I quite liked this entry in the Univeral Monsters series. Lon Chaney Jr. returns as Lawrence Talbot aka The Wolf Man, and Bela Lugosi, whose name gets buried in the starring credits while Chaney gets an ‘and’ plays Frankenstein’s Monster. Apparently, Talbot wasn’t dead. He was buried, draped in wolfsbane to keep him trapped and…
Tag: bela lugosi
Dracula (1931) – George Melford
Sometimes there’s a glowing hole in my film education. I had no idea that Universal, in 1931, released two versions of Dracula, there was the iconic Bela Lugosi version which cast a long bat-shaped shadow over the entire 20th century, setting the standard for reserved, charming and well-dressed nosferatu. At the same time George Melford,…
Ed Wood (1994) – Tim Burton
I don’t think there’s another director that could have done a biopic on the eccentric, imaginative, and terrible director that was Ed Wood than Tim Burton. Burton’s love and use of miniatures, dark themes and humour, and his eye for casting. Leading the story on screen is Johnny Depp as Ed Wood. Depp has a…
Mother Riley Meets The Vampire (1952) – John Gilling
This comedic title which features the next machine menace in DK Books’ Monsters in the Movies is a film that could have been filed under vampires or robots (though the vampire is definitely in it a lot longer than the robot). Apparently Mother Riley films were a thing in the UK, the character is played…
The Ape Man (1943) – William Beaudine
Bela Lugosi headlines another titles in DK Canada’s Monsters in the Movies as I continue my journey through the chapter on Monstrous Apes. This unusual little film, barely running an hour, tells the tale of Dr. James Brewster (Lugosi), who has a problem. It seems through some study, and research, and experimentation he’s transformed himself,…
Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932) – Robert Florey
Bela Lugosi, with the horrible addition of a unibrow, terrorises unsuspecting Paris in the next stop in the Monstrous Apes chapter of DK Canada’s brilliant Monsters in the Movies book. Based on the classic short story by Edgar Allen Poe, the tale focuses on an evolution obsessed mad scientist, Dr. Mirakle (Lugosi) and the object…
Zombies on Broadway (1945) – Gordon Douglas
DK Canada’s Monsters in the Movies book by director John Landis, moves on to the realm of the mad scientist, leaving werewolves behind. And the first one I dove into was this genuinely funny film from 1945. It’s marred by moments of racism, but the rest of it proves to be very enjoyable. It what…
Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959) – Ed Wood Jr.
While not necessarily a vampire movie, Plan 9 From Outer Space, undeniably one of the worst films ever made (which in turn made it a cult classic), is the next title in the vampire section of John Landis’ Monsters in the Movies from DK Canada. The film does feature a plan to resurrect the dead,…
Mark of the Vampire (1935) – Tod Browning
Eight years after the release of London After Midnight, Tod Browning remade the film as Mark of the Vampire with Lionel Barrymore as Professor Zelin, a variation on Chaney’s inspector from the original film. It is also the next film up in John Landis’ Monsters in the Movies, a coffee table tome that I am…
Ninotchka (1939) – Ernst Lubitsch
My time with Greta Garbo comes to an end with this recommended title from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book, and this one ends up being my favorite, I think. Billy Wilder has his fingerprints on the screenplay for this Oscar nominated film that sees Garbo playing a Soviet envoy on…
The Mind Reels 