Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)

Good Doctor Jekyll (Fredric March) wants to experiment into the darker side of human nature, when ... oh, what's that? You know the story already?

When a film like Jekyll and Hyde (or Jee-kal) is a heralded as this, why anyone would do what seems like a shot for shot remake only ten years later is a mystery to me. I mentioned in my write up of the 1941 version that it was a remake of this. I was wrong. They both are versions of a play based on the story. Either way, the scenes, sets, and story line matched too closely. And now that I've seen both, I can't help but compare.

The biggest difference is where Tracy's Hyde was a big jerk, March's was truly evil. Where Tracy's performance was competent and workmanlike, March was astounding. Every nuance, every subtle jesture was totally separate between gentleman and brute. This may have been the best acting performance I've seen to date.

As this version was "pre-code", Ivy Peterson (Miriam Hopkins) was free to be a prostitute. It was Jekyll's lust for Ivy that encouraged him to experiment on himself. And lustworthy she is. I wish I could find a better still. We're talking serious side-boob. Here Jekyll is busted by his uptight college.

Artsy camera direction what with the POV shots and fancy overlays and wipes, tremendous acting, and awesome makeup (the transformation scene was out of this world), this movie ruined two otherwise good movies simply because of comparison (Werewolf of London was the other). AMRU 4.

"Perhaps you prefer a gentleman. One of those fine-mannered and honorable gentlemen. Those panting hypocrites who like your legs but talk about your garters."

Doctor X (1932)

"... Doctor X will build a creature ..."

No he won't. Sixth movie referenced in the song Science Fiction/Double Feature. Eleven down and item from the bucket list complete.

People are being strangled and partially eaten during the full moon. Papers are calling it the Moon Killer Murders. The police are investigating. They speak with eminent Doctor Xavier (Lionel Atwill), or Doctor X to his homies. He runs a prestigious medical academy and the police both need his expert opinion and suspect that the murder is one of them. So, they interview his posse.

And what a motley crew they are, just bubbling with suspicion. Into the mix arrives a reporter trying to get a scoop and the good doctor's hot daughter (Fay Wray). The cops give Doc X 48 hours to unmask the killer or else they'll start doing their job. Doc invites his five suspects to his spooky mansion for an experiment. Along for the ride are the amusing butler and maid.

Since I started this-here blog, I've greatly expanded my sources of movies. Initially all I had was the trusty public library plus my own humble collection. Then I went to Netflix. Last Christmas I got a Roku box that allowed me to watch Netflix and Amazon Prime from the bedroom, as well as sources of public domain movies via Pub-D-Hub and the like. At the beginning of this month I made the giant leap into the 21st century and subscribed to digital cable. Within that first week two movies I haven't been able to lay my filthy hands on were on TCM. Doctor X was the first.

Doc X was filmed in an early two color Technicolor process that lacks the vibrant colors we know today but worked well in the horror genre. For years the movie was only shown in black and white but the color version was discovered and restored, and that's what TCM is showing. It looked great.

Technically a comic horror, and in many ways a crime drama, Doctor X is both somewhat interesting and somewhat amusing. The early thirties comedy showed through with great comebacks as "What that? Haaaaaay!" Were this movie not in color and not on the Science Fiction/Double Feature list, it would be quite skipable. But that's not the case and it was nice to see Fay in color and Lionel in a leading man role. AMRU 3.

Cop: No one goes in there except stiffs.
Taylor: Oh yea? What's keeping you out here?
Cop: What the? Haaaaay!

Bedlam (1946)

The hot young protege Nell (Anna Lee) of fat Lord Mortimer (Billy "big as a" House) is horrified to see the treatment of patients at an asylum, and after a chance encounter with a Quaker, a strange thing happens to her: she starts giving a crap for someone besides herself. She pressures fatty into mandating reforms at Bedlam asylum and this sits none-too-well with apothecary general Sims (Boris Karloff). So, after hot Nell burns bridges with Big Morty, he and Sims conspire to have troublemaker Nell committed. Serves her right.

My Isle of the Dead DVD from the library was apparently a double feature. Another non-conventional horror movie by Val Lewton, but this time a bit better then than before. Above grade dialog (compared to choppy and sometimes downright Ed Woodian-like of Isle) and excellent sets and costumes. Plus strong acting performances all around. Not too Horror-like, but it had an Evil Karloff and the insanity angle, so it's in the club. Like Isle it was inspired by famous paintings (go look it up on Wikipedia, I ain't got time here!) and they even recreated some in scenes. It'll all go over your head unless you're into art, but suffice to say it's a well crafted film.

Hot Nell is wearing the dress Scarlet made from curtains in Gone with the Wind. Oh, how I hate that movie. One thing I found interesting is how they made Quakers seem downright interesting. I liked Bedlam much better than Isle, but alas, it gets the same score. I can't imagine seeing it a second time. AMRU 3.

"If you ask me, M'Lord, he's a stench in the nostrils, a sewer of ugliness, and a gutter brimming with slop."

Isle of the Dead (1945)

During the First Balkan War, right after commanding his bestus buddy ever to shoot himself in the head, the good General Pherides (Boris Karloff) decides to put flowers on his wife's grave. Said grave is on a nearby island and he brings new bestus buddy ever, an American reporter, along for the ride. 

After spending the night at a rural estate, they wake to find that one of the other guests has died of ... wait for it ... the Plague! 

Well, Pherides decides to take command of this band of civilians and quarantine the group until the disease has, well, run it's course. Along the way we get to know the odd collection of guests trapped on this Isle where people Die. The man who puts his faith in Hermes, while erroneously thinking he is the god of medicine, the young(ish) hottie(ish) who hates Pherides for his famous cruelty, and the old housekeeper who thinks the hottie is a vrykolakas, some sort of Greek vampire like thing. 

So, what are the horror elements here? (psst. spoilers) First, there's Boris. Next, there is death both by plague and murder. There's the element of the supernatural. Finally there is premature burial. Can't go wrong there, right? I'm not so sure. Good 'oll Val Lewton did a different kind of horror. Cat People and I Walked with a Zombie are great examples of excellent movies that stretch the genre. Here, it falls short for a couple of reasons. Not once, even or a second, did the viewer entertain the notion that pretty Thea was the undead. The only thing that legitimately lends to the argument is one decent startle moment. Other than that, it was Karloff does Wuthering Heights. 

But this movie was intended, made, and billed as horror, so I give it my horror label. It is also the least entertaining Lewton film so far. And Martin Scorsese called it one of the scariest horror movies of all time. Clearly he was thinking of Karloff's curly hair wig. AMRU 3.

The Third Man (1949)

Writer Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) travels to Vienna, still ravaged by the war, to visit his boyhood friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles). It seems Holly's pulp novels aren't selling all that well and jumped at the opportunity to mooch off his old friend. Sadly for him, good 'oll Harry is dead. Seems he walked out in front of a truck. Bad news for Holly.

The local police chief, who didn't seem to have bent too far backwards investigating the death, isn't too torn up over it. Seems he has quite a lower opinion of Lime than Holly. Something to do with penicillin and the black market. So, with nothing better to do, and to redeem the good name of his buddy, he decides to start asking questions. Soon he discovers discrepancies in the police report. It says two men helped Lime to the side of the road but a witness clearly saw three. Maybe Lime's death was no accident. Maybe it was murder. And the first person to ask is The Third Man.

Happen to know what a zither is? If not, it's a traditional eastern European stringed instrument that makes a uniquely annoying sound, certainly not the kind one would master in hopes of impressing the lady-folk. In the world of western cinema, there is room for exactly one film to make exclusive use of it, and this is that film. If there exists another movie in creation that uses this instrument exclusively, that movie should be torn up, burned, then the ashes fed to rabid snakes.

That said, this noir film seems to work well with the comically upbeat zither. In fact, most of the movie works well. The acting was fine, the setting and atmosphere were great, the story had me guessing, and the hottie (Alda Valli as Lime's grieving girlfriend) was hot.

Not wanting to spoil anything, I'm going to leave it there. It's a very good mystery that bears rewatching. AMRU 4.

"Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

She (1935)

Hunky Leo (Randolph Scott) visits his rich uncle. Uncle has some cock-and-bull story about his ancient ancestor who searched for the Flame of Life, some sort of fountain of youth, somewhere in the Arctic, and how young Leo looks exactly like him. This means Leo has to go hunt for it, along with Uncle's trusty man-servant. Leo plays along because Uncle is going to die soon, and maybe he'll meet a hottie and have an adventure.

Off they go to the Great White North where they enlist a grumpy guide and his hot daughter. After the guide causes an avalanche that kills everyone except the principle characters, Leo, man-servant, and hottie follow a tunnel into the ice when they are captured by cave men. After some ill timed heroics, our party is rescued and brought to Ming's palace, apparently ruled by the Evil Queen from Snow White (Helen Gahagan).

Actually, it is She. She Who Must Be Obeyed, more formally. See, She had bathed in the Flame of Life and was the lover of Leo's great-great-great-grand whatever, and now she thinks Leo is his reincarnation. All looks good for Hunky Leo. Wonder if his hottie travel companion will complicate things?

Originally this was to be filmed in color, and it would have look spectacular with a little technicolor, what with the sets and elaborate production numbers. But, alas, the budget was cut and color was lost. Unlike Them!, color would have really helped this movie. But what we have is a thrilling action-adventure ... melodrama. For all of the elaborate sets and costumes, the movie is burdened by lots of "feelings" dialog. I don't know how the original book read, but this version (one of about ten) could have benefited from a Heroic Adventure focus.

Definitely interesting, but a second viewing won't be forthcoming. AMRU 3.

"I am yesterday, today, and tomorrow. I am sorrow and longing an hope unfulfilled. I am She Who Must Be Obeyed!"

"No one can say o'll Dugmore ever let a white man down." 

Island of Lost Souls (1932)

Dashing Edward Parker (Richard Arlen) is the victim of a shipwreck. Lucky for him, he is picked up by a passing ship that has a doctor as a passenger. Foolish of him, he punches the captain (Stanley Fields) over how he treated a dog-eared man. So, Captain gets back at him by dropping him off, along with the good doctor and his cargo of exotic animals, at his first port of call instead of taking him back to California, where his hot blond Fiancee' (Leila Hyams) waits patiently for him. 

The island's owner, Doctor Moreau (Charles Laughton), isn't too keen to have an unexpected visitor, but appears helpful enough. Maybe Mister Parker can aid him somehow in his research! Gosh, the natives look awfully peculiar ... 

This is the film first attempt at H.G. Wells' "The Island of Doctor Moreau", and maybe the best. Wells himself was still alive to hate it and caution people from seeing it. Spoil sport. Anyhow, Paramount was trying to come up with a movie more shocking, more terrifying than anything Universal was producing at the time. They may have over reached. This was after the Hays code was in effect, but before they started enforcing it. Somehow themes of rape, vivisection, and bestiality got through the censors. 

The end result is a fantastic movie with great acting and atmosphere to spare. When Paramount tried to re-release it a couple years later, the board said, umm, No. It was banned in Britain for twenty six years. Localities everywhere insisted that various scenes and lines cut ("Do you know what it means to feel like God?") making the movie a distributed patchwork. Luckily, there is a complete version that modern audiences can watch. Under different circumstances, classic horror lists might post Lost Souls above Dracula and Frankenstein (IMDb ranks it higher than Dracula). 

And much of the credit goes to Laughton. No conflicted mad scientist is he. He simply LOVES what he does and doesn't for a moment doubt the outcome. Know that feeling you get when you're wearing something absolutely luxurious to the touch and eat something decadently delicious? That's how Moreau feels when he carves up living beings without anesthesia and listens to them scream. Simply delightful.

Bela Lugosi had a small but exceptional role as the Sayer of the Law. Not willing to wear makeup to be Frankenstein, it would seem he recanted to be all but indistinguishable here, recognizable only by his voice. Mark this as one of his best rolls. Also, recognize the name of Hyams? She also appeared in another banned pre-code movie, Freaks, which I recently watched again. Available on Amazon Prime. Luckily the controversy didn't stunt her career. She continued to work until the ripe old age of 31. 

Before returning the disk to the library, I watched all of the commentary (man, does Landis love the sound of his own voice!) and rewatched it with commentary (in a mob scene, a beast-man accidentally lights the head of another beast-man!). Unfortunately that was before I purchased my Samsung LED. The picture on my old CRT was dying and some of the subtleties of the movie were lost. AMRU 4.5.

"Dr. Moreau: What is the law?
Sayer of the Law: Not to eat meat, that is the law. Are we not men?
Beasts (in unison): We are Devo!"