#Carl Laemmle Jr.

[dweemeister]

Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932)

For the bookworms reading this, fair warning: there have been almost no faithful film adaptations of an Edgar Allan Poe work. In the absence of any cinematic-literary faithfulness to Poe’s bibliography, there still remains a plethora of big-screen Poe adaptations that, from a cinematic standpoint, are simply mesmeric to watch. Robert Florey’s Murders in the Rue Morgue, starring Béla Lugosi one year after his career-defining role in Dracula (1931) and released by Universal, is one of the earliest such adaptations. Its atmospheric filmmaking reminiscent of the tangled geometries of German Expressionism and Lugosi’s creepy turn in a starring role may make Poe loyalists furious, but one hopes they can also see the remarkable craft of this film, too.

Though lesser known than both Dracula and Frankenstein (1931), Florey’s Murders in the Rue Morgue came about due to legacies of both those productions. Following the successful release of Dracula in February 1931, Universal considered Lugosi as their go-to star for horror films. Producer Carl Laemmle Jr. – the son of Universal’s chief executive and co-founder, Carl Laemmle – wanted Lugosi to play Frankenstein’s monster (often mistakenly called “Frankenstein”), and even had Lugosi play the monster in several minutes of test footage. That footage, now lost, is one of horror cinema’s greatest sights unseen. Sometime after that test shoot, Universal gave director James Whale a first-choice pick for his next project after the rousing critical and commercial success of Waterloo Bridge (1931). Whale chose Frankenstein, requested a screenplay rewrite, and cast the British actor Boris Karloff in the role. As consolation, Lammle Jr. gave the Hungarian American Lugosi the starring role in Murders in Rue Morgue.

In a Parisian carnival in 1845, we find ourselves in a sideshow tent. There, Dr. Mirakle (Lugosi; meer-AH-cull, not to be pronounced like “miracle”) provides a presentation that is anything but the freak show the attendees are anticipating. He unveils an ape, Erik (Charles Gemora – an actor in an ape suit; some close-up shots are of an actual ape), whom he claims he is able to understand and converse with – even though Erik is unable to speak any human language. In the audience, Mirakle spots a young lady, Camille L’Espanaye (Sidney Fox), and asks her to be his intrepid volunteer for a demonstration. The demonstration goes awry, to the ire of both Camille and her fiancé, Pierre Dupin (Leon Ames). As Camille and Pierre exit the carnival, Mirakle orders his assistant, Janos (Noble Johnson), to trail them. Thus sets in motion the film’s grisly plot.

The film also stars silent film comic actor Bert Roach as one of Camille and Pierre’s friends, Betsy Ross Clarke as Camille’s mother, character actor D’Arcy Corrigan as the morgue keeper, and Arlene Francis (best known as a regular panelist on the game show What’s My Line?) as a prostitute.

Murders in the Rue Morgue, with a screenplay by Tom Reed (1925’s The Phantom of the Opera, 1931’s Waterloo Bridge) and Dale Van Every (1937’s Captains Courageous, 1942’s The Talk of the Town), is one of the most violent pre-Code horror films from the early synchronized sound years. It was so violent, in fact, that Universal’s executives harbored trepidation throughout its entire production and demanded narrative and structural changes that ultimately harmed the film (including cutting grotesque and violent sequences, leaving behind the current 62-minute runtime). The best example of this damage comes from the film’s opening third. Unbeknownst to the carnival attendees, Mirakle has been performing horrifying experiments involving cross-species blood mixing and, through heavy implication by the filmmaking and Gemora’s performance, bestiality (hey, it’s a pre-Code movie!). Originally, Florey’s adaptation of Murders in the Rue Morgue began with Mirakle and Janos abducting Arlene Francis’ streetwalker and Mirakle’s torturing and experimentation on her. Only after that did the film transition to Mirakle’s sideshow presentation.

The reordering of these two scenes – in the final print, the sideshow opens the movie and the abduction and experimentation follows a turgid romantic scene between Camille and Pierre – makes the sideshow opening seem sillier than it should be. If the original order had been kept, Florey’s initial intention to instill dread during the sideshow only after the abduction and experimentation scene – as the audience would be well aware of what Mirakle is capable of – would have made the film’s exposition feel far less stage-bound and hokey than it does. The abduction and experimentation scene’s blood-curdling horror remains (the scene contains a boundary-pushing combination of bestial and religious allusions that some modern filmmakers might not even dare to push), but the romantic scene immediately preceding makes for a rough tonal transition. In comparison to later horror films from the Hollywood Studio System released after stricter implementation of the Hays Code in 1934, these scenes – in addition to a later investigation and the film’s finale – hold up wonderfully.

Crucially, Tom Reed and Dale Van Every’s screenplay alter genres from Edgar Allan Poe’s original short story. With the introduction of hobbyist detective C. Auguste Dupin, Poe’s The Murders in the Rue Morgue is a foundational piece of early Western detective fiction. Or, in Poe’s words, Murders in the Rue Morgue is a “ratiocination tale” – a name that was never going to catch on in any century. Poe’s Dupin, a character who later influenced Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot, undergoes a name change in Reed and Van Every’s adaptation, and we do not see nearly as much deduction and investigating here as in the short story. Reed and Van Every’s screenplay, which delete all but two scenes from the Poe short story, also elevate one of their own creations – Dr. Mirakle – at the expense of Dupin. In addition, it is clear early on who is responsible for the violent acts within the narrative. And, unlike the Poe’s original short story in which Dupin and the unnamed narrator read about the violence in the newspaper, the film shows these acts explicitly or the lead-up to them. Director Robert Florey’s film is decidedly a horror film, not a mystery.

Having Béla Lugosi in the cast in his first film after Dracula is a surefire way to confirm that you are making/watching a horror film. Reed and Van Every’s clunky dialogue might not do Sidney Fox and Leon Ames any favors, but it is a gift for Lugosi. Lugosi’s heavily accented English typecast him later in his career to mad scientist and vampire roles. Nevertheless, who else could stand there – with a mangled tuft of a wig, a makeup department-applied thick unibrow that appears to barely move, menacing lighting from a low angle – and tell Fox’s Camille (after receiving a gawking from Erik, the ape), “Erik is only human, mademoiselle. He has an eye for beauty,” with incredible conviction? The opening minutes of the film at the sideshow, because of the reordering of the film, are heavily expository and contain the bumpiest writing of the entire film. But Lugosi, with his signature cadence (notice how and when Lugosi uses silence and varies the speed of his phrasing – very few native English speakers naturally speak like that) and his physical acting, presents himself perfectly as the societal outsider – remarkably intelligent, but perhaps mentally unhinged. Lugosi’s performance completely outshines all others in this film. Here, in a magnificent performance, he confirms that his acting ability on display in Dracula was no fluke.

Early Universal Horror of the late silent era and early sound era owes a sizable debt to German Expressionism – a mostly silent film-era movement in German cinema in which filmmakers used distorted and geometrically unrealistic sets to suggest mental tumult and dread. Working alongside editor Milton Carruth (1932’s The Mummy,1943’s Shadow of a Doubt) and production designer Charles D. Hall (1925’s The Phantom of the Opera, 1930’s All Quiet on the Western Front), cinematographer Karl Freund (1924’s The Last Laugh, 1927’s Metropolis) found a team of filmmakers that he could work with to set an aesthetic that could do justice to Murders in the Rue Morgue’s macabre plot.

It also helped that director Robert Florey wanted to make something that looked closer to Robert Wiene’s The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919, Germany) than Dracula. Together, Freund and Florey worked with Hall to achieve a set design that created long shadows and crooked buildings and tents more likely to appear in a nightmare than in nineteenth century Europe. The final chase scene across angular and rickety rooftops used leftover sets from The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923). All this endows Murders in the Rue Morgue with a gruesome atmosphere, oftentimes cloaked in dust and early morning mist.

For Freund and Florey, each saw in the other a kindred spirit in their appreciation of German Expressionism. If they could not achieve just the right shadow, they would instead paint it onto the set itself (painting shadows was commonplace in German Expressionism, but never in Hollywood movies). To achieve the ideal lighting for some of the rooftop or near-rooftop scenes, they shot outdoors, in chilly autumn weather, past midnight – most black-and-white Old Hollywood films, due to technical limitations at the time, shot nighttime scenes inside soundstages. In an era where cameras usually stayed frozen in one place, Freund invented the unchained camera technique, allowing cameras to creep forward into a set rather than relying on a cut to a close-up. Though the unchained camera is not as present here as in other movies involving Freund as cinematographer, it makes the viewer feel as if they are moving alongside the crowd at the carnival, as well as imbuing the audience with a terrible anticipation for what terror lurks around the corner. Freund and Florey’s collaboration was one of like-minded men, with similar influences and goals. In what was their only film together, the two achieve an artistry with few similarities across much of American film history.

Initial reception to Murders in the Rue Morgue was cold, in large part due to the film’s shocking violence and awkward acting. Despite finishing the film under budget, Robert Florey hit the apex of his career with Murders in the Rue Morgue. The disapproval from Universal executives took its toll, and given that Florey was on a one-film contract with the studio, he never returned. The French American director would bounce around studios over the next decade – from Paramount to Warner Bros. back to Paramount to Columbia and back to Warner Bros. – mostly working on inexpensive B-pictures, occasionally making a hit such as The Beast with Five Fingers (1946). Florey spent his later career with television anthologies: Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Four Star Playhouse, and The Twilight Zone.

For Lugosi, Murders in the Rue Morgue was the true first step for the horror film typecasting that he sought to avoid. Once considered by Universal’s executives to be the successor to the late Lon Chaney (The Man of a Thousand Faces passed away in 1930), the failure of Murders in the Rue Morgue among audiences and critics gave Universal pause when it came to extending Lugosi’s original contract. But the early 1930s were Lugosi’s most productive period in films, and they contained his finest, most memorable performances.

In recent decades, the reputation of Murders in the Rue Morgue continues to gradually improve, as do many films that once caused a stir due to their content during the pre-Code years. Awkward supporting actors aside, when one has Béla Lugosi cloaked in the shadows of German Expressionism and the spirit (albeit not so much intentions of the original text) of Edgar Allan Poe, what results is a foreboding work, one worthy to carry Universal’s horror legacy.

My rating: 7/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found in the “Ratings system” page on my blog. Half-points are always rounded down.

For more of my reviews tagged “My Movie Odyssey”, check out the tag of the same name on my blog.

[citizenscreen]

1931 portrait of Carl Laemmle, Jr., General Manager of Universal Pictures

[spacelazarwolf]

in honor of that anon who said jews have done nothing for the world, here’s a non exhaustive list of things we’ve done for the world:

arts, fashion, and lifestyle:

jeans - levi strauss

modern bras - ida rosenthal

sewing machines - isaac merritt singer

modern film industry - carl laemmle (universal pictures), adolph zukor (paramount pictures), william fox (fox film forporation), louis b. mayer (mgm - metro-goldwyn-mayer), harry, sam, albert, and jack warners (warner bros.), steven spielberg, mel brooks, marx brothers

operetta - jacques offenbach

comic books - stan lee

graphic novels - will eisner

teddy bears - morris and rose michtom

influential musicians - irving berlin, stephen sondheim, benny goodman, george gershwin, paul simon, itzhak perlman, leonard bernstein, bob dylan, leonard cohen

artists - mark rothko

actors - elizabeth taylor, jerry lewis, barbara streisand

comedians - lenny bruce, joan rivers, jerry seinfeld

authors - judy blume, tony kushner, allen ginsberg, walter mosley

culture:

esperanto - ludwik lazar zamenhof

feminism - betty friedan, gloria steinem, ruth bader ginsberg

queer and trans rights - larry kramer, harvey milk, leslie feinberg, abby stein, kate bornstein, frank kameny, judith butler

international women's day - clara zetkin

principles of journalizm, statue of liberty, and pulitzer prize - joseph pulitzer

"the new colossus" - emma lazarus

universal declaration of human rights - rene samuel cassin

holocaust remembrance and human rights activism - elie wiesel

workers rights - louis brandeis, rose schneiderman

public health care, women's rights, and children's rights - lillian wald

racial equity - rabbi abraham joshua heschel, julius rosenwald, andrew goodman, michael schwerner

political theory - hannah arendt

disability rights - judith heumann

black lives matter slogan and movement - alicia garza

#metoo movement - jodi kantor

institute of sexology - magnus hirschfeld

technology:

word processing computers - evelyn berezin

facebook - mark zuckerberg

console video game system - ralph henry baer

cell phones - amos edward joel jr., martin cooper

3d - leonard lipton

telephone - philipp reis

fax machines - arthur korn

microphone - emile berliner

gramophone - emile berliner

television - boris rosing

barcodes - norman joseph woodland and bernard silver

secret communication system, which is the foundation of the technology used for wifi - hedy lamarr

three laws of robotics - isaac asimov

cybernetics - norbert wiener

helicopters - emile berliner

BASIC (programming language) - john george kemeny

google - sergey mikhaylovich brin and larry page

VCR - jerome lemelson

fax machine - jerome lemelson

telegraph - samuel finley breese morse

morse code - samuel finley breese morse

bulletproof glass - edouard benedictus

electric motor and electroplating - boris semyonovich jacobi

nuclear powered submarine - hyman george rickover

the internet - paul baran

icq instant messenger - arik vardi, yair goldfinger,, sefi vigiser, amnon amir

color photography - leopold godowsky and leopold mannes

world's first computer - herman goldstine

modern computer architecture - john von neumann

bittorrent - bram cohen

voip internet telephony - alon cohen

data archiving - phil katz, eugene roshal, abraham lempel, jacob ziv

nemeth code - abraham nemeth

holography - dennis gabor

laser - theodor maiman

instant photo sharing online - philippe kahn

first automobile - siegfried samuel marcus

electrical maglev road - boris petrovich weinberg

drip irrigation - simcha blass

ballpoint pen and automatic gearbox - laszlo biro

photo booth - anatol marco josepho

medicine:

pacemakers and defibrillators - louise robinovitch

defibrillators - bernard lown

anti-plague and anti-cholera vaccines - vladimir aronovich khavkin

polio vaccine - jonas salk

test for diagnosis of syphilis - august paul von wasserman

test for typhoid fever - ferdinand widal

penicillin - ernst boris chain

pregnancy test - barnhard zondek

antiretroviral drug to treat aids and fight rejection in organ transplants - gertrude elion

discovery of hepatitis c virus - harvey alter

chemotherapy - paul ehrlich

discovery of prions - stanley prusiner

psychoanalysis - sigmund freud

rubber condoms - julius fromm

birth control pill - gregory goodwin pincus

asorbic acid (vitamin c) - tadeusz reichstein

blood groups and rh blood factor - karl landsteiner

acyclovir (treatment for infections caused by herpes virus) - gertrude elion

vitamins - caismir funk

technique for measuring blood insulin levils - rosalyn sussman yalow

antigen for hepatitus - baruch samuel blumberg

a bone fusion technique - gavriil abramovich ilizarov

homeopathy - christian friedrich samuel hahnemann

aspirin - arthur ernst eichengrun

science:

theory of relativity - albert einstein

theory of the electromagnetic field - james maxwell

quantum mechanics - max born, gustav ludwig hertz

quantum theory of gravity - matvei bronstein

microbiology - ferdinand julius cohn

neuropsychology - alexander romanovich luria

counters for x-rays and gamma rays - robert hofstadter

genetic engineering - paul berg

discovery of the antiproton - emilio gino segre

discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation - arno allan penzias

discovery of the accelerating expansion of the universe - adam riess and saul merlmutter

discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity - roger penrose

discovery of a supermassive compact object at the center of the milky way - andrea ghez

modern cosmology and the big bang theory - alexander alexandrovich friedmann

stainless steel - hans goldschmidt

gas powered vehicles

interferometer - albert abraham michelson

discovery of the source of energy production in stars - hans albrecht bethe

proved poincare conjecture - grigori yakovlevich perelman

biochemistry - otto fritz meyerhof

electron-positron collider - bruno touschek

[colorhollywood]

The Mummy (1932) directed by Karl Freund produced by Carl Laemmle Jr.

Cast: Boris Karloff, Zita Johann, David Manners, etc.

[brokehorrorfan]

The Universal Classic Monsters Collection will be released on 4K Ultra HD (with Digital) in digibook packaging on October 3 via Universal. Designed by Tristan Eaton, the eight-disc set is limited to 5,500.

It includes 1931's Dracula, 1931’s Frankenstein, 1932’s The Mummy, 1933’s The Invisible Man, 1935’s The Bride of Frankenstein, 1941’s The Wolf Man, 1943’s Phantom of the Opera, and 1954’s Creature from the Black Lagoon.

All eight films are presented in 4K with HDR10. The Spanish version of Dracula is also included. Special features are listed below, where you can also see more of the packaging.

Dracula is directed by Tod Browning (Freaks) and written by Garrett Fort (Frankenstein), based on Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel. Bela Lugosi, David Manners, Helen Chandler, Dwight Frye, and Edward Van Sloan star.

Dracula special features:

Alternate score version by Philip Glass

Dracula (1931) Spanish version directed by George Melford

The Road to Dracula

Lugosi: The Dark Prince

Dracula: The Restoration

Dracula Archives

Monster Tracks

Trailer gallery

Transylvanian vampire Count Dracula bends a naive real estate agent to his will, then takes up residence at a London estate where he sleeps in his coffin by day and searches for potential victims by night.

Frankenstein is directed by James Whale (The Indivisible Man) and written by Garrett Fort (Dracula) and Francis Edward Faragoh (Little Caesar), based on Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel. Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, John Boles, and Boris Karloff star.

Frankenstein special features:

Audio commentary by film historian Rudy Behlmer

Audio commentary by historian Sir Christopher Frayling

The Frankenstein Files: How Hollywood Made A Monster

Karloff: The Gentle Monster

Universal Horror

Frankenstein Archives

Boo!: A Short Film

100 Years of Universal: Restoring the Classics

Monster Tracks

Trailer gallery

Dr. Frankenstein dares to tamper with life and death by creating a human monster out of lifeless body parts.

The Mummy is directed by Karl Freund (Dracula) and written by John L. Balderston (Dracula). Boris Karloff, Zita Johann, David Manners, Edward Van Sloan, and Arthur Byron star.

The Mummy special features:

Audio commentary by film historian Paul M. Jensen

Audio commentary by Rick Baker, Scott Essman, Steve Haberman, Bob Burns, and Brent Armstrong

Mummy Dearest: A Horror Tradition Unearthed

He Who Made Monsters: The Life and Art of Jack Pierce

Unraveling the Legacy of The Mummy

The Mummy Archives

100 Years of Universal: The Carl Laemmle Era

Trailer gallery

An Egyptian mummy searches Cairo for the girl he believes is his long-lost princess.

The Invisible Man is directed by James Whale (Frankenstein) and written by R.C. Sherriff (Goodbye, Mr. Chips), based on H.G. Wells’ 1897 novel. Gloria Stuart, Claude Rains, William Harrigan, Dudley Digges, and Una O'Connor star.

The Invisible Man special features:

Audio commentary by film historian Rudy Behlmer

Now You See Him: The Invisible Man Revealed

Production Photographs

100 Years of Universal: Unforgettable Characters

Trailer gallery

A scientist finds a way of becoming invisible, but in doing so, he becomes murderously insane.

The Bride of Frankenstein is directed by James Whale (Frankenstein) and written by William Hurlbut. Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Valerie Hobson, and Elsa Lanchester star.

The Bride of Frankenstein special features: 

Audio commentary by film historian Scott MacQueen

She’s Alive! Creating The Bride of Frankenstein

The Bride Of Frankenstein Archive

100 Years of Universal: Restoring the Classics

Trailer gallery

Dr. Frankenstein, goaded by an even madder scientist, builds his monster a mate.

The Wolf Man is directed by George Waggner (Operation Pacific) and written by Curt Siodmak (I Walked with a Zombie). Claude Rains, Warren William, Ralph Bellamy, Patric Knowles, Bela Lugosi, and Lon Chaney Jr. star.

The Wolf Man special features:

Audio commentary by film historian Tom Weaver

Monster by Moonlight

The Wolf Man: From Ancient Curse to Modern Myth

Pure in Heart: The Life and Legacy of Lon Chaney Jr.

He Who Made Monsters: The Life and Art of Jack Pierce

The Wolf Man Archives

100 Years of Universal: The Lot

Trailer gallery

Larry Talbot returns to his father's castle in Wales and meets a beautiful woman. One fateful night, Talbot escorts her to a local carnival where they meet a mysterious gypsy fortune teller.

Phantom of the Opera is directed by Arthur Lubin and written by Eric Taylor (The Ghost of Frankenstein) and Samuel Hoffenstein (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde). Claude Rains, Nelson Eddy, Susanna Foster, and Edgar Barrier star.

Phantom of the Opera special features:

Audio commentary by film historian Scott MacQueen

The Opera Ghost: A Phantom Unmasked

Production Photographs

100 Years of Universal: The Lot

Theatrical trailer

An acid-scarred composer rises from the Paris sewers to boost his favorite opera understudy’s career.

Creature from the Black Lagoon is directed by Jack Arnold (The Incredible Shrinking Man) and written by Harry Essex and Arthur A. Ross. Richard Carlson, Julia Adams, Richard Denning, Antonio Moreno, Nestor Paiva, and Whit Bissell star.

Creature from the Black Lagoon special features:

Audio commentary by film historian Tom Weaver

Back to the Black Lagoon

Production Photographs

100 Years of Universal: The Lot

Trailer gallery

A group of scientists try to capture a prehistoric creature luring in the depths of the Amazonian jungle and bring it back to civilization for study.

Pre-order Universal Classic Monsters Collection.

[non-binary-laurie-strode]

Can you give me your favorite Bette Davis facts? For research purposes?

Sure, I can drop a few! I'm in the early part of her career in the biography I'm reading along with, so these are all early days bits.

When she went to Hollywood in 1930, Universal tried to get her to adopt a stage name—instead of Bette Davis, they wanted to call her Bettina Dawes. She let them know in no uncertain terms that she refused to be called something that sounded like "Between the Drawers" and stomped out. Carl Laemmle Jr was so impressed with her spirit that he conceded and let her keep her name.

On her first movie, The Bad Sister, there's a scene where she had to change a boy's diaper. Bette, a true 1920s "good girl," had not seen a penis before then. Humphrey Bogart, also in the movie, heard or suspected what was going to happen when they ran that scene the first time and got a group of guys to laugh at her when she showed surprise and embarrassment. They later made six more movies together, and he became complimentary of her talent and spirit of will, but she had a lifelong low opinion of him, telling gossipmonger Louella Parsons—when she asked "How can you act with him if you dislike him so?"—"Because that's what I am, an actress. I'll whip up an acting storm with Lucifer himself if it's worth it to me."

It took her six months of campaigning at the Warner office before they relented and finally gave her Of Human Bondage, her big breakout tole. Apparently Jack Warner warned her people might hate her for playing such an awful character, and ended with, "but go hang yourself if you must."

When she was snubbed for a Leading Actress Oscar for Of Human Bondage, there was a large letter-writing campaign in newspapers and magazines to flood the Academy with pleas to allow her to compete as a write-in candidate. She placed third in the voting and her win the next year, for Dangerous, was looked at as perhaps the first "consolation prize" given out by the Oscars to apologize for a previous snub.

Hope those are interesting! 💛

[gotyouanyway]

rotating my ocs in my mind while i unpack. caldin and hollus belong in a romantic period drama. kilic belongs in a carl laemmle jr. film. none of them belong in positions of authority and yet.

[cleoenfaserum]

FRANKENSTEIN (1931) needs no introduction but must watch. (1102)

Frankenstein is a 1931 American pre-Code science fiction horror film directed by James Whale, produced by Carl Laemmle Jr., and adapted from a 1927 play by Peggy Webling, which in turn was based on Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. The Webling play was adapted by John L. Balderston and the screenplay written by Francis Edward Faragoh and Garrett Fort, with uncredited contributions from Robert Florey and John Russell. Wikipedia

Frankenstein stars Colin Clive as Henry Frankenstein (Victor Frankenstein in the novel), an obsessed scientist who digs up corpses with his assistant in order to assemble a living being from body parts. The resulting creature, often known as Frankenstein's monster, is portrayed by Boris Karloff.

In 1991, the United States Library of Congress selected Frankenstein for preservation in the National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

THE FILM

1102-1 https://ok.ru/video/3667277974063 SOURCE OF INSPIRATION https://www.tumblr.com/goryhorroor/736913272171872256?source=share

Frankenstein is a 1910 American short silenthorror film produced by Edison Studios. It was directed by J. Searle Dawley, who also wrote the one-reeler's screenplay, broadly basing his "scenario" on Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. This short motion picture is generally recognized by film historians as the first screen adaptation of Shelley's work. The small cast, who are not credited in the surviving 1910 print of the film, includes Augustus Phillips as Dr. Frankenstein, Charles Ogle as Frankenstein's monster, and Mary Fuller as the doctor's fiancée.

Wikipedia

1102-4 https://youtu.be/w-fM9meqfQ4

NOTES:

1102-2 https://ok.ru/video/7034352503334

1102-3 https://youtu.be/tETWQO2UXmQ

[onihcinimkcin]

things i am basically auto-saving (for now):

John M. Stahl

James Whale, although maybe that's more like Carl Laemmle, Jr.

Douglas Sirk (though I'm letting Thunder on the Hill go)

Ernst Lubitsch

Preston Sturges

honestly most of the early Paramount (The Crime of the Century can go and so can the DeMilles)

blacklisted screenwriters (but I'm really tempted to let Golden Earrings go)

Philip Yordan (sometime front for blacklisted screenwriters but also interesting in his own right)

Frank (and Eleanor) Perry

Andre de Toth

Jacques Tourneur

to a lesser extent, Hugo Fregonese

Joan Harrison (edit: I'm letting Jamaica Inn go)

Shaw Brothers (even though I have a ton and have watched basically none of it. this is one I keep imagining will change)

Golden Harvest

Meiko Kaji

Shinji Somai

Steven Soderbergh

Carroll Baker

most Mexican cinema

most Fritz Lang

a bunch of Nunnally Johnson, though I'm less sure about this

plus by default anything region-locked

[docrotten]

THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (1923) – Episode 172 – Decades Of Horror: The Classic Era

“Why was I not made of stone, like thee?” Existentially or metaphysically speaking? Join this episode’s Grue-Crew – Chad Hunt, Daphne Monary-Ernsdorff, and Jeff Mohr along with guest host Michael Zatz – as they visit Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris via Universal’s stunning, purpose-built, 19-acre set to discuss The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) and Lon Chaney’s star-making role as Quasimodo.

Decades of Horror: The Classic Era Episode 172 – The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923)

Join the Crew on the Gruesome Magazine YouTube channel! Subscribe today! And click the alert to get notified of new content! https://youtube.com/gruesomemagazine

ANNOUNCEMENT Decades of Horror The Classic Era is partnering with THE CLASSIC SCI-FI MOVIE CHANNEL, THE CLASSIC HORROR MOVIE CHANNEL, and WICKED HORROR TV CHANNEL Which all now include video episodes of The Classic Era! Available on Roku, AppleTV, Amazon FireTV, AndroidTV, Online Website. Across All OTT platforms, as well as mobile, tablet, and desktop. https://classicscifichannel.com/; https://classichorrorchannel.com/; https://wickedhorrortv.com/

In 15th-century Paris, the brother of the archdeacon plots with the gypsy king to foment a peasant revolt. Meanwhile, a freakish hunchback falls in love with a gypsy dancer.

  Directed by: Wallace Worsley

Writing Credits: Victor Hugo (1831 novel); Perley Poore Sheehan (adaptation) (as Perley Poor Sheehan); Edward T. Lowe Jr. (scenario); Chester L. Roberts (uncredited)

Produced by: Carl Laemmle (uncredited); Irving Thalberg (uncredited)

Editing by: Edward Curtiss (as Edward Curtis); Maurice Pivar; Sydney Singerman

Art Direction by: Elmer Sheeley (as E.E. Sheeley); Sidney Ullman (as Sydney Ullman)

Set Decoration by: Hans Dreier (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department: Gordon Magee (costume supervisor) (uncredited)

Selected Cast:

Lon Chaney as Quasimodo

Patsy Ruth Miller as Esmeralda

Norman Kerry as Phoebus de Chateaupers

Kate Lester as Madame de Condelaurier

Winifred Bryson as Fleur de Lys

Nigel De Brulier as Don Claudio (as Nigel de Brulier)

Brandon Hurst as Jehan

Ernest Torrence as Clopin (as Ernest Torrance)

Tully Marshall as El Rey Luis XI

Harry von Meter as Mons. Neufchatel (as Harry Van Meter)

Raymond Hatton as Gringoire

Nick De Ruiz as Mons. Le Torteru (as Nick de Ruiz)

Eulalie Jensen as Marie

Roy Laidlaw as Charmolu

Ray Myers as Charmolu’s Assistant (as W. Ray Meyers)

William Parke as Josephus (as William Parke Sr.)

Gladys Brockwell as Sister Gudule

John Cossar as Judge of the Court

Edwin Wallock as King’s Chamberlain

Marion Gray as Woman at Ball (uncredited)

Gilbert Roland as Extra (uncredited)

Lon Chaney Sr. is a legend of classic horror movies. His make-up and monsters are iconic, from Phantom of the Opera (1925) to London After Midnight (1927). Another mind-blowing Chaney character is Quasimodo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923). Join the Grue-Crew and special guest host, Grue-Believer and GM Fan Mikey Z, for their look back at this influential, silent masterpiece.

You might also want to check out these other Classic Era episodes focused on silent screams:

THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (1920) – Episode 13

NOSFERATU (1922) – Episode 21

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1925) – Episode 42

THE CAT AND THE CANARY (1927) – Episode 60

HÄXAN (1922) – Episode 79

THE PHANTOM CARRIAGE (1921) – Episode 85

THE GOLEM (1920) – Episode 99

FAUST (1926) – Episode 145

DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1920) – Episode 160

At the time of this writing, The Hunchback of Notre Dame is available for streaming from Amazon Prime, MGM+, Kanopy, Tubi, Crackle, and PlutoTV. The film is available on physical media as a Blu-ray from Kino Lorber.

Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror: The Classic Era records a new episode every two weeks. Up next in their very flexible schedule, as chosen by guest host “Jose,” is The H-Man (1958), another Toho classic directed by Ishirô Honda. Beware the liquidman!

Please let them know how they’re doing! They want to hear from you – the coolest, grooviest fans: leave them a message or leave a comment on the Gruesome Magazine YouTube channel, the site, or email the Decades of Horror: The Classic Era podcast hosts at feedback@gruesomemagazine.com

To each of you from each of them, “Thank you so much for watching and listening!”

Check out this episode!

[055u4ry]

The original black and white Frankenstein is such a beautiful film.

[swampflix]

Dracula's Children

Like all corners of the creative arts, Universal Picture’s classic horror period was overrun with nepo babies.  Carl Laemmle, Jr. kicked off the studio’s Famous Monsters brand by producing 1931’s Dracula after Carl Laemmle, Sr. passed down his studio-head executive position to his son instead of a more qualified protégée.  Lon Chaney, Jr. changed his name from Creighton Chaney to cash in on the…

[citizenscreen]

Carl Laemmle, Jr. and Ida Lupino at a private party given before the opening of Cafe Trocadero in Hollywood in 1934.

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Frankenstein's Lasting Horror

Grace Doyle

  As the 1920s neared their end, Carl Laemmle’s Universal Studios was nearing bankruptcy. A few big-budget productions set the studio back financially when compared to its usual film serials, and as one of the three minor studios, Universal did not have the credentials nor the funds to compete with the big five major studios. This changed in 1931, when 21-year-old Carl Laemmle Jr. produced two of the most popular horror films of all time under the studio’s name. First came Dracula, starring Bela Legosi, and its successor, Frankenstein. On the heels of the Great Depression, horror cinema struck a chord with audiences through its depictions of death, the unknown, and otherwise common anxieties. The success of these two films transformed Universal’s status as a film studio: it was dubbed “The House that Horror Built”, and is the oldest film studio still in operation.

Frankenstein was an enormous success and was the highest grossing film of 1931. Not only did the film pioneer the modern horror genre, but it spurred multiple sequels, making Frankenstein one of the first franchises in film history. Although highly differential compared to Mary Shelley’s source material, many aspects that have become synonymous with the monster movie were adapted from a stage play of the same name, including the use of an electrical apparatus in giving the creature life. Despite its multiple reiterations, Frankenstein is fondly remembered due to its innovative use of lighting, camera, and sound. Like Dracula, the film utilizes the chiaroscuro effect remarkably, casting high contrast shadows to heighten anticipation. The majority of the light comes from naturally occurring sources, like lightning and fire. The production design is also far ahead of its time, from the monster’s gruesome character makeup and costume to the marvelous sets, including the tower and windmill.

The technical production of Frankenstein is something to marvel at, but what the film did for horror history is an even greater feat. This is one of the first films to depict “The Return of the Repressed” and “The Other” tropes. “The Return of the Repressed” was created by Robin Wood, a film critic who is regarded as the creator of horror film criticism and theory. The theory states that repressed or oppressed societal fears can return in a symbolic manner. This film not only represents the societal anxieties felt by director James Whale (who lived openly as a gay man), but the fears of greater society. The film is philosophical in the sense that it asks questions about the ethics of life, death, science, and humanity.

Works Cited

“The Hollywood Studio System.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., www.britannica.com/art/history-of-the-motion-picture/The-Hollywood-studio-system. 

Jacobson, Jay. “Frankenstein, 1931, Boris Karloff, James Whale, Mae Clarke, Horror Film, Jays Classic Movie Blog.” JaysClassicMovieBlog, 23 Feb. 2023, www.jaysclassicmovieblog.com/post/70-frankenstein-1931#:~:text=“Frankenstein”%20is%20arguably%20the%20most,highest%2Dgrossing%20film%20of%201931. 

Smith, Andy W. “‘So Why Shouldn’t I Write of Monsters?’: Defining Monstrosity in Universal’s Horror Films.” Gothic FIlm, 2020. 

“Universal Studios in the Pre-Code ERA.” Pre-Code.Com, 11 May 2018, pre-code.com/hollywood-studios-pre-code-era/universal-studios-pre-code-era/. Accessed 06 Oct. 2023. 

“Universal Studios.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 6 Oct. 2023, www.britannica.com/topic/Universal-Studios. 

[filmicgreyscale]

Carl Laemmle was a German American producer and co-founder of Universal Pictures, which he owned from 1915 to 1936. He and his son, Carl Laemmle jr. were most famous for overseeing the early Universal Horror films, including The Phantom of the Opera (1925), The Man Who Laughs (1928), Dracula (1931), and Frankenstein (1931). Laemmle also produced 1930's All Quiet on the Western Front, which brought him into conflict with the German government when the Nazi party demanded the film be banned for it's perceived insults to Germany. While the studio tried to appease German censors so as the continue to sell their movies in Germany, Universal was the first Hollywood studio to be banned from the country. Because of this, Universal Studios, while under Laemmle’s control, was the only Hollywood studio to not do business with the Nazis. When the company was seized from the Laemmles in a hostile takeover in 1936, Laemmle’s successor would try to re-enter the German market, appealing to the Nazis by selling himself and Universal as the only Hollywood studio not run by Jews, though this failed to convince the Nazis.

After his dealings with the Nazis over All Quiet on the Western Front, Carl Laemmle (a German Jew himself) would watch German Politics closely and with great concern. By 1932, though the Nazis had not yet seized power, he was so worried about the treatment of Jews in Germany that he wrote a letter to William Randolph Hearst, begging him to publicize the growing antisemitism in the country. A particularly prescient passage from this letter reads.

"I might be wrong, and I pray to God that I am, but I am almost certain that Hitler's rise to power, because of his obvious militant attitude toward the Jews, would be a signal for a general physical onslaught on many thousands of defenseless Jewish men, woman and children in Germany, and possibly in Central Europe as well, unless something is done soon to definitely establish Hitler's personal responsibility in the eyes of the outside world."

Hearst, who had become fascinated with Hitler, published nothing. Laemmle was forced to take matters into his own hands and spent vast amounts of time and money bringing Jews from Germany to America. Starting with his own German relatives and eventually, complete strangers. By the time he died in 1939, he had managed to save over three-hundred German Jews.

Image #1 and #2 are portraits of Laemmle, image #3 shows him with his daughter Rosabelle and his son Carl Laemmle jr.

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Frankenstein (1931)