Released in 1934, The Black Cat is unusual for a Universal Studios horror picture because it features none of their signature monsters like Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, the Mummy, or any monsters, at least no supernatural ones. However, The Black Cat does feature the biggest horror stars of the era, Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff giving some of the best performances of their careers. The title card says the movie is “suggested by the immortal Edgar Allan Poe classic” but that claim is more than a stretch as the only thing the plot has in common with the Poe short story is the inclusion of a black cat in one scene. Fortunately, the story invented by screenwriter Peter Ruric and co-writer and director Edgar G. Ulmer makes for a superbly dark and creepy old-school horror picture.
While traveling on the Orient Express through Hungary on their honeymoon, newlyweds Peter (David Manners) and Joan (Julie Bishop) end up sharing a train compartment with Dr. Vitas Werdegast (Bela Lugosi), who is very polite but mysterious. They also share a carriage but after an accident Dr. Vitas takes them to the closest shelter, which happens to be his destination: the home of an “old friend,” Hjalmar Poelzig (Boris Karloff). We learn that Vitas and Poelzig are actually deadly enemies. During the Great War Poelzig betrayed their army, leading to a massacre and Vitas being sent to a prison camp where he says, “the soul is killed slowly.” Poelzig built an elaborate estate on the site of the massacre, kidnapped Vitas’s wife, whose body he keeps preserved in a glass case, and is now married to Vitas’s daughter. Poelzig is also a Satan worshiper and wants to use Joan in a ritual. In short, he is a very bad guy. It is no wonder why Vitas is so set on revenge. Vitas has also been driven mad from his time in the prison camp and is so set on getting vengeance that even learning that his daughter is still alive doesn’t alter his revenge mission.
The highlight of The Black Cat is watching Lugosi and Karloff duel, first with their words and later with their fists. Vitas and Poelzig have a strange respect for each other even though their hatred for each other permeates every scene. Karloff is excellent as the sinister and evil Poelzig. We first see him in silhouette and his tall, gaunt, and slender figure is used to great effect. Karloff’s lilting voice also adds an extra creepy layer to his dialogue. Lugosi gets to be the hero, sort of—anti-hero might be a better description. He has been so overwhelmingly wronged by Poelzig that he has your sympathies even though his plan is to horribly torture Poelzig. His main redeeming quality is that he wants no harm to come to Peter or Joan and goes out of his way to protect Joan (Peter proves to be superfluous, even misunderstanding Vitas’s rescuing Joan). As Vitas, Lugosi brilliantly delivers many wonderful and eerie speeches that do as much to create a chilling atmosphere as the setting and score.
Poelzig’s home is not a creepy gothic castle but a surprisingly modern looking estate. Peter describes it as a “nice, cozy, unpretentious insane asylum.” The lair where Vitas’s wife’s preserved body is kept and the satanic ritual is performed is a mix of dungeon and mad scientist’s lab. Vitas’s torture of Poelzig happens offscreen but still makes you squirm. The Black Cat was made before the puritanical Production Code heavily restricted the content and subject matter of all movies. With its plot dealing with violent revenge, torture, satanism, implied rape, and necrophilia, there’s little chance it could have been made after the code became strictly enforced. Because of this, The Black Cat still retains some surprising shock value even after nearly 90 years. This movie is not nearly as well known or widely seen Dracula (1931)or Frankenstein (1931),but it is as deserving of classic status, and in many ways it is the scarier classic horror movie.
The Black Cat airs on TCM on Halloween at 1:30 PM CT and is currently streaming on the Criterion Channel.
This is my favorite time of year, second only to Christmas. Autumn has arrived, the weather is cooling down, and October becomes the month-long celebration of scary movies called Shocktober. So, for the days leading up Halloween I’ll be posting some horror movie recommendations to help you celebrate Shocktober.
White Zombie has the distinction of being the first Hollywood zombie movie. However, the zombies depicted are not undead flesh eaters, which would not come into existence as we know them until George Romero's landmark film Night of the Living Dead in 1968. These are the original Haitian zombies, which are people who have been drugged, buried, dug up, and hypnotized into mindlessly serving the will of a master. In this movie the zombie master is Bela Lugosi as Murder Legendre. Yes, his character name is actually “Murder.” White Zombie usually gets overlooked as a classic horror movie because it is surprisingly not a Universal horror movie but an independent production. So it doesn't get included with the likes of Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), and The Mummy (1932). Nevertheless, this is an eerie, early horror movie worthy of classic status. It has managed to have a lasting influence, inspiring the name of Rob Zombie’s band and being included in later movies like The Hand That Rocks the Cradle and Rob Zombie’s remake of Halloween (2007).
The protagonists are Neil Parker (John Harron) and his fiancé Madeleine Short (Madge Bellamy) who travel to the West Indies to visit their wealthy friend Charles Beaumont (Robert W. Frazer). Neither knows that Beaumont is so in love with Madeline that he has recruited the sinister Murder Legendre to make her into a zombie that will belong to him. Just after Neil and Madeleine’s wedding, she falls mysteriously ill and dies and is quickly buried. When Neil visits her tomb, he finds it empty. With the help of a local missionary, Dr. Bruner (Joseph Cawthorn), who delivers a lot of exposition about Voodoo and zombies, they figure out the evil plan of Charles and Murder Legendre and the pair set out to rescue Madeleine.
Of course, the approach to the racial and historical background of Haitian zombies is dated and at times condescending. Dr. Bruner refers to Haiti as a place “full of nonsense and superstition…sometimes I don’t know what to think.” However, it is not entirely ignored either. A black carriage driver (Clarence Muse, in an uncredited performance) is the first to recognize the zombies and drives Neil and Madeline to safety. He provides the movie's first description of zombies: “Corpses taken from their graves, who are made to work at the sugar mill fields at night.” Turning Madeline into the titular white zombie to be a beautiful, silent, mindless bride is a deviation of the usual purpose of creating a zombie. The fear of zombies and of becoming a zombie is rooted in slavery and the fear that even after death a slave would still not be free and still be forced to serve a master. Legendre proudly shows off his zombie slaves, each was a rival or someone who wronged him. Now, they are under his hypnotic spell and do his bidding. “They are not worried about long hours,” Legendre says and offers to provide Beaumont with zombie workers. “You could make good use of men like mine on your plantation?” The fate of the native zombies is of no concern to the main characters.
Like many early sound era horror films, White Zombie is heavy on atmosphere. The most memorable and chilling image has to be Lugosi’s sinister, hypnotic eyes superimposed over shots of Madeline, looming over his unsuspecting victim. The island setting and references to Voodoo serve the same purpose as castles and legends in the Universal monster movies, building an eerie atmosphere and making it clear that the main characters are in an unfamiliar land. Lugosi is excellent as the zombie master. After the success of Dracula, Universal offered him the role of the creature in Frankenstein but he turned it down because the character just grunted and never spoke. This is typically viewed as a miscalculation on Lugosi’s part and, allegedly, he took the role in White Zombie to not miss out on another success. However, Lugosi likely made the right choice. His talent for delivering dialogue in a way that is both alluring and menacing is his forte and it is what makes Dracula and White Zombie so creepy and so memorable.
White Zombie is in the public domain so you can easily find it on nearly any streaming service. It is available in both colorized and original black and white versions, but the black and white version streaming on Tubi and Amazon Prime Video has the best picture quality. It will also air on TCM on Monday, October 30th at 9AM CT in quality black and white.
This is my favorite time of year, second only to Christmas. Autumn has arrived, the weather is cooling down, and October becomes the month-long celebration of scary movies called Shocktober. So, for the days leading up Halloween I’ll be posting some horror movie recommendations to help you celebrate Shocktober.
Night 1: Vampire Night
"The vampire. He is still somewhere within this house."
If you’ve seen the Universal Studios 1931 classic Draculaenough times, consider the 1935 film Mark of the Vampire for a change of
pace. Many things about Mark of the Vampire are similar to Dracula,
beginning with the director and vampire: Todd Browning and Bela Lugosi, respectively. Aside
from Lugosi playing a vampiric count who lives in a castle, there is also the
character of the eccentric occult expert, Professor Zelin,
who is similar to Dracula’s Professor Van Helsing. As many similarities
as there are to Dracula, this is actually a remake
of the silent film London After Midnight, which Browning also directed. MGM was known for star studded prestige movies, not for horror
movies and with Mark of the Vampire they were no doubt trying to
recreate Universal’s success with the genre. This would explain the copycat elements, which are not as irksome as they might seem. Mark of the
Vampire is still very enjoyable and its entertainment value is its own.
After an aristocrat is found murdered with two holes on his
neck, both his friend and his doctor believe he has been killed by a vampire
but Inspector Neumann (Lionel Atwell) believes something else is at play. When
the aristocrat’s daughter, Irena (Elizabeth Allan), seems to be the next victim, the eccentric
Professor Zelin (Lionel Barrymore) is called in to help. It takes a while for Zelin to enter the
story (just like Van Helsing in Dracula) but once he does it is clear
that Lionel Barrymore is the real star and he becomes the movie’s driving force.
There is not much “action” in the modern sense but Barrymore’s dialogue delivery
conveys an urgency that creates its own kind of excitement. Most people today
know Lionel Barrymore as mean, old, corrupt Mr. Potter from Frank Capra’s It’s
a Wonderful Life, so it’s interesting to see him as a take-charge hero.
Unlike Dracula, the vampires (Lugosi as Count Mora
and Carroll Borland as his “daughter” Luna) are more side characters with the story’s
focus on the human characters. Lugosi approached the role of Count Mora as a
different take on his signature Dracula. Count Mora is nearly completely silent
and comes across as more of a monster, lacking the sinister allure of Lugosi’s Dracula.
There is plenty of old-fashioned spooky atmosphere thanks to
the frightened villagers, the sets, especially the abandoned castle where Count
Mora and Luna reside, and fog, lots and lots of fog. Of course, many of the
effects are dated (fake bats have never looked good in any era), but they are
just what you want to see in a horror movie from the 1930’s.
There is a plot twist late in the film which might cause
some eye rolls or frustration but it works in large part because it still leads to a satisfying conclusion. Also, it is a trick played on one particular character, not the
audience, and helps solve the mystery. Like many classic era horror movies, Mark
of the Vampire is just over an hour long but packs in so much it feels like
a full-length feature.
Mark of the Vampire airs on TCM Tuesday, October 20th at
7:45AM CT.
This is my favorite time of year, second only to Christmas.
Autumn has arrived, the weather is cooling down, and October becomes the
month-long celebration of scary movies called Shocktober. So, in the days leading up Halloween I’ll be posting some horror movie recommendations to help you celebrate Shocktober.
Night 12: Horror Anthology Night
Poe: “I want to be sure my words will survive me, that they will never be lost in time.”
Adapting Edgar Allan Poe’s most famous and beloved works, his short
stories and poems, to a feature length film is tricky
and difficult. The short stories get padded out and, in some cases, only
vaguely resemble their source material. Some of these are good but barely resemble the original story: The Black Cat (1934)has a black
cat in one shot and a completely made up plot. Some are utter dreck: The Raven features a raven
briefly and a plot about wizards and magic. And a few actually capture the events
and the essence of the story, adding plot and characters that feel like an extension of the story, not extraneous additions: The Masque of the Red
Death (1964), directed by Roger Corman and starring Vincent Price, which I’ve written about for a previous Shocktober and highly recommend. To adapt Poe’s stories without added plot or characters could only
be done with short films, or an anthology.
The stories of Poe and the anthology film format are such a
perfect combination I’m surprised there aren’t more Poe based anthology films,
or at least more noteworthy ones. The animated anthology Extraordinary Tales,
written and directed by Raul Garcia, is indeed noteworthy, not just for its approach
to Poe’s stories, but also its superb execution and unexpected, haunting
pathos.
Each
vignette has a distinct animation style with great imagery and notable
narrator. The Fall of the House of Usher, narrated by Christopher Lee, is
the first and longest of the short films, and it is an excellent start to this
moody and atmospheric collection. It captures wonderfully the melancholy and
dread that looms over the house of Rodrick Usher as he fears his sister has
been buried alive. The Tell-Tale Heart is animated in stark black and
white. This short segment is narrated by Bela Lugosi, whose voice comes through
the distant hiss and crackle of an old phonograph. The third segment, The
Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar, animated to resemble a comic book, is probably
the least known story in the film. This story, narrated by Julian Sands, tells
of a mesmerist who hypnotizes an ill friend at the moment of death in an
attempt to stop death and learn about the great beyond.
The Pit and the
Pendulum, about a prisoner facing torture at the hands of the Spanish
Inquisition, is told by Guillermo Del Toro and done in a realistic computer
animation. The final segment is the silent The Masque of the Red Death.
This story shows us the gruesome effects of a plague and the decadence of
people celebrating in the castle of Prince Prospero, believing themselves safe
from the plague. There is only one line of dialogue in this film, when the
Prince (voiced by Roger Corman) questions the identity of the strange guest
that dares to wear a mask resembling the effects of the plague.
The
stories are all tied together with a peculiar and clever device:
a raven visits a cemetery and has a conversation with a stone statue of a
woman. The Raven is the soul of Poe, and the female voice of the motionless
statue is Death.Their
conversation is a gateway to Poe’s stories. The Raven is melancholy and proud
and anxious and defiant of death and time. “My work is eternal,” it says, “I
want that eternity.” The soft sweet voice of death is gentle, beguiling, and
alluring, but also content and peaceful and inviting. The scenes of the Raven
and Death are haunting and give us glimpses into Poe’s life and thoughts.
Extraordinary Tales is a wonderful and fitting tribute to Edgar Allan Poe, a
love letter to his work and influence. It is a great
way to enjoy some of his most famous stories or introduce someone to them. It’s
also great to watch with someone that isn’t really into horror and makes for a perfect
moody Shocktober night.
by Lani
Each month, I scour the Turner Classic Movies schedule for upcoming
films that I can't miss. The highlights are posted here for your reading
and viewing pleasure! (All listed times are Eastern Standard, check
your local listings or TCM.com for actual
air times in your area. Each day's schedule begins at 6:00 a.m.; if a
film airs between midnight and 6 a.m. it is listed on the previous day's
programming schedule.)
10/3, 8 PM - Jinnah (1998) TCM Star of the Month for October is British actor Christopher Lee, a fitting honor since Lee is well-known for his horror films. He played Dracula (10 times!), Frankenstein's monster, the Mummy, and a host of other weirdos; sometimes he was even the hero, but there was generally a lot of blood involved. During his long career, Lee's imposing physical presence and booming voice meant he was often cast as a the bad guy - in fact he played a villain in the Star Wars series, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and opposite James Bond! In tonight's film Lee takes center stage in a very different role portraying Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of the modern nation of Pakistan. The casting of Lee was controversial; not, as you might think, because Lee was a white actor playing an Asian character, but because of his association with Count Dracula. However, audiences in Pakistan ultimately responded positively to Lee's portrayal and the film is broadcast every year on Pakistan's independence day. Unfortunately, it seems that the film never got a proper theatrical release anywhere, so audiences outside Pakistan haven't really had a chance to see it. Tonight's air date is the North American premiere. As a fan of Sir Christopher Lee, I look forward to seeing what he felt was his most important role. BONUS: 10/24, 4:30 AM - Dracula A.D. 1972(1972) My official pick may be an art house biopic, but I can't deny my love for Lee's weird horror movies - especially the ones with frequent partner/foil Peter Cushing. The two actors first appeared opposite each other as Dracula and Van Helsing in 1958's Horror of Dracula. Though Lee would play Dracula several more times over the next 14 years (ruining his reputation as a serious actor in the eyes of the entire nation of Pakistan in the process), this was Cushing's first appearance as Van Helsing since the '58 film. This time around the setting is contemporary "swinging" London where the Count has been resurrected and is hunting the descendants of his old nemesis.
10/11, 8 PM - Hollywood Canteen (1944) The Hollywood Canteen was a special nightclub for serviceman during WWII, where they could get a hot meal, dance with a pretty girl, and meet real film stars before shipping out. Actress Bette Davis was the driving force behind the Canteen, supervising its construction, recruiting fellow stars to volunteer there, and managing it with her agent Jules Stein. Two years after it opened, the Canteen got its own film - a romantic comedy about a young G.I. who falls for starlet Joan Leslie (playing herself). The story was really an excuse to pack the film with star cameos by Davis, Canteen co-founder John Garfield, Joan Crawford, and Jack Benny (and many more), and musical numbers from the Andrews Sisters and Roy Rogers. However, it's an interesting glimpse into how Hollywood contributed to the war effort. With its patriotic message and star power, the film was a big success at the box office and a portion of the profits went back to the Canteen. Davis was rightfully proud of the success of the Canteen and her contribution is recognized during tonight's programming theme of "Actresses Who Made a Difference," part of TCM's month-long spotlight series on Trailblazing Women. If you are interested in learning more about the history of the real Hollywood Canteen (good and bad), check out episode #27 of the You Must Remember This podcast, "Bette Davis and the Hollywood Canteen."
10/19: Presidents on Film 8 PM - Fail-Safe (1964) 10 PM - Advise & Consent (1962) 12:30 AM - Seven Days in May (1964) 2:45 AM - Gabriel Over the White House (1933) With Election Day looming, you may be suffering from presidential fatigue; however, I think it's the perfect time to watch these political films...if only to remind you to vote on November 8th! Each of tonight's films depicts a President under pressure: trying to fend off World War III in Fail-Safe, pushing through a controversial Cabinet nominee in Advise & Consent, as the target of a military coup perpetrated by the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seven Days in May, and (following a visit from archangel Gabriel) crusading against government corruption and organized crime in Gabriel Over the White House. Depending on the day, any of these scenarios seems unfortunately all too plausible.
10/28: Universal Horror 8 PM - Dracula (1931) 9:30 PM - The Mummy (1932) 11 PM - The Invisible Man (1933) 12:15 AM - The Wolf Man (1941) On Halloween night, TCM will feature several Hammer Studios horror films of the 50s and 60s starring Christopher Lee; however, tonight, you can see the Universal Studios horror films of the 30s which inspired those later films, even more so than any literary sources. The Universal films created the iconic looks of classic literary characters like Dracula, The Invisible Man, and Frankenstein's monster; while also adding new creatures to their rogues gallery like the Mummy and the Wolf Man. If you're in the mood for an atmospheric, spooky chiller - these films deliver. However, if you're in the mood for a laugh, there's plenty to giggle about here, too - from far-fetched plots to hammy acting. BONUS: 1:30 AM - The Black Cat (1934) This creepy, but stylish thriller was "inspired by" Edgar Allan Poe's short story of the same title (and that's where the inspiration ended) and featured the first pairing of horror stars Karloff and Lugosi. The two actors are not playing supernatural monsters this time, but portray a sadistic cult leader and a man out for revenge. The film also features David Manners, the young hero who had previously faced off against both Lugosi in Dracula and Karloff in The Mummy.
