1930s American Horror Part Two

KONGO
(1932)
Dir - William J. Cowen/Errol Taggart
Overall: MEH

This remake to Tod Browning's West of Zanzibar, (which starred Lon Chaney), is sadistic enough that it would not have been possible a mere two years later once the Motion Picture Production Code came into force.  Calling it one of the earliest possible precursors to torture porn is not something it deserves, but Kongo does have a steady stream of brutality that makes it stand out for an early talkie.  Walter Huston reprises his role as "Deadlegs" Flint which he also portrayed in the original Broadway play from 1926 and his is one of the most despicable and vile characters any film from the era ever had.  Most of Kongo's running time is watching him endlessly torment everyone around him and the lengths and fervor with which he enjoys it is certainly unsettling.  Underneath all of the disturbing qualities though, the plot is not that strong and it is far-fetched for a number of reasons how not only a cripple manages to control such a vast terrain where nobody just kills him already.  Yet his very long-winded scheme in general is the kind of melodrama that is only really seen in the movies.  Still, it is an interesting and almost thoroughly bleak film for its day.

WEREWOLF OF LONDON
(1935)
Dir - Stuart Walker
Overall: MEH

A tad dull and hampered a bit by bland direction and performances as well as an odd, overabundance of screen time given to squawking, older ladies for comedic relief was Universal's first stab at lycanthropy in cinema form, Werewolf of London.  Similar to 1932's The Mummy, Werewolf was not based off of any pre-existing material and was an original screenplay with no less than six names attached to it.  While this does not make the story the least bit sloppy or unfocused as one would possibly guess, it does in fact follow a rather predictable path, at least for modern audiences.  We know Henry Hull is doomed from the get-go, we know how the full moon mythology works, we know no one in Scotland Yard is going to believe a werewolf is gallivanting around slaughtering people, etc.  Yet the element of a rare, Tibetan plant that only blooms under moonlight, no silver bullet references, (those would come later), and a more consciously-aware wolfman are nice additions to the mythos.  The fact that Hull's makeup is less elaborate is actually a solid move from a plot perspective and in the end, it is rather a plus that Universal ended up with two versions of the make-up after 1945's The Wolfman, even though this one clearly features the less iconic of them.

THE CAT AND THE CANARY
(1939)
Dir - Elliott Nugent
Overall: GOOD

Another remake of an earlier, silent property of the same name, The Cat and the Canary forgoes the German Expressionism seriousness of the original version by being a deliberate comedy.  Bob Hope getting top billing says all there needs to be said as far as the different direction taken and he is typically Bob Hopey, playing a wimpish scardey cat who cannot stop wisecracking to save his life.  Outside of a handful of off-the-mark examples, the humor connects and at a brisk seventy-four minutes, Elliott Nugent, (1949 The Great Gatsby), keeps it a lot of fun to see a bunch of would-be doomed relatives trying to survive a night in a absurdly creepy, New Orleans mansion.  Charlie Chaplin's favorite leading lady Paulette Goddard makes an excellent scream queen, filling the role of "she saw something creepy so she must be suffering from hysteria" motif that hundreds of old horror movies liberally used.  Though it is not as fun or spooky as similar, later entries like The House on Haunted Hill per example, it is a solid and funny whodunit nonetheless.

1930s American Horror Part One

SVENGALI
(1931)
Dir - Archie Mayo
Overall: GOOD

Warner Bros. contributed one of their own entries into the early talkie, supernatural horror boom with their adaptation of George du Maurier's novel Trilby, here titled Svengali.  The story had been brought to the screen four times previously, but the John Barrymore-stared version here has become the most enduring.  Like several early films in the sound era, Svengali utilizes very little incidental music and a few long, silent scenes take their time to play out, appropriately building up a sort of menace.  As far as anything truly horrifying going on, there really is not that much present here.  Barrymore's title character is more eccentric and pitiful than truly dangerous and he starts out playing him more as a quirky buffoon, making his inevitable downfall rather sad and touching.  His creepy, glossed over eyes represent a good, starling image for this era in horror cinema as well.  The cinematography by Barney McGill is rather strong and there are some German Expressionism inspired sets used near the beginning, where people's Paris flats seem to be carved out of brightly lit, underground caves.

MAD LOVE
(1935)
Dir - Karl Freund
Overall: GOOD

German cinematographer extraordinaire Karl Freund, (The Mummy), ended his directional career after only seven previous movies in three years with the Hands of Orlac remake Mad Love.  Also serving as Peter Lorre's American debut, the film is a vast improvement over the German, silent original and it is a bona fide triumph for Lorre.  As the of course mad, brilliant surgeon Dr. Gogol, Lorre is prefect and exudes his usual combination of equally diabolical and pathetic qualities.  His character was non-existent from the previous film version and centering the movie around him, (and ergo giving Lorre the ideal setting to shine), proves an excellent move.  Colin Clive is rather pushed aside though and the story toys with the concept of madness a little too lazily one could argue, but it is briskly told and again, puts Lorre in the driver seat where he belongs.  Mad Love did poor business when originally released and Pauline Kael of course shit on it as well as humorously claimed that Orson Welles stole much of its qualities for Citizen Kane, but it is still a strong contender for one of Hollywood's better, early horror talkies.

THE DEVIL-DOLL
(1936)
Dir - Tod Browning
Overall: GOOD

Tod Browning's penultimate film and direct follow up to The Mark of the Vampire, The Devil-Doll is a typically bizarre work from the director who generally leaned towards the abnormal.  Lionel Barrymore spends the majority of his screen time cross-dressing as an old lady and the concept of him using shrunken, doll-sized versions of human slaves to get revenge on his enemies is as unusual of a premise as 1930s cinema ever had and certainly one that Browning would gravitate towards.  The fact that Barrymore's protagonist is essentially murdering people in a calculated, diabolical manner and that he is completely played as the film's tragic hero who entirely deserves our sympathies with no grey area attached once again shows Browning's preference for rooting for the person that you are morally confused about rooting for.  Special effects wise, The Devil-Doll holds up to the previous year's The Bride of Frankenstein which used a similar technique with its little people interacting with giant-to-them household objects.  Surprisingly, the whole film never succumbs to being laughable as Browning plays all of its rather fantastic elements perfectly straight.

Foreign Silent Horror Part Five

THE HAUNTED CASTLE
(1921)
Dir - F.W. Murnau
Overall: MEH

This pre-Nosferatu outing from F.W. Murnau was based off a novel by German writer Rudolph Stratz and unfortunately, it is rather forgettable if still adequately made.  The American title The Haunted Castle is altogether misleading and there is only the faintest traces of anything that could be classified as horror, even by a stretch.  One of the inconsequential characters has a nightmare where a large, creepy hand reaches towards him and that is about it.  A chamber drama in five acts, it is a murder mystery with very little tension and pretty straightforward direction from Murnau, though the sets look nice and the cinematography is pretty decent, with some solid, central framing here or there.  It is pretty slow going though and you are not likely to get very invested in what is going on, especially if you were duped into excepted a ghost or two to show up.

WARNING SHADOWS
(1923)
Dir - Arthur Robison
Overall: GOOD

Lesser known German director Arthur Robison's Warning Shadows, (Schatten – Eine nächtliche Halluzination), is an interesting outing in German Expressionism.  Sans an introduction to all of the players at the beginning, the film features no intertitles and it is impressive how easy the story is to follow, at least for the most part.  The story is full of excessive jealously and false pretenses on the part of the filmmakers and it is staged rather creatively, making splendid use of the "shadows" in the title.  The Expressionism angle comes heavily into play in this regard, where we are constantly shown silhouetted distortions against the walls that ultimately get the better of the characters.  The movie has a borderline supernatural element that is more implied than readily apparent and this mostly comes down to the style which Robison and Nosferatu cinematographer Fritz Arno Wagner help convey.  As a bonus, a few of the cast members where also in Nosferatu as well.

THE STUDENT OF PRAGUE
(1926)
Dir - Henrik Galeen
Overall: GOOD

The superior silent version of The Student of Prague was the 1926 remake by Henrick Galeen to Stellan Rye and Paul Wegener's adaptation from thirteen years prior.  Coincidentally, Galeen's first film was 1916's The Golem which he collaborated with Wegener on as well.  Whereas the first Prague was hampered considerably by a lack of intertitles which made the story far too difficult to keep up with, there is no such detriment present here and the added element of Conrad Veidt providing one of his best performances in the dual lead certainly helps it triumph.  Though only mildly Expressionistic, (there is a brief scene near a cemetery whose tombstones are crudely abstracted enough to qualify), the story of Veidt's doomed student Balduin is sufficiently told.  As his own evil doppelgänger, Veidt is eerily still as he silently haunts his "real" half, coming off all the more menacing in the process.  Veidt's decent into madness at the hands of his double is excellent and Galeen keeps things moving uncommonly brisk for a silent movie in general.

Foreign Silent Horror Part Four

THE STUDENT OF PRAGUE
(1913)
Dir - Stellan Rye/Paul Wegener
Overall: MEH

A significant work that proceeded the German Expressionism movement in cinema and is regarded today as the first independent movie ever made, Stellan Rye and Paul Wegener's The Student of Prague does not hold up very well as a viewing experience today aside from some still commendable technical aspects.  The double exposure technique used to convey the main protagonist's wicked doppelgänger is incredibly convincing as both characters that are played by the same actor, (Wegener himself), come off absolutely seamlessly on screen.  The story is a conglomerate, taking aspects of Edgar Allan Poe's William Wilson, Alfred de Musset's The December Night, and the German legend of Faust, but the problem is that so very few intertitles are used that the story is exasperatingly difficult to follow.  Multiple scenes play out in a row with no onscreen text given whatsoever and being a silent movie after all, it grows very frustrating to keep anything straight.  This seems like something that could have easily been avoided, but it is a big enough problem to make the movie both boring and largely incomprehensible.

THE PHANTOM CARRIAGE
(1921)
Dir - Victor Sjöström
Overall: GOOD

One of the most praised of all Swedish silent films, actor/director Victor Sjöström's adaptation of Selma Lagerlöf's novel (Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness!), The Phantom Carriage was a technically advanced work for its time that has had a lasting influence.  This was the forth of Lagerlöf's stories that Sjöström had brought to the screen and it would remain the most paramount, with the work of Ingmar Bergman alone, (who cast Sjöström in Wild Strawberries no less), noticeably impacted by it.  The film's utilization of double exposure was a major plot component and was painstakingly achieved through hand-cranked cameras, no small feat for the time.  This effect is very appropriately eerie as we witness Death's doomed carriage driver collect his souls in various settings, most fittingly in a gloomy graveyard.  The non-linear script was also ambitious, being told mostly in flashbacks as we witness the extents of David Holm's , (Sjöström himself), wicked ways.  Though it does not necessarily play out as a horror movie and is in fact more of a cautionary, religiously-themed fable akin to A Christmas Carol, much of the imagery would forever be cemented in the horror genre and it remains a striking work in any capacity.

FAUST
(1926)
Dir - F. W. Murnau
Overall: GREAT

F.W. Murnau's pristine interpretation of Faust is one of the filmmaker's most cherished works and for good reason.  Emerging four years after the paramount Nosferatu, Faust was the last movie he would make before moving to America and immediately following it up with Sunrise, arguably the most critically praised silent film ever made.  This was also the most expensive ever produced at the time by the German company UFA and the budget certainly shows.  Visually it is as breathtaking and expressionistic as any silent film, with a slew of then state of the art effects utilized to bring the legendary tale to life.  Murnau actually shot and put together a number of different versions, (five so far recognized), with differences between scenes ranging from camera angles, costumes, text references for the American version, the ending, and entire scenes missing and included, depending.  Pacing wise, it remains captivating throughout its entirety and all of the melodramatic horror and beauty ramps up to an elaborate finale just as it should.  The film's lasting influence is as noteworthy as the fabled story itself and few finer fantasy movies have really yet to been made.

Foreign Silent Horror Part Three

UNHEIMLICHE GESCHICHTEN
(1919)
Dir - Richard Oswald
Overall: GOOD

Though it has virtually no traces of surrealistic, German Expressionist imagery, Richard Oswald's Unheimliche Geschichten, (Uncanny Stories), still stands as an excellent, very early anthology horror outing.  For historical purposes, it contains probably the earliest film adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Black Cat", which would become a hallmark story in the genre.  The other four stories are from Robert Louis Stevenson, screenwriter Robert Liebmann, prolific author Anselm Heine, and Oswald himself who pens the only truly lackluster one "The Spectre" at the end.  Conrad Veidt, (who almost seemingly showed up in every silent horror movie ever made in Germany), is one of a three person cast who appear as different characters in each story.  As the Devil, his co-star Reinhold Schünzel even dons a very Lugosi-esque look with a cape and prominent, jet-black, widows peak hairstyle to point out yet another small ingredient that future horror films would adapt.  The pacing is kept brisk with a fair enough amount of time given to each tale and the macabre mood is more playful than anything.

HÄXAN
(1922)
Dir - Benjamin Christensen
Overall: GOOD

The largely influential Häxan was a bold experiment by filmmaker Benjamin Christensen at the time of its making.  Showcasing nearly unheard of graphic imagery such as nudity, torture, and blasphemy while presented as a documentary that in part compares the modern treatment of hysteria to medieval superstitions, it was anything but a typical crowdpleaser.  Christensen in fact thoroughly researched his subject matter, basing most of its content off of The Malleus Maleficarum, a 15th century writing on what was wildly believed to depict the "reality" of witchcraft.  Different cuts of Häxan have circulated around, but the fuller one-hundred and four minute one is a bit of a cumbersome viewing experience.  Broken up into chapters, a handful of them do in fact benefit from a tighter edit, but the best elements involving fictionalized recreations of witch's Sabbaths and demons conducting their mischief are still fantastic.  Not only that, but many of its segments that explore more primitive beliefs are legitimately educational and interesting.  Also, the movie is actually quite intentionally funny at various times.  It is still positively bizarre nearly a hundred years later, with few or any cinematic works quite like it.  Though certainly not the best silent genre movie, its uniqueness is laudable and it still packs in some pleasant, ghastly shocks for the steadfast horror fan.

MACISTE IN HELL
(1925)
Dir - Guido Brignone
Overall: GOOD

The Italian cinema mainstay Maciste had what has go to be a record twenty-seven films made in the silent era, all of which starred the hulking Bartolomeo Pagano.  This is not even taking into account the character's 1960s revival which produced another twenty-five films.  Beat that Jason Voorhees!  One of the last in the initial silent run was Maciste all'inferno, (Maciste in Hell), which would not even be the final trek to the netherworld the musclebound, Italian Hercules would make.  The movie is cartoonishly silly, but this is hardly a detriment.  The bulk of its running time does indeed take place, (as the title would suggest), in Hell and it is assuredly entertaining to watch hundreds of horned, pitchfork-wielding, pointy-tailed, filthy demons attack each other as bursts of flame erupt everywhere around them.  There is even a giant, fire breathing dragon that acts as "Hell's airplane", some stop motion animation, and Lucifer himself shown munching on dammed souls in the lake of fire.  Played out as a simple fairytale, it is technically rather impressive for the day despite its elementary plot.  Visually for sure, it qualifies as a triumph of sorts.

Foreign Silent Horror Part Two

GENUINE
(1920)
Dir - Robert Weine
Overall: MEH

Made and released the same year as his own seminal The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Robert Weine's Genuine boasts a slew of noticeably similarities.  Fitting entirely into the German Expressionism movement, the set design is superb and along with the twisted, abstract, and artificial scenery, even many of the characters seem like distortions with ludicrous facial hair and costumes.  This story is also presented as a dream, though it is either preposterous or weakly conveyed as far as coherence goes.  Two versions of the film exist; a brisk, forty-five minute restoration that was put out in 2014 and the original, one-hundred and twenty-eight minute one which is of poorer quality but at least complete.  Whichever one you view, it is a strange, crudely simple story that has not aged all too well, becoming thoroughly underwhelming.  More future horror elements are introduced such as the angry mob and the bewitching heroine, though the movie's alternate title of Genuine: A Tale of a Vampire is completely inappropriate and misleading as there is not a single blood-sucking undead element present.

WAXWORKS
(1924)
Dir - Paul Leni/Leo Birinsky
Overall: MEH

Though it is visually rather commendable, Paul Leni's Waxworks is too poorly structured and paced to really stand as a classic of its era.  Assisted by Leo Birinski who handled the direction of all of the actors, the German Expresionistic look of the film was left to Leni who would go on to make The Cat and the Canary in the U.S. as his follow-up to this one.  The sets are right out of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari; largely exaggerated and fantastical, appearing as if they are children's drawings come to life.  Set up as an anthology film with only the most minute traces of anything horror-related in it, Waxworks lingers too long on its first two segments, each of which are over thirty-minutes longer than its last which seems randomly tagged on at the very end.  On paper, the premise surrounding a poet who is brought in to write backstories to lifelike wax figures seems like it would wield some possible sinister results, but the tales just kind of present themselves straightly before the author just falls asleep for a few minutes at the end.  The story revolving around Ivan the Terrible, (Conrad Veidt), is the strongest comparatively, but it is still lacking in any real real suspense and seems both sluggish and rushed all at the same time, as does the bulk of the film.

THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER
(1928)
Dir - Jean Epstein
Overall: GOOD

French surrealist Jean Epstein, (in collaboration with none other than Luis Buñuel who co-wrote the script), made a full-length adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher the same year that James Sibley Watson and Melville Webber made a short version on the other side of the Atlantic.  Emerging near the tale-end of the silent film era, Usher in several ways represents a peak of the medium before sound would forever change it.  With no shortage of near innovative techniques at its disposal such as slow motion, mobile camera movement, and double exposure, these techniques as well as filming them in elaborate, Expresionism like sets gives Poe's Gothic, gloom laden story as ideal a presentation as possible.  The beginning appears to have directly influenced Universal's Dracula too, with its superstitious villagers refusing to transport an unsuspecting foreigner to its local, cursed abode.  What actually happens in Usher is hardly as important as how immersed the viewer becomes in all of the dreadful mood that the stylistic elements convey, just as they are meant to.  Sans Roger Corman and Vincent Price's adaptation just over three decades later, there arguably is not a finer version overall than this.

Foreign Silent Horror Part One

L'INFERNO
(1911)
Dir - Francesco Bertolini/Adolfo Padovan/Giuseppe De Liguoro
Overall: GOOD

Understandably a little slow moving overall which is often common with silent cinema, the historically important L'Inferno is still a wildly impressive work.  Naturally based off Dante's Diving Comedy, it was filmed over the course of three years by as many different directors and it became the first full-length Italian movie ever released.  Pulling in more than two million at the American box office, it is regarded as possibly the first blockbuster as well, at least for an imported film.  L'Inferno plays as a cinematic interpretation of Gustave Doré's iconic engravings and the way in which they come to life is remarkable.  Utilizing visual tricks with black screens, overlays, and forced projection, all of the levels of hell are depicted faithfully to the source material.  The beasts, demons, and giants both on land and in the air just barely come off as dated, a gargantuan Lucifer himself appropriately representing the films most showstopping moment.  It is really just a visual tour de force for the times, but a strong enough one to still be required viewing beyond its mere archival significance.

THE GOLEM: HOW HE CAME INTO THE WORLD
(1920)
Dir - Paul Wegener/Carl Boese
Overall: GOOD

Impossible not to compare to its close contemporary The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The Golem: How He Came Into the World is another premier example of German Expressionism.  Architect Hans Poelzig's set design and Karl Freund and Guido Seeber's cinematography is textbook of the movement, creating elaborate, exaggerated, and menacing visuals that go a long way in establishing the ideal, macabre mood.  Wonderfully striking moments involving the summoning of an ancient demon in particular are as legendary as anything in Caligari or Nosferatu and The Golem as a whole stands closely toe-to-toe with these other iconic, early German horror works.  As far as specific influence is concerned, the parallels between this and James Whale's Frankenstein eleven years later are futile to ignore.  Wegener's slow moving, intimidating, and powerful title character, (who he also plays), is a direct link to Karloff's Monster and there are further, similar elements such as both being created from a "master" and each one engaging in playful interactions with children.  Pacing wise, The Golem takes a bit too long to get going and has some dated melodrama that drags it down later on, but these are the only reasonable errors one can find with it.

THE HANDS OF ORLAC
(1924)
Dir - Robert Weine
Overall: MEH

Re-made twice more in the following decades, (most notably as Mad Love with Peter Lorre and Colin Clive), Robert Weine's The Hands of Orlac suffers far too immeasurably from a plodding pace.  The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari pair of Weine and actor Conrad Veidt once again team up, but the Expressionism emphasis is largely toned down and the movie plays out in a more conventional, contemporary setting.  That said, visually the film does accomplish some still impressive moments such as a nightmare scene where a giant arm extends downward from the ceiling, as well as others where dead space is utilized in rooms to make them appear far larger and barren.  The performances are stylized in a manner typical of the era, but nearly every scene plays out at an excruciating sluggish trot.  Because the story is so simple and ultimately a little silly, it does not help how laborious of an ordeal it is.  Orlac remains noteworthy though for its body part possession/limb surgery motifs that would become forever common in the horror genre and as a footnote in German Expressionism, be it a less imperative one.