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It has a snappy storyline, and comes across as a lot "glossier" than most of Universal's earlier horror films. It also manages to convey a degree of sympathy for the Larry Talbot character, a successful device in many of the good werewolf films. |
I particularly like the Universal horror films.
The Wolfman is my favorite. I also like The Creature From The Black Lagoon, The Bride Of Frankenstein ( scared the hell out of me!), Dracula and The Creeper ( Rondo Hatton). http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/f...annyLou2-4.jpg Countess Marya |
Countess Marya's Favorite Universal Horrors!
Good morning!
Let me get over here to my old creaky chair and sit down. OK! Dress straightened, glass of claret in hand , shawl on ( it's sort of cool here) and granny reading glasses on. Here are my favorite Universal horror films. 1) The Wolfman 2) The Creature From The Black Lagoon 3) The Bride Of Frankenstein 4) Dracula (1931) 5) Dracula's Daughter ( Marya Zaleska, my pseudoname here at the forum) 6) The Brute man ( The Creeper - Rondo Hatton) 7)Frankenstein 8) The Werewolf Of London 9) The Invisible man 10) Son Of Dracula 11) The Black cat 12) The raven 13) The Mummy 14) House of Dracula 15) The Inner Sanctum series with Lon Chaney, Jr. The problem is that I like most of them, just some better than the others. Well, thanks for listening! http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/f...hHerPipe-4.jpg Countess Marya |
favorites ...
I love this. You never hear people mention Rondo Hatton in conversation anymore. (I did try to organize a Rondo Hatton look alike contest once, but for some reason it just didn't catch on.)
Personally, I've always been partial to the extended-monster-family films. BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN is magnificent. (I've always thought Tod Browning incredibly overrated -- I know, I know, an unpopular sentiment. But James Whale! Now there's a genius.) DRACULA'S DAUGHTER may not have a whole lot going for it -- the plot fairly creaks -- except for Gloria Holden ... who is more than enough to carry the film. Such presence. One of the great horror performances. SON OF DRACULA probably qualifies as one of those indefensible secret vices, which one would never dream of giving up. Chaney is certainly no Lugosi. (And has anyone else noticed that the title means nothing?) But the film generates an almost deliriously fatalistic atmosphere, as though everyone involved with it had suddenly lost their minds ... to the audiences' delight. As for the others, nothing really compares with THE MUMMY. It's elegant, obsessive, chilling. Karloff and Zita Johann bring a level of artistry to their performances that always seemed (to me) representative of the best that Universal had to offer. Karl Freund, the director, was actually responsible for those Gothic moments in DRACULA that most people remember with such fondness. (He'd been the cinematographer on that film. The later, clumsy, pedestrian sequences, where interesting things always seem to be happening just off screen, are much more typical of Browning's talking pictures: poor soul never really got comfortable with the technology.) And David Manners and Edward van Sloan are both on hand from the earlier film to further enhance the similarities, their performances considerably more polished now. Plus I have my caveats. THE WOLFMAN is entertaining but principally because of its production values. Chaney is a pathetic, hulking lump of an actor, alcoholic, violent, xenophobic. (And, one hears, when in his cups "sexually confused." Oh dear.) And if tiny, elegant Claude Rains was meant to be his father, what the hell are we to assume that mom looked like? But Chaney does bring a convincing pathology to the role (especially if it's viewed as a metaphor for alcoholic blackouts). The forthcoming remake of CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON is generating a lot of interest just now, but the original remains just a mildly amusing (and mildly embarrassing) trifle, certainly not in a league with the studio's earlier masterworks. Just my two cents. It's wonderful to see how much discussion this topic has generated. Years ago, I reviewed a book called UNIVERSAL HORRORS, the Studio's Classic Films, 1931-1946 (by Michael Brunas, John Brunas and Tom Weaver). I heartily recommend it to anyone with a real interest in cinema history. And Mark Vieira's "HOLLYWOOD HORROR from Gothic to Cosmic" is truly brilliant as is "PROJECTED FEARS" by Kendall Phillips. (Okay, so Kendall is a friend -- it's still an awesome book.) |
The best:
Bride of Frankenstein Dracula Frankenstein The Invisible Man The Phantom of the Opera Dracula's Daughter The Mummy The Mummy's Hand Fun: Son of Frankenstein The Wolf Man Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man House of Dracula The Mummy's Tomb The Mummy's Ghost The Mummy's Curse Creature from the Black Lagoon Bad: Ghost of Frankenstein House of Frankenstein Revenge of the Creature Haven't Seen: Son of Dracula Werewolf of London Invisible Man Returns Invisible Agent The Creature Walks Among Us Phantom of Opera (Claude Rains version) |
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http://www.judexfanzine.net/v1/imatg...-DRACULA-2.jpg http://exclamationmark.files.wordpre...ewoflondon.jpg |
I know, pathetic, isn't it? And I actually have Son of Dracula as part of the Dracula Legacy set, plus I taped Werewolf of London off AMC's Monsterfest a couple years back. I just haven't ever gotten around to watching them.
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Werewolf of London is riddled with holes, but the makeup and Warner Oland are both great. Valerie Hobson, however, is one of the most irritating actresses I've ever seen. She's the only actor in Bride of Frankenstein that I'm displeased with. I understand she was a teenager at the time, but still she's nails on a chalkboard. I think the Wolfman has much more going for it than Freudian elements and good production values. I think Lon Chaney Jr. proves he could have been the actor his father was with this movie. Claude Rains exudes paternal tenderness (although yes, he must have married Julie Strain to have a son the size of Lon) and simultaneously shows all the elements of being the lord of a cursed house. Siodmak mentioned that this was meant to be like Greek tragedy and the civilized propriety and obsessive rationality Rains has shows the hubris of the modern patriarch trying to stand up against Artemis and Dionyssus alike. But, instead of through the eyes of a rational, Freudian Creon, we get to see through the viewpoint of a man haunted by the last vestiges of the earth's magic. The gypsy, the anima, the overlooked Cassandra ends up knowing the score and its beautiful. There's a hint of the Wicker Man in it all.
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Son of Dracula is a good film, but Lon Chaney Jr always strikes me as being too well fed to be a member of the traditionally gaunt undead.
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