ISLE OF THE DEAD (1945)
Article #81 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 6-5-2001
Posting date: 10-19-2001

A Greek general visits and stays overnight in an inn on an island. When a man is found dead of the plague the next morning, he puts a quarantine on the island and calls in a doctor to help. However, some of the residents do not believe it is the plague, but rather that the death was caused by a Greek vampire known as a vorvolaka.

This Val Lewton film is generally not held up as one of his best, and it was hampered by an uneven production schedule, partially as a result of the hospitilization of Boris Karloff in the middle of the filming, causing production to be held up for several months. The various story elements don’t mesh as well as they could, but there is still much to recommend in this movie; there is a haunting, stark, poetic atmosphere, and the science vs. superstition theme is reminiscent of the one in I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE. I think Karloff does a great job in this, and he’s playing a very interesting character; though the Greek general Pherides is by and for the most vocal exponent of science towards the beginning of the movie, he is the one who most totally gives in to superstition as time passes. The movie also features Ellen Drew, Alan Napier, Jason Robards Sr., and the always unsettling Skelton Knaggs as the first victim of the plague. Certainly not a perfect movie, but worthwhile. Incidentally, this film was base on a painting, Bocklin’s “Isle of the Dead.”

ISLAND OF LOST SOULS (1933)
Article #80 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 6-4-2001
Posting date: 10-18-2001

A castaway is left on an island by a cargo ship. There he meets a strange race of not-quite-human creatures, and the mysterious Dr. Moreau, who has plans for him. He meets and almost falls for the feminine charms of a beautiful woman named Lota, and then discovers exactly what Moreau is up to on the island.

Based on H.G. Wells’ novel, The Island of Dr. Moreau, this movie, directed by Erle C. Kenton, remains one of the few horror movies of the thirties that still delivers the jolts. The many strange faces of the animal-men on the island are geniuinely creepy, the bestiality subplot very unsettling (I suspect that this contributed to both the movie being banned in several areas and Wells’ dislike for this adaptation of his work), and denouement is truly nightmarish. I love Charles Laughton’s work as Moreau; he underplays the role and gives his character the traits of being offhand, relaxed and casual at inappropriate times, which just makes him all the creepier. Kathleen Burke was a good choice for the role of Lota, and she is quite effective. Bela Lugosi is here with one of his better supporting roles as the Sayer of the Law, and there are rumors that Randolph Scott, Buster Crabbe and Alan Ladd can all be found in there somewhere. A real classic.

“Not to spill blood. That is the law. Are we not men?”

THE INVISIBLE MAN (1933)
Article #79 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 6-3-2001
Posting date: 10-17-2001

A man who has managed to turn himself invisible is desperately searching for an antidote to his condition. Unfortunately, the drug that made him invisible is also causing him to go mad, and he turns to using his power to take over the world.

When I was a child, I discovered that one of the local TV stations was running a show called “Creature Feature” on Saturday nights. This show sounded like a lot of fun, and I decided I was going to stay up late and watch it. My first attempt to watch the show ended with my falling asleep, as the movie that night, though a classic, was deliberately paced and fairly adult. Undaunted, I tried again next week. This time, they showed THE INVISIBLE MAN, and I easily kept awake. I was hooked. This movie was my real entry into the world of horror/science fiction/fantasy cinema.

This is another fine James Whale movie, and one of the few invisible man movies that really explores the potential for both terror and comedy inherent to the theme. It made Claude Rains a star (though not an instantly recognizable face), and he has a field day with the role. One can see it as a transitional picture between the two Frankenstein movies Whale directed, and it can be as tense and serious as the original or as witty as the sequel. The special effects are outstanding, and it would be decades before any real advances were made in invisible man effects. Then there’s Una O’Connor, warming up for her role in BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, Gloria Stuart, William Harrigan (as the cowardly but doomed Dr. Kemp), and Henry Travers. And, if you keep your eyes and ears open, you can spot Dwight Frye, Walter Brennan, and John Carradine in small parts.

Though I can’t remember it word for word, it has one of my favorite quotes. “We’ll commit murders. Murders of big men, murders of little men. Just to show we make no distinction.”

Oh, and the classic movie during which I fell asleep? I’ll be touching upon that one shortly.

THE INVISIBLE GHOST (1941)
Article #78 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 6-2-2001
Posting date: 10-16-2001

A series of unmotivated murders is taking place in a large house. The owner of the house (Bela Lugosi) believes his wife ran off with a lover and died in a car crash; in reality, the wife survived the crash but lost her mind in the process, and is being kept secretly in the house by one of the servants. Occasionally, she wanders outside the house at night; when her husband sees her, he goes into a trance and commits the murders.

This was the first of Lugosi’s string of horror movies for Monogram in the forties. In Tom Weavers’ “Poverty Row Horrors” book, he takes a poll of several well-known Lugosi fans to pick the best of his Monogram horrors, and this one came in first. For me, the jury is out on this one; it has a strong sense of atmosphere and some very nice poetic touches, and the opening, where Lugosi holds his annual dinner where he pretends to be dining with his wife, is as unsettling as it needs to be. It also has the advantage of being very unlike the other movies Lugosi made for Monogram; in fact, there’s nothing else quite like it out there. On the down side, it almost aggressively strains credibility, and I can’t think of a single plausible explanation as to why his wife’s appearance would cause Lugosi to commit murders (other than, “He’s mad.”), so I find myself scratching my head as often as I find myself entranced. Maybe it is his best Monogram movie, muddled as it is. Definitely an oddity, though.

INVADERS FROM MARS (1953)
Article #76 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 5-31-2001
Posting date: 10-14-2001

A boy sees a flying saucer land in his back yard. Everyone who goes back there to investigate returns acting strangely, and they all have strange marks on the backs of their necks. The boy soon learns that this is all a plot of invaders from Mars.

This is one of the essential SF movies of the fifties, and one of the strangest ones. William Cameron Menzies gives the movie a very distinctive, dreamlike style totally unlike the rather mundane styles of most fifties SF. It all serves a purpose, though, as we discover when we hit the final plot twist, which I won’t give away here; all I’ll say is it is the type of ending which would usually net a Rubber Brick award from me, but is the only really logical ending for this movie. For all that, this remains one of those movies that I admire more than I really love, but I suspect the movie is best appreciated if you’re a kid when you first watch it and can benefit from the full impact; this movie is as paranoid for children as INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS is for adults. Unfortunately, I was well into adulthood when I first saw it, and I can sense that I’m quite a distance from the time it would have had the greatest effect on me. Nonetheless, this is landmark movie.

I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE (1943)
Article #74 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 5-29-2001
Posting date: 10-12-2001

A nurse comes to a plantation in the West Indies to care for the wife of the owner, who appears to have lost all will of her own. Is it a medical condition, or could she be a zombie?

This is another very fine Val Lewton film, directed by Jacques Tourneur. Lewton’s skill at taking lurid titles and building inspired, unusual stories around them is very much in evidence; the story itself is based on Jane Eyre. This is the Val Lewton film I think most effectively walks the line between fantasy and reality; you’re never quite sure whether the wife’s ailment is medical or supernatural. There are also several memorable scenes, my favorites being Sir Lancelot’s song which serves as a Greek chorus to the story, and the unforgettable walk through the jungle where the nurse encounters Carrefour (Darby Jones), the most striking zombie in classic cinema. This is a classic that deserves the name.

Incidentally, both Darby Jones and Sir Lancelot would appear together again in a movie called ZOMBIES ON BROADWAY. The less said about that one, the better.