Month: November 2018

In 1931, when Frankenstein was released, the New York Times called it “one of the best pictures of the year!” but no such accolades came to Hammer Films on the release of The Curse of Frankenstein in 1957.  Although greeted with varying degrees of disdain from the critics, the audiences disagreed and it became a hit for the studio.  London’s Observer critic (C. A. Lejune) said of  the film, “I should rank The Curse of Frankenstein among the half dozen most repulsive films I have encountered.”  At the New York Times, Bosley Crowther dismissed the picture as nothing more than, “a routine horror film which makes no particular attempt to do anything more important than scare you with corpses and blood.”  In spite of the mixed reviews, the film went on to be a commercial success.  Hammer’s next entry was appropriately titled, The Revenge of Frankenstein.

And revenge it was as, amid the disdain some reviews came out with bursts of enthusiasm like the New York Daily News, “Cushing is new Karloff,” but the notices were mixed as they would remain for all of Hammer’s horror films.  Just as the audience would always line up for each of the Hammer Frankenstein films.

 

Revenge picks up exactly where Curse left off as the Baron narrowly escapes being executed for the crimes committed in the first film.  Once again the film strays from the typical horror plot and is set in a medical clinic for the poor.  Frankenstein is going under the name Dr. Victor Stein.  It is three years after his escape from prison and he is running a clinic in Carlsbruck where he has enraged the local medical council because he has refused to join, and he is taking their patients.  They decide that this is unacceptable and go to challenge his position in the community.

The council sends three of it’s board to see Dr. Stein, but of course he refuses to join them or to modify his tactics.  One of the board members recognizes him and blackmails him for medical knowledge.  He has to agree and takes Dr. Kleve from the council to his hidden laboratory where he is soon to preform a surgery to give Karl (the cripple that helped him escape execution) a new body.  The body is an artificial one made from the limbs of the poor.  Of course there is a distraction when Margaret (Eunice Grayson) a daughter of one of the council members shows up at the clinic to do volunteer work and Karl becomes smitten by her.

I don’t think anyone knows why the producers at Hammer Films made the decision that they did for The Evil of Frankenstein.  The best guess is that since it was going to be distributed by Universal, they thought it would be a good idea to make a film that used the elements from the Universal original.  It was not.  The less said about the result, the better.

 

Frankenstein Created Woman, has nothing to do with The Bride of Frankenstein.  We can be thankful that whatever it was that caused The Evil of Frankenstein it was out of their collective system before they considered the 1967 production featuring Susan Denberg.  That is not to say that the script produced for Frankenstein Created Woman was not bizarre, but it was a return to the mad scientist without foresight that had powered the first Hammer efforts.

 

 

The plot is somewhat convoluted so suffice it to say that Dr. Frankenstein has graduated from transferring brains–to transferring souls.  The deformed barmaid, Christina (Susan Denberg) is drown and the doctor transfers the soul of her dead boyfriend, Hans (Robert Morris) who has been hanged for a crime he did not commit into her and brings her back to life as a beautiful woman!  The problem?  Han’s soul begins to take control and is out for revenge against the men that framed him for murder!

Susan Denberg performed wonderfully in what must have been a challenging role for her; Thorley Walters was exceptional as always.  Robert Morris and all of the supporting cast were above average.

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“When a Man’s partner is killed, he’s supposed to do something about it.  He was your partner and you’re supposed to do something about it.  And it happens we’re in the detective business.  Well, when one of your organization gets killed, it’s–it’s bad business to let the killer get away with it, bad all around, bad for every detective everywhere.”

Sam Spade 

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett

The Sources

The detective story was essentially invented by Edgar Allen Poe who was a direct influence on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie.  His detective, C. Auguste Dupin can be seen reflected in both Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot.  The first person narrator being a friend of the detective, Dr. Watson for Holmes and Captain Hastings for Poirot, the bumbling police inspector, and the trademark minor details that only the detective can see are all lynchpins carried on by Doyle and Christie.  With the success that Poe had on the publication of his Dupin stories, it is hard to understand why he did not feel as the public did at the time.  He felt that they were a minor achievements and that they were something he wrote to amuse himself, but he did not regard them as serious writing.  Doyle also wrote his mysteries as a reprieve from his more serious writing, and considered killing Holmes off very early on; unfortunately for him, the public was not in agreement, and when he killed off Holmes there was an outcry that led him to bring the detective back in The Hound of the Baskervilles.

Like most literary forms, Film Noir developed out of  an existing style of writing.  Mostly pulp fiction and detective stories, but they were different from what had come before them.  They were dark and gritty and dealt with the fears and travails of ordinary people.  Unlike the mysteries of the past where the butler probably did it, these were stories set in the streets of the city; in the bars and cafes and clubs of the metropolis’ shadows.  Holmes’ cocaine was replaced by a whiskey bottle, and Dr. Watson by a dead partner that had to be avenged.  Some of the writers became well known to the general public: Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain, and most notably,  Dashiell Hammett.

Pulp magazines were not taken very seriously until one called Black Mask appeared.  Edited by the famous H.L. Mencken and George Jean Nathan in 1920, it became more prestigious than other publications of its type.  It was quickly taken over by its publishers  when the original editors lost interest.  The new editor took the magazine very seriously and held the contributors to high standards.  The contribution made by Black Mask to the eventual rise of Film Noir cannot be underestimated; Showcasing writers like Hammett, Paul Cain, Roger Torrey, Earl Stanley Gardner, Fredrick Nebel, and Raymond Chandler the hard boiled detective story flowered like a black rose.

 

Dashiell Hammett was regarded as the most important writer of the hard-boiled school of writing; Raymond Chandler said that Hammett had taken, “murder out of the Venetian vase and dropped it into the alley.”   He was a prolific writer and produced thirty short stories in a two year span.  All but two of the thirty early short stories were published in the famous, Black Mask magazine from 1928 to 1930.  It is still considered the most prestigious mystery publication and has been revived and can be ordered at: https://blackmaskmagazine.com/

His writings include the novels: Red Harvest, The Dain Curse, The Maltese Falcon, The Glass Key, and The Thin Man.  The Maltese Falcon remains one of the most well known of the Film Noirs based on his writing.  His Sam Spade was a blueprint for the quintessential hard-boiled detective; brought to life by Humphry Bogart in one of his most imitated characterizations.  The following year, The Glass Key was released starring Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake.

Both of these films made a powerful impact on the public.  Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake had a strong screen chemistry and would be reunited in This Gun for Hire (1942), The Black Dalia (1946), and Saigon (1948).  Bogart also starred in  Raymond Chandler’s, The Big Sleep with Lauren Bacall and Martha Vickers (1946).  Bogart became as much a part of Film Noir as the black and white photography and stylized dialogue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain, and Cornell Woolrich

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dracula & Frankenstein 1931

Welcome to the first part of the history of Scream Queens!  In this article the term Scream Queen applies to actresses know for an appearance or appearances in horror films.  The status of Scream Queens has changed tremendously over the years (as have horror films and their audience),  and all of this will be considered as we journey from the advent of sound to the present.

Helen Chandler (1906-1965) Frances Dade (1910-1968)

Dracula (1931)

The first notable Scream Queens of the sound era were Helen Chandler and Frances Dade.  Chandler was perfect for the role of the bright but somewhat innocent Mina.  The more sophisticated Lucy was played by Frances Dade.   Together they find themselves in the clutches of the undead.  As the vampire takes one and then slowly courts the other.  He quickly and brutally takes the sophisticated Lucy.  It may be because she was attracted to the demon from their first meeting.  He comes to her at night and his bite kills her.  As he courts Mina as only the Count can, Lucy rises from the grave.  Meanwhile, he turns Mina slowly as Van Helsing and Dr. Seward struggle to stop him.  The clueless Jonathan Harker fights against the whole idea of a vampire; even when Mina is trying to bite him!

Neither actress ever appeared in another horror film.  Helen Chandler soon returned to the New York stage.  Frances Dade made a few unexceptional films before leaving Hollywood.

Mae Clark (1910-1992)

Frankenstein (1931)

In 1931 Mae Clarke played Elizabeth in Frankenstein.  Even though she would appear in no more horror films, she is the 3rd of the sound era’s Scream Queens. Clarke’s career continued through the 60’s and she has over 120 screen credits in film and television.  She even did an uncredited appearance in 1970’s Watermelon Man that starred Godfrey Cambridge and Estelle Parsons. Mae’s prostrate pose may have been inspired by Mary Shelly’s prose or by Henry Fuseli’s painting.  Was Shelly’s description influenced or was Whale influenced by the painting?  We will never know for sure, but it is certain that the influence was there in one place or the other.

Her next film working with James Whale was The Impatient Maiden (1932), which was a bizarre romance where fair maiden rejects the proposal of her medical student boyfriend, takes a part time job with an attorney and only accepts her boyfriend’s proposal after appendicitis puts her under his knife!  Also in 1932, she starred in Night World with Boris Karloff and Lew Ayers. Happy McDonald (Boris Karloff) and his unfaithful wife Jill (Dorothy Revier) own a night club and he is threatened by bootleggers.  Boris Karloff was the lead in the film and the use of the Frankenstein stars was a bid to draw box office.  The film’s supporting players included Hedda Hopper and a young George Raft.

Mae was in seven movies in 1932 and Three Wise Girls was the first one after Frankenstein.  She co-starred with the luminous Jean Harlow.

She will always be best known for her role in Frankenstein.

King Kong 1933

Fay Wray (1907-2004)

The honor of being the first prolific Scream Queen goes to Fay Wray,  whose beauty and talent also made her one of the most well known.  Her first  appearance in a horror film was in Doctor X (1932), directed by Michael Curtiz, and she co-stared with horror favorite, Lionel Atwill.  Also released in 1932 was The Most Dangerous Game.

In 1933 Wray would star in  three more horror films: The Vampire Bat, Mystery of the Wax Museum, and the one that would assure her of lasting fame, King Kong (1933).  The film had such an impact on her life that when she wrote her auto-biography, she called it,  On the Other Hand.

It is said that when Merian C. Cooper offered Fay Wray the role he said, “You’ll have the tallest, darkest leading man in Hollywood.”  The story also adds that she thought he was talking about Cary Grant.  Fay Wray went on to other roles in her long career including starring opposite Spencer Tracy in Shanghai Madness (1933), and  with Richard Widmark and Gloria Grahame in The Cobweb (1955).  On television she appeared in a multitude of shows including: Playhouse 90, 77 Sunset Strip, and Perry Mason.

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The last Universal film featuring the Frankenstein Monster is the classic, Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948).  Arguably one of the comedy duo’s best films as well as an affectionate swansong to Universal’s golden age of monsters.  It was clear that times were changing even though Bud and Lou would make two more films meeting the Universal monsters: they would meet the Invisible Man in 1951, and the Mummy in 1955 in their last film for Universal.   In this post war America,  Abbott & Costello would soon find themselves on TV and horror movies were about to go to the next level.  After the Second World War, eyes turned toward space and as the cold war heated up, Science Fiction would spawn the next generation of horror films.

 

 

 

 

 

 Frankenstein was certainly the first Science Fiction novel.  That it fit so well with the gothic characters is something else that James Whale and Hollywood achieved with the telling of their tales.  Dracula, the Wolf Man, and Frankenstein seemed to belong together, but of course Shelley’s novel had nothing to do with any of that genre of horror.  It is ironic then that Universal’s last monster would also be of the Science Fiction genre.  Universal would release Creature from the Black Lagoon in 1954.  No dreary castles or gypsy curses.  This was based on science (of a sort) not myth and folklore.  Both Frankenstein and Creature from the Black Lagoon are included in the Hugo Award winning, The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Science Fiction by David Pringle.   

The audience was also changing.  Television was becoming more and more popular.  The movie audience was skewing younger.  This effected all of the films coming out of Hollywood.

Suddenly,  there were a number of Science Fiction films filling the screens across the country and around the world: The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), The Thing (1951), It Came from Outer Space (1953), Them (1954),  Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), just to name a few. 

It appeared that the monsters of old would really vanish, but in 1957 Hammer Films released, The Curse of Frankenstein.  The first film in what would be a six film series starring Peter Cushing as Doctor Frankenstein.  Cushing was already a well known television star in England, but this first Hammer Frankenstein film brought him world wide fame.  He was supported by the striking Hazel Court (The Raven) as his cousin Elizabeth.  Fearful that Universal may sue (the novel Frankenstein was in the public domain, but the Universal films were copyrighted), the producers at Hammer determined to take a completely different approach to the Frankenstein saga.  Focusing more on the Doctor and his obsession than on the Monster led to a successful and lawsuit free series that gave Peter Cushing the role for which he is most celebrated.  It also afforded more varied and bizarre plot lines.  

The film begins with Doctor Frankenstein in prison.  He is awaiting execution when a priest arrives that he has asked to come visit him.  He thinks that if he tells his tale to the priest that it will help him to avoid the gallows.  He begins his tale from his boyhood when  he is left alone due to the death of his widowed mother.  His Aunt and cousin are leaving from the funeral and he promises his aunt that he will continue sending the stipend his family always sent her.  His aunt hints at what a wonderful wife her daughter, his cousin will make someday.  Once they leave, his mentor shows up.  It is a tutor that he sent for pretending to be his father in the letters that he sent.  The tutor agrees to take the position as tutor, and they begin working right away.  In a few years the student surpasses his teacher, and they begin to work as equals.

They keep working until they bring a dog back to life, and then things begin to come apart.  His mentor, Paul (Robert Urquhart) is shocked that Frankenstein wants to create a man.  He continues to help him against his better judgement, but the Baron goes too far when he steals a body from the gallows.  Paul’s distaste grows as the Baron cuts off the head due to damage done by birds.  The Baron has to go on a trip, and while he is gone his cousin returns, now a fully grown woman who plans stay and finally wed the Baron.

This is taken in stride by the Baron, but it seems to displease the maid, Justine (Valerie Gaunt).  It is clear that there has been some dallying in the pantry!   The Doctor is not a good man or at least he is a man with no conscience.  His cold heartedness is not disguised by his charm; indeed, it makes it all the worse.  The addition of color, violence, and more blatant sexuality are all calculated to draw movie goers away from the telly–I mean the television of course.  The cinema now had to compete with the small screen for every ticket sale.

Now that Paul has decided that the Baron is dangerously out of control, he tries to get Elizabeth to get out of the house.   She refuses because she feels indebted to the Baron.  Paul stays on at the Baron’s house to protect Elizabeth.  While Paul tries to persuade Elizabeth, Victor is in the hallway with his maid.  The kisses are interrupted by the maid’s jealousy.

This does not bode well and Victor leaves on another trip.  He tells Elizabeth that he is off to buy materials for his work.  When he returns with his materials (a pair of eyes), Paul makes another attempt to talk some sense into him.  Of course, it is futile and things begin to unravel quickly after the Baron commits murder to get the brain that he needs.  The Monster is played by Christopher Lee.  In this film, the real monster is Baron Victor Frankenstein and is played wonderfully by Peter Cushing.  Christopher Lee’s role as the Monster is much smaller, and has not received as favorable a reception as Cushing’s Baron.  Part of it may have been the expectation of the audience.  With the Baron being as evil as he is, the creature seems even more of a victim than in any other telling of the story.  Lee delivers an admirable performance in a supporting role.  As for what happens next,  you’ll have to watch the film to find out how it all…ends.

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