shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Sept 18, 2014 21:22:39 GMT -5
#43: The Mummy (1932/USA) Though the idea of love beyond the grave being the driving motivation for a villain is cliche today, it felt original enough when tried in this film back in 1932. Karl Freund, as usual, brought his cinematic finesse to the production, using breath-taking mixtures of shadow and lighting to make vibrant an undead Egyptian priest's quest for the love he's chased through the ages and across lifetimes. There are problems, to be sure. As this was Freund's first outing as a director, the cinematography is brilliant, but the directing is uncertain. I'm never sure who I'm supposed to be rooting for in this film, and that necessarily kills much of the anticipation and potential for empathy. Additionally, it's a bit unfair to call a film "The Mummy" and then only have the character in bandages in the first scene. After that, it's just a creepy looking Boris Karloff. Still, for the breath-taking visuals and rich tone, as well as the concept of undying love as a motivation for terrible evil, The Mummy is an imperfect masterpiece that cannot be missed. Though no free streaming versions of the film currently exist, you can rent it on-demand tonight on Youtube: www.youtube.com/movie/the-mummy-1932
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Post by Jesse on Sept 18, 2014 21:39:09 GMT -5
One of my all time favorite monster movie special effects makeups and some of Jack Pierce's finest work.   |
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Sept 18, 2014 21:50:23 GMT -5
One of my all time favorite monster movie special effects makeups and some of Jack Pierce's finest work. If only Karloff had allowed them to make better use of it. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2014 4:06:48 GMT -5
Plenty more Val Lewton films still coming on this list. I think the only film in that Val Lewton box set that didn't floor me was The Leopard Man, though I've yet to watch Curse of the Cat People. (Yes, Dan Bailey. I even liked The Seventh Victim...)But not enough. Or properly. |
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shaxper
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Posts: 22,860
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Post by shaxper on Sept 19, 2014 21:11:04 GMT -5
#42: The Lodger (1944/USA) Generally, a horror film about a serial murderer tends to focus on the killings. It only makes sense. In a few rare circumstances, the drama is instead derived from enticing the audience to figure out who the murderer might be or what his/her motive might be. The Lodger, on the other hand, plays by its own rules, outright letting you know from the very beginning that our protagonist IS the mass murderer and then, instead of focusing on his killings, sets its focus on the house and family from which he is renting a room. Instead of drawing intensity from murder and over-the-top excitement, the suspense is earned in quiet moments while characters assess each other. You know they'll eventually figure out he's the murderer, you know he'll eventually try to kill the lively daughter, and you definitely know he'll be caught before that happens, but the excitement lies in those tense quiet moments before it all goes down. Laird Cregar, playing the title role, tells more stories in a single facial expression than Scheherazade could in a hundred and one nights. Though there were two other incarnations of this film prior to the 1944 version (and one was Alfred Hitchcock's breakthrough film), they both depended upon some degree of doubt/misdirection to keep the story going. Here, director John Braham simply plops the murderer down on the family couch, gives you a wink, and lets his face and the camera angles do the rest. There are currently no streaming versions of The Lodger available, but it can be purchased on Amazon.com: www.amazon.com/Classics-Collection-Hangover-Undying-Monster/dp/B000TLTCT0/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1379634795&sr=1-1&keywords=the+lodger
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shaxper
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Posts: 22,860
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Post by shaxper on Sept 21, 2014 3:16:22 GMT -5
#41: The Invisible Man (1933/USA) Certainly the most unusual of the Universal Horror classics, The Invisible Man foregoes the usual moody atmosphere and score in favor of something both more lighthearted and dark. The Invisible Man follows the murderous rampage of a scientist who is mad, ruthless, violent, and (above all else) delightfully moody. It's a signature move of director James Whale to leave us with those awkward moments in which we wonder whether we should be laughing or horrified. The Invisible Man is a strange and irreverant dance along the dividing line between the two. Add to that Claude Rains' breakthrough performance as our invisible protagonist, as well as some frankly impressive special effects for the time period that are used sparingly so as to build suspense, and you've got a film worth watching, enjoying, feeling disturbed by, and then enjoying all over again once you throw the DVD back in the player for a second run. Though there are no free streaming sources for this film available at the time being,
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Post by Jesse on Sept 21, 2014 3:27:23 GMT -5
One of my favorite James Whale films. Claude Rains' voice in this movie is what really sells the character and makes him terrifying.
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Post by Hoosier X on Sept 21, 2014 14:41:06 GMT -5
Shax, thanks for turning me on to The Lodger.
I've been studying the Whitechapel murders since the 1980s (and I don't have a favored candidate anymore. Too frustrating!) and I think it's kind of amazing that Jack the Ripper movies, while some may be faintly enjoyable, don't really live up to the potential of the source material. So a Ripper movie I haven't seen sounds fun.
I've watched about a half hour of The Lodger and I really like it so far! What an amazing cast! I can hardly believe I've never seen it. So far, it's shaping up to be the best Jack the Ripper movie of them all.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Sept 21, 2014 18:51:53 GMT -5
Shax, thanks for turning me on to The Lodger. I've been studying the Whitechapel murders since the 1980s (and I don't have a favored candidate anymore. Too frustrating!) and I think it's kind of amazing that Jack the Ripper movies, while some may be faintly enjoyable, don't really live up to the potential of the source material. So a Ripper movie I haven't seen sounds fun. I've watched about a half hour of The Lodger and I really like it so far! What an amazing cast! I can hardly believe I've never seen it. So far, it's shaping up to be the best Jack the Ripper movie of them all. Several folks at the old board turned me onto the film, so it's only fair to pass the love along. And, didn't you hear? They solved the Whitechapel murders just this month. It was all over NPR, so I consider the information reliable. |
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shaxper
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Posts: 22,860
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Post by shaxper on Sept 21, 2014 18:57:16 GMT -5
#40: The Infernal Cauldron (1903/France)
Georges Méliès' early horror films were little more than vehicles for showcasing cutting edge special effects. As a result, while they made for dazzling spectacles, the plot was never anything more than an excuse to get from one effect to the next, usually via a sorcerer or other supernatural force simply showing off for three to ten minutes.
Infernal Cauldron stands apart from this tradition, though, because the effect it was created to showcase was Méliès' new coloring technique (which, incidentally, was entirely done by hand). Since such an effect calls for no specific events to transpire in the film, Infernal Cauldron is free to actually tell a story for the sake of telling a story. Sure, it recycles some classic Méliès effects with wonderful results, but there's also a simple yet satisfying story at the center, in which a demon in Hell tortures a few innocents and then receives its karmic retribution. It's fun, silly, chock full of dazzling effects, brilliantly highlighted with that supernatural haze only hand-coloring can create,and utterly satisfying by the close. Méliès' films always make me "ooh" with wonder, but Infernal Cauldron is truly the only one that consistently makes me smile as well.
Watch it tonight on Youtube:
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Post by Hoosier X on Sept 21, 2014 22:25:17 GMT -5
I heard. They're saying it was a fellow named Aaron Kominski. I'm a little dubious. I'm waiting for someone really knowledgeable to analyze the DNA evidence that was used.
This very much reminds me of a few years ago when author Patricia Cornwell said that DNA evidence proved it was the painter Walter Sickert. And a few years before that, there was a diary that proved it was cotton broker James Maybrick. And a few years before that, it was the Freemasons covering up an illegitimate royal baby. (That's where I first got interested in Ripperology.)
These things always unravel eventually.
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Post by Hoosier X on Sept 22, 2014 16:48:13 GMT -5
For anyone who's interested in delving into the current discussion about whether or not Aaron Kominski was Jack the Ripper; or about the shawl (also called a table runner) that allegedly contains his DNA and one of the Ripper's victims; or about other aspects of this latest upheaval among the Ripperologists, I'm providing a link to the Aaron Kominski page on the message boards at the Casebook: Jack the Ripper site.
Some of those threads have gotten very long in the short weeks since the story broke, so a newcomer to Ripper studies might have to spend some times reading a lot of pages just to get started in trying to figure out why a lot of veteran Ripper aficionados are dubious about Kominski. But some people really like digging into this kind of thing.
Actually, for a beginner Ripperologist, this should be a great time to jump on merely because it should be very educational to watch how fast this one falls apart as soon as anybody else gets a chance to test the DNA.
And I could be wrong about this. The DNA evidence and the shawl may end up as solid evidence that Kominski was Jack the Ripper. That will turn Ripperology on its head and make it even more exciting. |
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Sept 22, 2014 19:41:29 GMT -5
#39: The Avenging Conscience (1914/USA) A story about young forbidden love quickly descends into Edgar Allen Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart," goes out Scarface style, and manages to conclude on a happy twist ending. As one of the earliest feature length horror films, D.W. Griffith's "The Avenging Conscience" manages to defy most of the cliches and arch-types that hadn't even been tried yet, instead delivering something wholly unique and engaging. The directing is strong, the acting outstanding, as an initially grounded film gradually descends into the nightmarish and insane. Meanwhile, Griffith deftly utilizes animals as a recurring symbol in order to create a sense of foreboding and being at odds with nature throughout the descent. One word of warning: D.W. Griffith's genius is often eclipsed by his reputation for racism. Most would claim this can entirely be attributed to his 1915 feature length film, Birth of a Nation. However, his depiction of Italians in this film is hardly much better. You can watch the film at the Internet Archive tonight: archive.org/details/TheAvengingConscience
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Post by Jesse on Oct 16, 2014 21:12:27 GMT -5
I haven't watched either The Avenging Conscience or The Lodger so I added them both my watchlist on Letterboxd so I remember to check them out.
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shaxper
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Posts: 22,860
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Post by shaxper on Oct 17, 2014 8:57:48 GMT -5
Holy crud!
I completely forgot about this thread and owe you guys nearly a full month of posts. So sorry! I've been ridiculously busy, and The Long Halloween and Wizard review thread kind of took up all of my CCF focus, there.
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