Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

So last Wednesday, October 24th, I went to a see a double feature showing of the old Universal Pictures Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein. Now I had seen Frankenstein before while in high school, I actually saw it in my high school, in math class for some reason, but Bride of Frankenstein I had not seen. Now while Frankenstein takes its self more or less seriously, Bride of Frankenstein decidedly does not. I was aware that the "Universal Monster" series eventually got quite out there, I'd seen some of the "monster rally" films, I just didn't realize they go so wacky so quickly.

Anyway the movie starts with a little prologue in which Percy Bysshe Shelly, Lord Byron, and Mary Shelley converse in a parlor one stormy evening, where Mary Shelley proceeds to expand on her monster tale for the amusement of the other two. We then cut to just after the end of the previous Frankenstein movie, we see the old windmill burn down, Frankenstein is apparently destroyed, some villages stay around to make sure, and a couple of them get killed because Frankenstein wasn't really destroyed. The Monster (Karloff) escapes the ruined structure and then proceeds to wander around in the wilderness for a time, before he comes across an old blind hermit (O.P. Heggie in a career defining role), who is kind to him and teaches him rudimentary speech.

In the movies other plot Henry Frankenstein (again played by Colin Clive) is recovering from injuries sustained in the previous film, and has come to renounce his wicked monster making ways. He is all set to marry his fiance Elizabeth (played by Valerie Hobson because the previous Elizabeth, Mae Clarke, was ill at the time of shooting), when he is visited by his old mentor Doctor Septimus Pretorius (a scene stealing Ernest Thesiger). Dr. Pretorius has heard of Frankensteins creation of the monster and its now well known subsequent escape, he desires that his former pupil team up with him to continue there work. While Pretorious has been successful at "growing" about a half-dozen "homonucli", six inch creatures he keeps in glass jars and dresses in arch-typical clothing, he hasn't been able to master size yet. Pretorius wants Dr. Frankenstein to create a female body for which he will grow a brain as a mate for the monster. Dr. Frankenstein refuses and goes on to marry Elizabeth.

Well things are going pretty well for The Monster at this point, he's actually not a bad guy, but he is recognized by some traveling hunters who stop by the old hermits house. Frankenstein flees their guns, fire, and subsequent hunting parties and ends up hiding out in an underground crypt. In the crypt The Monster comes upon Pretorious on a corpse hunting expedition, the manipulative doctor convinces the simple creature the he is his friend, and gets him to kidnap Elizabeth. With his wife abducted Dr. Frankenstein agrees to work with Pretorius on the condition that when there work is completed he let Elizabeth go. 'The Bride' they create (Elsa Lanchester) turns out to herself be afraid of Frankenstein, The Monster doesn't take this well, and the proceedings end in fire.

This movies rather odd, at first I didn't care for it but it really grew on me. It has a decidedly camp sensibility that has lent the film to 'gay readings', especially with the Pretorius character. The film is over the top, full of weird visual effects, like the "homonucli", and bizarre comic moments and characters, like Una O'Conner as Frankenstein's screechy voiced  housekeeper Minnie. I was a bit surprised how little of 'the Bride of Frankenstein' we see in Bride of Frankenstein, Lanchester is on screen for all of five minutes, maybe  three of which as 'the bride'. This is a unique picture, distinct in tone both from what came before and what would follow it, I am glad I got to see it on the big screen. ***1/2

The Mummy (1959)

So you've done Frankenstein and you've done Dracula, I suppose logically next on the list would be The Mummy. In 1895 a team of British archaeologist dare disturb the tomb of the princess Anaka, which is guarded by the cursed remains of her would be lover Kharis (Christopher Lee). Alone in the tomb Dr. Stephen Banning (Felix Aylmer) is attacked by the Mummy and left a mumbling basket case. His son John Banning (Peter Cushing) and brother-in-law Joseph Whipple (Raymond Huntley) both archaeologist finish up the dig, they take away all the treasures from the tomb, and then for some reason blow it up. All this much to the consternation of an Egyptian man named Mehemet Bey (George Pastell) who had warned the group not to open the tomb. You see Mehemt is a secret worshiper of the ancient Egyptian God Karnak, and vows to avenge the desecration of the tomb (I mean they didn't have to blow it up, that's just spiteful). Anyway it takes Mehemet three years to dig the mummy out, then transport it to England where he has rented a country house near the Banning's (yes he's independently wealthy for some reason).

Anyway once the Mummy gets to England he sicks it on the senior Banning and Whipple in short order, both are killed. This leaves the younger Banning to be dealt with, luckily he's a clever enough fellow and his wife (Yvonne Furneaux) just happens to look like the late princess Anaka, whom she plays in flash backs. Cushing and Pastell have a fun conversation/argument in Pastell's rented house, and I love how the former antagonizes the later by dissing Karnak as only a minor Deity. Yvonne's visage saves Cushing from the wrath of The Mummy, but then it abducts the films only female for amours reasons? Anyway its not as good as the Dracula or Frankenstein, but a decent ending to this little trilogy. **1/2

The Curse of Frankenstien (1957)

This is the film that started Hammer's famous horror cycle, and basically made the studio. This adaption of Frankenstein focuses mostly on the doctor, and gives hims more back story, and frankly makes him more interesting then he's ever been before. This is in large part do to the top notch performance of Peter Cushing, whose far to old to play the part, but still (Sorry Colin Clive). Anyway the story is set in Switzerland (which is interesting in its self, so for things are set in Switzerland), during what from the costume designs I guesstimate to be the 1830's or 40's. Upon the death of his mother a young Baron Frankenstein (played in flashback by Melvyn Hayes) agrees to continue to take care of a destitute distant cousin and her daughter, and highers for himself an expert tutor Dr. Paul Krempe (Robert Urquhart), whose really the hero of the piece. Kempe and Frankenstein get along swimmingly, and the tutor pupal relationship quickly evolves into a collegial one with the two working on all sorts of experiments, including successfully bringing a puppy back to like. Krempe thinks they should go ahead and publish there findings, but the Baron wants to hold back, he has become obsessed with he idea of creating life, and at first Paul reluctantly goes along with him. Around this time the distant cousins daughter (Elizabeth) from earlier having grown up and become Hazel Court, travels to Victor's to become the Barons wife, which Frankenstein's maid and mistress (Valerie Gaunt) is none to pleased about. Paul now refuses to help Frankenstein with his monster (Christopher Lee) and tries to get Elizabeth to leave for her own safety, without explaining why, which of course she will not do. Valerie Gaunt tries to find some way to blackmail the Baron into marrying her, she finds the monster, and Frankie lets it kill her. The monster later gets out, Dr. Paul agrees to help Frankenstein capture and kill it, and satisfied that the monster is no more leaves for greener pastures, but then Peter Cushing just digs the thing up an keeps working on it. The whole thing ends with the monster burnt, Frankenstein's head on the chopping block, Paul and Elizabeth an item, and a local priest slightly confused. An enjoyable expansion on the story of Frankenstein largely made by Cushings performance. ***

The Horror of Dracula (1958)

Sometimes I think I should read Bram Stoker's Dracula, if just for a point of reference on the departures taken by subsequent film versions. In this the first of nine Dracula films made by the UK's Hammer Studios, there is no Renfield character, instead our Johnathan Harker (John Van Eyseen) is neither solicitor or estate agent, but a 'librarian' whom Dracula has hired to catalogue his extensive collection of books. Harker is not English either, rather he lives in the Austro-Hungarian Empire of the 1880's, and his librarian duties are a cover for his working with Doctor Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) to flush out and killer Dracula. Unfortunately for Harker he is made a vampire before he has a chance to kill to Dracula, this is because of the amature mistake of trying to kill Dracula's mate (Valerie Gaunt) before killing Dracula. Well Dracula is pretty upset that his mate was killed, so he decides to take Harker's fiance (Carol Marsh) as her replacement. Van Helsing is eventually able to convince Marsh's skeptical brother Michael Gough (whose usually so good with a Batmen) to let him intervene. In double revenge Dracula decides that he will now take Gough's wife Melissa Stribling as his own. In the end Dracula is of course vanquished, seemingly into dust, but we know clever screenwriters would later find ways of resurrecting him. This is an enjoyable Dracula, for me have the fun comes half from the great character actors, including Christopher Lee as Dracula, and the other half from the distinctive Hammer color palate and production design. ***

The Crime Doctor's Diary (1949)

The 10th and final Crime Doctor movie is a silly business about a silly business. Like many Crime Doctor films the plot is strangely complicated, suffice it to say the story is about a man (Stephen Dunne) sent to prison for arson, who upon his release attempts to clear his name by finding the real arsonist. This is all set against the back drop of the cut-throat music industry, the famed, by which I mean non existent, rivalry between the jukebox syndicate and the "wired music" business. The concept of "wired music" seems to have been invented for the film, the idea is that there are these booths connected to the phone lines where for a small fee you can order up nearly any musical selection from a central office and they will play that music for over the phone lines and through the booths speakers. It's a kind of proto itunes, though I can't imagine the music quality's that good coming through 1940's Ma Bell. Anyway, this is a strangely competitive business and when you add a love quadrangle, well things can happen. An odd, yet strangely fitting final gasp for the franchise. *1/2

The Descendants (2011)

The Descendants is about some of the descendants of Princes Margret Kaʻiulani of Hawaii and her Caucasian husband Edward King. Now these two may actually be real historical figures, though I have not been able to verify that, I do however know that a King family in Hawaii are famous for there sweet rolls. The Kings in this film are fictional characters, though very well realized ones. Matt King (George Clooney) is for all intents and purposes head of the large King clan, owing to his late fathers having made him the head of their family trust, which controls 25,000 acres of pristine land on the island of Kaua'i. A change in local law relating to the rule against perpetuities necessitates the King family selling that land within seven years. While Matt King is self sufficient in his practice as a real estate attorney, other members of his extended family are hot to get a share of the money that would come from selling the land to comercial developers. Matt as sole trustee has the final say as to what the family will do with the land, but has agreed to abide by the majority vote of the family, which is to be held within a couple weeks of the start of the movie. Matt King however has other things on his mind.

Mrs. Elizabeth King (Patricia Hastie) had been a racing boat accident roughly a month before and sense that time has been in a coma on life support in a local hospital, leaving Matt to care for there ten year old daughter Scottie (Amara Miller), something which the workaholic Matt has not really done since she was three. At a meeting with Elizabeth's doctor Matt is informed that there is nothing left they can do for her and that she will never come out of the coma, and according to her living will they are required to take her off life support in the very near future. Wanting to bring his family together to say there good byes Matt and Scottie travel to a neighbouring island to pick up his other daughter, 17 year old Alex (Shailene Woodley) from the boarding school she has been attending. Alex is the first person Matt tells that Elizabeth is going to die, and he is dismayed at his daughters negative attitude towards her mother continuing in this time of family crises. Matt tells Alex that whatever she and her mother had been fighting about over Christmas isn't important and needs to be let go, it is then that Alex informs her father that what she had been arguing with her mother about was the fact that she had discovered that Elizabeth was cheating on him. This needless to say knocks Matt for a loop.

Matt confronts some friends of the family with this information and it is soon confirmed, he even learns the name of the man Elizabeth was seeing (Brian Speer played by Matthew Lillard) and that she planed and divorcing Matt for him. Matt now must deal with this new information while at the same time tending to his business and family responsibilities and letting all the people who loved Elizabeth know that she is going to die so that they will have a chance to say there goodbyes. But does this mean he should tell Brian Spear? Matt. his daughters, and Alex's spaced-out kind of boyfriend Sid (Nick Krause, note perfect) set out to tell family (including Elizabeth's Matt-hating father Robert Forster) and friends of the impending death, as well as search for Brian Spear who Matt conflictingly feels he must tell about Elizabeth.

Director Alexander Payne's return to directors chair for the first time since Sideways in 2004, this is by far the autors most mature work. It has less of the awkward, juvenile comedy of his previous films, and the characters, even the children, act a lot more adult. This is similar territory to About Schmidt, but its remarkably not played for irony. This is an earnest, good hearted film about coping, conflicted relationships, and trying to sort out what really matters. Clooney gives another Oscar caliber performance, and Shaliene Woodley is quite good, as are a number of the side characters. This is an effecting work, enhances but an a-typical setting, and one of the better main stream movies to come out in the last couple of years. I found The Descendants to be a quite, fulfilling work, with a good deal of both pathos and humor. ****  

Blood on Satan's Claw (1970)

It was through looking into this movie on the Internet that I learned there is a name to a sub-genera of horror that I like, 'Folk Horror'. Other examples of this canonically limited sub-genera include (of course) The Wicker Man, The Witchfinder General, and I would say the Devil Rides Out. More on what constitutes 'Folk Horror', and there is no single definition, can be found here and here. I'm also going to do something I rarely if ever do here, I'm going to post a link to a review of this film because it says a lot of what I want to say about it.

Like Chris Vs. Cinema I agree: "I like this idea of something ancient and innate, it sounds vaguely Lovecraftian in some respects, the notion of something so primal it defies our understanding and has a unique and incomprehensible power over us."

I certainly felt some of that with The Wicker Man, and that movie was a partial inspiration for my recent trip to Scotland. There is something haunting and fascinating about the ancient ruins and the land there, a sort of spiritual majesty that can feel rather dwarfing. I too am fascinated by that religious transition from Pagan to Christian, which I think was certainly a trade off, and The Wicker Man does a great job of communicating that too. The Blood on Satan's Claw takes a rather conservative, Christian view of this subject matter, or at least as conservative and Christian as your likely to find in an exploitation movie. Here the un-Christian, the pagan is explicatedly connected to Satan, and no doubt 'The Fiend' in this film is evil, but that is also exactly how you would expect the Christian to view the Pagan, the competitor for acolytes or souls, as evil, as the devil. Also the fact that this 'evil' does have an appeal, well that's disconcerting to the 'Christian' soul.

Putting aside the thematic and aesthetic aspects and socio-cultural subtexts that I find so fascinating in 'Folk Horror', the film its self is kind of hypnotic. The original ambitions for the film were greater then what eventually ended up on screen and you can see how the films three stories are somewhat clumsily weaved together, and an entire major character (the preacher) is dropped just at the moment of his vindication. Whether the film makers truly held these views or not the films story certainly comes from a conservative, classiest angle. It is the Protestant judge, who starts out the film kind of weaselly and flees just as things start getting bad, who comes back from London to restore order and the establishment from the rapidly degenerating plebeian youth. It can even be said that this movie is something of an allegory for the conservative establishment suspicion of the youth culture at the time the film was made, even as the film is obviously geared for a younger audience. Anyway this is kind of a fascinating film, but certainly too raw in a lot of ways to be for everybody. ***

The Crime Doctor's Gamble (1947)

Dr. Ordway travels to Paris to lecture at a conference and visit his friend the Prefecture of Police (back story implies they meet in the States 9 years before while Ordway was studying for his degree). The Prefecture takes Ordway out for a night on the town and makes sure they stop at a little bistro to watch a professional knife thrower. The Prefecture comes clean and explains to Ordway that he brought him to see the knife thrower because he views him as a potential suspect in a murder (stabbing via letter opener). The murder was that of a rich man whose son the Prefecture had served three years with in a German POW camp. This same young man had spent six months after the war in a French mental institution, and even thinks he was the one who killed his father but he can't really remember. So anyway the young man is in police custody. The young man is also engaged to the daughter of the knife thrower, but the knife thrower hates the man's father (more back story that I have frankly forgotten) and would prefer his daughter to marry a neighbour who is skilled at duplicating famous works of art. Also the dead man's lawyer is a character of some import, as is a comic relief art dealer. Another complicated Crime Doctor plot, though this one felt more grounded then a lot of them. Anyway the change to a foreign location helped to pump a little novelty into this the 9th Crime Doctor movie. **1/2