Best 1930 to 1939 Horrors Part TWO !
Jul 23 '00
The Best of 1930-1939 Part 2
Continuing with the best of the best of Horror films made between 1930 and 1939. These are the finest of the bunch and have much to offer todays audiences. Give them a try.
5. Vampyr (1932)
Based very loosely on Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla, Danish film-maker Carl Dreyer filmed this as a silent film in Paris and then later added a German Soundtrack in Berlin which has been translated in various languages. The cast was made up of artists he knew and admired and friends. A young man believes vampires are all around him and he dreams of his own burial in an extremely horrific sequence. Strange camera angles, lighting, shadows, sounds create a fascinating dreamlike atmosphere which keeps you fascinated throughout.
4. Dark Eyes of London, The (1939) (England)..aka Dead Eyes of London and Human Monster, The (1940) (USA)
Considered quite gruesome and tasteless, this is one of Lugosi's finest films and although released by Monogram who turned out poverty row cheapies rarely worth seeing, this wasn't made by them and so is quite good. Lugosi plays Dr. Orloff an insurance swindeler who pretends to
be a nice doctor running a home for a blind. Bela and his ugly blind assistant tie up, torture and kill victims to collect their insurance money. Still a good horror film today.
3. Island of Lost Souls (1933)
Despite it's age, this adaptation of the oft filmed H.G. Welles tale Island of Dr. Moreau remains an effective horror film. It's ending remains quite horrifying and may still be able to disturb you. Charles Laughton hams it up wonderfully, and Bela leads his animal men in the now famous Are We Not Men chant. Kathleen Burke is the Panther Girl.
2. Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
One of the finest gothic horror films every made –nearly every scene a gem. It's well acted, atmospheric, brilliantly conceived and masterfully directed by James Whale. Let's not forget Ernest Thesiger as the eccentric Dr. Pretorious creator of little people shall we? Karloff as The Monster walks, talks, learns to smoke and drink and gets very upset (p*ssed off) when rejected by his made to order Bride (Elsa Lanchester). Dwight Frye plays Karl, Pretorious' assistant.
And the best from 1930 to 1939? The one that still has the power to give you nightmares of course:
1. Freaks (1932)
Still controversial and horrifying nearly 70 years after it was unleashed on unsuspecting audiences. (And consequently banned for decades) . The final 10 minutes will still give most nightmares. Real circus geeks were the stars of director Tod Brownings most bizzarre and horrifying feature. The freaks are actually extremely warm and sympathetic characters, abused and mis-understood by ‘normal' people. Browning took a big chance and basically lost. . (making just a few more features afterwards and almost forgotten now) when he made this feature. Do not miss this gem.
ALMOSTS:
The Black Room, (1935)
Boris Karloff gives one of his finest performances as he plays twin brothers in 19th Century Czechloslovakia. Good twin/Bad Twin –not an exceptional story and dated, but nice atmosphere and good performances.
Crime of Dr. Crespi, The (1936)
Erich Von Stroheim (years after the classic Greed and a year prior to Grand Illusion) gives us one of his best ‘evil' performances in this twist on Poe's Premature Burial. He injects a rival with a drug to make him appear dead and then buries the poor chap alive. Yikes. Still worth a look today.
Ghoul, The (1934)
It's old, and slow going through more than half of this atmospheric horror tale. Karloff after The Mummy went to England (which is where he was born ) to make this somewhat similar film. He plays an Egyptologist who dies with a jewel called the Eternal light in his hand. He vows to return from the grave if anyone tries to steal it. Someone does, Karloff rises and the film comes alive. Ernest Thesiger plays Karloff's clubfooted servant. Ralph Richardson (years before he was knighted) plays a phony parson and Cedrick Hardwicke is the crooked lawyer.
J'accuse! (1938)
Abel Gance directed this pretty effective anti-war film. In a memorable scene an exploited war veteran calls upon war casualties to rise from their graves and seek revenge.
Kongo (1932)
A claustrophobic exercise in extreme sadism that is fairly bothersome today. Walter Huston plays a cripple who rules an African colony and wants revenge on the man who crippled him and tortures his daughter. (Don't confuse this with the 1961 camp classic Konga wich stars Michael Gough)
Mad Love (1935)
Un-even remake of Hands of Orlac, which features a wonderful performance by Peter Lorre and a couple of unforgettable sequences. Worth seeing. (Note: Ted Healy-- formerly of Ted Healy and His Stooges, The Three Stooges fame, almost ruins the film with his not very funny comic relief attempts)
Man They Could Not Hang, The (1939)
Karloff plays a doctor who is hung for performing illegal heart transplants. He's brought back to life by his assistant and traps judge and jury in his specially outfitted house where he plans to kill them off one by one. This was the second best one of this type that Karloff made. He would make three or four more with almost identical plots.
Man Who Changed His Mind, The (1936)...aka Man Who Lived Again, The (1936)
Karloff plays a mad scientist who plays with monkeys. But he'll eventually need to test his theories out on humans. A good old fashioned, borderline campy horror film. No scares though.
Mummy, The (1932)
If your in the right mood, this moody atmospheric and dated film still has the power to creep you out. It's not the roller-coaster ride the recent re-make is, and it's not the rather silly guy in bandages series of 40's Mummy films you may be familiar with. . . The best scenes are the flashbacks, and you'll consider a few shots borderline gruesome (this was pre-code). It's slow, but it's a worthwhile film.
Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932)
Today it's pretty silly. Lugosi is good in this quickly made nothing to do with Poe, pre-code horror film, in which the odd Dr. Mirakle, injects women with apes blood, while performing with his trained gorilla. It's again made pre-code so it's got some pretty graphic scenes
here and there, but the whole thing is rather silly and not well paced. Try it, it's atmospheric, has some nice sets and you'll have fun. . . but not in the way originally intended.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1936) aka Demon Barber of Fleet St.
Not released in the U.S. until 1939, this film stars the almost forgotten Tod Slaughter an extremely melodramatic theatrical actor who is usually utterly over-the top as plays villainous rogues and murderers. Here he is the infamous Barber who opens a trap door under the barber chair and victims fall into the basement where they are made into meat pies to be sold by the bakery next door. Its not scary, but it's a lot of fun. Slaughter is a campy delight.
Vampire Bat, The (1933)
Low budget, out-dated, strange, but still kind of fun. Find the 71 minute un-cut version (rather than the 62 or 65 minute versions) This is not the one with Lugosi, (Devil Bat) this is the one with Lionel Atwill and Fay Wray, a young Melvyn Douglas and Dwight Frye who acts a lot like he did as Renfeld in Dracula as Dr. Otto's idiot bat-keeping assistant. Otto (Atwill) feeds his blob like tissue, victims that his henchman gets for him.
Whew... I guess I overdid it a bit.
Chris Jarmick Author: The Glass Cocoon – Available November 2000
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