betrayal, he decides that Helen too must die....</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Comments:</b> Hey, speaking of the old college try, here we have Rondo Hatton dropping out of college due to lab accident and becoming a spine-snapping maniac. In purely thematic terms, <i>The Brute Man </i>is like an ABC After-School Special from the 1970s. Stay in school, kids, or you'll end up a disfigured serial killer living in a shed down by the waterfront! <i>The Brute Man</i> was produced by Ben Pivar, who was attempting to build a film franchise around Rondo Hatton's mug and his character of the brutal Creeper.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">One one level I guess you could say Pivar succeeded; if you don't count <i>The Pearl of Death,</i> Hatton starred in two Creeper capers, this one and<i> House of Horrors</i> (1944). Neither were great works of cinema, and the Creeper was not destined to take his place in the Universal horror pantheon as Pivar had hoped. In fact, <i>The Brute Man</i> was deemed too low-rent to bear the Universal brand and was sold to PRC for distribution. Nevertheless, had Hatton lived longer (he died shortly after <i>The Brute Man</i> wrapped production) there would probably have been more Creeper adventures, albeit as poverty-row cheapies. But we must assume that the world didn't miss out too much; the wheels were coming off the franchise even here, in the second film of the series.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Creeper's problem from a dramatic standpoint is one shared with Frankenstein's monster and Robocop: your story possibilities are limited because the character is limited. Frankenstein stumbles around and smashes things. Robocop shoots bad guys with machine-like efficiency. And the Creeper picks up people he doesn't like and breaks their backs with his bare hands. In <i>House of Horrors</i> a story was cleverly built around him, making him the catalyst for a failed artists' long-simmering bid for revenge. But in <i>The Brute Man</i> much of the story -- much too much -- is centered on the Creeper himself. We get both an improbable origin story and an unfortunate bid for the audience's sympathies. Having the Creeper meet a lonely blind girl who doesn't judge him by his looks probably seemed like a good idea while spitballing story ideas, even if it had occurred to Pivar and screenwriter Dwight Babcock that the idea was cribbed from <i>The Bride of Frankenstein</i>. But unlike Frankenstein's monster, there isn't any case to be made that the Creeper is just misunderstood. He's not a childlike giant forced into a world he can't reckon with. Rather, he is a man who makes conscious and repeated decisions not only to murder the people who pursue him, but also people who annoy him, and sometimes people who just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Hatton's feeble acting skills aren't helped much by the bland cast that surrounds him, with the possible exception of Jane Adams. Adams had a long career in b-movies -- westerns, mostly -- and is best remembered (by me, anyway) as the hunchbacked Nina in <em>House of Dracula</em>. She also appeared in the 1949 serial <em>Batman and Robin</em> as Vicki Vale; Batman in that film was played by Robert Lowery, whom we just saw in <em>Revenge of the Zombies.</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7589405220008327551.post-81856796307959340142015-12-29T19:27:00.001-06:002015-12-29T22:41:57.435-06:00Friday, September 1, 1972: Revenge of the Zombies (1943)<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Synopsis:</b> <i>Scott
Warrington (Mauritz Hugo) arrives at the Louisiana mansion of his sister Lila and
brother-in-law Dr. Max Von Altermann (John Carradine), a man whom Scott has never met.
Lila has recently died under suspicious circumstances, and Scott,
thinking there may be trouble afoot, is traveling with Larry Adams (Robert Lowery), a
private detective he's hired. Wary of Dr. Van Alterman's intentions,
they decide to switch roles: Larry will pretend to be Scott and Scott
will pretend to be Larry.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Dr.
Altermann has secretly harnessed the power to bring the dead back to
life as zombie slaves. His own manservant Lazarus (James Baskett) and a
number of the workers on the plantation are undead, though Scott and
Larry as well as their comic-relief driver (Manton Morland) are unaware
of it.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Soon
Dr. Von Altermann meets with a mysterious representative of the Third
Reich. Dr. Von Altermann gives a demonstration of zombie obedience to
the visiting Nazi, explaining that an army of the undead could never be
defeated, since they will continue to function no matter how much damage
they sustain in battle. He reveals that he himself killed Lila to use
her in his diabolical experiments; to him, Lila was unimportant compared
to the Nazi zombie army he's preparing.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>But
Dr. Altermann's big dreams are threatened by some inconvenient
happenings: Lila's body keeps wandering around, and even Scott and Larry
have seen it on the move. And the zombies are unexpectedly starting to
disobey his orders....</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Comments:</b>
<i>Revenge of the Zombies</i> is about as unimportant a studio picture as you're ever going to find, but it has several unusual elements that set it apart from its contemporaries. First, it is a reworking (though evidently not a sequel) of Monogram's successful <i>King of the Zombies</i> from two years earlier. Manton Moreland appears in both pictures, as does Madame Sul-Te-Wan as a cackling voodoo priestess. The two movies also bear similarities in terms of plot and setting, but there is no real connection between them. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Second -- as <a href="http://aycyas.com/">Liz Kingsley</a> has pointed out -- this is the first film that explicitly shows its zombies to be the reanimated dead and not simply living people held in a permanent hypnotic trance. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Third, a number of stars from black cinema at the time appeared here, playing domestics (as the unwritten racial codes of the time demanded) but nonetheless having a few scenes on their own. Sybil Lewis was a well-known star in the world of black cinema. She does well with the thinly-written part here, even though she is paired with Manton Moreland, whose grating "cowardly darkie" schtick is as tiresome here as it was in <i>King of the Zombies </i>-- or, in fact, any other movie he was ever in (Moreland, I should add, does have his defenders, who point out that he was a gifted comedic actor who paid his dues on the vaudeville circuit and added real value with his comic relief roles). James Baskett was also a star of that genre, and appeared in Disney's <i>Song of the South</i> (1947).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Black cinema of the era was a scrappy indie phenomenon and quite interesting, but the films weren't comparable to Hollywood productions on any level. As you might expect the budgets were meager and the quality was below even that of the poverty-row studios. Scripts were often mawkish and heavy-handed, and the technical production was surprisingly crude, even by the standards of low-budget cinema of the time; scenes tended to be static, with actors grouped in polite semi-circles as though performing in a proscenium. Lewis often played the young love interest in these films, and while she isn't given much to do here she demonstrates an extremely strong screen presence. It's a pity that she never got more of a chance to work in Hollywood, but if she been given the opportunity she would never have played more than cooks, maids or various other members of the servant class. And that would have been far worse. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Robert Lowery appeared in a number of low-budget westerns and thrillers, and while he didn't work extensively in the horror genre he did team up again with John Carradine in <i>The Mummy's Ghost</i> (1944), and is probably best known today as the second actor to play Batman, in the 1949 Columbia serial <i>Bat</i><i>man and Robin</i>.</span>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The name "John Carradine" is usually reason enough to avoid a movie, but the cheerfully hammy actor is actually well-suited to <i>Revenge of the Zombies </i>-- I can't think of anyone (well, besides Lugosi) who would be as much at home raising an army of Nazi zombie slaves in the bayou. And Carradine brings a haughty air of authority and privilege to Von Altermann that Lugosi wouldn't have managed. I hate to admit it, but Carradine was ideal for the role.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Ouch, it hurts to say that! But it's true. It really is. Perfect.</span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7589405220008327551.post-69893465053797915162015-11-12T15:15:00.000-06:002015-11-12T22:45:01.861-06:00Saturday, August 26, 1972: Godzilla, King of the Monsters (1957) /The Lady and the Monster (1944)<br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Synopsis:</b> <i>The city of Tokyo lies in ruins, having suffered a staggering attack of some kind. American reporter Steve Martin (Raymond Burr) wakes up in a wrecked office building, badly injured and surrounded by victims who didn't survive. Taken to an overflowing hospital he sees Emiko (Momoko Kochi) who stops long enough to assure him that her father, Dr. Yamane, has survived the attack.</i></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Martin recalls the events of recent weeks, when he visited Tokyo en route to Cairo. Wishing to meet a friend, the eminent scientist Dr. Serizawa (Akihiko Hirata), Martin and all the plane's passengers are first detained and then interviewed individually, asked if they saw anything unusual en route. Smelling a story, Martin digs further. He discovers that a number of ships at sea have been destroyed in the same area. Rescue boats sent out to hunt for survivors have been similarly destroyed. The few survivors found floating on debris describe a blinding flash of light; the men suffer strange burns and die quickly from an unidentified sickness.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In a hastily called meeting of scientists and officials, Dr. Yamane (Takashi Shumura), whom Martin knows to be Emiko's father and Dr. Serizawa's future father-in-law, tells the offcials that they should interview the inhabitants of Odo Island, which is not far from the area where the ships were destroyed.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Martin joins the expedition. While on the island, there is a sudden windstorm, and the natives believe it is the work of a sea monster called Godzilla. The next day, Dr. Yamane identifies gigantic tracks that he believes are those of an enormous monster. The tracks themselves bear traces of radiation, and it is clear that whatever the creature is, it was awakened from dormancy by hydrogen-bomb tests in the area.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The islanders are driven into panic when the monster appears again, this time in broad daylight. Before long it makes its way into Tokyo harbor and begins to wreak havoc. Emiko tells Martin that Dr. Serizawa has developed a terrible weapon that might stop Godzilla, but so fearsome are the weapon's effects that Serizawa dares not reveal its existence, since in unscrupulous hands it might spell the end of the human race....</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Comments: </b>In June of 1953 Warner Brothers released <i>The Beast From 20,0000 Fathoms</i>, which told the story of a dinosaur awakened from its arctic slumber by an atomic test. By the final reel the titular beast is running loose in the streets of New York. The film was modestly budgeted and the reaction from film critics amounted to little more than a collective shrug. But <i>Beast </i>was a surprise hit, and Japanese producer Tomoyuki Tanaka was interested in making a similar movie for Japanese audiences. Tanaka's resulting film <i>Gojira</i> (1954) was a runaway smash in Japan, and American producers saw the potential of making the 400-foot leading man a star here as well. However, no Japanese film had ever been distributed in the U.S. beyond the art-house circuit. And there was a somberness and an anti-nuclear undercurrent that made it decidedly problematic for American release. Nevertheless, there was no question that <i>Gojira</i> was good -- very good -- with any number of terrific set pieces that would electrify American moviegoers. With a few judicious edits the movie's anti-nuclear message could be played down. However -- and this must have seemed like a tall order at the time -- to make certain American audiences could relate, an American protagonist had to be added to the already-completed film.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">To this end actor Raymond Burr was brought in to shoot a week's worth of footage as wire service reporter Steve Martin. Burr's scenes were cleverly woven into the original film: Steve Martin, we learn, has been just off-camera throughout the entirety of director Ishiro Honda's film. In every crucial scene -- at the maritime station tracking the progress of the rescue ships, at the scientific conference in Tokyo, on Odo Island, on the ship carrying the oxygen destroyer in the finale of the film -- Martin is there, standing in the back, observing the action, his somber voiceover narrating the plot points as they progress. During Godzilla's rampage through Tokyo, Martin stands in a press office, relating the events into a tape recorder for his wire service as the monster approaches. At the end of the scene the building is demolished and Martin is badly injured -- adding an element of personal danger missing from the Japanese version.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Of course, having your lead actor simply stand in the back of the room and narrate plot points will result in a very passive character, so it is arranged for Martin to interact with the Japanese characters at several crucial moments. First, after Martin is brought to the hospital at the beginning of the film, he has a brief conversation with Emiko (achieved with newly-dubbed dialogue and an Emiko double for the over-the-shoulder shots), establishing his relationship not only with her, but with Yamane as well. Then, it is later established that Martin is friends with Dr. Serizawa, who tells Martin over the phone that he can't meet because Emiko has something important she wants to discuss (this leads to the scene where Emiko wants to tell Serizawa that she's breaking off the engagement, but Serizawa instead gives her the first demonstration of the oxygen destroyer). And finally, Martin appeals to Emiko to use her influence on Dr. Serizawa to unleash the oxygen destroyer against Godzilla -- this, he argues, is the only way for other cities to be spared the fate that Tokyo has suffered. This last interaction gives Martin some tenuous claim on shaping the outcome of the film.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A tenuous claim isn't bad, considering how late to the party Martin is. Nonetheless, the dramatic elements that make the film work -- the love triangle between Ogata, Emiko and Serizawa, and Serizawa's reluctance to hand the human species another weapon with which to threaten its own existence -- is more or less intact.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Raymond Burr scenes are shot in a hurried, pedestrian way and are quite jarring when intercut with Honda's carefully balanced screen compositions. All the same, while the Burr scenes might well come across as the crudest sort of hackwork, they actually work fairly well, considering how they have been shoehorned into an already-completed film. And in a bit of serendipity, the Steve Martin scenes also help to compress and streamline the human subplot, which drags somewhat in the middle third of Honda's film.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Akihiko Hirata and Takashi Shimura would go on to star in a number of <i>kaiju </i>films over the years, and they both bring a gravitas as well as a sadness to their roles that is entirely appropriate for the subject matter. Raymond Burr is an interesting choice as Steve Martin; he was regarded as somewhat too large and brooding to be a leading man, and while he worked steadily in his early career he was probably best known at this point as Jimmy Stewart's murderous neighbor Lars Thorwald in <i>Rear Window</i> (1954). His starring turn on<i> Perry Mason </i>(1957) soon made him a star, but even then critics were slow to warm up to him. Richard Gehman, writing for <i>TV Guide</i>, noted:</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Burr is built like
a massive inverted pyramid. He is 6 feet 2 1/2 inches tall, weighs
210 pounds and has shoulders so broad it would take Garry Moore quite a
while to circumnavigate him. His chest measures 48 1/2 inches
unexpanded and he wears a size 17 collar. If a talented great ape
were to climb Mount Rushmore and hack out a statue of himself, the result
would resemble the build of Raymond Burr.</span></span></span></blockquote>
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Not very flattering, but at least they spelled his name right.<br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Lady and the Monster<br /></span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Synopsis</b><i>:</i> <i>Dr. Patrick Cory (Richard Arlen) is a scientist working for Professor Franz Mueller (Erich Von Stroheim) at Mueller's residence / laboratory, a fortress-like place called The Castle. The two are doing experiments on keeping brain tissue alive separate from the body. So far they have only worked with animal test subjects, and while the results have been encouraging things are progressing a little slowly for Dr. Mueller. Like many scientists in these sort of movies, he's obsessed with vindicating his line of research, and he isn't above some ethical monkeyshines to get things moving. More than anything, he wants to test his procedure on a human brain, though the chances of his getting an opportunity to do so seem remote.</i></span></span><br />
<i><br /></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <i>Cory and Mueller's assistant Janice Farrell (Vera Ralston) have fallen in love, but unbeknownst to them, Mueller has a yen for Janice himself. Janice and Cory talk of leaving the Castle and running off together, but Mueller excels at manipulating others, and he manages to keep them both on hand and under his control.</i></span></span><br />
<i><br /></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <i>One evening a private plane crashes nearby and Mueller transports a critically injured man back to the Castle. He calls Cory back from his date in town with Janice and bullies both of them into assisting him.</i></span></span><br />
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<i><br /></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><i><br /></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <i>The patient dies, and Mueller sees his chance. He removes the man's brain and puts it in a solution of brine; soon, he and Cory are able to verify that the brain is still alive independent of its body.</i></span></span><br />
<i><br /></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <i>Mueller and Cory learn that the man who died in the crash was a powerful industrialist named W. H. Donovan. When the coroner comes to the house Mueller tells him that Donovan had suffered a severe head injury and that he and Cory had operated in hopes of saving his life. However, the absence of a brain in the man's head is difficult to conceal and even more difficult to explain, and Mueller employs a little sleight-of-hand to get the death certificate signed and the body taken away.</i></span></span><br />
<i><br /></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <i>As the brain marinates Mueller predicts that this is the dawn of a new age; human minds might be able to be indefinitely preserved after death. The knowledge and wisdom of the ages might be able to be stored and accessed at will. Meanwhile, Cory begins to have strange dreams; he can hear a voice repeating the name "W. H. Donovan" over and over again. Mueller speculates that the brain, freed from the body and floating in an electrolytic solution, has become more powerful and has made a psychic connection to Cory. </i></span></span><br />
<i><br /></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <i>Janice becomes increasingly alarmed by Cory's behavior. With greater and greater frequency, Cory falls into a fugue-like state, acting like another person entirely. Soon she and Dr. Mueller realize that Cory's body is being possessed by Donovan's brain, that he is being forced to act according to Donovan's will. Cory begins traveling into town, withdrawing large sums of cash from various banks under dummy accounts and spending large amounts of money in efforts to get a convicted murderer sprung from prison. But what is Donovan's connection with the man? And -- what will Donovan's brain do in order to keep Cory's body under its control?</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Comments</b>: While <i>The Lady and the Monster</i> was the first film adaptation of <i>Donovan's Brain</i>, the CBS radio anthology program <i>Suspense</i> was the first to translate Curt Siodmak's novel to another medium. Orson Welles played Patrick Cory in this two-part audio drama, which retained Siodmak's narrative gimmick of a diary penned by the ill-fated scientist. A number of plot elements were jettisoned for this 60-minute work, including the shady financial transactions that Cory, possessed by the mind of Donovan, enters into during Cory's frequent fugue states. The ending is also streamlined, and it differs significantly from that of the novel. Nevertheless, the <i>Suspense</i> adaptation is quite taut and -- well, suspenseful. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As the program begins Welles plays Patrick Corey as something of a carefree dilettante, like Lamont Cranston in Welles' radio series <i>The Shadow</i>. It's clearly a reflection of the way Welles saw Corey: a man who lives in a world of his own ideas, with little interest in what goes on outside. Corey becomes more agitated and serious as he begins to realize the true import of what he has done. The counterpoint to Corey is Donovan -- Welles supplies him with a low, gutteral growl. The Donovan catchphrase -- "Sure, sure, sure" -- is gravelly and menacing, and Donovan -- who invades Cory's dreams with images of bloody and ruthless conquests -- is more than enough of an antagonist to carry the drama forward to its conclusion.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As I mentioned in my previous write-up of this title, <i>The Lady and the Monster</i> strays farther from the source material than any of the other adaptations, for reasons that aren't entirely clear. Eric Von Stroheim's Dr. Mueller becomes the ambitious surgeon, and Cory takes a back seat as his assistant, though we still identify with him as the protagonist. The wife that Cory had in the novel is changed to his girlfriend, and a rather weak love triangle is added (Mueller, we gather, is in love with Janice, though she evidently has no interest in him). </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I've speculated that the Mueller character was inserted to a) make Cory seem more innocent and therefore more sympathetic to the audience; and b) provide an antagonist that's more recognizable to the audience than a mean guy's brain in a jar. Having seen this one a second time I'm still convinced that this is the right explanation. My guess is that screenwriters Dane Lussier and Frederick Kohner had very little confidence in the story they were given, and felt they had to insert some more conventional screen elements in order to "fix" it. To say these guys were ill-suited to the task is an understatement. Kohner had never touched a genre screenplay in his life (he seemed to specialize in lightweight comedies) and went on to write the novel <i>Gidget</i>, as well as a number of scripts based on it, both for movies and TV. Lussier's specialty was low-budget programmers like <i>Dick Tracy vs. Cueball </i>(1946) and <i>The Falcon's Alibi </i>(1946). Lussier was, to put it bluntly, a hack, unable to deviate from the clumsy templates he used to grind out poverty-row scripts. Director George Sherman was also out of his element. He usually directed cheap westerns designed to run at the bottom of a double bill.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So its really in spite of these guys, not because of them, that the film works at all. The addition of Mueller's character makes Cory more sympathetic, but it also badly weakens him -- he is blameless for Mueller's crimes only because he got bullied into helping Mueller to carry them out. But the movie nevertheless picks up steam when Donovan begins to work on the hapless Cory's mind, forcing him to go into town, slowly assuming Cory's walk and manner. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The cast is competent enough, though no one has the sort of arresting presence that Orson Welles brought to the radio drama (it would have been very interesting, by the way, to see Welles direct a screen adaptation of this story). Richard Arlen is thoroughly forgettable as Cory, and while I usually like Eric Von Stroheim as an actor, his glowering and muttering seems less effective than usual here. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">No write-up of this movie is complete without a mention of Vera Hruba Ralston as Janice. The figure skater's reputation as an actress was so poor that leading men of the time were known to back out of projects rather than star opposite her. The lead roles kept coming to her, though, because her husband was the head of the studio. As a result, she became a laughingstock in the industry, which is really too bad. She wasn't the worst actress to garner top billing on a movie poster (</span><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035713/?ref_=nm_knf_t1"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Aquanetta</span></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">? </span><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085863/?ref_=nm_knf_t4"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Pia Zadora</span></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">? </span><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084316/?ref_=nm_knf_i3"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Persis Khambatta</span></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">? Come on!) In any case, I can't blame her for taking the starring roles that were offered to her. She was pretty, and surrounded by people who told her she had something special. And while she wasn't great, she really wasn't that bad. Had I not heard repeatedly how bad she was, I probably wouldn't have noticed her performance at all. Her reputation sort of magnified her shortcomings as an actress, and everyone gleefully piled on. But she is more forgettable than anything else. In that department she's pretty well suited to the leading man in this one.</span></span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7589405220008327551.post-70925539303457251782015-10-25T18:45:00.001-05:002015-10-25T18:45:39.839-05:00Friday, June 30, 1972: Return of the Vampire (1943) / The Invisible Killer (1939)<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8FjjuXfXYqn5xIQcq-USo8jHod7t6MK5zo2A4RNTh1_Ww8pTzp6iAwARIkejJxRPDRMIgathQmAjKdOywCrm3jHDA6zDsJqF4eSSM_RQNZCqbfb5sRWayjQsdOmd5sK-Fp3Ks9tCeqMo/s1600/returnofvampire.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8FjjuXfXYqn5xIQcq-USo8jHod7t6MK5zo2A4RNTh1_Ww8pTzp6iAwARIkejJxRPDRMIgathQmAjKdOywCrm3jHDA6zDsJqF4eSSM_RQNZCqbfb5sRWayjQsdOmd5sK-Fp3Ks9tCeqMo/s1600/returnofvampire.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><b>Synopsis:</b> <i>October
1918 -- a werewolf named Andreas skulks through a British cemetery at
dusk. He enters a crypt, where he awakens vampire Armand Tesla. Andreas
tells Tesla that his latest victim is "still alive", and that despite
the attentions of Dr. Jane Ainsley and an Oxford professor named
Saunders, no progress is being made toward curing her. Andreas laughs
at the notion that the scientists will find anything wrong with the girl
that can be explained by science.</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><i><br /></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><i>Meanwhile,
Lady Jane Ainsley is working in the private sanatorium that adjoins her
family estate. She has been examining a blood sample from the very
same woman Andreas spoke of, a woman who was brought in suffering from
shock. Ainsley notes that the woman's blood isn't anemic, as she had
expected; it is in fact quite normal. Rather, it appears that the
woman's blood had been drained from her body, which seems impossible.
Aside from two tiny pinpricks on her throat, she has no wounds of any
kind. Both she and Professor Saunders are baffled.</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><i><br /></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><i>The
patient becomes agitated, shouting fearfully to an unseen person in the
room that she is loyal and hasn't told anyone about what happened.
Moments later, she dies.</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0O7vRYRE2dKnFjmugG-05gZmQBMfNUro3TPB73VFbzC-2Zwpn-0U6YQOSpfDNUnV8mO9TvmFNU2ibtKzRcKsqN_KM1_eVsWvkrQCxFm2nL3B_OimZhN-ojptfhyphenhyphenB37tiMoWL4CM9-abg/s1600/cap895.bmp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0O7vRYRE2dKnFjmugG-05gZmQBMfNUro3TPB73VFbzC-2Zwpn-0U6YQOSpfDNUnV8mO9TvmFNU2ibtKzRcKsqN_KM1_eVsWvkrQCxFm2nL3B_OimZhN-ojptfhyphenhyphenB37tiMoWL4CM9-abg/s320/cap895.bmp" style="border: 1px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); padding: 4px;" width="320" /></span></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><i>That
night, Professor Saunders begins reading a strange treatise on
vampirism, written a century ago by Dr. Armand Tesla. By morning,
Saunders is convinced that their unfortunate patient's blood had been
drained by a vampire. Dr. Ainsley is reluctant to believe such a wild
theory, but when Saunders' granddaughter Nicki is revealed to have been
bitten as well, Ainsley is convinced.</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><i><br /></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><i>Ainsley
and Saunders deduce that a vampire operating in the vicinity must have
its coffin nearby, somewhere where it can be easily
concealed. Searching the crypt at a nearby cemetery, they discover the
vampire sleeping. They drive a railroad spike through its heart,
killing it. At that moment, Andreas enters the crypt, and he falls to
the ground, transforming from a werewolf to a man -- Tesla's power over
him has been broken. They bury Tesla's body in an unmarked grave.</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFDN2ikCT5l6c7UD7_s9FHO2EkEXPnttpR4IcBqyM6hXxBRhYGaKBIYunNlIxxr6rQxYgI4bdTJGTybZdlnBqiYA9lNdNZvBEc5z9ITZaHJWtMsAr1Pq9RKArrbldbjf_38YlIWaAiWN0/s1600/returnvampire.jpg" /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><i><br /></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><i>Twenty-three
years later, we find Andreas working as a trusted assistant to Dr.
Ainsley, and Nicki has grown up to become a beautiful young woman,
engaged to Dr. Ainsley's son John. But Britain is again at war, and one
night a stray German bomb falls inside the cemetery. Surveying the
damage, a pair of workers find a man's body with a railroad spike driven
through it. They remove the spike and re-inter the body.</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><i><br /></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><i>Later,
Dr. Ainsley sends Andreas on an important errand: a scientist named Dr.
Hugo Bruckner has been spirited out of Nazi Germany and is arriving at
the British coast. Andreas is to meet him and escort him to a temporary
residence. But on the way, Andreas meets Armand Tesla. Tesla once
again gains control of Andreas, and forces him to kill Bruckner. Taking
the place of Dr. Bruckner, Tesla begins to plan his revenge on Dr.
Ainsley and her family.....</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /><b>Comments: </b>We've seen this movie a couple of times before on<i> Horror Incorporated,</i> and<a href="http://untitledhorrorincorporatedproject.blogspot.com/2012/09/saturday-august-28-1971-return-of.html"> I've written about my admiration for it </a>-- it stands out especially since Columbia wasn't exactly your go-to studio for horror fare and Lew Landers was anything but a genius auteur. As we've seen, the follow up to this picture, <i>Cry of the Werewolf</i>, was eminently forgettable, so we might consider this movie a fluke or a happy accident. But I wanted to take this opportunity to call attention to <i>Return of the Vampire's</i> unusual opening.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">We start, as you might expect, with Columbia standing on her pedestal, torch aloft, streams of light radiating out and illuminating the words behind her and the clouds above and below. I love Universal and would give anything to travel back to the 1930s and visit the studio during its so-called Golden Age of Horror -- but I will admit that Columbia has my favorite major studio logo. It's beautiful. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMpEDDinLK2S-3LLc5vikjPi6Ilnn79vu35eWoI8KB1pOdrnnTLvbVy3t8bv8SbYdZBH2J2YB1HyKPRgkDXxKIKC2hA4w_bZTKbRygR_jXgOZrEEdzL8awonOcVb0GmOGqksxeRANVqxY/s1600/columbia.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMpEDDinLK2S-3LLc5vikjPi6Ilnn79vu35eWoI8KB1pOdrnnTLvbVy3t8bv8SbYdZBH2J2YB1HyKPRgkDXxKIKC2hA4w_bZTKbRygR_jXgOZrEEdzL8awonOcVb0GmOGqksxeRANVqxY/s320/columbia.png" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">From the logo, we get a very quick dissolve to a tight close-up -- the face of a terrified woman.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkFadNIOeG8stECrjQsy7GhkFxLy0sdUy1YPMRngdH1rLzLhDJiwIRUtCGKmOh79K3tImUj1NE8nNvpYC3hI_6LQh9u7mfQEfFMjPNwpsrN802jQHC8DnCq8FIi4YqQQUCq1ckCbEf078/s1600/columbia2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkFadNIOeG8stECrjQsy7GhkFxLy0sdUy1YPMRngdH1rLzLhDJiwIRUtCGKmOh79K3tImUj1NE8nNvpYC3hI_6LQh9u7mfQEfFMjPNwpsrN802jQHC8DnCq8FIi4YqQQUCq1ckCbEf078/s320/columbia2.png" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">From the moment the dissolve begins the camera is pulling away from her, and it never stops moving for the remainder of the shot. Once the dissolve finishes we get a better look at her. She is tastefully dressed in dark clothing and a hat that appears to place her in the late Victorian era.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMyrlgIQRVilDNDdswB1gH1fVDkpO5o7FEIHMcmR8iZfM2ysGPgEvv98JAKsvBjPoigPgpASXshouHaplbZY71M1hRIOK9bHkqEU8jT10-jQ-mwAKvOHGD_vTTBKEKHh2_5_deqeATUrY/s1600/columbia3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMyrlgIQRVilDNDdswB1gH1fVDkpO5o7FEIHMcmR8iZfM2ysGPgEvv98JAKsvBjPoigPgpASXshouHaplbZY71M1hRIOK9bHkqEU8jT10-jQ-mwAKvOHGD_vTTBKEKHh2_5_deqeATUrY/s320/columbia3.png" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">We quickly discern that it's nighttime, and we are outside -- a wisp of fog is visible over the woman's right shoulder. She is wearing a coat; it's chilly. Even though the camera keeps pulling backward, she backs away, not from us, but from an unseen someone.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQYWyb1uVUnebmivLGhMHyAIIGu2vIgz8_wTnwAHCqoXu3GdYglrUasfKf6wsZ_MYcaZKmSTMyY57jEkZUM6s1mPKeP3bQVdZBsDQkEpjNook_b9GKFKAagGh4Nck67YgOyH3iJFgynk0/s1600/columbia4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQYWyb1uVUnebmivLGhMHyAIIGu2vIgz8_wTnwAHCqoXu3GdYglrUasfKf6wsZ_MYcaZKmSTMyY57jEkZUM6s1mPKeP3bQVdZBsDQkEpjNook_b9GKFKAagGh4Nck67YgOyH3iJFgynk0/s320/columbia4.png" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">As we continue to pull back, it becomes clear that we are in a narrow space, perhaps an alley -- the wall behind the woman is made of brick, and there is what appears to be a trash can behind her, in the lower right of the screen ( I am not sure if metal trash cans were a thing in Victorian England, but we'll go with it). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPj9RrGHZgM_ip8xVyYPdP4NQCx9S3rRvV69lPQE0X3xrr7AcINKrScR9XBIajWsPPuTx1hYuIloRCtzTFhRxY6Ledx43cpdyMaNZo4B6Z9nFAKTF5Xe6q7mbura7LEtosVRsy1I0dRuY/s1600/columbia5.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPj9RrGHZgM_ip8xVyYPdP4NQCx9S3rRvV69lPQE0X3xrr7AcINKrScR9XBIajWsPPuTx1hYuIloRCtzTFhRxY6Ledx43cpdyMaNZo4B6Z9nFAKTF5Xe6q7mbura7LEtosVRsy1I0dRuY/s320/columbia5.png" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">As the woman steps back, light falls over the right side of her face -- from a streetlight? an open doorway? it isn't clear; but unexpectedly some text fades in, rendered in elegant script. It starts, oddly enough, with quotation marks (no one in particular is being quoted; we must assume the quotation marks are being used here to denote a certain measure of authority or gravitas), and reads: "<i>The imagination of man at times sires the fantastic and the grotesque. That the imagination of man can soar into the stratosphere of fantasy is attested by ---</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbGUAp5z9ZbJW9S7carXoYlguN-a2YUixLYFAMMNhoN63BQpkI7UOgFdoeeZm8HtDCO7puYLZpHYs98D478CBIB87VJtFgV200NwKxj7zFoL8IzI42JrWpDWVe-sFa9_ztLNhHdoXXul4/s1600/columbia6.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbGUAp5z9ZbJW9S7carXoYlguN-a2YUixLYFAMMNhoN63BQpkI7UOgFdoeeZm8HtDCO7puYLZpHYs98D478CBIB87VJtFgV200NwKxj7zFoL8IzI42JrWpDWVe-sFa9_ztLNhHdoXXul4/s320/columbia6.png" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">We continue to pull back as the words brighten, and at the same time we see a man - -whom we will not be surprised to discover is Bela Lugosi in a cape -- advance toward her out of the shadows.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4CJ_nzpIeqzRcoy31YVO-Hi6Y4adedWIGIFx4QY4mkZsTcV0FLVBtd6lP9nnmr9aJo3qnQru1c8ncWfGvYINFdk334mym2XH84MWyRjAa3LKA9kORgVrJAEXpp7aB1HIsfz6Qzgo-9FE/s1600/Columbia7.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4CJ_nzpIeqzRcoy31YVO-Hi6Y4adedWIGIFx4QY4mkZsTcV0FLVBtd6lP9nnmr9aJo3qnQru1c8ncWfGvYINFdk334mym2XH84MWyRjAa3LKA9kORgVrJAEXpp7aB1HIsfz6Qzgo-9FE/s320/Columbia7.png" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The man raises the cape, obscuring the woman's face as fog swirls around them. As he does so she screams, and we cut to a title card....</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdEJwjNTDl2QNs22aCaF3nKTXz4uQcw9MZrfSdxjQGwj15kUx02che5-IVMqubV3VhSkNvl4vonMNvgdcdhjuqs_tnkYdg21dfUzOzSxiJon4O3SzcW1Unh4bBQcmSpSxwzdBkzwIofAU/s1600/columbia8.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdEJwjNTDl2QNs22aCaF3nKTXz4uQcw9MZrfSdxjQGwj15kUx02che5-IVMqubV3VhSkNvl4vonMNvgdcdhjuqs_tnkYdg21dfUzOzSxiJon4O3SzcW1Unh4bBQcmSpSxwzdBkzwIofAU/s320/columbia8.png" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">...and the words THE RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE zoom toward us. The credits play over the same title card. which appears to be a still image of gnarled trees in a foggy forest.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Now, there's nothing unusual about the opening credits playing over a still image; it was commonly done in this era. I could give you a thousand examples but will settle for just one: <i>The Mummy's Ghost </i>(1944) ran its opening credits over a static image of a wall covered with ancient Egyptian symbols: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwngPdh_vRsE0rQ9VDwd09LrBDGTsUx4nrs-CM9vfAzIFiLlGiKFptjGMpK7vFIZ_bvfBExIHBGcIe5dXc3PSaNdRYcek_OgwpBmNOh35FVHa2PAvjKMsngOK21Z8y_f67QBSuyO0VNlM/s1600/mummy%2527s+ghost.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwngPdh_vRsE0rQ9VDwd09LrBDGTsUx4nrs-CM9vfAzIFiLlGiKFptjGMpK7vFIZ_bvfBExIHBGcIe5dXc3PSaNdRYcek_OgwpBmNOh35FVHa2PAvjKMsngOK21Z8y_f67QBSuyO0VNlM/s1600/mummy%2527s+ghost.jpg" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">So <i>Return of the Vampire's</i> title card looks perfectly normal, except that at the end of the credits we find that what we're actually seeing is a freeze-frame: we now see a black bird perched in a tree over the priory cemetery. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT_-NKhmElQp_6Ah2t3h5zYEF_A8P8z8LNTrxduQPuDUbx8RC0MPXfpNuQ1U9TRkeonaAtOSQzE0JWtt5m4ntSvE6xCHZEw1ziGafp_BBgCmNKsmMP2etav_i78OTwALpURntgInwDRMQ/s1600/returnbird.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT_-NKhmElQp_6Ah2t3h5zYEF_A8P8z8LNTrxduQPuDUbx8RC0MPXfpNuQ1U9TRkeonaAtOSQzE0JWtt5m4ntSvE6xCHZEw1ziGafp_BBgCmNKsmMP2etav_i78OTwALpURntgInwDRMQ/s320/returnbird.png" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The camera pans left over the cemetery until it finds the werewolf Andreas, who is picking his way through the background, moving toward us. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrjQoxTgtXLlaKbAWldiEEpFAOofBn4W80cCPzKtgd5UJHWRzmUeYhWpdmBq3u6HJo0HzPizKWMOFl6TFYHenDl4pnk7SHLyP0m3prkJgVzyC7TI9t1OLe2joxoTwOIwUZBQEqEBa80qE/s1600/return_andreas1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrjQoxTgtXLlaKbAWldiEEpFAOofBn4W80cCPzKtgd5UJHWRzmUeYhWpdmBq3u6HJo0HzPizKWMOFl6TFYHenDl4pnk7SHLyP0m3prkJgVzyC7TI9t1OLe2joxoTwOIwUZBQEqEBa80qE/s320/return_andreas1.png" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Now we hear narration from Sir Frederick Fleet, played by Miles Mander, who doesn't even appear in the first part of the movie:</span><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">The case of Armand Tesla, vampire....as compiled from the personal notes of Professor Walter Saunders, King's College, Oxford. </span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">We haven't met the unfortunate young woman either; but she will
have one brief scene as the patient in Lady Ainsley's sanitarium. She's
barely ascribed a name (Miss Norcutt) before she dies. She was played,
by the way, by an uncredited Jeanne Bates, who had a very long career as a character actor, and who would play Ann Winson the following year in <a href="http://untitledhorrorincorporatedproject.blogspot.com/2012/06/saturday-july-31-1971-soul-of-monster.html">Soul of a Monster.</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Andreas keeps moving toward us. So much dry ice is being used that the ground is barely visible, and you can see how carefully Matt Willis is choosing his steps.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivCnzdhrKIURczHIpk6S6bH6FKudw9GEorl0sYsBDwaGMNA8b9TuAe6D_U4AtOaNByjyJQ1wL-Cu3jLurjCM-IPmbmDWROGKDYkNfINFMdk21oRwWajjMXQspFBXsbBwKF6iks64u0mgk/s1600/return_andreas2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivCnzdhrKIURczHIpk6S6bH6FKudw9GEorl0sYsBDwaGMNA8b9TuAe6D_U4AtOaNByjyJQ1wL-Cu3jLurjCM-IPmbmDWROGKDYkNfINFMdk21oRwWajjMXQspFBXsbBwKF6iks64u0mgk/s320/return_andreas2.png" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> The narrations continues:<i> </i></span><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">The following events took place in the outskirts of London, towards the close of the year 1918. </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNt_ERewsa0OCdrm1YDCPrrdK-PYW3tCx5lV0kn4vwP2Vs4m1OPSYEm80iZaLefPdZkdOYNC0oa0sA7igPG7w4CrEENGQ0l8kiizm_-80di1apaSFDtyE43TC8ArwF_i48WfXVvz0QnCY/s1600/return_andreas3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNt_ERewsa0OCdrm1YDCPrrdK-PYW3tCx5lV0kn4vwP2Vs4m1OPSYEm80iZaLefPdZkdOYNC0oa0sA7igPG7w4CrEENGQ0l8kiizm_-80di1apaSFDtyE43TC8ArwF_i48WfXVvz0QnCY/s320/return_andreas3.png" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Now Andreas is moving toward the foreground and turns deliberately to his left. He is definitely going somewhere in particular. He pauses just outside the crypt. </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">They began on the night of October the 15th, a particularly gloomy, foggy night that was well-suited for a visit from the supernatural.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizdDN2nihD9vDjVaapc_op06yFnNA58a642Aq28ttp1XNg_d6-u3kw4ge0GlLH2Kw4XRMtkN9yGZ5FD48ck1FESUssSxQZ4NMr0u3VzSJe45iCDTAhmluyGPviR7YClozRSQZbMz1YUK4/s1600/return_andreas4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizdDN2nihD9vDjVaapc_op06yFnNA58a642Aq28ttp1XNg_d6-u3kw4ge0GlLH2Kw4XRMtkN9yGZ5FD48ck1FESUssSxQZ4NMr0u3VzSJe45iCDTAhmluyGPviR7YClozRSQZbMz1YUK4/s320/return_andreas4.png" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Now Andreas enters the crypt and wakes Armand Tesla. These opening moments don't add all that much from the standpoint of plot. But they are unusual for the time, and the movie has gotten off to a spooky, enigmatic start....well suited, one might say, for a visit from the supernatural.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The Invisible Killer</span></i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUW_Y0ex46L0WllZTB1o1wUgASJvwuVl68pUVRQ4R805CsH__vWZ9CAZfOmEI1OMwbBr5gsZyaXCkhIWyufqEYYpJWhisU5HnGCXUOiPx7PnblNdrsbXKOpD6JH05_sVQVj2SkCGCQiLo/s1600/invisiblekiller.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUW_Y0ex46L0WllZTB1o1wUgASJvwuVl68pUVRQ4R805CsH__vWZ9CAZfOmEI1OMwbBr5gsZyaXCkhIWyufqEYYpJWhisU5HnGCXUOiPx7PnblNdrsbXKOpD6JH05_sVQVj2SkCGCQiLo/s320/invisiblekiller.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Synopsis:</b> <i>Fast-talking newspaper reporter Sue Walker (Grace Bradley) always seems to be just one step ahead of her boyfriend, homicide detective Jerry Brown (Roland Drew). Every time he shows up at a crime scene he finds that she's there ahead of him. This time she beats him to the scene of a gangland killing, an illicit gambling den where a mobbed-up high roller named Jimmy Clark has been murdered, shot while on the telephone. But it is soon revealed that the gunshot wounds didn't cause his death.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Meanwhile, Sue discovers that Gloria Cunningham, daughter of a prominent anti-gambling crusader, was there at Lefty Ross' gambling club at the time of Clark's murder. This is problematic not only because of who she's related to but who she's engaged to: no-nonsense D.A. Richard Sutton, who is just embarking on a new effort to crush the underground casino racket in the city. Sutton rounds up the men he knows are operating illicit casinos in the city and instructs them to stop paying protection to the mob and close up shop.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>After the conclave Lefty phones Sutton to tell him that he's ready to spill his guts in exchange for protection. When Sutton replies that he can't offer immunity from prosecution, Lefty says he'll take his chances with a jury -- what he wants is to live long enough to testify.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Sutton agrees and arranges for Lefty to be brought to his house; Sue bribes the butler into letting her inside. A phone call comes for Lefty. As soon as Lefty begins talking on the phone he keels over and dies.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Brown disassembles the telephone and discovers that the phone has been tampered with: a capsule of poison gas is hidden in the mouthpiece and can be triggered remotely. But who is the arranging the death of the mobsters?</i></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXdChGhLBYhAFpqhufUw0dFJfLK1m9BQ3OV7f6dM0Rz06y9Sy8TVuHdO1hhez4ERtqwQoLwYdSD76V3YCCvZbu3AuybbKQi26GPt1Mk-fWQ5LS_4LOvOVwq-DnGnX0faZLODlaamx_JLM/s1600/invisiblekiller3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXdChGhLBYhAFpqhufUw0dFJfLK1m9BQ3OV7f6dM0Rz06y9Sy8TVuHdO1hhez4ERtqwQoLwYdSD76V3YCCvZbu3AuybbKQi26GPt1Mk-fWQ5LS_4LOvOVwq-DnGnX0faZLODlaamx_JLM/s320/invisiblekiller3.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i> </i></span> <br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> <b>Comments:</b> Fans of the horror genre might find <i>The Invisible Killer'</i>s<i> </i>title a promising one, but if you're expecting a killer who turns out to be...you know...<i>invisible</i>, forget it. This isn't that kind of movie.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Some web sites (including IMDB) describe the titular killer as murdering through the use of sound waves, which sounds mildly interesting. But....no. That is <i>not </i>the killer's m.o. In fact, the murderer plants capsules of poison gas in the mouthpieces of telephones, then triggers the gas to be released just as the victim starts chatting away on the old <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhyming_slang">dog and bone</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Between you and me, sound waves would seem a less fool-proof form of execution.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>The Invisible Killer'</i>s gimmick notwithstanding (a gimmick that isn't even established until a good half-hour into the picture), this is a standard-issue crime drama from PRC. Of particular interest is Grace Bradley's performance as Sue Walker, the brash lady reporter type that turned up in any number of films of this era and was parodied by Jennifer Jason Leigh in the Coen brothers' <i>The Hudsucker Proxy. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i> </i>At the end of the film Sue agrees to marry Jerry and tells her boss she is quitting her job. While it seems rather unlikely today, successful career women ca. 1940 actually were expected to give up their jobs for the (allegedly) more respectable life of cooking, cleaning and general housewifery. Interestingly, that is exactly what happened in Grace Bradley's case: she cheerfully abandoned a promising movie career in order to be housewife and number-one fan to one William Boyd, a.k.a. Hopalong Cassidy. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Roland Drew's career was more durable, as he was one of those lucky actors who was able to transition from silent films to sound productions without a hitch. Though he worked steadily through the 1930s this was a rare turn as a leading man. He is best remembered as Prince Barin in <i>Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe </i>(1940).</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXyVYpt8FR4S_If_Gct3Qb8km6kI5jK4Q-GXJMo88d7MSAILB-8RyG7QFEu_56lUNyA2HTFJuGdgXYqywkLxQAhZqyEb4jf4NJHCVzFQbYLnr_bYTgEHppZtdBWeOt2whQy5Xby1Y0Xyw/s1600/invisiblekiller5.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXyVYpt8FR4S_If_Gct3Qb8km6kI5jK4Q-GXJMo88d7MSAILB-8RyG7QFEu_56lUNyA2HTFJuGdgXYqywkLxQAhZqyEb4jf4NJHCVzFQbYLnr_bYTgEHppZtdBWeOt2whQy5Xby1Y0Xyw/s320/invisiblekiller5.png" width="320" /></a></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7589405220008327551.post-32767354533586178632015-10-23T21:16:00.001-05:002015-10-23T21:16:56.759-05:00Saturday, June 24, 1972: Bluebeard (1944) / Island of Doomed Men (1940)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg534hMgJOK9PObz5QUyP4rrqr7FJG_leLs0n9Yh4XpeBC4MX1FJh11HhbVQvo-RUov4DDDr3veRa41cdb8CMSwfXRIfoP8ZbLdOXV_gYCZbNTN4nJq-Vxv26O1OLuC6gjTOgrCtTzuqZQ/s1600/bluebeard+poster+2+blog.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg534hMgJOK9PObz5QUyP4rrqr7FJG_leLs0n9Yh4XpeBC4MX1FJh11HhbVQvo-RUov4DDDr3veRa41cdb8CMSwfXRIfoP8ZbLdOXV_gYCZbNTN4nJq-Vxv26O1OLuC6gjTOgrCtTzuqZQ/s320/bluebeard+poster+2+blog.jpg" width="164" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><b>Synopsis:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>In
19th-century Paris, the body of a young woman is fished out of the
river Seine. She has been strangled, another victim of the notorious
serial killer Bluebeard. Women are urged to stay in at night, and not
to take unnecessary risks - but it's difficult to take precautions when
no one knows what Bluebeard looks like.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>One
evening young Babette (Patti McCarty) and her two friends Constance
(Carrie Devan) and Lucille (Jean Parker), knowing that women aren't safe
on the streets after dark, decide to walk home together. On the gaslit
streets they meet Gaston Morel, whom Babette recognizes -- he is "The
Puppeteer", a painter well-known in Paris for the elaborate puppet
operas he stages in the park. Morel seems charmed to meet the young
women, but is especially interested in Lucille, who claims to be
entirely unafraid of Bluebeard. He invites them all to see his show the
following night, but it is clear that Lucille is the one he hopes will
attend.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>The
following evening, Morel scans the crowd as he and his puppeteers
perform "Faust". He sees Lucille and after the show invites her
backstage. He tells her that he wishes to paint her; will she sit for
him?</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Flattered, she tells him that she will. Meanwhile, Morel's assistant Renee angrily watches his flirtation with the new woman.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Later,
Morel returns home to find Renee waiting for him. She is angry that he
is flirting with another new girl, and hurt that there have been other
women who have posed for his pictures, women who have temporarily
replaced her. But, she says, "You always return to me."</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Morel
is dismissive, telling her to go home, but she presses him further.
What, she asks, has happened to the women he's had dalliances with?
Where have they gone? Angered, Morel removes his cravat and strangles
her with it . Later, he dumps her body in the river.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>The
next day, he goes to the police station, and reports Renee missing.
When her body is pulled out of the river he is asked to identify the
body. He does so, telling the police that Renee left the park before he
did, and he is unable to say if she left alone or in someone's company.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>But
the next time Morel sees Lucille, he tells her that what he really
wants is for her to make new costumes for his puppets. By this time
we've figured out an important part of Bluebeard's m.o. -- he only
strangles women who have posed for the pictures he's painted. Does the
fact that he no longer wants to paint Lucille mean he is becoming
genuinely fond of her?</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Apparently
so -- and Lucille is growing fond of him too. She mends one of his
torn cravats (which will, of course, prove to be an important plot
point) and the two are spending more and more time together.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Meanwhile,
police inspector Lefevre (Nils Asther) discovers that a painting on
display in a Paris gallery has as its subject one of Bluebeard's
victims. He looks for other paintings by the same hand, and sure
enough, all of the victims of Bluebeard appear to have sat for
paintings. But the identity of the artist is shrouded in mystery.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Lefevre
locates the dealer of the paintings, who will not divulge the name of
the artist. Lefevre conducts a sting operation, arranging for a wealthy
patron of the arts to offer an outrageous sum to the dealer -- if he
can get the mysterious painter to take a last-minute job. Tempted by
the money, the dealer talks Morel into doing it. But what Morel doesn't
know is that his studio is now surrounded by the police -- and that the
woman he is painting is Lucille's younger sister Francine....</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Comments</b>: <i>Bluebeard</i>
is a movie that plays better than it sounds, and credit for its success
should go to director Edgar G. Ulmer, who does two things that really
help the production: he keeps events moving at a fast clip, and makes it
look more sumptuous than its budget allowed through smart use of stock
footage.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Ulmer also
manages to keep a leash on the hammy John Carradine, who plays Morel as a
laconic murderer who is ultimately undone by his own obsessions.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">One curious thing
about Morel is his decision to set aside his career as a well-regarded
(and well-compensated) painter in order to launch a puppet theater that
puts on (apparently free) performances in the park. This strikes me as
something of a step down, career-wise. I think we're supposed to read
something profound in this; Morel's paintings are all of his various
victims and perhaps this is an indication that he wants to put that
behind him. But the Bluebeard murders occur even after Morel is
operating the puppet theater. The puppet theater subplot seems to be a
means for Morel to hook Lucille (he recruits her to design puppet
costumes) and also makes it possible to trap Morel by getting his
manager to convince the painter to do one more job. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Carradine carries
the movie pretty much on his own; no one else really stands out. Jean
Parker has a brittle sort of look that I don't find at all appealing;'
as you may recall she was the hatchet-faced fiance to Lon Chaney, Jr.
in <i>Dead Man's Eyes</i>. She's not quite as abrasive here as she was in that Inner Sanctum opus, but I fail to see what Morel sees in her. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Island of Doomed Men</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Synopsis:</b>
Federal agent Mark Sheldon (Robert Wilcox) is on his first day on the
job as an undercover operative. He is told that once sent on his
assignment, the agency will be unable to assist him if he gets into
trouble. He's given the code number 64, and sent to a meeting with his
counterpart, agent 46. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">46 tells him that a man named
Stephen Danel is running a slavery operation on the appropriately-named
Dead Man's Island. The island is owned by Danel but it falls within
U.S. jurisdiction. Up until now Danel's activities have attracted
little notice from the government, because no one who goes there ever
returns. Neverthless, 46 says that Danel is running a slave-labor
operation on the island. "Lincoln freed the slaves," 46 says. "Mr. Danel
is back in the trade and doing very well at it." </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">It's
clear that 46 wants Sheldon to do something about all this, but before
we find out the details, 46's briefing is cut short by a bullet fired
through the window by an unseen assailant. 46 is mortally wounded.
Knowing he will be blamed for the crime, Sheldon runs for it, but he's
caught by the police. He stoically refuses to answer any questions
about the shooting, merely stating that he didn't commit the crime. He
also gives the obviously phony name of "John Smith" to his
interrogators.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Meanwhile, we learn that Stephen Danel
(Peter Lorre) was very near the scene of the crime, and it was he who
dispatched the gunman that killed 46. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">"Smith" is
convicted of murder, and the judge -- sensing that there is more to the
story -- expresses sympathy to his plight. Nevertheless he has no
choice but to sentence Smith to life in prison.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">There follows a montage of prison life. Smith spends a year <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Fought_the_Law">breakin' up rocks in the hot sun</a>, yet he is still determined to complete his task and find out the secrets of the mysterious Dead Man's Island.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Help
comes to Smith from an unexpected source. It turns out that Danel gets
his slave labor from the ranks of prison parolees; and because he is
uncertain as to how much Smith knows, he convinces the parole board to
remand Smith to his own custody. His island, he tells the board, is the
perfect place to rehabilitate ex-convicts, what with all the fresh air
and honest work.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Soon Smith and a half-dozen other
prisoners are being transported to Dead Man's Island. The men quickly
learn that conditions here are far worse than the prison they just
left. They are forced to work long, grueling days in the open-pit mine,
and are chained to their bunks at night. Men are whipped mercilessly
for the slightest offenses, and shot if they should attempt to get
through the electrified fences that surround the mining camp.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The
men are miserable, but just as unhappy is Danel's long-suffering wife
Lorraine. It seems that she had been dazzled by Danel's money and
promises of the good life, but has since discovered that she's now
living in a gilded cage - Danel won't allow her to visit the mainland,
and she is just as much a prisoner as the parolees working in the mines.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">When
Lorraine learns that Sheldon might be a federal agent, she is
determined to meet with him -- even though a meeting may come at the
cost of her own life ....</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Comments:</b> Agent Mark
Sheldon is ostensibly the protagonist of this modest Columbia thriller,
but everyone knows this movie really belongs to Peter Lorre. He's so
deliciously evil in this picture that the only other actor you could
imagine playing the part would be Vincent Price, who in 1940 would still
have been too callow for the role. The script would have to be
tailored to fit Price's oily, ironic charm anyway - and could Price have
so effectively strolled around a tropical island in a pith helmet and a
white linen suit, gently ordering 20 lashes for insubordination? It's
hard to imagine. What we have in <i>Island of Doomed Men</i> is the
laconic Danel behaving like a coiled snake, seeing everything and
striking quickly when the moment is right, taking everyone around him
off guard.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">That's the sort of thing Lorre excelled at,
and it's delightful to watch him work. Lorre's Danel is tightly wound,
quiet and controlled right up until the moment his volcanic temper gets
the better of him. It works for the most part, though Lorre's
bulgy-eyed outbursts sometimes veer toward self-parody ("<i>Keep that monkey away from me</i>!"
he shrieks at one point) and he is not physically large enough to be
imposing -- he seems quite small even in comparison with his wife
Lorraine, a thinly-written part thinly played by Rochelle Hudson.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In spite of Lorre's brilliant performance,<i> Island of Doomed Men</i> is another example of Columbia's squeamishness as a studio. The exploitative intent of the material is clear (<i>WOMEN SHUDDERING AT HIS CRUEL CARESS!</i> the one-sheet screams. <i>MEN DYING UNDER HIS TORTURING LASH!</i>)
yet there isn't a lot of exploitation to be found; the camera doesn't
linger on the scenes of torture or on Danel's psychological domination
of Lorraine. It all seems quite tame and perfunctory, even by the
standards of 1940. One can only imagine how eagerly Universal would have
seized the more lurid aspects of this material, as they did with <i>Tower of London. </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Director
Charles Barton soft-pedals the privations -- both physical and
psychological -- that men in such a place suffer, and he seems reluctant
to demonstrate the sadism that is ascribed to Danel himself. Sadism,
after all, is what we're led to believe motivates him - but his actions
don't really suggest a sadist. In fact he doesn't even stick around
for the punishments he orders his subordinates to carry out. By the end
of the picture it seems more like a control freak with an eye toward
enhanced productivity from his staff. He just wants more of what he's
already got, hardly a novel motivation for any villain. "Everything on
this island belongs to me," he mutters during his (inevitable) death
scene</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">It wasn't until the end of World War II that
Americans first saw the films brought back from liberated death camps,
and perhaps for the first time in history civilians got a good hard look
at the drepavity that had been heretofore witnessed only by soldiers at
the front lines. If <i>Island of Doomed Men</i> seems timid, perhaps
it's only because Barton wouldn't -- or couldn't -- imagine the true
potential of human cruelty. He wouldn't be the first to have failed in
that department.</span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7589405220008327551.post-86175288091869712462015-10-19T20:27:00.001-05:002015-10-20T10:23:03.789-05:00Friday, June 23, 1972: My Son the Vampire aka Mother Riley Meets the Vampire aka Vampire Over London (1952)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>Synopsis:</b> <i>Scotland
Yard is searching frantically for a man known as "The Vampire", a
scientist by the name of Van Housen (Bela Lugosi), who is descended from
Transylvanian nobility and who is believed to drink the blood of young
women in order to extend his lifespan. </i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span">Van
Housen sleeps in a coffin and affects the dress and manner of a
vampire, but what he really wants to do is to build an army of robots
that will take over the world. So far, he has built only one prototype,
which he calls Mark 1.</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span">Van
Housen orders Mark 1 delivered to his laboratory (apparently through a
conventional shipping company) but by accident the crate containing it
is mixed up with another crate meant for an Irish washerwoman known as
Old Mother Riley (Arthur Lucan). Soon Van Housen discovers the mix-up
and orders Mark 1 to come to the lab and bring Riley along as well.
Seeing an opportunity for fresh blood, the scientist gives Riley a
light housekeeping job, but insists on fattening her up with fresh steak
and liver.</span></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span"> In
order to build his army, Van Housen needs large quantities of uranium, and in order to get that, he needs a map in the possession of
Julia Loretti (Maria Mercedes), who has recently returned from an
expedition to South America. Even though he has Loretti in his
laboratory and in a trance, Van Housen has been unable to discover where
the map is hidden. </span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span">Discovering
that not only Loretti but all the missing women are being held captive
by Van Housen, Riley escapes from the mansion and runs to the nearest
police station to report the crime. However, because a clumsy drunkard
at the police station has accidentally doused her with gin, the
hysterical Riley reeks of alcohol, and the police decide to arrest her
for disorderly conduct....</span></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>Comments</b>: This cinematic dumpster fire is so odd and so disjointed that I've come to believe that screenwriter Val Valentine was asked to make radical changes between drafts -- assuming, of course, that there was more than one. Dr. Van Housen's dream of taking over the world with a robot army is just so far afield from vampire lore that I have to assume that the original plan was for Lugosi (or someone) to play Van Housen as a straight-up mad scientist. The vampire stuff, which seems like an afterthought, was presumably just that (Dr. Van Housen is often referred to as "The Vampire", but his vampirism seems to be an affectation -- he sleeps in a coffin, and we hear him snoring inside it when his assistant comes in to wake him). The whole vampire bit certainly seems tacked on, and doesn't mesh with anything we know about Van Housen. On the other hand, this movie is so slipshod that Valentine might well have written the whole thing in a couple of days, not knowing or caring how the individual pieces went together.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span">As I mentioned the last time this film aired, Lugosi seems to be having fun with the Van Housen role, and easily outshines titular star Lucan. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This was the last in the Old Mother Riley series of films, and the only one without Kitty McShane, Lucan's then-estranged wife and long-time stage partner (in the Old Mother Riley films she played daughter Kitty).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The lowbrow antics of Old Mother Riley were popular on stage and screen, and playing her was pretty much Lucan's whole career (he would die in 1954, backstage while preparing to go on as Mother Riley yet again). A big reason the movies were so profitable was that they were made for very little money; and that's reflected in Lugosi's paycheck for this picture. He got $5,000 for his efforts and was glad to get it, as spoofing his Dracula persona was about all that he would be offered at this point in his career, with the dubious exceptions of <i>The Black Sleep</i> and Ed Wood's contributions to cinematic history, which offered far greater humiliations for far less money.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The film was released in England as <i>Mother Riley Meets the Vampire</i> and as <i>Vampire Over London</i> in the U.S. It was re-released in 1963 as <i>My Son the Vampire</i>, a dubious tie-in to a (terrible) Alan Sherman novelty song, which played incongruously over the credits.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Here is Lugosi's television interview upon returning from England in 1951. It's touching, really, to see how grateful he is for the attention. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YPOA1dS9YmU" width="420"></iframe></span><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7589405220008327551.post-90532549637265444722015-10-07T10:08:00.000-05:002015-10-07T12:58:12.115-05:00Saturday, June 17, 1972: The Human Monster (1939) / Mysterious Doctor (1943)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Synopsis: </b><i>At
Scotland Yard, a group of Detectives Inspector are being chewed out by
their superior. Five bodies have been pulled from the Thames in recent
months, and while they are clearly meant to look like suicides, no one
doubts they are murders. The Yard is no closer to an arrest than it was
at the beginning, and the press is having a field day playing up the
ineptitude of the police. Detective Inspector Larry Holt (Hugh
Williams) is told to redouble his efforts to solve the crimes - or
else. He is instructed to take charge of a prisoner who being returned
to London from the United States, a career criminal named Fred Grogan
(Alexander Field). Grogan is being accompanied by a Chicago police
detective named O'Reilly (Edmon Ryan). Holt's captain tells him that
the Americans want O'Reilly to shadow a British detective in order to
learn the methods of the Yard. "I'll attach him to you," the captain
tells Holt contemptuously. "That way he won't learn anything."</i></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Meanwhile,
insurance agent and London philanthropist Dr. Feodor Orloff (Bela
Lugosi) makes a loan to Henry Stuart (Gerald Pring), a formerly well-to-do
man who has had a run of bad luck. Orloff suggests that Stuart sign
over his life insurance policy to him as collateral, and Stuart
agrees. Orloff talks about his charity work at a house for the blind,
and he tells Stuart to visit the house the following evening. As he
talks to Stuart, he types out a short note on a Braille typewriter,
wraps the note around a coin, and throws it out onto the street, where a
blind street violinist picks it up and carries it away<span style="font-family: Georgia;">.</span></span></span></i></span> </i></span></span></span><br />
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</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><br /></i> <i><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Later</span></span>, Holt meets O'Reilly and his prisoner at the railway station, and they head back to Scotland Yard. Once Grogan is taken away to a holding cell, O'Reilly pulls out a rubber hose and recommends the Chicago way of getting information from a suspect: a good old-fashioned beat down. But Holt has other plans. A drunk is put in to the cell with Grogan, and Grogan takes a great interest in the newspaper the drunk has in his coat pocket. Later we learn that the drunk was an undercover policeman placed by Holt. Grogan found a classified ad in the newspaper that had been meant for him alone -- an ad written in a simple code that directed him to Orloff.</span></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The
next evening, Stuart turns up at the home for the blind. As he enters, a
furtive resident pushes a Braille note into his hand. Confused, Stuart
puts the note into his pocket. He is greeted by Orloff, who seems
shocked when Stuart mentions he has a daughter -- Orloff thought he had
no living relations. Stuart's tour ends abruptly when Orloff leads him
to a room where Jake, a Rondo Hatton-esque grotesque, is waiting for
him.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></i> <i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Before
long Stuart's body is fished out of the river. On a hunch Holt has the
water in the man's lungs tested; it turns out that Stuart was drowned in
tap water, not the muddy water of the Thames. And the Braille note in
Stuart's pocket reads simply "MURDER". Based on this, Holt begins to
suspect that Dr. Orloff and the home for the blind are involved,
somehow, with the crimes....</span></i></span> </span></i><br />
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<i><br /></i> <i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></i><br /><b>Comments: </b><i>The Human Monster </i>is the clunky American title for British thriller <i>The Dark Eyes of London</i>, and while it's quite harrowing by 1939 standards it's also a lot of fun, as these Edgar Wallace mysteries tend to be. Bela Lugosi gets a very juicy bad-guy role as Dr. Orloff, a doctor / insurance agent who runs a home for the destitute blind on the side.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Lugosi usually enjoyed top billing at this point in his career, and he was well-paid for his efforts, but all the same he was often relegated to relatively small or red-herring roles. I've always felt this worked against him, making him seem an overvalued commodity by the studios. But 1939 was unquestionably a good year for him. He not only appeared in this thriller, but got to show off his versatility in<i> Son of Frankenstein</i>, and also had a nice non-genre cameo in Ernst Lubitsch's <i>Ninotchka</i>, playing a stern Soviet official. Had Lugosi sought out more character parts like the one in <em>Ninotchka</em> his career might have played out somewhat better than it did; but for whatever reason -- Lugosi's preferences, his agent's lack of foresight, or just bad luck -- it wasn't meant to be.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Lugosi's Dr. Orloff, of course, is running a racket. He sells life insurance policies to people he knows have no living relatives, arranges for himself to be named the indirect beneficiary of their policies, and then has them killed by his goon Jake at the home for the blind, their bodies dumped out the back of the building into the Thames. This obviously leads to a substantial body count which even Scotland Yard can't ignore. But as luck would have it the stolid Detective Inspector Holt is on the case, with the American Lt. O'Reilly as his sidekick. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I can't say I'm overly impressed by Dr. Orloff's scheme. Since all the people fished out of the Thames had purchased insurance policies from his own office, it isn't difficult to follow the money back to him. It might be that Orloff always expected that the police would eventually catch on to his plan (after all, he has a yacht anchored on the river and a change of identity all ready to go) but it nevertheless seems to be pretty sloppy work.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In my partial synopsis above I didn't even get to Diana Stuart, the daughter of unfortunate policyholder Henry Stuart, who is played by Greta Gynt. Gynt is a bit of sunshine in this otherwise morbid tale, and she is both a talented actress and a winning screen presence. Unfortunately for Gynt she never quite hit the big time; when she finally moved to Hollywood in the late 1940s the spark that had set her apart had faded a bit and she wasn't able to make the kind of impression she makes here. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Mysterious Doctor</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><b>Synopsis: </b>In England during World War II, a man calling himself Dr. Holmes walks into a small Cornish village. He is surprised to find that the innkeeper wears a black hood, supposedly to hide terrible scars he sustained in a mining accident. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Dr. Holmes rents a room, buying a round for everyone in the inn and telling those gathered that he is taking a walking tour of Cornwall; but this only raises the suspicion of Sir John Leland and some of the other natives of the village. There's a war on, Leland says. What are you doing going on walking tours? Holmes replies a little sheepishly that he tried to enlist, but the army wouldn't take him. Leland is suspicious of Holmes, but the villagers eventually accept his story. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>The natives tell Holmes of a terrible curse that has befallen the town: the local tin mine is haunted by a headless ghost. The ghost is known to have killed a number of people in the mine, and now none of the local miners will set foot within it. Late that evening Dr. Holmes goes to visit the mine; his decapitated body is later found.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Lt. Christopher "Kit" Hilton (Bruce Lester) soon arrives in town. He tells the townspeople that tin is desperately needed for the war effort. Hilton implores the miners to disregard their superstitions and return to work. But to a man they refuse. This earns the contempt of Letty Carstairs (Eleanor Parker), the local kind-hearted beauty, who calls them a bunch of frightened old women and volunteers to go to the mine herself to prove it is safe. The miners squirm under her blistering gaze but don't budge.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>The town simpleton Bart Redmond (Matt Willis) is accused of murdering Dr. Holmes, and knowing an angry mob is preparing to storm the town jail where he is held and exact an American-style lynching, Letty arranges Bart's escape, and she tells him to hide in the mine. He does so, but soon returns to town secretly. He tells Letty that he has discovered a secret passage inside the mine -- that leads to a room which contains the costume worn by the headless ghost....</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Comments:</b> This enjoyable programmer from Warner doesn't offer much in the way of suspense, as the Scooby Doo ending is telegraphed so early that it doesn't even feel like a cheat. It's pounded into our heads repeatedly that<i> tin is desperately needed for the war effort, </i>and -- in case that was too subtle for you -- <i>no one is going to set foot in the tin mine as long as there's a headless ghost running around</i>. The real mystery -- such as it is -- is who is behind this hoax. We get several suspects and it's possible to choose the wrong person as the real Headless Ghost. Possible, but not likely. Nevertheless, the movie sports an able cast and the Cornish village sets have an agreeably spooky atmosphere reminiscent of umpteen Universal efforts. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This is one of those movies where thinking too much spoils the fun. Don't bother asking why gruff Cornish miners would be scared off by rumors of a ghost, when they already work in a job where being buried alive is a real and constant possibility; and don't bother asking what miners who don't work are supposed to do for money. It's pretty obvious that the headless ghost is a costume because the arms are clearly too low on the body, and wisely the ghost isn't kept on the screen for very long. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I really liked the cast in this one. Lester Matthews (<i>Werewolf of London</i>) makes a great Dr. Holmes, the stranger who is clearly up to something; Jon Loder (<i>The Invisible Man's Revenge, The Brighton Strangler)</i> is a welcome presence as the suave Sir John Leland, and Matt Willis, whom you may remember as Andreas from <i>The Return of the Vampire</i>, plays the same sort of character here. <i><br /></i></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7589405220008327551.post-83637300894910683562015-09-20T19:38:00.001-05:002015-09-28T19:22:09.266-05:00Friday, June 16, 1972: The Woman Who Came Back (1945)<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkjnXh7ZwL1zVYEHNcQya9QSESLjXUxmPkuAMG5upUR5nOmTe9cW_g77BPmV1RcCYfAaxXBxKG8ki9mkvwrGxd8fsvx8pRQVArj8Ga_LUtwKf2BwFz0bIOCkxee8NgyjfSY6nzPq5K2Hw/s1600/woman-who-came-back11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkjnXh7ZwL1zVYEHNcQya9QSESLjXUxmPkuAMG5upUR5nOmTe9cW_g77BPmV1RcCYfAaxXBxKG8ki9mkvwrGxd8fsvx8pRQVArj8Ga_LUtwKf2BwFz0bIOCkxee8NgyjfSY6nzPq5K2Hw/s320/woman-who-came-back11.jpg" width="218" /></a></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><b>Synopsis:</b> <i>Lorna Webster (Nancy Kelly)
is returning to her New England hometown of Eben Rock, Massachusetts
after spending several years away. The bus she is riding on stops along
the road to pick up an elderly woman (Elspeth Dudgeon) who has flagged
the driver down. It is late at night and the driver is reluctant to
take the woman on, and refuses outright to take the woman's dog. The
old woman agrees to leave the dog on the side of the road and boards the
bus.</i></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia;">The woman sits by Lorna, and seems to know her
by name. She says that Lorna is the descendent of Elijah Webster, a
judge who 300 years ago sentenced a number of witches in the town to be
burned at the stake. She tells Lorna that she herself is Jezebel
Trister, a 300 year old witch who had been condemned by Judge Webster,
which greatly startles and alarms Lorna. Almost immediately, the bus
plunges off a steep embankment into a lake.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia;">In the town, Lorna stumbles into the local
tavern, and it's clear that no one in the place had expected her to
arrive, including her ex-fiancee, local doctor Matt Adams (John Loder).
When Lorna tells of the bus accident, the authorities go out to the
lake. They pull a number of bodies from the water; but Lorna is the
only survivor. Moreover, none of the bodies matches the description of
the old woman Lorna describes.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia;">As the local physician, Matt nurses Lorna back
to health. He is pleased to see her, even though she had stood him up
at the altar years before. The other townspeople are not so forgiving,
particularly Ruth Gibson (Ruth Ford). Ruth resents what she had done to Matt, and remembers that bad luck always
seemed to follow Lorna, that everything she touched seemed cursed. The
bus accident is only the latest proof of this: how is it possible that
she walked away without a scratch, when everyone else was killed? </span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Matt gives Lorna a black shawl that she'd had
with her after the accident. Lorna is alarmed -- she knows it isn't
hers, but Jezebel Trister's. Matt says that can't be possible. Lorna,
he says, must have imagined meeting Jezebel Trister, since no old woman
was found among the bus accident casualties. Uncertain, Lorna tries on
the shawl after Matt leaves, but when she looks in the mirror, she sees
the face of Jezebel Trister appear over her own.</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Lorna tries to resume a normal life, but she
finds it difficult. She is staying at Ruth's tavern, and Ruth reveals
to her that she herself has been carrying a torch for Matt, and this
seems to be fueling at least some of Ruth's resentment. When Lorna
feeds the fish belonging to Ruth's daughter, the fish almost immediately
die. She learns that she fed them rat poison by mistake. And she
finds herself being followed by a sinister-looking dog, the same dog
that had accompanied Jezebel Trister....</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Comments</b>: Tonight we have the second broadcast of<i> The Woman Who Came Back</i>, a Republic feature with an interesting cast and a spooky atmosphere that's marred somewhat by a clunky, explained-away ending. This modest programmer seems to have come and gone pretty quickly from theaters on its initial release in December of 1945, but it turned up regularly on TV schedules through the 1960s and there's little question that viewers of <i>Horror Incorporated</i> would have been familiar with it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>The Woman Who Came Back</i> was made at a time when explained-away endings were enjoying something of a renaissance in horror films, maybe because Val Lewton was dominating the genre at the time. Lewton made atmospheric horror fare with a strong psychological undercurrent; <i>Cat People</i>, his best-known film, pitted ancient tribal fears against the modern science of psychiatry in order to make us question just what we believe, and in fact the question of whether the Cat People's curse itself is real or just a sexually repressed woman's delusion isn't revealed until the final minutes. While Lewton wouldn't have gone for something as crass as an explained-away ending, his imitators often did, and films like this one,<i> The Beast With 5 Fingers, The Soul of a Monster</i> and <i>She-Wolf of London </i>all went the same route. This was an especially tempting cheat for filmmakers who were uncomfortable making genre movies; they could reassure themselves -- and the audience -- that their film was grounded in safe, respectable reality.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">A number of scenes strive for a spooky Lewtonesque vibe, as when Ruth (Ruth Ford) walks from the church, along the streets of Eben Rock at night, slowly realizing that the mysterious dog is following her. Such attempts always lack Lewton's indefinable spark, but they do indicate the filmmakers were paying attention. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>The Woman Who Came Back</i> has a strong and eerie opening sequence which ends with Lorna being the sole survivor of a bus crash. And the movie has an ominous atmosphere that's aided by some decent day-for-night shooting. But the film is rather talky and drags in places where it should be building suspense. And the explained-away ending leaves some gaping plot holes behind it; if Lorna isn't cursed, how did the fresh flowers Matt brought wither and die by the time he gave them to her? How did the woman on the bus (whom we learn wasn't Jezebel Trister) find Lorna, and how did she know her name?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Director Walter Colmes only directed a handful of films, and this was probably the best-known of them. His work is straightforward and unimaginative. But he has at his disposal some very good actors: John Loder, whom we just saw last week in <i>The Brighton Strangler</i>, Otto Kruger from <i>Dracula' s Daughter</i> and Ruth Ford, who lost her marbles in <i>The Man Who Returned To Life. </i> This is the only film I've seen Nancy Kelly in, but does quite well as the tormented Lorna. <br />
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7589405220008327551.post-73399171582134864342015-09-02T22:41:00.001-05:002015-09-02T22:41:40.142-05:00Saturday, June 9, 1972: The Brighton Strangler (1945) / The Walking Dead (1935)<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span> <br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo0dGdxajb2VGamFRMjMVvm2WS7XDFNOlPO1_z2xqcpWYaj_puSZSuZnFyz4HZ125Zl3VM-sU_BW0FCb-81acvs7Q2rBikcWFewQU4GswUf3jVWEVbLNzbfCXmppKu3Wwn4r4bNESjp-4/s1600/brighton9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo0dGdxajb2VGamFRMjMVvm2WS7XDFNOlPO1_z2xqcpWYaj_puSZSuZnFyz4HZ125Zl3VM-sU_BW0FCb-81acvs7Q2rBikcWFewQU4GswUf3jVWEVbLNzbfCXmppKu3Wwn4r4bNESjp-4/s1600/brighton9.jpg" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><b>Synopsis:</b> Celebrated actor Reginald Parker (John Loder) has just completed a successful run on the London stage with the hit play </i>The Brighton Strangler.<i> The theater manager ruefully notes that he could easily run the show for another year, and he's sorry that Parker has decided to hang up the role. So arresting is Parker's performance that there's no thought of bringing in another actor to play author-turned-murderer Edward Grey. For audiences Parker </i>is<i> the Strangler.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><br /></i></span> <span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>It is December 23rd, and after wishing the cast and crew a happy Christmas, Parker prepares to leave the theater and rejoin his fiancee, who is also the author of the play. But German bombers are making a nighttime raid on London. Numerous bombs hit the neighborhood and the theater is destroyed. Parker staggers away from the ruined building. He's gotten a nasty knock on the head and he is in a daze. Has he forgotten who he is? Not exactly; he remembers that he's Edward Grey, and he heads to Victoria Station and buys a ticket to Brighton.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><br /></i></span> <span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><br /></i></span> <span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>At the station he meets beautiful young April Manby (June Duprez), a WAAF heading home for Christmas. Seeing that Parker -- or rather, Grey -- is injured, she helps daub a bit of blood off his forehead. On the trip to Brighton she confides in him that she has secretly married her sweetheart, an American soldier named Bob Carson (Michael St. Angel). Upon arriving, April is met by her parents, respected physician Dr. Manby (Gilbert Emery) and his wife (Lydia Bilbrook). They invite Grey to come over and celebrate Christmas Eve at their house the following evening.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><br /></i></span> <span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>The next night, Grey leaves his hotel room and walks to the Manby house. Along the way he encounters the mayor of Brighton, Herman Brand (Ian Wolfe). Grey accuses the kindly mayor of being the barrister who had betrayed him -- a charge which puzzles Brand but which we know is taken from the play </i>The Brighton Strangler<i>. Reaching into his pocket, Grey produces a silk cord, which he'd kept in his pocket after the show closed. He uses the silk cord to strangle Brand, and then proceeds to the Christmas party as though nothing has happened.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><br /></i></span> <span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Late that evening, Chief Inspector Allison (Miles Mander) arrives at the Manby house. Everyone is shocked to hear of the murder of the mayor. The following day, the police interview all new arrivals in town, including Grey. Like the character in the play, Grey is outwardly pleasant and charming. He says that he is staying in town to write a book, and that he is a friend of the Manby family. Soon he is crossed off the list of suspects.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><br /></i></span> <span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>April is surprised to learn that Bob is able to join her in Brighton for a few days. But because of the mayor's funeral, she isn't able to meet him at the station, and she asks Grey to meet him for her. Grey meets Bob, and takes him over to the hotel. But as Bob checks into his room, Grey goes to his own room and falls asleep. He dreams that he is confronting Inspector Allison, who is now another of his persecutors from the play. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>As Bob goes over to his new friends's room to knock, he overhears Grey talking angrily in his sleep -- vowing revenge, and threatening to kill an unseen someone.... </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Comments:</b> This enjoyable wartime programmer clocks in at only 67 minutes, and uses its time quite efficiently, but even so we are still able to see the seams and the plot holes. The most obvious one is rooted in the premise. Even people who have only lived for a short time on this planet know that a knock on the head doesn't turn innocent people into murderers, but the conceit here is that Reginald Parker hasn't <i>entirely</i> been himself lately -- for the last year he has also been living the life of Edward Grey on the stage -- and Grey just happens to be a serial killer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">One can only imagine the hijinks that would have ensued if Parker had instead been playing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsenic_and_Old_Lace_%28play%29">Mortimer Brewster</a> or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Importance_of_Being_Earnest">Algernon Moncrief </a>at the time of his accident; that would, in fact, have made a pretty good Ealing Studios comedy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> The device of having someone hit in the head and losing their memory is a common one in film and television. It is something that actually can happen (it's called organic retrograde amnesia), but it is rare, and unless there is permanent brain damage the victim regains the lost memories within hours.* Parker, of course, goes on to believe he is someone else entirely, an even rarer condition known as a dissociative fugue, a condition triggered by a psychological breakdown - it can't be caused by a blow to the head. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Nevertheless the idea of not just losing your memory but assuming an entirely new identity was probably too tempting for the screenwriters to resist. I'm sure there were a number of movies and TV shows that used this device, but I can only think of one off the top of my head -- a TV movie from 1976 called <i>Return of the World's Greatest Detective</i>, in which a Sherlock Holmes-obsessed motorcycle cop (played by Larry Hagman) gets hit on the head and wakes up believing he<i> </i>is<i> </i>Holmes. Oddly enough he is magically endowed with Holmes' legendary ability to solve crimes (as well as his ability to play the violin). It was clearly the pilot for a TV series that never got picked up, so we didn't find out if someone else wound up getting hit on the head and came to believe he was Professor Moriarty. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Of course, <i>Return of the World's Greatest Detective</i> was meant as a little confection, nothing that you should linger over and analyze. Similarly, <i>The Brighton Strangler</i> was designed to be nothing more than an evening's diversion for war-weary moviegoers. And on that level it works very well indeed. So let's not be too hard on it, okay?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">*Interestingly, in movies and TV shows people are routinely knocked unconscious with a single punch to the head, and once out they stay that way for 20 minutes or so. In real life, it's actually fairly difficult to knock someone unconscious, and if they remain out for more than a minute or so they've probably suffered a serious brain injury. </span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The Walking Dead</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Synopsis:</b> Mob attorney Nolan (Ricardo Cortez) is dead certain he's got Judge Shaw (Joe King) scared -- so scared that he's sure to acquit Nolan's underworld client. But to his surprise, Judge Shaw doesn't knuckle under, and the man is sentenced to ten years at Sing Sing.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">For the mob, this is intolerable. Shaw has to be taken care of, or future mob threats won't carry any weight. The trouble is, any action against Shaw will implicate Nolan and his associates. </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">A solution is found in one John Ellman (Boris Karloff) a quiet man who's just finished a stretch in prison, thanks to Judge Shaw. Mob fixer Loder (Barton MacLane) arranges for Trigger (Joe Sawyer) to bump into Ellman, strike up a conversation, and offer him a job. Posing as a private detective, Trigger tells Ellman that Shaw's wife, suspicious of an affair, has hired him to shadow the judge. He wants Ellman to stake out Shaw's house and take notes on his comings and goings.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This, of course, establishes Ellman's presence outside the judge's house for several successive nights. And on the last night Ellman returns to his car to find a body lying in the back seat -- that of Judge Shaw. But as luck would have it, a young couple -- Nancy (Marguerite Churchill) and Jimmy (Warren Hull) are passing by and witness the shady characters planting the body in Ellman's car.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Soon Ellman is on trial for Shaw's murder -- and just to make sure he's convicted, Nolan himself is representing the unlucky ex-con.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Nancy and Jimmy debate whether to get involved in the case, knowing that the reach of the mob is quite long. In the end they decide to come forward with what they know -- but it's too late, and Ellman is executed for the crime.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">But the young couple's employer Dr. Beaumont (Edmund Gwenn) himself steps forward with a radical suggestion: with the experimental technique Beaumont has developed, Ellman can be brought back to life.... </span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Comments:</b> <i>The Walking Dead</i> is an early attempt to fuse the old genre of horror with the embryonic one of science fiction, and on the whole it works pretty well. Ellman's journey back from the beyond would, in an earlier age, have been accomplished through black magic or voodoo; and in fact the Ellman who comes back from the dead is more like a zombie than a resuscitated human. He also has preternatural abilities that he apparently picked up in the afterworld that allow him to mete out a just punishment to those responsible for his death, making his revival more supernatural than scientific. But it should be noted that, thanks to James Whale's <i>Frankenstein</i> (1931), what scientists did to push the boundaries of knowledge was pretty much limited to reanimating corpses -- at least, it's something we see scientists doing again and again throughout the decade.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The two underlying themes -- "crime doesn't pay" and "there are some things man was not meant to know" were both common ones under the Hayes code in 1936, and probably already a bit shopworn, but they are deployed deftly and perhaps a little sneakily here. Warner was pretty good at showing the glamour and excitement of gangster life even while carefully arranging for the bad guys to get their comeuppance in the last reel. And significantly, the forbidden knowledge that Ellman acquires dies with him, even though the nosy Dr. Belmont works hard to pry it out of him. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Karloff had a pretty good run through the 1930s, and<i> The Walking Dead</i> is one of his better roles in this period. He'd excelled at playing gangsters and crooked ex-cons in his early career, so he slips into the role of the tormented Ellman easily enough; the first third of the movie is really a conventional Warner-ish crime drama. It pivots quite quickly to science fiction in the second act, and then horror at the end.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Ricardo Cortez, always delightful, is quite engaging as the slick mob lawyer Nolan. We get to see Marguerite Churchill, who is a welcome presence just as she was in <i>Dracula's Daughter</i>, even though she doesn't get quite as much to do. We are also lucky to have the avuncular Edmund Gwenn on hand as the unorthodox Dr. Belmont; the kind of character he played never varied much from film to film but his quiet, genial manner serves as a nice counterpoint to the crooks and swindlers we encounter earlier in the movie. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7589405220008327551.post-54759609097194537732015-07-04T09:51:00.000-05:002015-07-04T09:52:11.629-05:00Friday, June 8, 1972: Bury Me Dead (1947)<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWJzajLXYYJd4UAP_J_kdX_Za5xxzNXzYN9pvFKnfXSIj7VYNYRUEcuZaI09qM5wu-FCiyy8ZeiQCz4K9aFfr3cY0D5vZX749dztgFC4VdG9C32zIn51MgwN7ROKwLXYjSlJEJHe7a-rU/s1600/buryme1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWJzajLXYYJd4UAP_J_kdX_Za5xxzNXzYN9pvFKnfXSIj7VYNYRUEcuZaI09qM5wu-FCiyy8ZeiQCz4K9aFfr3cY0D5vZX749dztgFC4VdG9C32zIn51MgwN7ROKwLXYjSlJEJHe7a-rU/s1600/buryme1.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<b>Synopsis:</b> <i>A
funeral is being held for Barbara Carlin (June Lockhart), a woman
killed in a stable fire on her family's estate. But almost as soon as
this fact is established, we learn that Barbara isn't dead at all. She
attends the funeral hiding behind a black veil, musing that her husband
Rod Carlin (Mark Daniels) doesn't seem very broken up about her death.
When the graveside service has concluded, Barbara approaches the family
attorney, Michael Dunn (Hugh Beaumont) and reveals to him that she's
still alive. She tells him that she believes someone started the fire
in an attempt to kill her, but got the wrong person; the body recovered
from the horse barn was burned beyond recognition and identified only by
a diamond necklace that belonged to Barbara.</i></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Barbara
is particularly troubled by the question of who was actually killed in
the fire, because she thinks it might be her younger sister Rusty
(Cathy O'Donnell). Rusty has a history of mental illness and often
disappears for extended lengths of time. But she finds Rusty safe and
sound, though still embittered that she was cut out of her father's will
because she was adopted. With Rusty eliminated as a possible victim,
she goes to confront Rod, who claims to be delighted that Barbara is
still alive -- even though he has been carrying on with goodtime girl
Helen Lawrence (Sonia Darren), who had previously told Rod that she'd
like to be the next Mrs. Carling. </span></i><br />
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<i>Barbara had
had a dalliance of her own with dim-witted palooka George (Greg
McClure), who'd previously been seen around with Helen. Rusty still
harbors a grudge against Barbara for stealing the big lug away from her,
but it might be that Barbara was trying to save Rusty from a bad
situation. </i></span><br />
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<i>Barbara finds
there are plenty of people who might have wanted her dead. But not only
does she not know who committed the murder, she still doesn't know who
the victim was....</i></span><br />
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<b>Comments:</b> I've written about<i> Bury Me Dead</i> once before, and as often happens I felt more charitable toward the film after a second viewing.</span><br />
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Don't get me wrong. The movie has plenty of flaws; it's cheap and a bit dreary, its second act is muddled and a lot of plot points appear to have been thrown in simply to pad its 65-minute running time. </span><br />
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But it does have a few things going for it. June Lockhart, who seems a good deal older than her 22 years, effectively anchors the film as Barbara, and Hugh Beaumont is convincing as the buttoned-up family attorney Michael Dunn. I've written favorably in the past about Cathy O'Donnell's portrayal of Rusty, and I also liked Sonia Darren, who didn't have a huge role but still managed to stand out as Helen.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The movie also gets off the blocks quickly with the fire that supposedly kills Barbara. It's an exciting way to start a movie and the central mysteries -- who started the fire, and who died in it? -- are raised in the first few minutes, and for a poverty row quickie, that's a definite plus. Don't look too closely at the stock footage used for the fire, though -- it's clear that the structure that's burning is a house, not a barn.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Something that strikes me as a little unusual for a film from this era is its understated but unmistakable sexual politics. Barbara's estranged husband Rod is carrying on with Helen -- not an unusual plot point in a movie from this era -- but what is unusual is that Barbara gives as good as she gets, engaging in a fling with George. The fact that George is Rusty's boyfriend at the time makes her seem all the more wanton by the standards of 1947. Also, Barbara is not only the protagonist but an active agent throughout, which wasn't the case in Lockhart's starring role in <em>She Wolf of London</em> -- a film in which the woman presented to us as the protagonist had almost no influence on the events around her.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">A full restoration of this film would be nice, but is probably unlikely to ever happen. John Alton's compositions are intriguing and were no doubt perfectly lit, but you can't tell that from the muddy prints used to strike the DVD copies.</span><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7589405220008327551.post-62819473727921187792015-06-14T23:29:00.001-05:002015-06-14T23:37:55.488-05:00Saturday, June 3, 1972: Dr. Renault's Secret (1942) / Three Strangers (1946)<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkiOozr1N9jbgYrNyXBD5r9YSAHue7f6Ncujh4Azmuw-4vQCyidFlPDWbolVLXuF75abk-3v-2f7Je0zSMOjKep5C0als7ERlakS_x0_8qbt57NFgpddlnljq00ePrnvXE2idTVOV5xFg/s1600/drrenault1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkiOozr1N9jbgYrNyXBD5r9YSAHue7f6Ncujh4Azmuw-4vQCyidFlPDWbolVLXuF75abk-3v-2f7Je0zSMOjKep5C0als7ERlakS_x0_8qbt57NFgpddlnljq00ePrnvXE2idTVOV5xFg/s1600/drrenault1.jpg" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /><br /><b><br /></b><b>Synopsis:</b> <i>Dr. Larry Forbes (Shepperd Strudwick) arrives in a remote French village to see his fiance, Madelon Renault (Lynne Roberts) and to meet her father, the renowned scientist Dr. Robert Renault (George Zucco). Forbes stops at an inn near the village, where he is supposed to meet someone who will take him to the Renault house. But he learns that they will have to cross over a bridge that has been washed out; and as a result he is stranded in the town overnight. He meets Renault's gardener Rogell (Mike Mazursky) and another of Dr. Renault's servants, a strange taciturn man named Noel (J. Carrol Naish). </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><br /></i><i>Noel says he is from Java, and he seems gentle and sensitive, but also uncomfortable, apologizing repeatedly for his behavior, even when he's done nothing wrong. But he becomes enraged when a drunk inn patron makes a remark that Noel sees as insulting to Madelon. Noel grabs the man and seems ready to attack him. But Larry calms him down and the situation is defused.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><br /></i><i>When he goes up to retire that night Larry finds the drunk has stumbled into his room by mistake and is snoring away on the bed. Larry, amused, goes to sleep in the drunk's unoccupied room next door. But in the morning the drunk is found murdered, strangled by a very powerful assailant. The police question everyone closely, particularly Rogell, who has a criminal record, as well as Noel, who was seen to argue with the murder victim a few hours before the crime.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><br /></i><i><br /></i><i>The police are unsure of whether the intended victim was the drunk or Larry himself, who was after all sleeping in the wrong room. Nevertheless, Larry, Rogell and Noel head out to the Renault estate. Noel drives, and as the car reaches a bend in the road, he abruptly slows the car down to a crawl. To Larry's astonishment, as they proceed around the curve they see a dog crossing the road. Had Noel not slowed down he would have hit it. But how did he know it was there?</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><br /></i><i>Larry seems to find a kindred spirit in Dr. Renault, who has a keen and curious mind. But something bothers Larry about Noel, and he can't put his finger on what it is. Noel seems gentle and kind, extremely loyal to Madelon, but can fly into a murderous rage if provoked. Animals don't seem to like him, and he doesn't seem to like them. He has enormous strength -- more than any one man ought to have. He has senses much keener than any human. And it comforts him greatly when the barber in town gives him a good close shave....</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Comments:</b> This Fox production is more than a little silly, and we're not particularly surprised when we learn the titular "secret": Noel is a surgically altered and extensively manscaped gorilla. At least it's a change of pace from the Universal horror standards and the poverty row cheapies that we've been seeing lately. This is only the second time we've seen <i>Dr. Renault's Secret</i> on<i> Horror Incorporated</i>, and I'll admit I felt a bit more kindly to it this time. One reason is that knowing the big reveal in advance means we're not going to snort in derision when it arrives. Another is the performance of J. Carrol Naish, who really commits himself to a role that probably doesn't deserve it. We are meant to feel pity for Noel, since he didn't ask for what happened to him, and Nash does the best anyone could reasonably have done with it; nevertheless the premise is so absurd that it's hard to take any of it seriously.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">But here's a question: why should this particular premise strike us as ridiculous? After all, you and I have been sitting up late at night, week in and week out, watching movies about monsters made of sewn-together corpses, and people who transform into bats when they're not drinking blood and sleeping in coffins, and guys who turn into wolfmen, and mummified corpses that spring to life and chase people around. What does this movie ask of us that the others don't?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Perhaps the problem<i> </i>isn't that the premise is too broad; perhaps it's too narrow. We can imagine black magic or alchemy turning a gorilla into a man; it's hard to imagine any amount of surgery (not to mention shaving) that could accomplish such a feat. After all, surgery could conceivably alter a gorilla to resemble a man in some fashion, and it might even grant the gorilla the physical attributes needed to speak, but it seems extremely unlikely that an ape's mind could be similarly altered to resemble that of a human (however, if the latter <i>were</i> possible, that feat alone would be a Nobel-worthy discovery). It's never clearly explained <i>why</i> Dr. Renault wants to undertake such a project in the first place (he apparently hasn't published anything he's learned from these experiments), except to simply prove that he can make a gorilla pass for a man. But it doesn't really make sense; it would be like someone trying to surgically alter a camel so that it can pass for a horse. Even if it's possible, what's the point?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Motive was always a weak link with movies like this. I'm sure it made mad scientist movies easy to write; motive was built into the character. If anyone asks, "Well, that's silly. Why would he do that? What's the motive?" the answer is always the same: "Well, he's a mad scientist. That's what they <i>do</i>". The same tactic is used these days for serial killer movies. "Um, why does Jigsaw kidnap people and force them to take part in ghastly, sadistic games?" "Hey listen, he's a serial killer. That's what they<i> do</i>."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxovlUOzQwyle7Z8e79ke42v1A9qakGNPQomgZz6D5pltJG7Me8LOC70bP4qgvQXu3lSDX5Lon2NBrujYINs1_ec3OA25uI2lsrMzNBTmJUaexuTwHLMLnKTUCaODqn4dOJ4CNByLZcaw/s1600/renault1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxovlUOzQwyle7Z8e79ke42v1A9qakGNPQomgZz6D5pltJG7Me8LOC70bP4qgvQXu3lSDX5Lon2NBrujYINs1_ec3OA25uI2lsrMzNBTmJUaexuTwHLMLnKTUCaODqn4dOJ4CNByLZcaw/s1600/renault1.jpg" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Three Strangers</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKHvovkcN5zC7ZEpyQiP7kdNqV764ijVbcHuIahM874asIko70tdckl3e_mlhb2vc3nLqMwtoyAh1nRt5hCAgXhFAsNEainlUzjNN72nIL-iMn2mxdZ5zGnqYsTSKdjHAsFSoNpwyMzTM/s1600/3strangers1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKHvovkcN5zC7ZEpyQiP7kdNqV764ijVbcHuIahM874asIko70tdckl3e_mlhb2vc3nLqMwtoyAh1nRt5hCAgXhFAsNEainlUzjNN72nIL-iMn2mxdZ5zGnqYsTSKdjHAsFSoNpwyMzTM/s1600/3strangers1.jpg" /></a></b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /><br /><b>Synopsis</b>: <i>London barrister Jerome K. Arbutny (Sydney Greenstreet) is walking along the street when he meets beautiful Crystal Shackleford (Geraldine Fitzgerald). After a bit of flirtatious small talk, she invites him up to her apartment. Once there, he is dismayed to find another man already there, a cheerful tippler named Johnny West (Peter Lorre). Johnny was lured up to her apartment with the same come-hither glance that roped in Arbutny.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><br /></i><i>Crystal reveals the reason for bringing the two men to her apartment. Crystal has in her possession a statue of Kwan Yin, the Chinese goddess of good fortune. According to legend, Crystal says, if three strangers make a wish over the statue at midnight of the Chinese new year, the wish will be granted. If there is one wish they can agree on, they can all share in the good fortune provided by Kwan Yin.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><br /></i><i>Johnny has an Irish sweepstakes ticket, and he suggests they all wish for it to be a winner, then sign an agreement to divide any winnings from the ticket.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><br /></i><i>The others quickly agree to this, and a contract of sorts is hastily written up. The clock strikes midnight as the strangers concentrate on their wish, and it seems for a moment that the statue is smiling at them; but soon the moment is gone and the three go their separate ways.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /><br /><i>We then follow the strangers in turn and discover that each one has arrived at a moment of crisis in their lives. Crystal's estranged husband David (Alan Napier) has fallen in love with a Canadian woman and wants a divorce, but Crystal refuses to grant one. Arbutny has made a series of disastrous investments with money entrusted to him by the widowed Lady Beladon (Rosalind Ivan). Facing professional ruin when the secret gets out, he has recklessly decided to propose marriage to her in order to conceal his financial mismanagement. Meanwhile, Johnny has fallen in with a rough crowd, and he is currently being sought for a crime he didn't commit. His only hope for redemption lies with his girlfriend, the devoted Janet (Marjorie Riordon).</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><br /></i><i>Johnny ends up in the hospital, and only by chance discovers that the Irish sweepstakes ticket won. But unbeknownst to him, Arbutny and Shackleford have each decided, for their own reasons, that Johnny need never know about the money....</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpGlRBl41R6xROQhI03rA8S1ZP5cHb8OSCnX7L2Yl-lGCUaopu3s1cCG4s1GC25TpAtYoLgXjd7JeB4YrGTjcVZQBl6RyeRHLJA1jBCEVaOiMOS1hUHfTDU1cErgh_lA9vs7fafZzggEE/s1600/threestrangers2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpGlRBl41R6xROQhI03rA8S1ZP5cHb8OSCnX7L2Yl-lGCUaopu3s1cCG4s1GC25TpAtYoLgXjd7JeB4YrGTjcVZQBl6RyeRHLJA1jBCEVaOiMOS1hUHfTDU1cErgh_lA9vs7fafZzggEE/s1600/threestrangers2.jpg" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Comments:</b> John Huston co-wrote this gentle fantasy about a magical statue and the lives it changes at midnight of the Chinese New Year. The presence of two of Huston's alums from <i>The Maltese Falcon</i> have led to speculation over the years that it was written as a sequel -- or perhaps a prequel -- to that film, with Mary Astor originally intended to play Crystal. But I have a hard time believing this. The characters in this film don't really resemble <i>The Maltese Falcon's</i> Mr. Gutman, Joel Cairo or Bridget O'Shaughnessy; so it seems more likely that this was just an attempt to bring some familiar screen pairings together in a completely different story. This had already happened once with<i> Casablanca</i>, which reunited Bogart, Greenstreet and Lorre. One big advantage of the old studio system was that you really could create a repertory company that audiences felt familiar with. That might not have helped box office to a great extent, but I'm sure it didn't hurt. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Anyway, this is somewhat more light-hearted fare than we usually see on <i>Horror Incorporated</i>, and it's lovely to see Greenstreet and Lorre together. Greenstreet's portrayal of the fussy attorney Arbutny is quite winning, and Lorre plays to perfection the part of the good-natured loser who has a chance to be redeemed by the love of a good woman. Geraldine Fitzgerald is quite convincing as Crystal, who's willing to bet on the supernatural in order to keep the man she loves from leaving her. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Yeah yeah, it's not horror. So what? We've seen a lot of stuff that doesn't qualify as horror on this show. <i>Three Strangers</i> is a nice movie, okay? We'll get back to drinking blood and sewing together corpses next week.</span><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7589405220008327551.post-80523354718961870812015-06-06T16:52:00.000-05:002015-06-06T18:08:29.113-05:00Friday, June 2, 1972: Behind the Mask (1932) <i> </i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYEtJ8G7pPyGOSyl0o-x-PvUSAv8NkmbG919x3xe9OZFwnweOHS6gmFctWf2nUxa7bhUM19HEVZMUllgwEbOEz_dTulSGoSrq4DP94Qrp0mceAn0zjpVp7MHIVDI-ox0OOhztehmiguzQ/s1600/1932behindthemask2.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5556665575843992594" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYEtJ8G7pPyGOSyl0o-x-PvUSAv8NkmbG919x3xe9OZFwnweOHS6gmFctWf2nUxa7bhUM19HEVZMUllgwEbOEz_dTulSGoSrq4DP94Qrp0mceAn0zjpVp7MHIVDI-ox0OOhztehmiguzQ/s400/1932behindthemask2.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 350px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 232px;" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Synopsis:</b> <i>A
Sing Sing inmate named Quinn (Jack Holt) is plotting an escape. His
cellmate Henderson (Boris Karloff) advises against it, claiming that
powerful friends will spring both of them soon if they are patient. But
seeing that Quinn will not be deterred, Henderson tells him how to get
in touch with his associate on the outside, a man named Arnold (Claude
King).</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Quinn’s escape is successful and
he travels to Arnold’s mansion in the country. Arnold seems afraid to
assist Quinn, but is too frightened of his employer, the mysterious drug
kingpin Mr. X, to refuse. He employs Quinn as his chauffer, and Quinn
becomes enamored of Arnold’s beautiful daughter Julie (Constance
Cummings).</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOmWqUZFEcFHM2Cqht05ZGC5jcuzBXrF_C9gty4PFLPyrG_S2Gss_F19HbvOJx-73RSusWbt2zB1hpkEwiY-JAWUZ7F0uAZMNhkNyrm2LdcWgInVT5YEzXgEgvhk26-Nrf2vAXnQiHo34/s1600/behindmask2.jpeg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5556670197441904882" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOmWqUZFEcFHM2Cqht05ZGC5jcuzBXrF_C9gty4PFLPyrG_S2Gss_F19HbvOJx-73RSusWbt2zB1hpkEwiY-JAWUZ7F0uAZMNhkNyrm2LdcWgInVT5YEzXgEgvhk26-Nrf2vAXnQiHo34/s400/behindmask2.jpeg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 194px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 259px;" /></a></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Soon
enough Henderson is released and makes contact with Dr. August Steiner
(Edward Van Sloan), who runs the Eastland Hospital. We learn that
Steiner is also an agent of Mr. X , and he tells Henderson that Mr. X
arranged for him to be incarcerated so long because he was displeased
with him.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Henderson suggests Quinn as the
perfect man to deliver the next drug shipment for the organization.
But as soon as Steiner sees Quinn he knows the man is an undercover
federal agent. Henderson is shocked and angered by this revelation.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>But
the plan to have Quinn to pick up the shipment via seaplane goes
forward. After Quinn delivers the drugs to a ship at sea, Henderson
instructs Quinn to take off and then bail out – the boat, he says, will
come to his location and pick him up. Quinn, sensing that this is an
attempt to dupe him, quickly “rigs a dummy”, attaches it to the parachute and tosses it overboard so that Henderson will think it’s him.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>But
before long Steiner captures Quinn himself. He plans on disposing of
the federal agent in his usual manner – by getting him admitted to his
hospital and subjecting him to an unnecessary – and fatal – operation….</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Comments: </b>After years of laboring as an extra or a walk-on in Hollywood movies, Boris Karloff won a prominent role in Howard Hawks' 1931 drama <i>The Criminal Code</i>. This led to a couple of other substantial roles, including the monster in James Whale's<i> Frankenstein.</i> Karloff worked on <i>Behind the Mask</i> after shooting on <i>Frankenstein</i> wrapped but before it was released. <i>Frankenstein's</i> success greatly changed the trajectory of the 44-year-old actor's career. His sudden stardom allowed the lanky Englishman to appear, improbably, as the lead in a number of films, often billed simply as "Karloff". In the case of <i>Behind the Mask </i>the horror elements were played up in the promotional material, and Karloff himself was hyped far more prominently than his role warranted (in fact most of the movie posters feature a glowering Karloff, suggesting that he -- and not Everett Van Sloan -- is the film's antagonist). This is a time-honored cheat that movie studios engage in -- it happened to Lugosi all the time, really -- and the tactic isn't employed too egregiously here.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Of course the most infamous use of this trick was the dismal Dudley Moore comedy <i>Best Defense</i> (1984);
hoping to cash in on the sudden stardom of comedian Eddie Murphy, who
had a small role, Paramount's marketing campaign strongly insinuated
that he and Moore were co-stars. In fact the Murphy scenes were quickly shot and tacked on after the film had tested poorly with audiences, making the deception that much worse.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Karloff actually does have a fairly large role in <i>Behind the Mask</i>, though the character he plays, Henderson, is simply a lackey of the mysterious Dr. X. One interesting thing about the film is that it gives us a pretty clear picture of what Karloff's career would have looked like had he never been offered a role in <i>Frankenstein</i>: he would have played endless variants of the Henderson character. Karloff would have been remembered -- if he was remembered at all -- as a character actor who specialized in underworld middle-men, gaunt crooks in cheap suits, and half-smart grifters. In the end, he ended up playing the mad scientist over and over again; but at least he was a leading man in such films.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7589405220008327551.post-90627326401102515652015-05-17T16:00:00.001-05:002015-05-17T16:00:15.604-05:00Saturday, May 27, 1972: Chamber of Horrors (1966) / The Man They Could Not Hang (1939)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDuEHAXTScbaJnTLL6wOvrx96jBQWOoWTBW4JP7oeIAqE-ynOXeThI0uOFiaLr9g6yGo6VElhO4ZQSVSsm1gNDRlZlYH-vjlkaMzTUUrUu9JbgLYFu7UUhtuHAMGBp_yMlcZc0YWnxvtg/s1600/chamber1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDuEHAXTScbaJnTLL6wOvrx96jBQWOoWTBW4JP7oeIAqE-ynOXeThI0uOFiaLr9g6yGo6VElhO4ZQSVSsm1gNDRlZlYH-vjlkaMzTUUrUu9JbgLYFu7UUhtuHAMGBp_yMlcZc0YWnxvtg/s1600/chamber1.jpg" width="210" /></a></i></div>
<i><b>Synopsis:</b> Late one night in turn of the 20th century Baltimore, a lunatic named Jason Cravatt (Patrick O'Neal) forces a minister at gunpoint to perform a marriage ceremony. We quickly discover that the bride is a corpse, her glassy eyes open, and as soon as Cravatt has tied the knot, he takes the woman's body away, lovingly placing a wedding band on her finger.</i><br />
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<i>It turns out that Cravatt is a serial strangler with a weakness for statuesque blondes, but this time the police arrive quickly enough to capture him. In handcuffs, he is taken away to stand trial.</i><br />
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<i>But before he can be delivered into the hands of the judicial machine, Cravatt manages to chop off his handcuffed hand and vanish. With money and a suave demeanor he is able to elude police and make friends, most of whom are statuesque blondes. He also has a wooden cover made for his mutilated wrist, which can accommodate a hook, a meat cleaver, a knife, and other attachments.</i><br />
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<i>The police, having lost the trail, turn to the proprietors of a wax museum dedicated to chronicling the most lurid murders in history. Anthony Draco (Cesare Danova) and Harold Blount (Wilfrid Hyde-White) are regarded as experts on the criminal mind, and they act as consulting detectives on the case. But can they guess the killer's next move in time to save his next victim?</i><br />
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<b>Comments</b>: Before we dive into this cinematic oddity, I need to make a small confession. I don't always have 100% confidence that the movie listed in the newspaper is the same movie that was broadcast on <i>Horror Incorporated.</i><br />
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Last-minute substitutions were always a possibility, and without any actual records from the television station itself there's no way for me to independently verify what was broadcast. Fortunately for us, out-and-out substitutions occurred very infrequently and we can be fairly certain that a movie called <i>Chamber of Horrors </i>played on the night of Saturday, May 27, 1972.<br />
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The problem is that there are a number of movies with the title <i>Chamber of Horrors;</i> and the TV station itself didn't write the description that appeared in the newspaper. Newspapers in those days (and even these days, I suppose) subscribed to a TV listing service. These services gave one-sentence descriptions of movies and TV episodes that newspapers could plug in to their daily schedule. It's a system that works pretty well, assuming the description you have at hand is for the right movie. But if<i> Horror Incorporated </i>played the 1940 movie with that title, or the 1962 movie with that title (as they did previously), we will never know.<br />
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So, with that caveat, let's take a look at this particular <i>Chamber of Horrors</i>. It was directed by Hy Averback, a producer who worked mostly in television and who went on to have a very successful career with shows like <i>F Troop</i> and <i>M*A*S*H</i>. This film was originally conceived as a pilot for a TV series called <i>House of Wax</i>. Draco and Blount were the ostensible leads, using their encyclopedic knowledge of the history of crime to solve the bizarre murders that baffled the Baltimore Police Department. <br />
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Most pilots, of course, never get picked up as series, and this was no exception. Though quite tame by today's standards it was probably considered a bit too ghoulish for network TV of the time. It's clear that some additional scenes were shot to pad the running time (Tony Curtis, a big star of the 1950s who was scraping bottom by the middle of the next decade, appears in a pointless cameo), thus making the film suitable for theatrical release. Also added was a zany, William Castle-esque gimmick -- the "fear flash" and the "horror horn". This was breathlessly promoted as an aid to the more nervous members of the audience -- when the screen began flashing red and the horror horn started honking, faint-of-heart viewers were encouraged to look away because something really, really, gruesome was about to happen.<br />
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The problem with the gimmick is that nothing gruesome is ever shown on screen. For example, the screen starts flashing red and the repetitive tone starts bonging before Cravatt hacks off his own hand in order to escape. But all we see is a closeup of Cravatt's deranged face as he does the deed, and no actual blood or viscera is shown.<br />
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Hammer films were a whole lot bloodier, and they were in theaters a decade before <i>Chamber of Horrors. </i> But we should make allowances. This was originally shot for network TV, and in 1966 the networks still held strongly to the idea that when someone turned on a television, they were inviting a guest into their home; and presumably guests aren't supposed to use foul language or start spurting blood all over the place.<br />
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But in many ways <i>Chamber of Horrors</i> is reminiscent of the movies that Hammer made in its salad days. For something intended for TV it has pretty impressive production values, and the whole thing is beautifully photographed. The 19th-century backdrop is so well rendered we could imagine Terence Fisher directing it. <br />
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The cast is interesting, if not uniformly solid. Patrick O'Neal seems to be enjoying himself as Cravatt, and Wilford Hyde-White's Blount is very reminiscent of a Hammer films character, as is Cesare Danova's Draco. Somewhat weaker is Wayne Rogers as a Baltimore detective, and the other characters are rather flat and forgettable. It's all rather messy as a feature film, and we can't fault the TV networks for passing on it. All the same, the overall look is quite impressive. <br />
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<i>The Man They Could Not Hang</i><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHipPNNc-eby_HoaaPL2khgIkEYDnl3gx5vWgm5O3eeu-tJeND7O1c5DF_92QuUPjRvgxC8FSh2hJL4tgyLIA7OhD51DhK-Uaf2uZB3sD8eg4Xe-MvZUQuwmF7blS9u8xgSnxfMLRqyFI/s1600/hang1.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562592763684746466" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHipPNNc-eby_HoaaPL2khgIkEYDnl3gx5vWgm5O3eeu-tJeND7O1c5DF_92QuUPjRvgxC8FSh2hJL4tgyLIA7OhD51DhK-Uaf2uZB3sD8eg4Xe-MvZUQuwmF7blS9u8xgSnxfMLRqyFI/s400/hang1.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 259px;" /></a><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Synopsis:</span> <i>Dr. Henryk Savaard (Boris Karloff) is a brilliant doctor as well as a great humanitarian. He has designed a machine that will keep the blood circulating in a patient's body even when the heart has stopped. This is used in tandem with a coffin-like chamber that chills the body. With the body thus in a state of suspended animation, doctors can operate on a patient at their leisure.</i><br />
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<i>With the assistance of his friend Dr. Lang (Byron Foulger), Savaard enlists his lab assistant Bob (Stanley Brown) to test the machine. Their plan is to stop Bob's heart, use the machine to circulate his blood for a time, then restore him to life. But the police burst in during the experiment. Finding Bob's heart not beating, the coroner declares him dead and Savaard is arrested for murder.</i><br />
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<i>At his trial Savaard tries to explain his methods, but the jury is unimpressed. He is convicted and sentenced to hang. Embittered, Savaard vows to take vengeance on the judge, prosecutor, defense attorney and all twelve jurors .</i><br />
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<i>On death row, Savaard arranges to have his body turned over to Dr. Lang after the hanging. </i><br />
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<i><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTfLIHFqowdw3E3ZeBSurX8fMsB9hzWu2x1ckx5IxPaTWz6OuDAFMwlK7LNueYSUsYSWOV2luolQR9RAbBL60eV0bGptc59whNQyMIpg4vUJU90bRC2siFn9ESVivXIMkgJ5SHJ63AMyk/s1600/hang2.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562630343732264162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTfLIHFqowdw3E3ZeBSurX8fMsB9hzWu2x1ckx5IxPaTWz6OuDAFMwlK7LNueYSUsYSWOV2luolQR9RAbBL60eV0bGptc59whNQyMIpg4vUJU90bRC2siFn9ESVivXIMkgJ5SHJ63AMyk/s400/hang2.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 183px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 275px;" /></a><br />The prison chaplain makes a final visit to his cell in the hours before his execution, but Savaard seems unconcerned, even haughty, about facing death. Within the hour Savaard is hanged and his body is handed over to Dr. Lang. </i><br />
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<i> Months later, a reporter notices something peculiar: six of the jurors in the Savaard case have apparently committed suicide. Soon he learns that the surviving jurors -- as well as the judge, prosecutor and defense attorney -- have been invited to a mysterious house. Going to investigate, the reporter learns that he and the invitees are trapped inside. Dr. Savaard's voice comes over a hidden loudspeaker, telling his guests that they will die one by one, every fifteen minutes. Moreover, no one will ever suspect Savaard because he has the perfect alibi: he's already dead.... </i><br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Comments: </span><i>The Man They Could Not Hang</i> was one of a number of mad scientist pictures starring Boris Karloff that Columbia made between 1939 and 1940. They were formulaic movies, and perhaps the most remarkable thing about them is how similar they are to one another. In each of these films, Boris Karloff played a kindly scientist whose important research is upended by a pack of paternalistic busybodies; as a result his line of research is ruined and he decides to take revenge on the parochial ninnies who thwarted him. In this picture, the police intrude on an experiment in suspended animation. The cops think the test subject (Savaard's own lab assistant Bob) is dead, and they remove him from the cryogenic tank. This results in Bob's actual death, for which Dr. Savaard is put on trial. Embittered, Savaard swears vengeance against the judge, jury and prosecutor who rule against him.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD7NpGm_oqfzXtEsCNFbQ3_QFYNsxdJSB8c4Stv8kQ1pa-DBqfyKwmjy2xcCuj72748TvxB3e5hLdriXXeL6lsXZCzIJzF4YjvlqyK6MmviaSNshwtG7djrjqYZgPJ99v7Eo4ep5BJS6A/s1600/hang4.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563355317822904450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD7NpGm_oqfzXtEsCNFbQ3_QFYNsxdJSB8c4Stv8kQ1pa-DBqfyKwmjy2xcCuj72748TvxB3e5hLdriXXeL6lsXZCzIJzF4YjvlqyK6MmviaSNshwtG7djrjqYZgPJ99v7Eo4ep5BJS6A/s400/hang4.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
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We can infer that the decision to make Bob the fiancee of Dr. Savaard's daughter Janet is designed to up the emotional ante, to make his death more of a blow to Dr. Savaard personally. But this decision is undercut somewhat by Dr. Savaard's use of Bob as the test subject in the first place. For all his confidence in the procedure, Savaard had to know that something could have gone wrong; and in fact something <i>did</i> go wrong. He might choose to blame the meddling police and the small-minded doctors who pronounced Bob dead in the cryogenic chamber, but Savaard still bears some measure of responsibility. <br />
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But we need to go easy on the screenwriters here, because they have a pretty difficult task placed before them. Kindly humanitarians aren't easily turned into stone-cold killers out for revenge --- especially when the targets are guilty not of malice, but simple ignorance.<br />
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The best revenge stories put their heroes through Job-like punishments and when the victims finally decide to launch their vendetta we are right with them. We root for Edmond Dantes in <i>The Count of Monte Cristo</i> not because we're into payback, but because he has been so cruelly and thoroughly betrayed that we want the injustice to be righted and the perpetrators to be punished. In <i>The Man They Could Not Hang</i> we are supposed to buy into Dr. Savaard's anger just enough to believe that he feels payback is warranted. At the same time, we're also supposed to understand that what he is doing is wrong and hope that he doesn't succeed. Any movie built on such a wobbly foundation isn't going to be entirely successful. But to its credit, the movie runs it by us so quickly that we don't have a lot of time to think about it.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7589405220008327551.post-10595048938305631022015-04-28T21:05:00.000-05:002015-04-28T21:05:00.956-05:00Friday, May 26, 1972: The Black Sleep<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_LG8_IlT12LW-cOFr30o9IEagPBgpANcI3boQiTYlIAEL0KfXuIqt1ZuOeLq4ok2P8UpS_xE-vjATX1ondc7VfpZQv0-mbgFR_DNQxz_dpFYR84SgYuFgHMx4ftUhFe1ww1KIXybcez8/s1600/black_sleep_poster_02.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_LG8_IlT12LW-cOFr30o9IEagPBgpANcI3boQiTYlIAEL0KfXuIqt1ZuOeLq4ok2P8UpS_xE-vjATX1ondc7VfpZQv0-mbgFR_DNQxz_dpFYR84SgYuFgHMx4ftUhFe1ww1KIXybcez8/s320/black_sleep_poster_02.jpg" gsa="true" height="251" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br /></span>
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b>Synopsis:</b>
Dr. Gordon Angus Ramsey (Herbert Rusley) has been convicted of murder.
On the eve of his hanging, he is visited by one of his old medical
school professors, Sir Joel Cadman. Ramsey swears to Cadman that he
didn't commit the crime, and Cadman seems sympathetic. He gives Ramsey a
vial of powder and instructs him to mix the powder with water and drink
before dawn on the morning of his hanging. This, Cadman promises, will
put him in a such a state of torpor that he will not be aware of the
hanging at all. He also assures Ramsey that his body won't be turned
over to the medical college for dissection, as is normally done with
convicts' bodies; instead, the body will be turned over to Dr. Cadman
himself.</span></i><br />
<i><br /></i><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">When
the guards come for Ramsey the next morning they find his dead body
lying in the cell. The body is transferred to Dr. Cadman, who once back
at his lab gives it an injection. At once the body goes into
convulsions; minutes later, Dr. Ramsey has come back to life.</span></i><br />
<i><br /></i><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">This,
Dr. Cadman tells an astonished Ramsey, is the work of an ancient
drug known as the Black Sleep; it perfectly simulates death; and as long
as the antidote is given within 24 hours, the patient can be revived. A
grateful Ramsey agrees to assist Dr. Cadman with his brain research.</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br /></span>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">While
at the Cadman estate, Ramsey witnesses young Laurie (Patricia Blair)
being attacked by a wild-eyed patient, Mungo (Lon Chaney, Jr). Mungo
seems deranged and is apparently carries a visceral hatred for Laurie.
Ramsey tells Cadman that Mungo reminds him of someone he once knew,
Professor Monroe, who was one of his instructors in college. Cadman
tells him that Mungo is indeed Professor Monroe; moreover, Laurie is his
daughter.</span></i><br />
<i><br /></i><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Dr.
Ramsey assists in experimenting with the brain of a cadaver when he
notices cerebral fluid running down the surface of the brain. How can
this happen on a cadaver? he asks Cadman. It isn't a cadaver, Dr.
Cadman replies. The man they are experimenting on is alive, kept in a
state of suspended animation by the Black Sleep.</span></i><br />
<i><br /></i><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">When
Dr Ramsey protests, Cadman tells him that this is the only way to
conduct the research that will benefit all mankind. He reminds him that
Dr. Monroe will benefit when he is able to unlock the mysteries of the
human brain; so will Dr. Cadman's wife, who has been in a trance-like
state since a brain injury.</span></i><br />
<i><br /></i><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">But
little does Dr. Ramsey know that Cadman was the one who arranged for
him to be tried and convicted of murder, in order to recruit him as an
assistant in his ghoulish experiments....</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b>Comments:</b> This is the third broadcast of <i>The Black Sleep</i> on Horror Incorporated, and I don't really have much more to say about it than in my previous posts on the film. I looked up external reviews on IMDB to see if I could find a contrary opinion that I might argue with, but there seems to be a drowsy consensus on this mid-50s indie production: it's seen as a clear homage and throwback to Universal's golden age of horror, but nevertheless a rather dreary production that comes up short on delivering the goods.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><a href="http://fantasticmoviemusings.com/2014/11/07/the-black-sleep-1956/">Dave Sindelar notes its similarity to <i>The Unearthly</i></a>, which also featured John Carradine and Tor Johnson; he also expresses a dislike for Akim Tamiroff's performance, which he called "a little over-the-top", which is quite an accomplishment for someone in the same movie as John Carradine.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><a href="http://moria.co.nz/horror/black-sleep-1956.htm">Richard Scheib found it "talky and static"</a>, allowing that the early scenes "create a (relative) sense of medically grounded realism" but that before long the movie is undermined by its own cliches - "the ethically-challenged scientist; a madman (Lon Chaney, Jr) in the house; a mute retainer (Bela Lugosi); deformities of failed experiments kept in the cellar; a scientist's innocent daughter needing saving; laboratories improbably hidden beneath swiveling fireplaces in the library." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The only participant who gets away relatively unscathed is Basil Rathbone, whose authoritative delivery made him a natural for these late-period mad scientist pictures; one can imagine him stepping into one of Hammer's Frankenstein productions had Peter Cushing been unavailable. In fact, <a href="http://www.1000misspenthours.com/reviews/reviewsa-d/blacksleep.htm">Scott Ashlin does imagine it</a>, saying:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">[I}t’s too bad Rathbone got pigeonholed so early on as Sherlock Holmes.
He had a commanding elegance about him akin to that later displayed by
Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, and which nobody else on the 30’s and
40’s horror scene could match. Lionel Atwill and John Carradine came
close on occasion, but Atwill was always a little too foppish and
Carradine a little too homespun to play the depraved Old World nobleman
with Rathbone’s authority; neither of them would have been up to the
challenge of<i> Tower of London'</i>s Richard III, for example. As Joe Cadman, Rathbone simultaneously
prefigures the Cushing Frankenstein, and hints at all the brilliant mad
movie scientists that might have been if only Rathbone hadn’t been so
busy chasing Nazi agents all over the English moors during the years of
the second Hollywood horror boom.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Interestingly, Scheib claims that Lugosi worked on <i>The Black Sleep</i> after Ed Wood shot his home-movie-esque footage for <i>Plan 9 From Outer Space</i> (1959); I'm not sure of the timeline myself, but either way it seems clear that this was Lugosi's last screen role, and not <i>Plan 9</i>, as is often claimed.</span><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2