#Carl Esmond

[weirdlookindog]

The Catman of Paris (1946) - Mexican lobby card art

[letterboxd-loggd]

Without Love (1945) Harold S. Bucquet

May 24th 2024

[erstwhile-punk-guerito]

[ronnymerchant]

Carl Esmond- the CATMAN OF PARIS (1946)

[brokehorrorfan]

Republic Pictures Horror Collection will be released on May 21 via Kino Lorber. The two-disc set features four horror films produced by Republic Pictures: The Lady and the Monster, The Phantom Speaks, The Catman of Paris, and Valley of the Zombies.

1944's The Lady and the Monster is directed by George Sherman and written by Dane Lussier and Frederick Kohner, based on Curt Siodmak's 1942 novel Donovan's Brain. Vera Ralston, Richard Arlen, and Erich von Stroheim star.

1945's The Phantom Speaks is directed by John English and written by John K. Butler. Richard Arlen, Stanley Ridges, Lynne Roberts, Tom Powers, Charlotte Wynters, and Jonathan Hale star.

1946's The Catman of Paris is directed by Lesley Selander and written by Sherman L. Lowe. Carl Esmond, Lenore Aubert, Adele Mara, Douglass Dumbrille, Gerald Mohr, and Fritz Feld star.

1946's Valley of the Zombies is directed by Philip Ford and written by Dorrell McGowan and Stuart E. McGowan. Robert Livingston, Adrian Booth, Ian Keith, Thomas E. Jackson, Charles Trowbridge, and Earle Hodgins star.

All four films have been have been scanned in 4K by Paramount Pictures. Special features are listed below.

Special features:

The Lady and the Monster audio commentary by film historian Stephen Bissette (new)

The Phantom Speaks audio commentary by film historian Tim Lucas

The Catman of Paris audio commentary by film historians David Del Valle and Miles Hunter (new)

Valley of the Zombies audio commentary by film historians David Del Valle and Miles Hunter (new)

Valley of the Zombies audio commentary by film historian Tim Lucas

The Lady and the Monster interview with film historians Tim Lucas and Steven Bissette

In The Lady and the Monster, a scientist (Erich von Stroheim) and his two assistants (Vera Hruba Ralston, Richard Arlen) keep a dead criminal's brain alive. In The Phantom Speaks, the vengeful spirit of an executed killer takes possession of a scientist to take revenge on those who wronged him, and a newspaper reporter becomes suspicious. In The Catman of Paris, an amnesiac Frenchman (Carl Esmond) blames himself for deeds done with the mark of a beast. In Valley of the Zombies, a woman falls under the hypnotic spell of a resurrected madman.

Pre-order Republic Pictures Horror Collection.

[byneddiedingo]

George Brent, Paul Lukas, and Hedy Lamarr in Experiment Perilous (Jacques Tourneur, 1944)

Cast: Hedy Lamarr, George Brent, Paul Lukas, Albert Dekker, Carl Esmond, Olive Blakeney, George N. Neise, Margaret Wycherly. Screenplay: Warren Duff, based on a novel by Margaret Carpenter. Cinematography: Tony Gaudio. Art direction: Albert S. D'Agostino, Jack Okey. Film editing: Ralph Dawson. Music: Roy Webb. 

Cary Grant was the original choice to play the male lead in Experiment Perilous and Gregory Peck was the second. If the role had gone to either of them, the film might be remembered as more than just the other gaslighting movie of 1944, but it has been eclipsed by George Cukor's Gaslight. The part of the psychiatrist Huntington Bailey went to the stolid old reliable George Brent. Dr. Bailey gets caught up in the drama of the Bederaux family when he has a chance encounter on a train with the slightly dotty Clarissa (Cissie) Bederaux (Olive Blakeney), who tells him she's writing the biography of her brother Nick (Paul Lukas), who has a beautiful wife named Allida (Hedy Lamarr). Bailey is intrigued, but not much more, until a mixup in luggage puts him in possession of one of Clarissa's bags. That, and the enthusiasm of his artist friends Clag (Albert Dekker) and Maitland (Carl Esmond) for Allida's beauty, draws him into the Bederaux circle and arouses his suspicions that Allida is not the mentally fragile woman that her husband and others say she is. When he learns that Cissie has died of a heart attack, he opens her valise and finds the manuscript of her biography and her diary, confirming his suspicion -- and putting him in jeopardy. This is solid melodrama stuff, and director Jacques Tourneur, who directed the Val Lewton romantic horror movies Cat People (1942) and I Walked With a Zombie (1943), knows just what to do with it. He's hindered a little by an over-complicated screenplay based on a novel by Margaret Carpenter, which necessitates a lot of flashbacks and switches in point of view, so the film doesn't proceed as smoothly as it might. But he maintains the right atmosphere as the plot moves to its resolution, which involves literally lighting gas as well as gaslighting. There's a goopy happy-ending coda to the main story that strikes the wrong note for the film, but Experiment Perilous deserves to be known as more than an also-ran.

[genevieveetguy]

- I don’t understand this elaborate way of killing me when you should turn me over the Gestapo. In your unique way, you could question me and try to uncover the starving underground. That would be a great service to the nazi cause but you don’t do it. I wonder why. Because the spy in this case is your wife and Berlin might not understand. They will never trust you again. They might even kick you out of the party.  - We are ready to leave. - Or hide above everything else in the world, that’s the true stature of the nazi superman without even the decency of your own cause. - Shut up! - All of you are fundamentally weak cowardly little people.

First comes courage, Dorothy Arzner (1943)

[tvln]

margin for error (us, preminger 43)

[moviemosaics]

Ministry of Fear

directed by Fritz Lang, 1944

[doubtspirit]

Without Love (1945) M-G-M's Star-Hit! Spencer Tracy & Katherine Hepburn

She was a bashful bride! He walked in his sleeps! Staring Lucille Ball, Keenan Wynn, Carl Esmond, Patricia Morison and Felix Bressart. Directed by Harold S. Bucquet. Based on the play by Philip Barry. Produced by Lawrence Weingarten. Cinematography by Karl Freund. Music by Bronislau Kaper.

[weirdlookindog]

Carl Esmond in The Catman of Paris (1946)

[letterboxd-loggd]

Ministry of Fear (1944) Fritz Lang

July 11th 2022

[erstwhile-punk-guerito]

[gatutor]

Carl Esmond-Adele Mara “The catman of Paris” 1946, de Lesley Selander.

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[screamscenepodcast]

Paris, the city of lights... and cats! A 'catman' stalks the streets (or is it just a hairy man?), is anyone safe? From Republic Pictures comes THE CATMAN OF PARIS (1946)!

Featuring the talents of notable western director Lesley Selander, serial writer Sherman Lowe, and starring Carl Esmond, Lenore Aubert, Gerald Mohr, and Douglass Dumbrille.

Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 14:09; Discussion 36:05; Ranking 47:27