This week we watched Universal horror (as we did last year). Quite a few of these aren't horror films as the list I was using to find them (I'm trying to watch every horror film the studio produced) used a rather loose definition of the genre.
1. Secret of the Chateau (1934)
Not really a horror film but, like The Secret of the Blue Room (1933) (which I watched last year) it's a decent enough mystery thriller with a rather rushed denouement. It's saving grace is the unique characters and strong cast. In particular Claire Dodd's reformed (maybe?) criminal Julie Verlaine and her relationship with Ferdinand Gottschalk's Chief Inspector Marotte is really engaging. Marotte is one of the more compelling detective characters I've seen in a film of this kind. It's worth checking out for fans of old mystery films.
Score: 7/10
Again, not a horror film though it does have a rather unsettling opening, The Man Who Reclaimed His Head is a fairly strong drama/thriller with some noir-esque undertones. Claude Rains is great in the lead role as is Lionel Atwill as his unscrupulous, manipulative employer. The film's exploration of politics, populism and manufactured consent is quite fascinating if a little heavy handed at times. Veteran director Edward Ludwig does a good job behind the camera and there's some really atmospheric shots courtesy of cinematographer Merritt B. Gerstad.
Score: 8/10
A rather bizarre film, inspired by the real life experiments of controversial biologist Robert E. Cornish. Cornish, who appears near the end of the film, playing himself, made a name for himself when he became doing experiments to reanimate the dead. The film documents Cornish's experiment in the last act, and this is clearly the film's raison d'etre. The rest of the movie features a contrived story about another scientist (played by Onslow Stevens) who attempts to resuscitate dead animals and whose life is suddenly turned upside down when he is rejected by the scientific community for his experiments, his wife dies and his son is taken away by the state for want of care. The depressed and defeated doctor redeems himself in the end when he teams up with Cornish to bring his son's dog (euthanized by the dog catcher) back to life. The story is paper thin, the performances stilted and the direction uninspired. Worth watching only as a (morbid) curiosity.
Score: 3/10
4. The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1935)
An adaptation of Dicken's final, unfinished novel (which I haven't read), Edwin Drood is a fine costume drama, featuring stirring direction from Stuart Walker and terrific performances from the whole cast. It may not be a horror film in the strict sense but it is wonderfully atmospheric and, thanks to a committed performance from Claude Rains, quite unsettling at times. Heather Angel is also great as Rosa, and her chemistry with David Manners' Edwin Drood is really a delight. The way the film ends (presumably a non-Dickensian invention) works surprisingly well.
Score: 9/10
5. Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
One of the studio's all time greats. Director James Whale returns to the slicker and more humorous sequel to his 1931 classic. It lacks Frankenstein's tightly focused story and is, at times, tonally inconsistent, but it is also thematically richer and and more emotionally mature. Karloff is even better here then he was in the first film while Elsa Lanchester shines both as Mary Shelley and as the Bride. Much has been made of the film's alleged homosexual subtext (the director was gay) but I think that this is largely idle speculation. More worrisome is the film's inversion of Christian iconography (the Monster is raised from the dead first, then crucified) but a Christian worldview ultimately shines forth, as playing God is explicitly condemned while the compassion of O. P. Heggie's blind hermit, and the love of life he teaches to the monster, is held up as an ideal. It is his attempt to edify the monster, not Frankenstein's creation of him, that is worthy of praise.
Score: 9/10
6. The Werewolf of London (1936)
The studio's first werewolf picture, this film suffers from having a singularly unlikable protagonist in Henry Hull's Wilfred Glendon. Still, the actor manages to attach some pathos to the doctor's plight and one time Charlie Chan Warner Oland makes for a good foil as Dr. Yogami. The plot, presented as a mystery, is fairly engaging and there's some welcome comic relief courtesy of Ethel Griffies and Zeffie Tilbury. The film's take on werewolf lore is fairly unique and it's urban setting was, at the time of the film's release anyway, somewhat novel.
Score: 8/10
7. The Raven (1935)
The third Universal film to be based on the works of Edgar Allen Poe and the third to team Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi (after Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Black Cat) The Raven is a fun little horror film. Lugosi, though he receives second billing, is clearly the star and is delightfully unhinged as the mad doctor Richard Vollin, whose obsession with Poe's work leads him to make a torture chamber inspired by his poems featuring, for instance, a pendulum with a crescent razor. Karloff is also magnificent as the fugitive and murderer Edmond Bateman, who Vollin manipulates to do his dirty work. Irene Ware is good as the ingenue, Jean Thatcher, who Vollin begins obsessing over when he saves her life after a car accident and Peter Bailey himself (Samuel S. Hinds) plays her prudent father, who disapproves of Vollin's interest in his daughter.
Score: 8/10
8. The Invisible Ray (1936)
Yet another Karloff/Lugosi vehicle, this one features Karloff in the lead as visionary astronomer Janos Rukh, who discovers Radium X, the effects of which hold untold potential both for good and ill. Exposure to the substance poisons the doctor, who turns to Lugosi's Dr. Felix Benet for help. Rukh's neglect of his wife (Frances Drake) cause her to leave him for Frank Lawton's Ronald Drake and the effects of Benet's antidote slowly begin to drive him mad. He eventually fakes his death and begins plotting the murder of Drake, his wife, and anyone else he feels has wronged him. As in The Black Cat, Lugosi makes for a surprisingly kindly contrast to Karloff's aloof Dr. Rukh. Director Lambert Hillyer, who also helmed many of the studio's westerns, does a great job behind the camera, and the film is wonderfully atmospheric.
Score: 8/10
The studio's second attempt at a sequel, Dracula's Daughter does not fare as well as Bride of Frankenstein. On the plus side director Lambert Hillyer really delivers an atmospheric film and Edward Van Sloan, returning as Professor Van Helsing, is awesome once again. Newcomer Gloria Holden is also great as the titular monster, as is Otto Kruger as suave protagonist Jeffrey Garth. Like Bride this film is often said to have a homosexual subtext, and in this case it is hard to deny though it is also a decidedly anti-homosexual one, portraying such behavior as frightful sexual deviancy. The film suffers from an overabundance of ill fitting comedy (though much of it is rather funny) and lacks the focus of it's predecessor. It is worth checking out nonetheless.
Score: 8/10
Next week we go across the pond to check out Hammer's House of Horror!
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