50's American Horror Part Ten

I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN
(1957)
Dir - Herbert L. Strock
Overall: MEH

 

American International Pictures' quick follow-up to I Was a Teenage Werewolf was the similarly limp I Was a Teenage Frankenstein, (Teenage Frankenstein).  The lackluster results are understandable considering that producer Herman Cohen rushed both this and Blood of Dracula into production with each film having been written within four weeks.  Herbert L. Strock stepped in for Gene Fowler Jr. behind the lens and the direction is detrimentally lifeless.  The story primarily focuses on Whit Bissell's Professor Frankenstein, who unfortunately plays the unlikable asshole completely straight without any camp-fueled mannerisms whatsoever.  Also, he is supposed to be English yet does not bother doing a British accent.  The over-the-top monster make-up on Gary Conway is more ridiculous than grotesque and worse yet, he only gets to Hulk-out twice.  The movie switches to color during the last minute for absolutely no reason, providing quite the lame gimmick as almost a hail marry effort to spark some life into the proceedings.  Easily one of the most forgettable movies ever made with the Frankenstein moniker in the title, it very much deserves to be missed.

 

THE DAUGHTER OF DR. JEKYLL

(1957)

Dir - Edward G. Ulmer

Overall: MEH

Whether due to laziness or ingenuity, The Daughter of Dr. Jekyll is probably the only movie ever made that confuses werewolf and vampire cliches with the duel personality concept at the heart of Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  The daughter is accused of being a werewolf who drinks her victims blood and must be disposed of by driving a stake through her heart so, better to just include all of that to cover your bases then.  The usual problem with movies like this is that we the audience know perfectly well that unbelievable things are happening, yet almost the entire movie wastes its time having characters argue about whether or not unbelievable things are happening.  Gloria Talbott's title character is mostly either belittled or manipulated by the male characters and even more tropes like her being given sedatives to sleep, an angry mob, a cursed bloodline, and sinister dream sequences are thrown into Jack Pollexfen's script.  To be fair, said script does offer up an adequate twist within its last ten minutes.  Still, the presentation is too monotonous and formulaic to even make its arbitrary conglomerate of horror movie hooks work.

MY WORLD DIES SCREAMING

(1958)

Dir - Harold Daniels

Overall: WOOF

A sluggish, hare-brained bit of sensationalized melodrama, My World Dies Screaming, (Terror in the Haunted House), is merely a footnote in 1950's B-movie lore for being the first of only two films put out with the "psychorama" gag of utilizing subliminal images and phrases, the other such release being the following year's A Date with Death which was also done by Howco Productions.  Anyone going into the proceedings here expecting something on the level of William Castle's wonderful gimmick spectacles will be frustratingly disappointed though as director Harold Daniels possesses no such showmanship from behind the lens.  Not that the movie's utter failure is entirely his fault as Robert C. Dennis' script is insultingly lousy, once again using the tired trope of men refusing to believe a word that a hysterically upset woman says while simultaneously trying to manipulate that women for some unnecessarily convoluted purpose.  The faux-psychology on display here is of the moronic, overly-simplified variety that hack screenwriters lazily retooled where the answer to the mystery is deeply hidden in someone's subconscious and can only be unleashed by traumatizing them further.  Worse yet, the movie attempts and stumbles pathetically at convening its would-be spooky atmosphere, even though it professes to take place in a haunted abode.

50's American Horror Part Nine

GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS!

(1956)

Dir - Ishirō Honda/Terry O. Morse

Overall: GOOD

 

Considering that the Japanese Toho production company intentionally made Godzilla to capitalize on the success of American giant monster movies, (specifically 1953's The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms), it was hardly an illogical movie to Americanize the initial film for English-speaking markets with Godzilla, King of the Monsters!.  A joint venture between Toho and Jewell Enterprises who reedited, dubbed, and shot new footage with Raymond Burr and various body doubles, the resulting collaboration ended up being the first financially successful Japanese movie in the States.  Of course it also introduced Godzilla to the rest of the world and launched one of the most massive franchises in cinema history.  The much more potent, atom bomb references are eliminated and without said context, this is basically just another popcorn "monster on the rampage" movie, be it a better one than most.  Many of the scenes with Burr are awkwardly shoehorned in at worst, but the narrative is hardly as interesting as just watching Godzilla stomp around Tokyo.  Like every film of its kind, considerable amounts of screen time drag when the big baddie is not being shown.  Even in its mangled form here though, it has a more sincere tone than one would think and coupled with the iconic "man in a rubber suite causing destruction" moments, it is probably still essential viewing.

 

I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF

(1957)

Dir - Gene Fowler Jr.

Overall: MEH

 

The first of American International Pictures' four "teenage cycle" horror movies and the most financially profitable was I Was a Teenage Werewolf.  Though it helped make Michael Landon a star, has some nifty monster makeup, and one scene involving a gymnast getting attacked is expertly done, this is another wretched offender of padded drive-in movies with dashes of excitement splashed in way too far and in between.  The first act establishes Landon's "teen with a severe anger problem" set up well enough, but it takes quite a while for him to wolf man-out and he in fact only does so three times in the movie, one of which is kept off screen.  Enormous chunks of screen time then are dedicated to characters talking about and looking for him and it is enough to put even the most caffeine-injected audience member to deep sleep.  The movie fails wildly to rev up the tension in the third act which is where it is generally most crucial to do so.  Also, the mad scientist angle here is insultingly stupid as he wants to use Landon as a test subject to revert man to his primal instincts for no reason, going as far as to try and film his transformation without making any precautions whatsoever to restrain him first.

TERROR FROM THE YEAR 5000

(1958)

Dir - Robert J. Gurney Jr.

Overall: WOOF

 

A moronic sci-fi angle and embarrassing production values undermine Terror from the Year 5000, (Cage of Doom); the first of only three directorial efforts from Robert J. Gurney Jr who also co-wrote the harebrained script.  Early on, we are introduced to the laughable idea that carbon dating can determine if a substance is from the future and of course this Hollywood screenplay version of pseudo-science is presented in a straight-faced fashion, as is everything else that happens afterwards.  Unfortunately, nothing is as unintentionally funny from there on out as the plot quickly settles into a sluggish love triangle with uncharismatic actors, plus some nonsense about radiation.  A mutated woman with lousy makeup and a costume that looks like what actors have to wear nowadays for motion-capture purposes shows up in the final act, but she is tossed in there almost as an afterthought instead of the big mystery reveal that she was intended as.  The whole thing amounts to a "warning to the human race" as far as what their foolish tampering with atomic bombs will unleash, but the presentation is so uneventful that it even fails as a "bad movie night' cheapie.

50's American Horror Part Eight

THEM!

(1954)

Dir - Gordon Douglas

Overall: GOOD

 

Out of all of the nuclear-made, giant monster movies that the 1950's put out in gargantuan, (get it?), numbers, Them! from Warner Bros. is one of the best.  Credited with kicking off the "big bug" fad in this particular sci-fi sub-genre, it has a common, broad message of man's tampering with nature wielding unpredictable and in this case, dangerous results.  The maliciously over-sized ants here are initially found in the New Mexico desert where the first atom bomb test had been conducted.  There are a number of refreshing details present in Ted Sherdeman and Russell Hughes's screenplay, namely how the scientists, law officers, military, and politicians do not spend hardly any of their screen time arguing over the bug's existence or how to handle them.  By having the character's behave in a level-headed manner and with a sense of comradery with each other, it avoids taking a nihilistic approach where human nature inherently collapses into stubborn, fear-driven chaos.  Also, the threat of the title creatures is effectively tense.  Introducing flying queen ants that can lay thousands of eggs over fifteen or so years in any borrow that is large enough to house them, it certainly gives off some unwholesome vibes.  This may not have as sharp of a social commentary angle as other such movies from the era, but it is far more tightly directed and serious in presentation than it easily could have been.

THE DISEMBODIED

(1957)

Dir - Walter Grauman

Overall: MEH

A typical white-washed voodoo thriller, The Disembodied is the first theatrical film from prolific television director Walter Grauman.  Set exclusively in an undisclosed, tropical jungle, two of the tribes people with the most lines of dialog are of course played by Caucasian actors, as was the style at the time.  While it treats the natives in as primitive of a fashion as in any Hollywood production from the era that utilizes exotic mysticism as a source of terror, the true diabolical presence here is the sultry Allison Hayes.  As a conniving trophy wife, she essentially resorts to voodoo out of boredom from being cooped up in the middle of nowhere with her introverted, older husband.  So it is basically a case of the alluring, evil white lady taking advantage of scantily clad jungle people, with a square-jawed hero ultimately making the noble choice to save face.  Nothing that transpires is remotely frightening and it does not muster up much atmosphere besides some bamboo torches and tribal drums, but at a highly agreeable sixty-six minute running time, it goes through the motions in an engaging enough manner, plus Hayes makes for a sexy and wicked femme fatal.

THE ANGRY RED PLANET
(1959)
Dir - Ib Melchior
Overall: MEH

Both infamous and interesting for its poorly executed special effects, The Angry Red Planet, (Invasion of Mars, Journey to Planet Four), is actually no worse or better than any other tiny budgeted bit of science fiction fluff from the 1950s, particularly the ones regularly churned out by American International Pictures.  Producer/screenwriter Sidney W. Pink's script allows for plenty of chitter-chatter between the stock actors on screen, enough so that it is all too easy to tune-out of the proceedings the whole way through.  It takes longer than is agreeable to get to the angry red planet Mars of the title, but once there, the CineMagic effects take center stage which bathe everything in red and allow for the characters to interact with stagnant photographs of scenery, animation, and a giant mouse bat spider alien monster.  It looks ridiculous and dated, but it is also stylized in a way that sets the film apart from its black and white contemporaries.  Still, this cannot disguise the flat direction, uninspired story, cheap production values, and horrendous pacing, plus the whole thing ends on a whimper with more talking in lab coats and everyone listening to a quick, ominous message from our intergalactic neighbors without a final, climactic set piece.

40's American Horror Part Five

THE INVISIBLE WOMAN
(1940)
Dir - A. Edward Sutherland
Overall: MEH

Released the same year as The Invisible Man Returns and featuring two gimmicks, (one in that the unseen "monster" this time is female and two in that this is a screwball comedy), The Invisible Woman can be looked at as the first dud in Universal's horror sequels.  Calling this a horror movie is quite inaccurate though as nothing the least bit horrific occurs, unless kicking an uppity model agency boss in the butt counts.  What does occur is a lot of groan-worthy attempts at humor including puns, people falling down, and the usual gag of characters thinking that some form of supernatural tomfoolery is afoot when in fact simply invisible tomfoolery is afoot.  To be fair, a select few of the jokes are harmlessly chuckle-worthy and the script has a goofy charm to it that is no more or less ridiculous than other movies of its kind.  Plus John Barrymore is a hoot as a quacky scientist and Shemp Howard shows up as a mob henchman, though the latter does not get to say or do all that much.  For the most part it is pretty lousy and forgettable though, yet the 180 change in approach was at least an admirable risk to take.

MAN-MADE MONSTER

(1941)

Dir - George Waggner

Overall: GOOD

 

Released under a barrage of different tittles, (Electric Man, The Mysterious Dr. R, The Atomic Monster), Man-Made Monster also served as Lon Chaney Jr's first horror film and the one that landed him a career-making contract for Universal.  Originally conceived as yet another vehicle for Boris Karloff and Béla Lugosi, the project was shelved for a number of years as it bared some similarities to The Invisible Ray which also paired the horror icons.  Bringing in the reliable Lionel Atwill to play yet another "mad" scientist with a cockamamie scheme, as well as having George Waggner behind the lens, (who would go on to work with Chaney again that year in their seminal follow-up The Wolfman), it is an effective if comparatively lesser known monster movie from the studio that produced the best lot of them.  While the premise and special effects work have a fun, dated charm to them, Chaney's naturally sympathetic performance helps sell the proceedings.  The actor was always at his best playing tragic, gentle giants and as a go-lucky guy full of electricity and somehow under the mindless control of Attwill's Dr. Rigas, he is as likeable as ever.

THE MAD GHOUL

(1943)

Dir - James Hogan
Overall: MEH

 

Launched into production to go along with Son of Dracula as a double feature, The Mad Ghoul was the final directorial effort from James Hogan who died just over a week before its release.  One of the rare Universal monster films during their golden era that did not star any of their major, hallmark players, (though B-movie scream queen Evelyn Ankers is at least on board), it has another familiar set up of a mad doctor controlling a poor sap to do his unsavory bidding, all in the name of science and for the betterment of mankind.  The flimsy, technical details are of minor importance as the plot focuses on three different men who are in love with a beautiful opera singer, with the malicious one being clear from the beginning.  As there is no mystery, no star power, and Jack Pierce's make-up effects are barely detectable, it hardly constitutes as one of the studio's most memorable efforts.  Still, it has a couple of ghoulish moments, (pun intended), and the weird pairing of grave robbing, monkey experiments, and hypnotized, quasi-zombies at least sounds wacky on paper.

40's American Horror Part Four

SON OF DRACULA

(1943)

Dir - Robert Siodmak

Overall: MEH

With Frankenstein sequels and the double-billed, re-release of both the initial 1931 Dracula and Frankenstein in theaters in 1942 all proving to be lucrative, Universal dusted off their undead count again for Son of Dracula.  With this film, Lon Chaney Jr. became the first actor to portray all four of the studio's main monsters, though his performance here as Dracula's not-so-clever alias Count Alucard is one of the lesser regarded.  In Chaney's defense though, he is certainly adequate with the material, but the script from Curt Sidmak and Eric Taylor does not leave him much to do besides disappear for large chunks of screen time and stand around turning into a mist or a bat on occasion.  The plot is remarkably simple, perhaps too simple in fact and director Robert Sidmak fails to create a properly atmospheric mood.  Everything is played seriously and it is tightly structured, but there is still no denying the rather unremarkable nature of the entire production.  John Carradine would give the title role a go in the following House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula entries, but while certainly silly, each of those movies would at least provide an amusing monster-mash quality that sadly, this one is lacking.

 

THE UNINVITED

(1944)

Dir - Lewis Allen

Overall: GOOD

One of the most popular and enduring supernatural horror films from Hollywood's Golden Age was an adaptation of Dorothy Macardle's novel Uneasy Freehold, which was released as The Uninvited in the US as its cinematic version likewise was.  Originally offered to Alfred Hitchcock, it was eventually taken on by Lewis Allen who stages a small handful of expertly spooky scenes.  The overall tone is far too sensationalized to viscerally connect with an audience as Victor Young's romantic musical score plays almost persistently throughout.  Also, various whimsical attempts at humor are made and the primary focus is on uncovering the ever-widening mystery.  Thankfully though, said mystery is quite compelling and even though women are prone to fainting and being offered sedatives to calm their nerves, the usual cliche of skeptical characters talking down to people is at least nowhere to be found.  Instead, the supernatural occurrences are taken seriously by all parties involved, with benevolent curiosity driving everyone to ultimately tell the mean ghost to go away, which it rather undrerwhelmingly does.  Still, it is a pretty classy production from top to bottom and provides a nice, more lighthearted alternative to such macabre material.

STRANGLER OF THE SWAMP
(1946)

Dir - Frank Wisbar
Overall: MEH

 

Frank Wisbar's remake of his own 1936 German film Fährmann Maria was this low-budget entry from Producers Releasing Corporation, one of the many Poverty Row studios operating in Hollywood at the time.  Here titled Strangler of the Swamp and still co-written by Wisbar, nearly every detail of the script is changed from the original.  The ferrywoman is called Maria once again, yet she falls in love with a completely different character and the ghostly stranger of the title is not an anonymous spectre as it was before.  Running just under an hour, no complaints can be lodged at the movie's pacing and overall, Wisbar maintains a snappy control over the material.  As far as fog-ridden scenery goes, it is piled on liberally thick here with characters completely disappearing in it during numerous scenes.  The film's horror elements are remarkably tame even for the era and as is also unfortunately common, it does not help that Alexander Steinert's stock, lush musical score hardly lets a single scene play out to natural silence.  It mostly gets by on its dated limitations though and is a more conventional improvement over its German counterpart at least.

40's Bela Lugosi Part Four

FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN

(1943)

Dir - Roy William Niell

Overall: MEH

Though it has a fine performance from Lon Chaney Jr. reprising his role as Lawrence Talbot, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man marks the moment where Universal's monster movie sequels finally stretched themselves to a breaking point.  As a direct follow-up to The Wolf Man and the fifth Frankenstein film, Lionel Atwill shows up playing another character for the third time in a row, Evelyn Ankers is recast as she played two different characters in each franchise before, and in his last credited screen performance, Dwight Fry even pops in as a nameless villager.  This would mark the only time that Béla Lugosi put on the Frankenstein monster makeup yet infamously, all of his dialog was removed in editing and his stumbling performance with his arms outstretched made the actor primarily look preposterous as any mention of the creature being blind was left for movie patrons who remembered that last minute plot detail from The Ghost of Frankenstein to understand.  The script from Curt Siodmak, (also returning from The Wolf Man), combines two timelines that are decades apart and allows for a "sane" doctor to randomly decide that he must see the monster's full power before willingly blowing up a dam that will surely destroy the entire village below it.  Meanwhile, nobody thinks to destroy Frankenstein's diary or any of his lab equipment and characters miraculously cross paths with each other as if the entire continent of Europe exists within a few blocks from each other.

ZOMBIES ON BROADWAY

(1945)

Dir - Gordon Douglas

Overall: MEH

 

While Boris Karloff got to work with A-listers Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in two different films for Universal Pictures, poor, poor Béla Lugosi got stuck with RKO's lame-brained imitations Alan Carney and Wally Brown.  The first of their pairings Zombies on Broadway, (Loonies on Broadway), also has the odd distinction of being an unofficial sequel to producer Val Lewton's I Walked with a Zombie as it takes place on the same island and features calypso singer Sir Lancelot reprising his role.  Basically, if you were to imagine Abbot and Costello without any of their comedic timing or charisma, then Carney and Brown would be the result.  On paper, the script from Robert Kent and Lawrence Kimble goes through the usual hi-jinks, except all of the jokes and anything remotely clever are removed.  Lugosi of course plays another mad scientist and of course is barely on screen.  He does get to goof around with a monkey though for whatever that is worth.  There is generally nothing worse than a comedy that is not funny and look no further than exhibit A right here for proof.

SCARED TO DEATH

(1947)

Dir - Christy Cabanne

Overall: MEH

Though it is historically notable as the only color film in which Béla Lugosi received a staring role, Scared to Death is one of a handful of dopey comedy thrillers that the actor appeared in merely to pay the bills. An uninspired whodunit based off of Murder on the Operating Table by Frank Orsino, the film has one obnoxiously unfunny, ham-fisted character after the other, several of whom fumble their lines in a way that makes Lugosi look both overqualified and sad to be a part of such tripe.  Hack-meister Christy Cabanne directed about nine-hundred and eighty-seven forgettable movies going back to the early silent days and this was one of his last.  Honestly, anyone could be behind the lens though as it is just a series of characters walking into one room and talking before walking into the next room and talking some more.  Meanwhile, a mask appears in a window, interrupting said talking scenes over and over again while the soundtrack loudly blares an ominous trumpet noise.  This is also one of a handful of times that dwarf actor Angelo Rossitto and Lugosi worked together, the former basically playing a human version of a pet monkey which is as "charming" as it sounds.

40's Bela Lugosi Part Three

THE BLACK CAT

(1941)

Dir - Albert S. Rogell

Overall: MEH

 

Universal's sub-par, unofficial version of Paramount's The Cat and the Canary remake from two years prior The Black Cat hits all of the well-worn "old dark house" gags to rather yawn-inducing effects.  Baring the same title as the remarkably different and remarkably superior 1934 film which also stared Béla Lugosi, the only other thing that the two have in common is that neither of them have anything whatsoever to do with their Edgar Allan Poe-authored "source material".  As far as what movies it does have something in common with, that would be every other film regularly produced at the time that was ridden with "stuffy, desperate people going after a rich relative's will" and whodunit cliches.  The movie's lack of originality is one problem, the other is that the comedy elements around Hugh Herbert's character fall regularly flat.  Why anyone thought it would be funny instead of annoying to watch him ruin furniture and antiques while saying that they will be worth more that way only several hundred times is anybody's guess.  Lugosi is wasted as a red herring groundskeeper, but Basil Rathbone is ideally cast enough as a sleazy, back-stabbing husband at least.

THE GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN

(1942)

Dir - Erle C. Kenton

Overall: GOOD

 

The minor yet noticeable quality slip continues with The Ghost of Frankenstein, the fourth straight sequel and last before Universal would start adopting its much more ham-fisted, monster-mash policy.  Boris Karloff retired from the role that made him famous, with the studio's new leading horror man Lon Chaney Jr. admirably stepping in.  Béla Lugosi is once again in top form as the fiendish cripple Ygor, who miraculously survived the previous Son of Frankenstein with no explanation bothered to be given.  The script in general is honestly pretty lazy, recycling the last film with yet ANOTHER brilliant doctor who is yet ANOTHER offspring of the initial monster-making Frankenstein.  I guess these guys never decide to to into anthropology or something and they just never bothered to mention him before.  Though the movie suffers a bit from its re-trotted plot, (a plot that has a number of holes present for the audience to forgive), it is still a classy presentation with sincere performances all around.  B-director Erle C. Kenton, (who would go on to do House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula), is hardly an auteur, but he does deliver a tightly-paced final product that manages to go through the motions in an entertaining enough way to be memorable.

VOODOO MAN

(1944)

Dir - William Beaudine

Overall: MEH

The penultimate film that Béla Lugosi made for Poverty Row studio Monogram Pictures, Voodoo Man is about what one would expect.  Lugosi is a man who practices voodoo.  Even by the fairly low standards of such movies, this is a significantly lousy one.  William Beaudine's direction could not be more flat and uninspired.  The most stylistically exciting choice that he makes is to cut between two scenes on occasion while using a fade.  John Carradine and George Zucco also appear and the former is pretty embarrassing as a dim-witted henchman.  Usually, these D-budget yawns could at least come to life on occasion due to Lugosi's presence, at least if his role was significant enough, (which it often was not).  Though he is accurately top-billed here, the actor noticeably looks to be phoning it in.  Granted the material is quite poor and even an actor with Lugosi's occasional showmanship can only do so much with it.  Still, he understandably puts in the minimal effort this time, resulting in one of the most laughably under dramatic death scenes likely ever filmed.  The whole affair is about as lifeless as they come though and while Lugosi has much worse in his filmography, this one easily stands as a very forgettable one.