Then and Now

[someoldguy]

For whatever reason, my mind has been going back to the late 1950s, and the Saturday morning movies my prepubescent self attended religiously as if it were some profane church thing. I got a whopping fifty cents from my parents, half of that for admission and the other half for candy, soda and similar vices. And that first quarter dollar bought two feature films, usually at least one of them (and often both) either horror or science fiction, preceded by cartoons, a serial, Movietone News and some stupid short that all the kids made fun of. If the choice at the nearest theater was less than satisfactory, there were no less than four more theaters in not excessive walking distance.

And so my later childhood was deeply colored by the likes of I was a Teenage Werewolf, Curse of Frankenstein, Godzilla, Horror of Dracula, Rodan, The Mysterians, Forbidden Planet (a genuine SF classic), The Incredible Shrinking Man (ditto), The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, The Blob and countless more hour and a half long escapes from living in the tenements and playing on the sidewalks of Brooklyn and the crowded halls and classrooms of Catholic school. Never mind that there were a thousand other kids watching that same movie. I was in that movie.

I never lost my love for this kind of movie even though I have much less reason for needing to escape life these days. Now it is just fun for its own sake. Yet after a lifetime of viewing, I find myself far more critical of a movie that those innocent years when I was willing to accept pretty much anything that was different from everyday life. Sometimes I miss that innocence. Ah ou sont les neiges d'antan.

[someoldguy]

In the first post I talked about my fascination in the 1950s with the horror and science fiction movies I saw in the theaters back then. Older movies, especially of the horror variety, that I heard tell of fascinated me in the same way that the old EC horror comics (Tales From The Crypt etc.) did. (With rare exceptions, science fiction films pre-1950 were epitomized by Flash Gordon serials, which I had seen.) By the time I managed to get my hands on them, those EC comics had been driven off the stands by the Comic Book Code and could only be found in the possession of older kids. I got this sense of a ‘golden age’ of horror that I was too young to have participated in. This same feeling arose when I was told about Dracula and other old movies that were no longer being re-released. (Shock Theater on WABC-TV would later help to rectify that lack. Likewise, a too short lived 9 PM Saturday program on WOR-TV which showed non-Universal horror movies.)

With that notion in mind, I would like to revisit and comment on some horror movies that were made before I was born. In the not yet faded spirit of Halloween, I have 31 titles in mind, in honor of the date of the ghost and ghoul festival. Some I did not see or even know of until years later but nonetheless fit into my theme. I will not claim that these are the best horror films of that era, just comment worthy. Neither will I attempt to rank them. They will be presented simply in chronological order by year of release.

The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari (1920)
Ah yes, German Expressionism where reality itself is strange and twisted and as unfamiliar as if in a dream (nightmare). And the earliest ‘monster abducts beautiful girl’ plot element I know of.

Nosferatu (1922)
The unauthorized Dracula movie with the names changed to protect the guilty. Ordered destroyed by the court for copyright infringement, a few copies luckily managed to escape that fate. German Expressionism is definitely present but not as almost universally so as in Caligari. This makes its use even more effective, especially in the chiaroscuro style use of dark and light. Still scary today if one sets modern expectations aside.

The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
Lon Chaney (Senior) at his best, with his mastery of the dark drama obtainable from silent movie acting conventions and the makeup he designed and applied himself, revealed in the famous unmasking scene but kept hidden from the public until the first showing of the movie.

The Cat and the Canary (1927)
Insane guy threatens damsel in distress in a big scary house with secret passages and such. Sounds overdone and even hackneyed today but this is where it started. It is also where Universal started in the horror trade. Some creepy stuff here if, again, one drops modern expectations. The influence of German Expressionism can be seen here and there in the film.

Dracula (1931)
Lugosi at his finest, ably supported by Edward Van Sloan and Dwight Frye. Need I say more about this classic?

Frankenstein (1931)
Karloff invents a legendary character. Colin Clive is the perfect not quite mad scientist. Plus Van Sloan and Frye are once again just right for their parts. For many years only the Code cut re-release version was available, which was unfortunate as the two cuts, brief as they were, were important to the movie.

SPOILER: Click to show

In the cut version, there is a jump in the screen image after the “It’s alive!” bit. Dr. Frankenstein continues with “In the name of God, now I know what it feels like to be God!” An important element in establishing his hubris to contrast with his later remorse and ultimately his quest to destroy his creation.

In the ‘pretty flowers’ scene, the creature is seen reaching for the little girl followed by his anxious stumbling through the forest. The accidental killing of the little girl by throwing her in the lake, expecting her to float as prettily as the flowers, was deemed unacceptable by the Hays people. To my mind, the implications of the cut version are worse. What might the creature have done with the little girl that could not be shown, leading to his guilt trip in the forest?

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
Not the first version and certainly not the last. But my favorite. Moviemakers had not yet moved on completely from the silent era acting sensibilities and IMO this made for a good portrayal of the good vs. evil idea as existed in the Victorian era when the novel was written.

The Mummy (1932)
Karloff again. Much of the movie is a bit slow going but worth watching if one has the patience. However, the first part alone is worth the price of admission, especially the eerie awakening segment. That is how to make a scary scene! The ancient Egypt vision is also pretty good as is the showdown ending.

Island of Lost Souls (1932)
Charles Laughton once more paints a vivid portrait of a man as the driven and not quite sane Dr. Moreau. Lugosi’s Sayer of the Law is a memorable character as well.

SPOILER: Click to show

But to me, the best scene is the interaction between the hero and the Panther Woman, where there is an implication that much more happened than could have been committed to film in those days, even pre-code. And that is not the only implication of covertly planned bestiality in the movie.

Freaks (1932)
Weird and disturbing with most of the cast being real ‘freaks’ as in carnival freak show. About a third of the movie was cut before general release because it was so over the top. What is left is strange enough. If you have seen it you know what I mean. If you have not, I will not attempt to describe it.

The story is told that most of the performers in Freaks were not allowed in the studio commissary and were given a tent outside to eat their meals in. Only the more ‘normal’ ones were allowed to eat in public. An anecdote has been circulated for many years that author F. Scott Fitzgerald, then working with MGM on making a movie of one of his books, was so upset at seeing the conjoined twins that he ran outside and vomited. However, I have seen a photo (where is that book?) that shows Fitzgerald eating at the same table with all of the Freaks cast, including both the ‘normal’ and the stranger ones, and showing no signs of discomfiture. According to the text, he preferred eating lunch with them than with the studio ‘suits’ who just wanted to be seen with the famous author.

10 down, 21 to go

[someoldguy]

Continuing my commentary on old horror movies. Why am I doing this? To support my thesis that a movie (especially a horror movie) should be judged on what has been accomplished in terms of the limitations and conventions, technological and otherwise, of its day, and keeping in mind that in the case of old movies what are now stereotypical elements were often being invented at that time.

The Old Dark House (1932)
Talked about this recently in the Haunted Houses thread.
Travelers forced to stay overnight in creepy house with creepy residents.
A cliché these days, but new and fresh then.

Vampyr (1932)
Ostensibly a dream, and indeed it looks and feels like a dark one. Atmospheric and spooky. A vampire movie with a few obvious influences from the previous year’s Dracula. However, much of Vampyr was filmed before Dracula was released.

German Expressionism again. By the time this movie was made that style was becoming passé, especially with the advent of ‘talkies’. Yet the circumstances of filming facilitated the use of that style. The scenes were to be filmed in three different languages. The difficulties of that led to a minimum of dialog and the use of silent film type title cards to move the plot along, entirely amenable to the German Expressionist mode.

Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932)
Actually a murder mystery, as per Edgar Allan Poe’s story, but nicely tinged with horror. Lugosi and an ape star. Both deliver.

White Zombie (1932)
Apparently the first ever zombie movie. Not the returned dead of the post-Romero era but unfortunate people turned into mindless slaves. Not that good of a movie but worthwhile for seeing Lugosi do his inimitable Lugosi thing. Also, occasional snatches of imaginative cinematography - but don’t blink.

The Invisible Man (1933)
Good adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel, with some changes that IMO improve the story. The special effects were considered astonishing at the time. James Whale directed, hitting another home run as he had with Frankenstein and would later with Bride of Frankenstein.

King Kong (1933)
Not a horror movie? Of course it is! Unnatural Being in strange world abducts beautiful woman who is rescued by hero. UB pursues and wreaks havoc until being defeated due to his obsession with the woman. It was Beauty killed the Beast. Godzilla has nothing on this. Rotten Tomatoes puts King Kong at #5 Best Horror Movie.

The great stop motion animation in King Kong was by Willis O’Brien, who would later take Ray Harryhausen under his wing. Harryhausen would then create a long series of fine science fiction and fantasy movies. Just how good O’Brien’s work was can be appreciated by comparing his FX in 1933 with that in the 1976 King Kong movie, which suffers by comparison.

The Black Cat (1934)
Karloff and Lugosi together for the first time. No overt supernatural elements here but lots of chills. One segment in this pre-Code film is shot in B+W of course, in the dark and only in silhouette yet is particularly blood chilling.

SPOILER: Click to show

Karloff has killed Lugosi’s daughter. Lugosi has tied Karloff to a rack and is skinning him alive! Like I said, pre-Code.

Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
The return of James Whale! After years of wheedling by Carl Laemmle, Whale finally consented to do a Frankenstein sequel. And what a sequel! Even better than the original, with a more complex plot. Great performances all around including the inimitable Ernest Thesiger as the really mad scientist.

Werewolf of London (1935)
Before The Wolf Man, there was this. Not the first werewolf movie by a long shot. (Somewhere there is a thread about even earlier ones.) But a good one, even if surpassed by the legendary Wolf Man of 1941. I especially like that each successive transformation seems to make the lycanthropy sufferer more animalistic. This is never mentioned, only noticeable by close observation. Important themes are introduced (or re-introduced from earlier films). The full moon, the angst of the lycanthrope and the idea, which shows up here and there in other movies, that the werewolf instinctively seeks to kill what it loves most.

And there we have another 10, with 11 more to go.

[someoldguy]

Next and last installment to complete the symbolic count of 31. (Ever stop to think that 31, the date of Halloween, is 13 backwards?)

Dracula's Daughter (1936)
In this sequel, Von Helsing is arrested for murdering Dracula. Night Stalker anyone?
Dracula’s Daughter seeks a cure for her vampirism. House of Dracula anyone?
Intentional lesbian overtones. Originally it was intended that Lili would pose nude (not fully seen of course) for artist ‘Countess Zaleska’ but the Code killjoys got in the way.
The Code ‘suits’ also rejected an intended prolog set 500 years earlier where Lugosi would reprise his blood sucking role, disappointing him deeply.

Often criticized but IMO an interesting movie and worth watching.

Son of Frankenstein (1939)
Third in the series, this sequel features wonderfully hammy yet perfectly appropriate performances by Basil Rathbone, Lionel Atwill and Bela Lugosi as ‘not quite dead yet’ Igor. Karloff does the creature again but is not really given any serious opportunities for acting as he did in the first two.

The Devil Bat (1940)
Lugosi seeks revenge against those who cheated him via laboratory created giant bats trained to kill designated persons. Nice ‘mad scientist’ lab setup. Surprisingly decent B movie considering the teensy budgets the new PRC company offered. This is mostly due to Lugosi’s presence but also to reasonably competent if not brilliant acting for the most of the cast and a fairly decent if predictable script.

The Wolf Man (1941)
The werewolf movie that set the standard and influenced generations of movie makers even to the present day. If there is really anyone visiting this site who has not seen it, go hunt it down and see what can be done without gore or CGI or gigantic body counts.

Cat People (1942)
The guys might go wolf but the gal here becomes a panther when her passions are aroused. Talk about sex = death! Good plot, nicely acted, effective direction including the ‘original’ jump scare. I love the dark/light contrasts used throughout the film, chiaroscuro style. The swimming pool scene is just great.

The Undying Monster (1942)
Who is the werewolf mystery? Sturdy if not brilliant British film. In likely imitation of The Wolf Man, it has its own poem.

Son of Dracula (1943)
Lon Chaney Jr. gets to play the Count. This often get badmouthed because he does it differently than Lugosi. But not too shabby. Some memorable scenes, like when they try to shoot Dracula (who is the real thing, not his son).

SPOILER: Click to show

The bullets go through him and kill the girl behind him that you do not see until then because of Chaney’s imposing form.

The Return of the Vampire (1943)
Lugosi was disappointed at not getting the Son of Dracula part in that Universal release. But in this Columbia picture, he gets to do the Count again in all but name. And his servant and protector is a werewolf! (YAY!) BTW The director was named Lew Landers. That same name was used for a TV news person in The Howling.

I Walked with a Zombie (1943)
Produced by Val Lewton, directed by Jacques Tourneur, the same team that did Cat People. And the screenplay is by Curt Siodmak who did the Wolf Man and Lewton regular Ardel Ray. ‘Zombie’ is spooky, atmospheric and downright scary.

Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)
Ostensibly a sequel to Ghost of Frankenstein ( a very odd piece of work to be sure) ‘Meets’ is mostly a sequel to The Wolf Man and a vehicle for Chaney’s Larry Talbot character. His angst is even greater than in the first movie when

SPOILER: Click to show

he realizes he cannot even die and is cursed to be a werewolf forever.

The creature, surprisingly played by Bela Lugosi, is not on screen very much and does little. It is said that much of Lugosi’s work here was rather better but ended on the cutting room floor. The movie was too long, which in those days meant more than 75 minutes, and Chaney’s scenes were too good and too important to the plot to excise. And so Bela was shafted by Universal again.

The Uninvited (1944)
The first genuine ghost movie, where it was not a hoax or a joke. Nicely blood chilling with fine performances by all concerned, especially pros Ray Milland and Ruth Hussey. Good twists and turns as they try to figure out what is motivating the ghosts.

Isle of the Dead (1945)
Another Lewton production with screen play by Ardel Wray. Plague takes its toll. Or is it a demonic creature from Slavic folklore masquerading as human? Suspicion, murder, madness and even premature burial – all can be found here. The movie is nicely atmospheric and driven along by the by now legendary Karloff.

And that completes my list of old horror movies made before I was born. Again the objective was to show that a movie should be judged by what it accomplished within the limits of its day and not by how modern its technology is or how much gore or CGI it employs.