Monster-Vision

Frankensteinia: The Frankenstein Blog: The Posters of Frankenstein : Jacques Faria

2011-07-02T20:05:00.000+01:00

Frankensteinia: The Frankenstein Blog: The Posters of Frankenstein : Jacques Faria

Meghalt Dino De Laurentiis legendás filmproducer

2010-11-11T20:56:00.004Z

Az alábbi cikket az [origo]-rol ollóztam be:

91 éves korában Los Angelesben elhunyt Dino De Laurentiis legendás olasz filmproducer - jelentették olasz hírügynöksége Az 1919-ben született De Laurentiis statisztált, de színészként és rendezőként is dolgozott, mielőtt - alig 20 évesen - végleg a producerkedés mellett döntött volna. Az 50-es években alapította meg önálló produceri irodáját, majd Dinocotta néven saját filmstúdiót hozott létre. Az olasz filmművészet olyan kiemelkedő alkotásai kötődnek karrierje kezdetéhez, mint Roberto Rossellini Európá-ja vagy Fellini Országúton-ja. Utóbbi alkotásért kapta meg - 1957-ben Carlo Pontival közösen - első Oscar-díját, a következő évben újabb produkciójuk, a szintén Fellini által rendezett Cabiria éjszakái nyerte el a szobrot. Később a Dinocotta csődbe ment, Laurentiis pedig elhagyta az országot, és az Egyesült Államokba költözött.

A hetvenes években olyan filmekkel sikerült megalapoznia hírnevét és jövőjét a tengeren túl, mint a Serpico, A keselyű három napja, vagy a King Kong, ebben az időszakban csinált filmet Robert Altmannal és Ingmar Bergmannal is. A nyolcvanas években dolgozott Milos Formannal (Ragtime, 1981), David Cronenberggel (A holtsáv, 1983), Michael Ciminóval (A sárkány éve, 1985) és Stephen Kinggel (Maximális túlhajtás, 1986). De Laurentiis kérte fel David Lynchet a Dűne megrendezésére, és habár a film hatalmas bukás volt, a Kék bársony-ban még egyszer együtt dolgoztak.

Az ő produceri irányításával készült 1986-ban A bárányok hallgatnak előzményének tartott Az embervadász, majd 2001-ben a Hannibal, amely több mint 350 millió dolláros bevételt hozott, és egy évvel később a Vörös sárkány, ami gyakorlatilag Az embervadász remake-je, mivel mindkét film ugyanabból a Thomas Harris-regényből készült. 2007-ben még egyszer visszanyúlt Hannibal Lecterhez, és Hannibal ébredése címmel dolgozta fel az emberevő pszichiáter életének korai szakaszát.

2001-ben életmű-Oscarral (Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award) jutalmazták, utolsó filmje producerként a Hayden Christensen és Mischa Barton főszereplésével készült 2007-es Szűzlányok ajándéka című komédia volt.

Már az is elégedettségre ad okot, hogy az Origo-n cikk jelenik meg Dino De Lauretniis-ről (igaz, a halála okán) A cikk írója mindazonáltal eléggé felületesen nézett utána a producer munkásságának. Elfelejtett megemlíteni olyan fontos filmeket, mint pl. a Barbarella, a Flash Gordon, a Death Wish (Charles Bronson-al), a Connan the Barbarian, vagy a Danger: Diabolik.

Nyugodj békében!

Linkek:

Photos: Fay Wray [updated]

2010-11-07T16:13:00.001Z

Nos, ez gyonyoru

Fay Wray-t az 1933-as King Kong-ban szerettük meg, bár 2004-ben bekövetkezett haláláig is sok-sok filmben és TV sorozatban tűnt fel.

Photos: West of Zanzibar [1929]

2010-11-07T13:32:00.004Z

Lobbycard (sorry for the low quality image)

Lon Chaney sr + Mary Nolan

Lionel Barrymore + Lon Chaney sr

Lon Chaney sr + Jacqueline Gadsden

Kalla Pasha + Lon Chaney sr

Kalla Pasha + Lon Chaney sr

Egy ujsagkivagas a filmrol...

[sajat szkenneles]

Photos: Anna May Wong

2010-11-05T21:02:00.003Z

Photos: Dwyght Frye [updated]

2010-11-05T16:11:00.000Z

Dwight Frye, Colin Clive es Ernest Thesiger a The Bride of Frankenstein c. filmben (1935)

Dwight Frye a The Bride of Frankenstein c. filmben (1935)

Dwight Frye a The Bride of Frankenstein c. filmben (1935)

Dwight Frye a The Bride of Frankenstein c. filmben (1935)

Dwight Frye a Dracula c. filmben (1931)

Video: The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (Behind the Scenes)

2010-09-01T20:16:00.002+01:00

IMDb

Herman Cohen interview (Fangoria)

2010-09-01T19:40:00.002+01:00

The Curse of Frankenstein (Fangoria)

2010-08-31T21:03:00.001+01:00

Photos: The Thirty-Nine Steps (1935)

2010-08-31T20:21:00.001+01:00

Robert Donat (left) in The Thirty-Nine Steps, 1935

Photos: The Man Who Knew Too Much (1955)

2010-08-31T20:13:00.003+01:00

Hitchcock directs the opening scenes in Marrakesh of The Man Who Knew Too Much, 1955

James Stewart fights for his life in The Man Who Knew Too Much (1955)

A fotókat Lawrence Hammond The Movie Treasury: Thriller Movies (Octopus Books, 1974) c. könyvéből szkenneltem.

Video: Hitchcock on Grieson

2010-08-29T10:46:00.002+01:00

The legendary Alfred Hitchcock, master of suspense, pays tribute to Scotland's own John Grierson who is known as the father of the documentary. The pair were contemporaries and Hitchcock explains just what makes Grierson's work so extraordinary and influential.

Photos: Ultraman

2010-08-26T20:10:00.000+01:00

Photos: Ultraman (behind the scenes)

2010-08-26T19:37:00.004+01:00

Eiji Tsuburaya with the cast of Ultraman (1966)
L to R: Susumu Karube, Akihide Tsuzawa, Masanari Nihei, Bin Furuya (as Ultraman), Eiji Tsuburaya, Hiroko Sakurai and Dokumamushi Sandayu.

Special effects director Koichi Takano supervises a scene from episode 27 of Ultraman (1966)

On-Line Film: Creature From The Haunted Sea (1961)

2010-08-23T07:45:00.001+01:00

On-Line Film: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

2010-08-23T07:40:00.001+01:00

Ray Harryhausen interju (Fangoria No.14)

2010-08-21T07:50:00.002+01:00

YouTube video: The Christmas Song (by Anthony Perkins)

2010-08-17T21:06:00.000+01:00

YouTube video: Anthony Perkins dalra fakad!

2010-08-17T20:49:00.002+01:00

Anthony Perkins signs 'If You Can't Find Me I'm Here' in the musical 'Evening Primrose' by Stephen Sondheim.

Mennyire volt pontos Kubrick és C. Clarke a 2001 Űrodisszeiával?

2010-08-17T20:44:00.004+01:00

Ebből az érdekes angol nyelvű cikkből kiderül mi valósult meg a film (akkoriban) fantasztikus elképzeléseiből.

Egy kis móka: az eddigi lerosszabb 2001: A Space Odissey nyitány

2010-08-17T20:41:00.002+01:00

Godzilla

2010-08-17T20:17:00.003+01:00

A fenti írás a The Official Godzilla Compendium c. konyvbol lett szkennelve. Nem saját szkennelés!

YouTube video: Ultraman tribute

2010-08-10T21:27:00.001+01:00

Photos: The Unknown (1927)

2010-08-08T20:08:00.002+01:00

Photos: The Restless Spirit (1913)

2010-08-08T19:30:00.002+01:00

IMDb

Photos: The Big City (1928)

2010-08-08T19:06:00.003+01:00

Director Tod Browning and Lon Chaney on the set of The Big City

IMDb

Photos: Mr. Wu (1927)

2010-08-08T18:44:00.002+01:00

Camerman John Arnold and director William Nigh watch Lon Chaney and Louise Dressler act out the climax scene of Mr. Wu.

All-girl's band supplies music for 'Mr. Wu' film

Photos: Father and the Boys (1915)

2010-08-08T17:39:00.003+01:00

Lon (standing left) with the cast of father and the Boys. Director Joseph De Grasse (with cap and black scarf tie) is to Lon's right. Veteran stage actor Digby Bell is seated in the front row, second from left.

IMDb

Photos: Hell Morgan's Girls (1917)

2010-08-08T17:32:00.001+01:00

Lon Chaney, Dorothy Phillips and William Stowell

Photos: Tower of Lies (1925)

2010-08-08T17:19:00.002+01:00

Photos: Tell It to the Marines (1926)

2010-08-08T17:07:00.006+01:00

Photos: Riddle Gwane (1918)

2010-08-08T17:02:00.002+01:00

IMDb

Photos: Citizen Kane (1941)

2010-08-08T16:14:00.001+01:00

A fotókat Lawrence Hammond The Movie Treasury: Thriller Movies (Octopus Books, 1974) c. könyvéből szkenneltem.

Elveszett Lon Chaney film: Poor Jake's Demise (1913)

2010-08-08T15:57:00.000+01:00

Photos: Wait Until Dark (1967)

2010-08-08T15:23:00.003+01:00

Audrey Hepburn clutching the heroin stuffed doll in Wait Until Dark (1967)

Menace cast a shadow on Audrey Hepburn in Wait Until Dark (1967)

A fotót Lawrence Hammond The Movie Treasury: Thriller Movies (Octopus Books, 1974) c. könyvéből szkenneltem.

Wait Until Dark @ IMDb
Wikipedia

Photos: Psycho (1960)

2010-08-08T15:21:00.005+01:00

The anguished eyes of Anthony Perkins in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960)

A fotókat Lawrence Hammond The Movie Treasury: Thriller Movies (Octopus Books, 1974) c. könyvéből szkenneltem.

Photos: M (Fritz Lang)

2010-08-08T15:10:00.003+01:00

M (1931)

The pathetic and hunted child-killer Peter Lorre in M (1931)

A fotót Lawrence Hammond The Movie Treasury: Thriller Movies (Octopus Books, 1974) c. könyvéből szkenneltem.

Photos: Humphrey Bogart a The Big Sleep-ben

2010-08-08T15:07:00.002+01:00

Humphrey Bogart in The Big Sleep, 1946

A fotót Lawrence Hammond The Movie Treasury: Thriller Movies (Octopus Books, 1974) c. könyvéből szkenneltem.

Photos: Mockery (1927) [updated]

2010-08-08T15:06:00.001+01:00

Lon Chaney egy kevésbé ismert filmjének, a The Mockery-nek svéd reklámhírdetése

IMDb

Photos: Frank Sinatra a The Naked Runner-ben

2010-08-08T15:03:00.004+01:00

Frank Sinatra in The Naked Runner, 1967

A fotókat Lawrence Hammond The Movie Treasury: Thriller Movies (Octopus Books, 1974) c. könyvéből szkenneltem.

Photos: Batman and Robin (1949) [updated]

2010-07-14T21:24:00.000+01:00

Photos: Beauty and the Beast (La belle et la bête) (1946)

2010-07-14T19:22:00.002+01:00

Poster: Beauty and the Beast (La belle et la bête) (1946)

2010-07-14T19:12:00.002+01:00

RIP: Mark Jones

2010-07-12T14:09:00.003+01:00

Mark Jones brit színész, a 60-as évek óta szerepelt televíziós és mozi filmekben. Arnold Keeler szerepét alakította az 1976-os Doctos Who szériában, a The Seeds of Doom-ban. 1980-ban szintén ő játszotta az egyik Birodalmi tisztet a Birodalom visszavágban (The Empire Stikes Back)

1939 április 22-én született Angliában. Első filmszerepe az 1967-es, igencsak hosszu nevű Peter Brook által jegyzett adaptációja Peter Weiss: The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade (aka Marat/Sade) c. művének.

1973-ban az A.D.A.M. című scifi drámában alakított, aztán az 1975-ös felnőtt scifiben, a The Sexplorer-ben (aka Girl from Starship Venus) Még néhány filmje: The Medusa Touch (1978), Don’t Open Till Christmas (1984) Úgyszintén szerepelt számos televíziós sorozat epizódban, mint pl. The New Avengers, Tales of the Unexpected és a Red Dwarf.

Jones az angliai Shropshire-ben hunyt el 2010 január 14-én, 70 éves korában.

Nyugodjék békében!

Tudom, a hír nem mai, de csak most találtam rá. Nézzétek el nekem.

Mark Jones adatlapja az IMDb-n

YouTube video: Creature Feature: 50 Years of the Gill-man (trailer)

2010-07-12T08:35:00.003+01:00

Egy újabb apró részlet a Creature from the Black Lagoon remake-el kapcsolatban

2010-07-12T07:53:00.004+01:00

A 2011-re tervezett remake írója nem más lesz, mint Gary Ross, néhai Arthur A. Ross fia, aki az eredeti Creature from the Black Lagoon-t írta (és még a The Creature Walks Amongst Us-t is) Nem tudom, hogy ez jó, vagy rossz hír, de szurkoljunk, hogy a remake jól sikerüljön!

A kép itt a bal oldalon, csak illusztráció! Elméletileg egy koncept rajz a készülő remake-ből, de nem mernék rá mérget venni...

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) [updated]

2010-07-11T07:40:00.007+01:00

Original caption: 200 miles above the Earth’s Equator, pilots and a stewardess from a commercial spaceliner relax in the lounge area of Space Station Five. In the background are (left) a picture phone where space travelers can dial a number and see and talk with people on Earth. At the right is the Earthlight room, a restaurant whose windows provide spectacular views of the planet Earth 200 miles away.

David Bowman (Keir Dullea) a filmben

A production picture showing the tunnel giving access to Discovery control deck. Facing David Bowman it is possible to see the metallic hatch that allows entrance in HAL's Central Processing Chamber.

Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” had its world premiere on 2 April 1968 at the Uptown Theatre in Washington, D.C. Thus began an interesting 70mm odyssey. The critically acclaimed film had what is believed to have been a record number of 70-millimeter wide gauge prints made for a film during the roadshow era. Included here is a nostalgic and historical look back at the original engagements.

Kubrick directs! The TMA-1 pit scene was the first to be filmed in early 1966.

German 2001 re-release artwork. in70mm.com collection

Danish 1969 70mm release advert. in70mm.com collection

March 30, 2001 re-release advert from London. in70mm.com collection

2001: A Space Odyssey newspaper advertisement. Ads of this type appeared in major city newspapers in advance of release and throughout the engagement. This one is advertising the Atlanta, Georgia engagement. Note the reserved seat ticket order form.

Nehany kepet INNEN emeltem at
A film IMDb oldala
Rotten Tomatoes
2001: A Space Odyssey Internet Resource Archive

Alla Nazimova

2010-07-11T05:50:00.006+01:00

Nazimova nem éppen horror vagy sci-fi színész, de most valahogy megragadott a személyisége és életrajza. Néhány fotó is porosodott a gépemen, úgyhogy ideje ezeket megosztanom.

Alla Nazimova 1879 június 4-én láttam meg a napvilágot Yalta-n (Crimea, akkor Oroszország, ma Ukrajna) Eredeti neve Miriam Edez Adelaida Leventon. Szülei orosz zsidók voltak (Yakov Leventon és Sonya Horowitz) akik még kiskorában elváltak, így gyermekkora legjavát bentlakásos iskolákban, gyermek otthonokban és kényszeredett rokonoknál töltötte. 7 éves korától játszott hegedűn. Később csatlakozott az Academy of Acting in Moscow -hoz és a Stanislavsky's Moscow Art Theater-hez. Színpadi nevét saját nevének (Adelaida) és egy orosz novella (Children of the Streets) hősnéjének (Nadezhda Nazimova) összerakásából kapta. Rövid ideig házasságban élt Sergei Golovin-el 1899-ben. 1903-ra színpadi sztár lett belőle és így Londonban, Berlinben turnézott, majd később, 1905-ben New York-ban is. Innen már nem tért haza Oroszországba a társulatával. Az Egyesült Államokban folytattatódott karrierje, több negyszerű darabban is játszhatott, pl. "A Doll's House," "Bella Donna," "War Brides" Herbert Brenon később megvásárolta a "War Brides" jogait és Nazimova számára biztosította a film főszerepét. Az 1916-os néma mozi filmsztárt csinált belőle. 1918-ban a Metro-val kötött szerződést és az elkövetkező három évben 11 filmet készített velük. Ebben az időben Charles Bryant színnművésszel élt együtt. Nazimováról jól ismert tény volt, hogy biszexuális. A híresztelések szerint előszeretettel egyengette fiatal, tehettséges színésznők pályáját, néhányukhoz romantikus szálak is fűzték (Patsy Ruth Miller, Anna May Wong, Eva Le Gallienne, Dolly Wilde, stb.) Első igazi művészi diadalát az 1921-es "Camille" c. film hozta meg (a díszletek Natacha Rambova munkái, a filmben Rudolph Valentino szerepel még, ezzel vette kezdetét a Rambova-Valentino szerelmi történet) A "Camille" sikeres volt, de következő két filmje a United Artists-al már nem. Bár a "A Doll's House" és a "Salome" mávészi volt és a kritikusok imádták, a moziba járó közönséget nem érdekelte. Mivel Nazimova maga fininszírozta filmjeit, ez a bukás anyagilag mélyen megrengette. Az 1923-as "Salome" után már csak három némafilmet készített, aztán visszatért a színpadra és még 15 évnyi sikert könyvelhetett el magának. Ezek után ismét megpróbálkozott a filmezéssel az 1940-es Norma Shearer-Robert Taylor háborús thriller-el, az "Escape"-el. 1941-1944 között még négy filmet csinált, mindben jelentős szerepeket kapott. 1945 július 13-án érte a halál, oka szívkoszorú ér elmeszesedés (coronary thrombosis) Nazimova egyébként sikeresen kűzdötte le a mellrákot. Színészi teljesítményének elismeréseként saját csillagot kaptt a hollywood-i Walk of Fame-en. Hamvait a Forest Lawn Memorial Park temetőben helyezték nyugalomra (Glendale, California)
Életét és pályáját három filmben is megörökítették: az 1975-ös The Legend of Valentino-ban, az 1977-es Valentino-ban és a 2004-es Return to Babylon-ban. Ez utóbbi a némafilmes korszakot dolgozza fel, Nazimova-t Laura Harring alakítja, akit én leginkább a David Lynch féle Mullholland Drive-ból és az Inland Empire-ből szeretek.

Nazimova in the 1911 Broadway play The Marionettes

Nazimova in A Doll's House

Cover: Famous Monsters of Filmland #38

2010-07-10T19:53:00.003+01:00

RIP: Shunsuke Ikeda

2010-07-09T16:07:00.005+01:00

This is a studio publicity photo Ikeda-san signed of his role as squad member, "Hanagata Ippei", from a series some may remember that aired in Hawaii before Kikaida, "Kinkyu Shirei 10-4 10-10". Photo source: Flickr

A 'tokusatsu' filmek egyik nagy úttörője távozott az élők soraiból 2010 június 10-én. Shunsuke Ikeda (Norio Ikeda néven született, 1941 november 11-én) a cukorbetegsége szövődményeibe halt bele. Karrierjét viszonylag hamar, gyermek korában már megkezdte apja (Tatsuo Ouchi) hatására, aki kardos harci jeleneteket koreografált. Judo-ból és karate-ból fekete övet szerzett. 1967-ben a Hosei Egyetemen diplomázott. Ikeda legismertebb tokusatsu filmje mindenképpen a Kikaider 01 volt, de pl. a 2006-os Ultraman Mebius & Ultraman Brothers-ben is szerepelt.

Nyugodjék békében!

YouTube video: Ultraman 40th Anniversary Eternal Heroes

2010-07-09T16:03:00.002+01:00

Ez csak egy "fan" video, mert hogy Ultraman lázban égek éppen :)

Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein (bloopers)

2010-07-01T18:44:00.002+01:00

Photos: Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman (1943)

2010-06-24T19:57:00.004+01:00

IMDb link

Japanarama! Vol.3 [2006]

2010-06-20T09:28:00.007+01:00

Nem egészen íllik a blog kereteibe ez az igazán mulattságos, két órás japán agymenés, de kivételt teszek, mert amit láttam eddig belőle az igazán tetszett. Nem egészen három hét múlva meglátogatom Japánt, úgyhogy igazán elnézhető nekem ha kissé rá vagyok izgulva a témára :)

Az interneten szinte semmit nem találtam a sem filmről (leginkább video mixtape kategória), sem a forgalmazóról, a Too Far East Productions-ról, de nem is hiszem, hogy túl sok jelentőssége lenne filmes szempontból.

Lássuk csak mink van?

Elsőnek több száz őrült nőt kapunk két csapatban (fehérek és pirosak), akik egymáson taposva próbálnak felmászni és ledönteni két hatalmas oszlopot. Nem szégyellősek, vagy csak nem foglalkoznak azzal, hogy a kamera minden részletüket látja, ők nagyon élvezik.

Két macskának öltöztetett, alvó (?) figurát tolnak ágyon a stúdióba. Tényleg nem tudom eldönteni mik ezek, de még kis bögyörőt is illsztettek rájuk. Elsőként egy medicin labdát ejtenek jó magasról a gyanutlan delikvens gyomrára. A másiknak forró rizst (?) tesznek a kezére. Nem szabad kinyitni a szemüket. A zsűri pedig díjjazza a teljesítményt. Ezt követően egy hatalmas békát tesznek az egyikük ruhája alá, az pedig fel alá rohangál a stúdióban. Nagyon jó!! A másik kap egy kis elektromos sokkot. Köpölyözés következik az egyiken, aztán egy idős hölgy jön be, aki végigcsókolgatja a másikat, majd mindkettőnek begyújtanak valami füstölő szerüséget a homlokán, kérdés ki bírja tovább?

Váltás jön, de ugyanaz a show, talán egy másik epizód. Szerencsétlen becsukott szemű csávókat egy jéghideg vízzel teli kádba dobják :) Érthető módon nem élvezik. Kapunk néhány fura japán reklámot, aztán megy tovább a film... Egy másik show műsor, szép japán lányok, de még nem derült ki miről van szó. Megpörgetnek valami szerencsekereket, aztán öltözniük (vagy vetkőzniük) kell. Szépek :) Alsóneműben be kell mászniuk a jeges vizes kádba. A lényeg, hogy bírja tovább?
Megint jön pár mókás japán reklám meg egy vidoklipp két lánnyal a 80-as évek stílusában, aztán újból a két beöltözött, alvást színlelő figura jön. Most beteszik őket egy óriáskerékbe, ami két tengelyen forog. Cumi a szájukba, nem szabad kinyitni a szemüket :)

Pár sörreklám következik ... az egyikbe Arnold Schwarzenegger!

Az újabb vetélkedőben aminek neve Pokerface, az a cél, hogy mindenki fapofával tűrjön különböző cselekményeket, mint pl. egy bőrszerkós domina ostorcsapásait fenékre, vagy a gyantázást. Úgy tűnik, hogy a műsorvezető még szívatja is a versenyzőket :) A hölgy egy análvibrátort használ, a srác fején meg nyílvánvalóan látszik, hogy valami történik, de a zsűri továbbra sem akarja tudni mi történik :))) Szegény!
Ismét pár reklám, pl. egy öregek számára gyártott pelenkáé, opera japánul, stb, aztán vissza a Pokerface-hez, ami kissé már uncsi, mert még mindig ugyanazt a szerencsétlen srácot kínozzák.
Az ez után következő vetélkedő résztvevői lányok! Fura, szexuális sugallatú dolgokat kell megcsinálniuk: szájjal megkeresni valamit egy liszttel beszórt ember testén, átöltözni, fagyit szopogatni... Jön a reklámblokk, ezúttal Steven Seagal-t láthatjuk egy energiaital reklámban:

Kedvenceim jönnek ismét: a két alvást színlelő, beöltöztetett figura :) Előbb egy körhintába, aztán egy hullámvasútba teszik őket. Ez most nem annyira jó.

Megint a csajok hidegvizes kádba űllős show-ja. Nem különösebbek szégyellősek, a férfiak nagy örömére. A reklámok között most Wynona Rider, Bruce Willis, Britney Spears és a Kiss tűnik fel ... no, erről linkelek is videót (werkfilm, a reklám a végén látható)

Nagy szívatás! A sushi-ba hatalmas adag wasabi-t rejtenek, amit több normális sushi közé kevernek. Aztán tabasco-s italt szolgálnak fel. Mindenki vesz egyet, a lényeg, hogy nem szabad elárulniuk magukat. Innen kicsit begyorsul a dolog. Férfiak bírkóznak, cél a másik alsógatyájának megszerzése. Kötélhúzás ... bele a középen lévő hideg vizes medencébe. Orrhúzás?! Homokba temetés. Fej ütlegelése. Pankráció. Mikorfonba fingás és egyéb fingós trükkök. Fingó verseny, nők is. Bicikliző dalmata!

Egy leírhatatlan motor, ami igazából lábakon jár. Még bírkózás és még reklámok. Bikinis lányok ugrálóköteleznek, aztán lépésszámlálót tesznek a melltartójukra és úgy futnak helyben. Szexi. Lányokat kínoznak opera áriákkal :) Levegő visszatartás víz alatt. A lányoknak tejet töltenek a szájukba és szórakoztatni kezdik őket, amig ki nem köpik. Ez nagyon jó! Viszont a reklámok egyre unalmasabbak. Egy jó van, az Adams Familly-s. A következő feladat mindkét versenyzőnek ugyanazt a feleletet adni hülye kérdésekre. Ha nem egyezik a válasz, akkor egy gép közelebb tolja az egyikőjük fenekét a másik arcához. Ez térdcsapkodós poén. Pláne, amikor a műsorvezető fejére tolják rá a pucér seggű versenyzőt :)))

Ennyi. Jó volt, de néhol unalmas, máshol viszont jól mulattam. Már nagyon mennék!

US silent film treasures found in New Zealand

2010-06-17T21:00:00.003+01:00

WELLINGTON (AFP) – A treasure trove of 75 long-lost US silent movies has been unearthed in New Zealand, including an early feature film by legendary Oscar-winning director John Ford, officials said Tuesday.

No copies of the films -- dating from as early as 1898 through to the 1920s -- remain in the United States.

The films will be returned to the US National Film Preservation Foundation for preservation after being unearthed in the New Zealand Film Archive, New Zealand Arts Minister Chris Finlayson said Tuesday.

The films will be preserved over the next three years for access through major American silent film archives and copies will be returned to New Zealand, Finlayson said.

US film historians first became aware of the existence of the films when Brian Meacham, a preservationist for the Los Angeles archive of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, visited the New Zealand archive while on holiday last year.

"It became clear they had some real treasures in their collection," Meacham told Radio New Zealand.

"It's beautiful to see these... have survived for 80 or 90 years -- it's incredible to see what great condition they're still in."

The most important find was a copy of Ford's full-length feature "Upstream" from 1927, a backstage romance between a Shakespearean actor and a target girl from a knife-throwing act.

The US foundation said only about 15 percent of silent era films by the four-time Academy Award-winning director were believed to have survived.

The New Zealand collection also included a trailer for Ford's lost 1929 feature "Strong Boy", starring Victor McLaglen.

Also in the collection are "Maytime", a 1923 feature with silent star Clara Bow and the first surviving film directed by and starring Mabel Normand.

The foundation said it was estimated that copies remained of less than 20 percent of all US films from the first four decades of the movie industry.

Meacham said places distant from the US such as New Zealand and Australia were a good source of otherwise lost silent movies.

"New Zealand, Australia and other places that are further afield from Hollywood were really the end of the line for a lot of films in the early days of distribution," he said.

"By the end of the road, it wasn't really financially worthwhile for the film producing companies to pay to have them sent back."

Eredeti cikk

A SilentEra.com ertesulesei szerint a kovetkezo filmek vannak a pakkban (tobbek kozott):

The Active Life of Dolly of the Dailies — Episode 5, “The Chinese Fan” (Edison, 1914). In this episode of the famous serial, ace woman reporter Dolly Desmond, played by Mary Fuller, rescues the editor’s daughter from kidnappers and gets the scoop. In the early 1910s, on-going serial narratives starring intrepid heroines lured female moviegoers back to the theater week after week.

The Better Man (Vitagraph, 1912), a western in which a Mexican-American outlaw proves himself the better man. This film will be preserved through funds raised in February 2010 by the “For the Love of Film” blogathon.

The Big Show (Miller Brothers Productions, 1926), the only surviving fiction film made by the famous Oklahoma-based Wild West Show managed by the Miller Brothers. The film showcases performances by many of the troupe’s performers as well as its owner, Joseph Miller.

Billy and His Pal (Méliès, 1911), a western filmed in San Antonio, Texas, and the earliest surviving film featuring Francis Ford (center). The actor-director introduced the movie business to his younger brother, John, who soon blossomed as director.
Birth of a Hat (Stetson Company, 1920), an industrial short illustrating how Stetson makes its hats.
The Diver (Kalem, 1916), a documentary showing how to set underwater explosives.

Fordson Tractors (Ford Motor Co., 1918), an industrial film promoting the all-purpose tractor introduced by Henry Ford & Son in 1917.

The Girl Stage Driver (Éclair-Universal, 1914), an early western filmed in Tucson, Arizona. American-made westerns were in demand by movie audiences around the globe and helped establish the United States as the major film-exporting nation by the late 1910s.

Idle Wives (Universal, 1916), the first reel of a Lois Weber feature in which a film inspires three sets of moviegoers to remake their lives. Another reel from this now-incomplete feature survives at the Library of Congress, which will receive the repatriated material.

International News Reel (ca. 1926), a newsreel including five stories from the United States and abroad. By the late 1910s, newsreels became a regular part of the movie program. Because the footage was usually cut up and reused, very few newsreels from the silent era survive in complete form.

Kick Me Again (Universal/Bluebird, 1925), a short comedy with Hungarian silent star Charles Puffy. As America became the center of world film production in the 1920s, European actors, such as Puffy, came to Hollywood to build their careers.

Little Brother (Thanhouser, 1913), one of two one-reelers from New York’s Thanhouser Film Corporation repatriated through the project.

Lyman Howe’s Ride on a Runaway Train (Lyman H. Howe Films, 1921), a thrill-packed short entertainment that was accompanied by sound discs, copies of which survive at the Library of Congress.

Mary of the Movies (Columbia, 1923), a Hollywood comedy about a young woman seeking stardom in the movies. This first surviving film from Columbia Pictures exists in an incomplete copy.

Maytime (B.P. Schulberg Productions, 1923), a feature with Clara Bow in an early role. Nitrate deterioration has reached the point where ‘blooms’ are starting to eat away at the emulsion. Unless the film is copied immediately, the images in these frames will be completely lost.

Midnight Madness (DeMille Pictures, 1928), a comedy starring Clive Brook as a millionaire who decides to teach his golddigging fiancè a lesson.

Run ’em Ragged (Rolin, 1920), a short featuring slapstick comedian Snub Pollard.

The Sergeant (Selig Polyscope, 1910), a western filmed in Yosemite when the park was managed by the U.S. Army. This film will be preserved through funds raised in February 2010 by the “For the Love of Film” blogathon.

Trailer for Strong Boy (Fox, 1929), a ‘lost’ feature directed by John Ford and starring Victor McLaglen as a courageous baggage handler who thwarts a holdup. No other moving images from this film survive.
Upstream (Fox, 1927), feature directed by John Ford found at the New Zealand Film Archive. Only 15 percent of the silent era films by the celebrated director are known to survive. This tale of backstage romance stars Nancy Nash and Earle Foxe.
Why Husbands Flirt (Christie, 1918), one of the nine short comedies that will be preserved through this project. Like westerns, early American comedies were popular around the world.

The Woman Hater (Power Picture Plays, 1910), a one-reel comedy starring serial queen Pearl White.

Won in a Closet (Keystone, 1914), the first surviving movie directed by and starring Mabel Normand.

Bits of Life (1921)

2010-06-16T16:34:00.006+01:00

Nos, először is ez egy elveszett film. Nem ismeretes, hogy fennmaradt volna egyetlen kópia is. Kár, mert ebben a filmben együtt játszik két nagy kedvencem is: Lon Chaney és Anna May Wong, a gyönyörű kínai színésznő. Mindketten nagy szerepet játszottak abban, hogy a kínai embereket elfogadtassák az emberekkel a mozivásznon is. Nem kérem, nem mindig volt a mozi olyannyira polkorrekt, mint manapság. Chaney a Shadows c. filmjében alakított Yen Sin-el hozta közelebb az ázsiai emberek mindennapjait és hátrányos megkülönböztetésből adódó gondjait. Anna May Wong pedig egész életében keményen dolgozott a fehér ember elismeréséért és végül ő lett az első elismert ázsiai származású színésznő Amerikában. Később Marlene Dietrich oldalán is játszott a Shanghai Express-ben (1932) Nem semmi ez egy olyan korban és országban, ahol a rasszizmus még a filmekben is jelen volt (még az ázsiaiakat is fehér színészek alakították, lásd pl. az említett Lon Chaney filmben)

Anna May tizenévesen kapta első (még nem jegyzett) szerepét Marshall Neilan rendező filmjében (Dinty, 1920), aztán pedig a Bits of Life "Hop" című epizódjában (a film ugyanis négy történetből áll) majd 1922-ben érte el első nagy sikerét a "The Toll of the Sea" című filmben. Én most csak a Bits of Life-al foglalkozok, bár igen nehéz feladat úgy írni valamiről, hogy nem láttam ... viszont pont az a blog legfontosabb feladata, hogy minden létező információ morzsát összeszedjek néma kedvenceimről.

Maga a Bits of Life négy sztoriból áll, ezek pedig: Episode 1: The Bad Samritan (rendezte: Thomas McMorrow), Episode 2: The Man who heard everything (rendezte: Walter Trumbull), Episode 3: Hop (rendezte: Hugh Wiley), Episode 4: The Intrigue (rendezte: Marshall Neilan). Információim szerint ez volt az első több történetből álló (antológia) film, ezért is jelentős. A felvételek a Hollywood Center Studios-ban készültek (1040 N. Las Palmas Avenue, Hollywood, CA. / (323) 469-5000), ahol számos más híres film egyes jeleneteit is forgatták (pl. Hell's Angels (1930), Thief of Baghdad (1940), When Harry Met Sally (1989), The Exorcist III (1990), The Addams Family (1991) vagy éppen az X-Men (2000), hogy későbbieket is említsek)

A főbb szerepekben:

Wesley Barry ... Tom Levitt, a boy
Rockliffe Fellowes ... Tom Levitt
Lon Chaney ... Chin Chow
Noah Beery ... Hindoo
Anna May Wong ... Toy Sing, Chin Chow's Wife
John Bowers ... Dentist's Patient

(és még Teddy Sampson, Dorothy Mackaill, Edythe Chapman, Frederick Burton, James Bradbury Jr., Tammany Young, Harriet Hammond, James Neill, Scott Welsh)

A négy rövid történet első darabja a "The Bad Samaritan" a Popular Magazine sztoriján alapult, melyben a kínai származásu apa és fehér anya házasságából származó fiút rabszolgának adja el az apja. A fiúból bűnöző lesz, ügyes, de kegyetlen tolvaj. Az első alkalommal, amikor segíteni akar egy bajba jutott nőn, börtönbe kerül. A fiatal fiút Wesley Barry alakítja, míg a felnőtt bűnözőt Lon Chaney.
A második történet címe: "The Man Who Heard Everything" és egy Smart Set. c. magazinból lett átemelve. A süket fodrász 50 dollárt spórol meg, hogy magának hallókészüléket vásároljon. Amikor a készülék megérkezik, titkon kipróbálja és otromba vicceket hall üzletében. Hazatérve hallja, amint felesége és testvére éppen kibeszélik őt és megtudja, hogy felesége igazából csak a vagyonára hajt. A megrázkódtatások sokkolják a fodrászt és megoldásként összezúzza a készüléket.
A "Hop" című epizódban (néhol Chinese Story-ként említik) ismét Lon Chaney-t láthatjuk, aki gyermekként megszökik otthonról, mert apja folytonos imádkozásra kényszeríti gyermekeit. Sing Fat amikor felnő egy ópiumot előállító üzem tulajdonosa lesz és beleszeret egy kínai lányba, akitől lánygyermeket szül neki. Ezzel feldühíti az apát, aki fiúgyermeket szeretett volna. Az anya egy feszületet szegeltet a falra és a keresztény istenhez imádkozik. A feszület azonban Sing Fat vérét kezdi el folyatni , aki a fal túloldalán alszik.
Az utolsó rész címe "The Intrigue". Egy férfi álma arról, hogy egy hercegnővel és annak kíséretével találkozik, miközben golfozik. Miközben követi őt álmában ázsiai őrök támadnak rá. és mikor felébred egy fogorvosi székben találja magát, fogát pedig kihúzták.

Egy kép a filmből: Lon Chaney és Anna May Wong

Bemutatom a Lugosi Wines-t!

2010-06-15T21:46:00.002+01:00

Bela Lugosi created his unique characterization of Count Dracula on the Broadway stage in 1927 and brought it to the screen in 1931. One of the first members of the Screen Actors Guild, he was a true American film pioneer. Although Count Dracula never “drank” wine, Bela Lugosi, the man, had impeccable taste in wines. With the creation of the Bela Lugosi brand wines, the Lugosi family pays tribute to their patriarch, a man of distinction, while acknowledging the icon that will forever be - Dracula.

Continuing the family’s enthusiasm for wine inspired by Bela Lugosi, Lugosi Wines will seek varietals sourced from superior wine-growing regions. Winemakers will create exceptional wines from distinct appellations to assemble a portfolio of the Bela Lugosi brand wines that will celebrate the best varietals from around the world. With each new release added to Lugosi Wines’ offerings, the Bela Lugosi collection will exemplify the distinct qualities of Bela Lugosi, the man, in a unique compilation of outstanding wines.

Lugosi Wines is proud to announce the release of the first vintage of the signature series wines. The Domingo Hermanos Winery in Argentina produced this vintage exclusively for Lugosi Wines. The vineyards are located in Salta, Argentina, and at 7200 feet altitude, are one of the highest in the world. The label artwork is by Argentinean citizen, Bruno Fernandez. Only 1200 hand numbered bottles were produced.

How Bela Lugosi Saved "Thriller" & Changed History

2010-06-15T21:35:00.002+01:00

Egy erdekes kis anekdota:

HOW BELA LUGOSI SAVED “THRILLER” AND CHANGED ROCK HISTORY

By Stan Sinberg

As has been noted repeatedly since Michael Jackson’s untimely death, the “Thriller” video changed music history. The video effectively “integrated” MTV, and it revolutionized the way music videos were conceived, produced, and budgeted. And it all wouldn’t have happened if not, in an odd way, for Bela Lugosi.

At the time, John Branca was Jackson’s entertainment lawyer. Branca represented many rock acts, including The Beach Boys and Fleetwood Mac, but landing Jackson was certainly a coup. At that time, in 1983, rock music videos were in their infancy, had an average budget of $50k, and MTV was being criticized for ignoring black artists.

In that atmosphere, Jackson told Branca he wanted to budget a million dollars for his next video, “Thriller.” When the entertainment lawyer objected, Jackson snapped, “Make it happen.”

Branca came up with the idea to persuade Showtime to pony up $1.2 million for a “Making of ‘Thriller’” video – the first “making of” video documentary of its kind.

After “Thriller” was completed, but before its release, Jackson, a Jehovah's Witness, told church elders that in the video he turns into a werewolf. The elders scolded him for promoting demonology. Jackson then ordered Branca to destroy the video.

“That was insane,” said Branca, who had the master copy. “I couldn’t destroy it.”

Desperate, Branca recalled that the King of Pop was a huge fan of actor Bela Lugosi, who'd played “Dracula.” So on a bluff, he phoned Jackson. “You know, Bela Lugosi was a very religious man,” he began, although in truth Branca had no idea whether or not this was true. . “And Bela has a disclaimer on his movies that his films don’t endorse vampirism.” This was a complete falsehood.

Branca convinced Jackson to place a similar disclaimer on the beginning of ‘Thriller” (“"Due to my strong personal convictions, I wish to stress that this film in no way...") - and music video history was changed. In the five days following the release of the video, the album “Thriller,” which had already been out for months, sold a million copies, and was on its way to the stratosphere.

ITT az eredeti

On-Line Film: Thor and the Amazon Women (1963)

2010-06-14T23:27:00.002+01:00

A film többi részét megtaláljátok a kapcsolódó viedóknál!

Black Sabbath (aka I tre volti della paura) (1963)

2010-06-14T19:13:00.015+01:00

Először is nézzük mit tudunk a film elkészültéről:

Rendezők: Mario Bava és Salvatore Billitteri

Bava-t gondolom nem kell senkinek bemutatni, az olasz rendező leginkább a Black Sunday, a "The Whip And The Body", a "Blood and Black Lace", a "Kill, Baby, Kill", vagy esetleg a "Danger: Diabolik" című filmjeiről ismert. Billiteriről azonban nem ugrott be semmi. Aztán amikor utána néztem kiderült, hogy nincs is más rendezése, viszont több Godzilla film munkálataiban is részt vett. Ha jól látom, akkor leginkább zenei vagy szinkron utómunkálatoknál. Producerként többször is dolgozott Mario Bava-val (production manager-ként az általam favorizált 1972-es Blacula-nál is dolgozott)

A film 1964 december 6-án jött ki.

És akkor lássuk a filmet.

A kissé megöregedett Boris Karloff vezeti fel a három rémtörténetet egy fellengzős_terjengős, de azért mégis tetszetős monológgal vámpírokról, meg hogy ők is normális embereknek tűnhetnek, akár moziba is járhatnak, sőt akár mellénk is űlhetnek. Az első kellemes képi élményemet máris átélhetem, ahogy a kamera (teljesen Bava-san) ráközelít Karloff fejére és amint az vérivásról beszél a megvilágítás vérvörösre színezi arcát. Ennyi és már jön is az első sztori.

A telefonhívás:

Rosy (Michèle Mercier), a párizsi lány éppencsak hazaérkezik, a telefonja máris csöngeni kezd és egy különös zaklatási sorozat veszi kezdetét, amely a későbbiekben halálos fenyegetéssé válik. Időközben ő szépen levetkőzik (na nem teljesen, csak egy kis lenge neglizsére), a kamera is végígsimítja tekintetével a biztonság kedvéért. A telefonáló csak nem hagy fel a zaklatással, már az is kiderül, hogy Rosy minden mozdulatáról tud. A lány mostanra már rendesen parázik, még a kulcslyukat is betömi, sír. Jön az újabb Bava trükk! A kamera lassan elsiklik a lányról és tovább úszik az reluxás ablakra, majd hírtelen ráközelít (hangeffekt is van persze). Úristen! Egy szempár figyeli a lányt... A film feszültsége nem hagy alább, mert az ismeretlen egy újságkivágást csúsztat be az ajtó alatt. Frank Reiner megszökött! Az is kiderül, hogy Reiner valami volt szerető, meg hogy a telefonáló vaójában ő. Rosy felhívja barátnőjét és megkéri, jöjjön át amilyen gyorsan csak tud. Talán leszbikus keverés is van a dologban, ahogy én kiveszem. Ekkor megint jön a sokk: kiderül, hogy a telefonáló igazából Rosy barátnője, Mary (Lidia Alfonsi), aki elváltoztatott hangon hívja a lányt! Hogy hogyan is lehet egy telefonjagylóra helyezett sállal női hangot férfire változtatni, azt hagyjuk :) A film feszültségében alábbhagy, hiába tudjuk, hogy Mary rosszat akar. Még nem tudjuk az okokat, de a két lány csínos. Aztán mégis megtudjuk Mary indítékait egy levélből, amit az elkábított Rosy-nak ír (ugyanis nyugtatót kevert az italába) Mondom, hogy valami gyöngéd szál is lehetett a két nő között, mert Mary féltékenységre hivatkozik a levélben. De mi ez? Az ajtó lassan nyílik és egy árny lép a szobába! Ó, ne! Egy harisnyával megfojtja Mary-t!!! A gyilkos fejét is látjuk, férfi, de nem tudom ki az, tutira Frank. Miután végzett a lánnyal figyelme Rosy felé fordul, aki éppen végignézte barátnője meggyilkolását. Frank támad, Rosy pedig ledöfi egy késsel, amit még barátnője helyezett a párnája alá. Ennyi...
Hmmm, nem tudom, nem volt nagy szám, de nem is volt rossz. A sztori nem egy nagy szám és katarzis sem volt, viszont végig volt hangulata és erről bizony a rendező és stábja tehet.

A Wurdulak:

Egy lovas trappol napnyugtakor és egy folyónál talál egy hátbaszúrt és lefejezett holttestet., plussz egy lovat Hmm, jó kis bekezdés! A testet felnyalábolja a lovára és addig mendegél, míg egy házat talál. Szép ködös éjszaka van, a szél is baljósan fütyül. Hősünk lovakat kiköti és bemegy a házba, ahol kis nézelődés után megtalálja a falon a holttest hátából kivett tőr helyét (jó retkes az a fal) Megismerkedünk a ház lakóival és megtudjuk, hogy hősünk Vladimire d'Urfe gróf (Mark Damon), a holttest pedig egy wurdulak-é, akit meg kell ölni, szíven kell szúrni. A gróf máris nyílvánvalóan érdeklődik a szemrevaló Sdenka iránt (Susy Andersen) Szóval már tudjuk, hogy a kés a családfőé, aki eltűnt, miután leszúrt egy wurdulak-ot és ha két órán belül nem tér vissza, akkor már jobb ha nem is jön, úgy mindenkinek jobb lesz. Aham, szóval ő is szörnnyé válhat! A wurdulak-ok ugyanis vérivó holtak, akik leginkább a szeretteik vérére áhítoznak. Éjfélkor érkezik Gorca (Boris Karloff), a belépője szépre sikeredett, volt megint Bava-féle hírtelen ráközelítés plusz hangeffekt kombó :) Karloff nagyon jól nyomja a megszállott, igencsak megváltozott családfőt. Fura szokásai lettek az öregnek, még a kedvenc kutyáit is lelöveti, mert idegesíti a nyüszítésük. És hogy bizonyítsa, hogy ő ölte meg a wurdulak-ot, zsákjából előkapja annak levágott fejét! Nagyon terror jelenet! A fejet kiakasszák a ház elé egy fára, hogy mindenki láthassa. Karloff pedig elkezdi kísértetjárását a házban, míg a többiek aludni próbálnak. A grófot az ablakon át bámulja. Ez megintcsak egy jó jelenet (kamera természetesen rázoomol) Aztán unokáját ágyából elragadva távozik, de a gróf kifigyeli és felkelti a többieket. Kiderül, hogy már Pietro is halott, a nyakán friss harapásnyomok és vér. Ahogy Karloff lovagol az éjszakában a gyerekkel az ölében és azzal az őrült tekintettel az arcán ismét egy jó jelenete az epizódnak. Egyébként is szép helyszíneket láthatunk, jól eltalált megvilágításokkal. Vissza a filmhez... A gróf fűzi Sdenkát, hogy szökjön meg vele, szerelem van kibontakozóban. Nem sokáig, ugyanis előkerül a gyerek ... holtan!? Nem, nem holtan, de megharapták. Le kéne szúrni, de végül nem válalják be, ennek eredményeként a gyermek el is kezd kísérteni. Az anyját hívja, mert fázik. Ijesztő jelenetek sora, de tényleg hidegrázósok. Na, a gróf csak meglépett Sdenkával, valami romos, baljóslatú apátságban kötnek ki (szép helyszín) Úgy tűnik nem egyedül ők tudnak a helyről, mert hamarosan megjelenik Gorca és megfedi lányát, aki rémülten konstatálja, hogy odasereglett az egész rokonság, wurdulak formában. Rajtavesztett szegény, a jelenet viszont tetszett. A gróf átaludta ezen történéseket, úgyhogy amikor felébredt és nem találta Sdenkát, visszalovagol a házba. Ott van a lány! Azért látszik, hogy valami nincs rendben vele, kérleli a grófot, hogy csókolja meg.

Az vesztére meg is teszi :) Olasz nyelven nézem a filmet, magyar felírattal és nagyon szépen hangzott ez a jelenet. És ahogy a família befigyel az ablakon attól is a hideg rázott. Ezért szeretjük ezeket a régebbi filmeket. Szóval ez volt a második történet. Kísérteties vámpírsztori vagy vámpíros kísértetsztori. Nagyon tetszett, király volt és néha valahogy King Diamond Abigail albuma ugrott be...

A vízcsepp:

Egy szőke nővel indít az epizód, egyedül van, iszogat, zenét hallgat, majd telefonhívást kap, mennie kell. Ő Helen (Jacqueline Pierreux), akit egy nagy házba szólít költelessége, egy idősebb aszony fogadja, a helszín pedig pazar! Adott egy halott médium, egy halottlátó, aki elég keményen néz ki :))) Megtudjuk még azt is, hogy egy szeánsz alatt halt meg. Ezt szeressem, szeánsz! Helen kiszúrja a halott gyűrűjét és le is nyúlja, de ügyetlenül el is ejti. Ahogy letérdelve keresi az ágy alatt, a hulla keze lecsúszik és fejen üti. Ennél jelenetnél kicsit azért megugrottam :) Jön valami egy léggyel és megint ez az ijesztő, egyben nevettséges hulla. Helen lezárja a holttest szemeit, de amint tesz vesz és visszafordul, ijedve látja, hogy az ismét kinyitotta szemeit! Ijesztő az a bizarr hulla, de nagyon. Megint a légy, azon a úján a hullának, amin a gyűrű volt. Helen hazatér zsákmányával otthonába, ahol nézegeti, míg megint megjelenik a légy a gyűrűsúján. A vízcsepegés is elkezdődik (már a hullánál is volt valami) szóval Helen is elkezd parázni rendesen. Erre még rátesz a kint tomboló vihar, nincs áram és hangok hallatszanak az ajtó mögül és amikor Helen benyit az ágyában feküdve találja az öregasszony hulláját, ami Helen sikítozása közepette fel is űl. Elég ütős kis jelenet, de ez még csak a kezdet, mert innentől Helen mindenfele a holttestet látja és nekem a hideg futkos a hátamon. Aztán Helent sarokba szorítja ez a kísértet és a lány megfojtja önmagát. Mi?? De mivel van még egy jelenet én már látom is, hogy mi következik. Úgy is van, Helen teteméről is lenyúlják a gyűrűt (ezúttal a házmesterné) így az átok megy tovább. Én elégedtt vagyok ezzel a történettel is, nincs olyan jó, mint a Wurdulak, de sokkal jobb, mint a Telefonhívás.

A film lezárásaképp Karloff még elköszön a nézőktől és nem is akármilyen filmes megoldással! A Wurdulak egyik emlékezetes lovasjelenetét látjuk, de most Karloff egyszer csak a kamerába néz és a nézőhöz beszél. Elmondja a film levezetésének szánt misztikus szövegét, a kamera lassan eltávolodik és ott ahol a Vége felíratnak kellene megjelennie nem az történik. Hanem a kamera tovább távolodik és feltárul a stúdió, a statiszták és az, hogy Karloff egy műlovon űl. Briliáns! Nagyon tetszett! Egyébként erről a jelenetről azt olvastam, hogy Bava aggódott Boris Karloff légzési problémái miatt és nem akarta, hogy ventillátorokat használjanak a mozgás illúziójának keltéséhez. Karloff viszont odáig volt a jelenetért és válalta a ventillátorokat. A felvétel után azonban megbetegedett és amikor 1969-ben meghalt, a gyászoló Mario Bava azzal vádolta önmagát, hogy hozzájárult a színész halálához. Ő és Karloff egyébként elég jó kapcsolatban voltak. Boris Karloff, aki nem nagyon volt a dícséretek emberek (és ezt Christopher Lee vagy a néhai Vincent Price is alátámasztotta) egyszer azt mondta, hogy Bava-nak bármit megtenne.

A Conversation with Linnea Quigley

2010-06-13T22:38:00.000+01:00

The Scream Queen of the "B"s, Linnea Quigley's, special appearance at The Loft in Tucson, Arizona on June 13th, 2008 after a special screening of 1985's "Return of the Living Dead" during The Loft's Annual "12 Hour Scream-a-thon" and discusses her now-legendary life and career with both The Loft's program director, Jeff Yanc, and the audience. Note: This was edited down a bit for technical reasons.

Linnea Quigley Horror Workout

2010-06-13T22:36:00.001+01:00

Megvan ... de megmondom oszinten, nem sikerult vigigneznem :) Egyszeruen csak nem nekem valo.

Trailer: Fantastic Four (1994)

2010-06-13T22:30:00.000+01:00

Trailer: Starcrash (1979)

2010-06-13T22:26:00.000+01:00

Béla Lugosi (1882-1956)

2010-06-13T21:58:00.002+01:00

On-Line Film: The Unknown

2010-06-13T21:31:00.001+01:00

A többi részt megtaláljátok a kapcsolódó videóknál!

Méliès: Le Monstre (1903)

2010-06-13T21:03:00.002+01:00

An Egyptian prince has lost his beloved wife and he has sought a dervish who dwells at the base of the sphinx. The prince promises him a vast fortune if the dervish will only give him the opportunity of gazing once more upon the features of his wife. The dervish accepts the offer. He brings in from a neighboring tomb the receptacle containing the remains of the princess. He opens it and removes the skeleton, which he places upon the ground close beside him. Then, turning to the moon and raising his arms outstretched toward it, he invokes the moon to give back life to her who is no more. The skeleton begins to move about, becomes animated, and arises. The dervish puts it upon a bench and covers it with a white linen; a masque conceals its ghostly face. At a second invocation the skeleton begins again to move, arises, and performs a weird dance. In performing its contortions it partly disappears in the ground. While performing its feats it increases gradually in size, its neck assuming enormous proportions, much to the horror of the prince, who fails to see in this grotesque character the wife whom he has lost. The dance ceases. The dervish throws a veil over the hideous creature. Then appear the real princess as she was when her husband possessed her. The prince darts forward to take her into his arms to give her a last kiss, but the dervish stops him, wraps the young lady in the veil and throws her into the arms of the prince. When he removes the veil he finds only the skeleton of his former wife. The vision has disappeared, and the princess has returned to dust. The dervish withdraws, and the prince pursues him with his threats and curses.

Photos: Metropolis [updated]

2010-06-13T20:55:00.001+01:00

Brigitte Helm

Scene from the movie

Behind the Scenes

Ultima Futura Robotrix

Brigitte Helm in the movie

Link: Schlitzie a Findagrave.com-on!

2010-06-13T19:50:00.003+01:00

A fotón szereplő tollas kalap talán utalás a Freaks egyik jelenetére (amikor Phroso ígér Schlitzie-nek hosszú tollas kalapot ... a kalapban nem vagyok biztos:) )

Itt helyezhetünk el virtuális virágot a sírján: LINK

The Sideshow (1928)

2010-06-13T19:33:00.004+01:00

A filmet még nem láttam, csak ezt a pár múlt század eleji posztert találtam, ami felkeltette az érdeklődésemet. Érdekessége a filmnek, hogy egy rövid jelenet erejéig Schlitzie (Freaks) is feltűnik benne. Eddig nem is tudtam, hogy más filmben is szerepelt. No majd még utánanézek...

Még némi info:

"The Sideshow" is a silent film and was last screened, I believe, at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival in July 2005. It is not available on any modern format. Verification, then, that Schlitzie is indeed in this film must come from someone who's actually seen the film and is familiar with Schlitzie's face, size and mannerisms to be able to spot him.
The film was released 11 Dec 1928 and was believed to have been shot late that year. Quoting from a 1929 review of the film: "In fact the whole Al G. Barnes outfit was used [as a backdrop for the film] both in its winter quarters and on tour. Views of circus life, the means of transportation, living quarters, superstitions of performers and highlights of existence under canvas are shown.... Ralph Graves has blazed a new trail of characterizations as the ballyhoo artist.... The way he introduces the freaks and draws people into the show is worth seeing."

Synopsys:

Queenie Parker, the junior member of a family trapeze act, is forced to find work in a sideshow when her parents become too old to perform. Assisting a fakir in a basket trick, Queenie is resentful of her lowly status, and the sideshow freaks make her life miserable. A series of accidents befall the sideshow (a trapeze breaks; a pay wagon explodes), and P. W. Melrose, the midget who owns the sideshow, comes to suspect barker Ted Rogers of trying to sabotage the outfit. Queenie, however, discovers that the fakir is the culprit employed by a rival circus to put Melrose out of business. Melrose kills the fakir, and Rogers is cleared. Having fallen in love with Queenie, Melrose must nevertheless stand by--a sad, mute witness to her love for Rogers.

Michael W. Kaluta: Metropolis

2010-06-13T18:27:00.002+01:00

A kepeket ITT talaltam (tobb is van)
Meg tobb info ITT

Photos: Schlitzie

2010-06-13T18:05:00.001+01:00

Photos: Pip and Flip

2010-06-13T18:00:00.001+01:00

Pip and Flip in the movie: Freaks

Photos: Emil Jannings [updated]

2010-06-13T17:46:00.000+01:00

Emil Jannings cororized picture

Click on the thumbnails for bigger images!

Photos: Faust

2010-06-13T17:44:00.001+01:00

Gosta Ekman as Faust

Photos: Joan Crawford

2010-06-13T16:52:00.002+01:00

Joan Crawford at age 17.
Clipped from a 1962 Good Housekeeping magazine featuring an outtake of her "new" autobiography.

Rare image of Joan Crawford captured in the French Indian Wars in the 1927 silent, Winners of the Wilderness.

Actress Joan Crawford, possilby during her screen test for the movie "Gone with the Wind"
Date taken:1938 Photographer:Alfred Eisenstaedt

Edmund Goulding directs Joan Crawford in the MGM melodrama Sally, Irene and Mary (1925) at the beginning of their, respectively, directorial and acting careers.
Photo: Matthew Kennedy Collection.

Photos: Ingrid Pitt

2010-06-13T16:20:00.002+01:00

This is another blow up from the Vampire Lovers contact sheet. It seems that in the middle of the neck biting scene the Vampire's Victim lost it and started giggling!

Great Studio Photo of Ingrid which harks back to silent films Like Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

The details of this shot are lost. But we can see the warmth and family atmosphere Hammer Films fostered with cast and crew.

Ingrid apparently has a sense of humor!

Another great unpublished photo of Ingrid Pitt clowning around offset of Vampire Lovers. Those are really cool Specs she's wearing!

Another cast shot from Vampire Lovers

The House that Dripped Blood Poster

Interview: The Ubiquitous Dabbs Greer

2010-06-13T16:02:00.000+01:00

Photos: It Conquered the World

2010-06-13T15:58:00.000+01:00

Photos: Mark of the Vampire (1935)

2010-06-13T15:47:00.002+01:00

Carol Borland as Luna

Carol Borland and Bela Lugosi

Photos: Rondo Hatton

2010-06-13T15:36:00.000+01:00

Wikipedia link

Photos: Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965)

2010-06-13T14:54:00.004+01:00

A "Dr. Terror's House of Horrors" egy 1965-ös brit horror film az Amicus Productions terjesztésében. Rendezője a horror veterán: Freddie Francis, írta Milton Subotsky, főszereplői pedig Peter Cushing és Christopher Lee. A film egyébként ún. portmanteau- vagy omnibus film, tehát olyan film, ami több történetből áll es ezeket a történeteket valamilyen közös tényező köti össze.

Története:

Dr. Terror's House of Horrors öt történetből áll. egy táskát film, öt történetet egy kerettörténet. Öt férfi utazik vonatton, akikhez egy hatodik személy, egy titokzatos férfi csatlakozik. Ő Dr. Schreck (Peter Cushing, aki álszakállt és hamis szemöldök visel) A "Schreck" németül rémületet jelent, innen a film címe. Ugyanakkor célzás Max Schreck német színészre, aki a főszerepet játszotta az 1922-es klasszikusban, a Nosferatu-ban. Az utazás során, az orvos egy csomag Tarot kártyát vesz elő és és egyenként tárja fel az utasok sorsát. Ez a cselekmény biztosítja a film kerettörténetét.

Az első történet egy építészről szól, Jim Dawson-ról (Neil McCallum). A második Bill Rogers-é (Alan Freeman). A harmadik sztori humorosabb, Biff Bailey (Roy Castle), jazz muzsikus története. A következő a mese Franklyn Marsh-ról (Christopher Lee) szól. Végül pedig Dr. Bob Carroll (Donald Sutherland) történetével ismerkedhetünk meg.

Az egész kerettörténet egy jó kis csavarral zárul, de azt nem árulnám el :)

Egyebek:

A Dr. Terror's House of Horror forgatása a Shepperton Studios-ban kezdődött 1964 május 25-én és július 3-án fejeződött be. A filmfelvételhez a Techniscope nevű filmfeldolgozási eljárást használták. Költségvetése 105.000 dollárra rúgott. A filmet 1965 február 5-én mutatták be.

IMDb link

Photos: The Thing from Another World (1951)

2010-06-13T14:44:00.002+01:00

James Arness

A film IMDb oldala

Photos: The Unholy Three (1925) [updated]

2010-06-13T14:33:00.002+01:00

Harry Earles, Victor McLaglen and Lon Chaney

Posters: Shadows (1922)

2010-06-13T14:15:00.003+01:00

IMDb link

Trailers: Captain America (1970)

2010-05-17T22:45:00.000+01:00

Book: Split Image (The Life of Anthony Perkins)

2010-05-17T20:58:00.000+01:00

Charles Winecoff’s biography on the late, great slasher icon Anthony Perkins reveals the actor was much more complex, more troubled, and sometimes more crazed than any of the characters he portrayed. Now, out of respect to Perkins, I’m not going into all of the lurid details of his private life, but I will mention his drug use when it is relevant to his genre films.

When Anthony Perkins first arrived in Hollywood he dated Vampira and was groomed by the studios to be the next James Dean after Dean’s death. That didn’t work so studio bosses tried to make Perkins into an Elvis clone, a dual threat teen idol singer and actor. After Psycho made Perkins into a screen icon, the actor fled to Europe to escape Hollywood type casting. Despite working with legends like Orson Wells and Ingrid Bergman, Perkins could never duplicate his Psycho success and his film career began to flounder. The time in Europe stripped away Perkins’ boy-next-door charm which left his acting stiff and robotic.

Psycho II was Perkins big return to glory but he almost didn’t get the role because he demanded one million dollars to reprise Norman Bates. Universal was ready to give the part to Christopher Walken (!) so Perkins backed away from his high price tag. Another interesting bit of casting news revealed in Split Image is producers wanted Jamie Lee Curtis (double !) to play Marion Crane’s niece but Perkins and director Richard Franklin fought for Meg Tilly. During filming, however, Perkins would insult Tilly and tried to have her fired.

The sad truth about Perkins’ performances in Psycho II, Crimes of Passion, Psycho III, and Edge of Sanity is they were inspired by the drugs he ingested before takes. All of those nervous ticks and facials twitches were caused by either speed or amyl nitrate. Other times Perkins smoked pot and took LSD. While the drugs may have given his performance a dangerous edge, they also retarded his decision making abilities which severely damaged his directing skills. Psycho III and Lucky Stiff both suffered because Perkins was getting bombed out of his skull before he stepped on set to shoot a scene.

After he was diagnosed with AIDS in the early 1990’s, Perkins agreed to any part he could get his hands on in an attempt to leave his family financially stable after his death. For The Destroyer (a.k.a. The Shadow of Death) Perkins replaced Roddy McDowall on short notice, took an immediate dislike to costar Clayton Rohner, and ranted about Rohner’s poor acting performance to anyone that would listen. A Demon in My View and In the Deep Woods were the last films Perkins made before the illness left him bedridden and unable to breath. He had agreed to several other projects (a remake of the Mummy being the highest profile job) but died shortly after agreeing to appear in them.

Charles Winecoff’s Split Image: The Life of Anthony Perkins is an amazing read. This sometimes sad, sometimes funny, but often shocking account of Anthony Perkins life reveals more than you ever wanted to know about the first slasher star. Slasher fans will enjoy the stories concerning the making of Psycho and Perkins other slasher films. Interested fans shouldn’t have too much trouble tracking down a copy as a tenth anniversary expanded edition was published back in 2006. The new chapters deal with the death of Berry Perkins, Anthony’s widow, who was murdered by terrorist on 911.

El Tango de Chaney - Tribute to Lon Chaney

2010-05-13T21:25:00.000+01:00

Néhány művészeti terv a készülő Creature from the Black Lagoon remake-ből

2010-05-12T08:27:00.001+01:00

A képeket ITT találtam

Photos: The Phantom of the Opera (1925) [updated]

2010-05-10T17:46:00.001+01:00

On-Line Film: Ace of Hearts (1921)

2010-04-13T21:28:00.001+01:00

A többi részt már megtaláljátok a kapcsolódó vidók között ;)

Photos: Marlene Dietrich

2010-04-13T17:38:00.002+01:00

Marlene Dietrcih in Blue Angel

Ben Chapman - The Original Creature from the Black Lagoon

2010-04-12T08:39:00.001+01:00

An interview with Ben Chapman, one of the last living actors to portray The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954).

Here he speaks about making the film, which actor was originally up for the Creature, and surviving -40 degree temperatures during the Korean War.

Sadly, Ben Chapman passed away February 21, 2008. Nearly six years after this interview.

Produced and directed by Stuart Basinger.

James Whale, horror's invisible man

2010-03-19T11:50:00.004Z

By Stephen Whitty/The Star-Ledger

November 30, 2009, 11:24AM

Often film lovers talk about the time, as a child, that the curtain was finally pushed aside and they realized that movies didn’t just exist, but had to be directed into being – that there was a wizard behind everything they saw, pulling all the levers.

And for me, that moment came sometime around third grade, courtesy of Ch.5’s old “Creature Features” movie program, and a broadcast of “The Invisible Man.”

I already loved monster movies, and consumed them precisely the way I consumed Fresca and Clark bars – constantly and indiscriminately. But watching the Claude Rains picture I began to notice things in it that I’d noticed, and liked, in other old monster movies.

Like Dwight Frye – the assistant in “Frankenstein” – in a small part as a reporter. Or Una O’Connor (an acquaintance of my Irish grandfather’s, I was thrilled to find out later) as the same sort of screeching fishwife she played in “The Bride of Frankenstein.” Or just a general kind of oddball comedy, often coming at the strangest moments.

So I looked the movie up (in Leonard Maltin’s original “TV Movies,” I think, about the only film-reference book I knew of back then) and found out that all three films – plus “The Old Dark House,” which my monster magazines had sadly informed was “lost” – had been directed by the same man, James Whale.

And before I could even spell “auteur theory,” I was a firm believer in it. This man’s movies were different.

Whale was the first director a lot of kids knew about, as it seemed he’d directed most of our favorite scary movies. But he deserves better than being half-forgotten now, along with our old Famous Monsters magazines and Aurora models. He deserves to be rediscovered (as his own “The Old Dark House” eventually was, moldering in a studio vault.)

James Whale, on the set with the stand-in for an old friend

Full of dark wit and immense style – as well as a sly gay sensibility – Whale had a career whose intensity was matched only by its brevity. He worked in a variety of genres, pushed the boundaries of cinema (and censorship) and gave us some immortal films -- all within a dozen years. A full reappreciation is in order.

And, actually, a full reappreciation is under way, at the Film Forum, which from Friday through December 10th is running 15 of Whale’s films – including not only the horror classics, but the original version of “Waterloo Bridge,” the definitive “Showboat” and “The Man in the Iron Mask.”

Born in 1889, the elegant but hardly upper-class Englishman enlisted in the British Army at the outbreak of World War I – and ended up spending much of it in a German POW camp. After the Armistice, Whale returned to England, where he turned a lifelong love of art into a career in theatrical stage design.

Eventually Whale turned to directing, having a hit in 1928 with the in-the-trenches drama “Journey’s End.” Hollywood offers followed, and Whale answered, doing some work on “Hell’s Angels,” and then adapting “Journey’s End” into a film. It was an early talkie smash, and Whale followed it with another play adaptation, “Waterloo Bridge.”

Whale’s obvious talent for coaxing performances from actors and dealing with difficult material (the span in the title of “Waterloo Bridge” is where the heroine sells herself to men) won him most-favored-status at Universal and his pick of any property. He chose “Frankenstein” – a movie the studio had previously tried to get going with director Robert Florey and Bela Lugosi, and abandoned.

Whale’s approach was fresh, and diverse. For Dr. Frankenstein, he chose Colin Clive, an old friend who had done “Journey’s End” with him, on stage and on film; for the monster, he picked Boris Karloff, a long-time minor player who, Whale decided, simply had an interesting face.

Yet there was already, clearly, a Whale style. Despite the bulky primitiveness of early `30s sound cameras, Whale kept his in motion; he had an artist’s eye for what should be in – or just out of – the frame. (Notice the way he introduces the monster by having him enter the room backwards.) There were odd flashes of humor (like Fritz, the deformed assistant, pausing to pull up a sock before answering the door) and genuine horror (not the monster tossing the little girl into the pond – that would be the easy choice -- but the creature’s anguish after he realizes what he’s done).

A bandaged Claude Rains is consoled by Gloria Stuart -- later, a "Titanic" survivor -- in "The Invisible Man"

And there was a natural empathy for the struggles of the different, the outcast, the sensitive, the high-strung – not a surprising point of view for a man who, even when homosexuality still meant a jail sentence, lived openly with his lover, producer David Lewis.

There was more humor to come in “The Old Dark House,” a frightened-travelers Gothic that not only collected a fine cast (Karloff, plus Charles Laughton, plus Melvyn Douglas, plus Raymond Massey) but introduced American filmgoers to Ernest Thesiger, one of the grand eccentrics of English theater. (Another flamboyant artiste, he too had enlisted in World War I – purely with the hopes of being assigned to a Scottish regiment where he could wear a fetching kilt. Alas, he spent the war in trousers.)

But it was with “The Invisible Man” and “The Bride of Frankenstein” that Whale’s artistry reached full flower. The screenplay to the first, by “Journey’s End” playwright R. C. Sherriff, was full of rich dialogue; no one could have delivered it better than the young, velvet-voiced Rains (unseen until the final shot). And the special effects (supervised by John P. Fulton) are remarkable even today, as in a sequence worthy of a surrealist’s nightmare, Rains unwraps his bandages to reveal – nothing at all.

“Bride of Frankenstein,” like “The Old Dark House,” started out as a bit of a lark, with Whale bringing back Thesiger (and some of his lines from that original film) and casting Elsa Lanchester as both the monster’s “mother,” Mary Shelley, and his mate. But the filmmaking was utterly serious.

Franz Waxman’s operatic score daringly used different motifs for the characters; Whale’s camera was never more mobile, nor the angles more crazily askew. And the religious feeling that had been censored out of the original “Frankenstein” (where Clive uttered the banned line, “In the name of God, now I know what it feels like to be God!”) ran riot here, with one sequence even explicitly comparing the monster to Christ.

Where could Whale go after this?

Not on with more horror movies, wisely; he had done everything he wanted to. And so he moved on to other things. He did a classic musical, with the 1936 “Showboat,” starring Paul Robeson; he did period comedy, with “The Great Garrick.”

But the Laemmle family that had originally owned Universal, and hired Whale, had been forced out in the mid `30s by faceless businessmen; when the Hitler regime insisted that the studio cut the anti-Nazi sentiments of Whale’s 1937 drama, “The Road Back” or face a German boycott of their entire slate, the new bosses quickly capitulated.

Disgusted, Whale left Universal for a while. He returned, briefly, to direct the rather lifeless swashbuckler, “The Man in the Iron Mask,” then quit for good in 1940 after finishing “Green Hell,” a subversively gay-tinged jungle adventure (famous later, mostly, for contributing its elaborate sets to the studio’s “Mummy” movies).

When no other major projects turned up, and several theatrical ventures failed to pan out, the director left show business entirely. Retiring to the pleasant house he still shared with Lewis, he painted, toted up the income from his smart real-estate investments – and avoided anyone who wanted to only talk about those old horror pictures.

He was soon, frankly, forgotten – until he was found dead, drowned in his swimming pool, in 1957. Whale’s death, ironically, came just as his films were being revived on television, and led to tabloid speculation about the monster maven’s “mysterious” end. (Years later, Christopher Bram’s excellent novel “Father of Frankenstein” – adapted into “Gods and Monsters,” also showing at the Forum -- would fictionalize these last months.)

But there was, Lewis revealed shortly before his own death, no mystery at all. Whale was 67, depressed and debilitated by several strokes; tortured by insomnia and mood swings, he’d become convinced he was slowly losing his mind. The drowning was planned; he had even left a suicide note (which Lewis, preserving his lover’s privacy to the end, concealed for years). “Please forgive me, all that I love, and may God forgive me, too,” Whale had written, but “the future is just old age and illness and pain.”

It was a cheap irony – the kind a fine director like Whale himself would have immediately cut – but the man who gave us nightmares was no longer able to face his own. And so, the charming Whale – forever “Jimmy” to his friends, even in his old age – took his own life.
Yet he gave life to so many other characters – Fritz and Dr. Pretorious, the Monster and the Hermit, the Bride and the Invisible Man. He gave joy to so many others – with comedies, with musicals, with adventures, with things that go bump in the night. And to generations of budding film buffs, he even gave something else – proof positive that Dr. Frankenstein isn’t the only one who stitches things together out of separate parts and brings them to life. Movie directors do, too.

Annyit azért hozzátennék, hogy Gloria Stuart nem volt Titanic katasztrófa túlélő, "csak" élt már akkor is. Az idén júliusban éppen 100 éves lesz és ha még két évet él, akkor megéli a Titanic elsűlyedésének 100. évfordulóját (állítólag a James Cameron mozi (pfújj) is kijön 3D-ben akkorra) Jó egészséget neki!

Eredeti cikk

Curtis Harrington on James Whale

2010-03-17T17:58:00.004Z

Like Castle Frankenstein, Curtis Harrington’s home is perched high above Hollywood Boulevard. The flotsam and jetsam are remote and yet precariously nearby. Once through the threshold, we are in a Hollywood that might have existed in that Golden Age referred to in the memoirs of a silent film star or even Norma Desmond herself.

The home is glamorous and nostalgic at the same time. Harrington’s passion for Art Nouveau is more than well-represented. There are clues that this is the domain of a horror film director – framed lithographs of bats, a portrait of Edgar Allan Poe, a library that looks as if it were suited to house the Necronomicon and other magickal works of yore.

It is also the home of Marlene Dietrich’s slippers, a nod to his mentor, Josef Von Sternberg, who Curtis openly admires as an influence. But it is James Whale who truly resides in this ghostly ambience. Something I never realized until I was asked to do an interview regarding Harrington’s friendship with the reclusive James Whale was how similar they were in taste, temperament, and style in addition to being typed in a particular genre.

James Whale and Curtis Harrington were fortunate to have the horror genre to channel their unique self-expression. The finest of James Whale’s work is unquestionably THE OLD DARK HOUSE and BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, while Harrington crystallized his talents with his first feature, NIGHT TIDE and then matured with what is arguably his best feature, WHAT’S THE MATTER WITH HELEN?

Like Whale, Harringlon’s feature work has withstood the test of time. When a filmmaker is as intensely personal as a Welles or a Von Sternberg, the dangers of working in Hollywood are obvious. For unlike Whale’s time, the Hollywood of 1996 is littered with bloated budgets, rehashed sequels, and the worship of youthful directors with enormous clout.

Thirty-six years ago, in 1960, Parker Tyler said of Harrington that “his main problem was how to avoid becoming another Orson Welles.” While this may be somewhat exaggerated, Harrington has remained a maverick filmmaker who should have been making features while others watched and learned. Yet, there still is time and hopefully Harrington will continue to make his stylish, personal films. So I would assert that Harrington is not only Hollywood’s true stylist, but the last pupil of the art of James Whale.

Films In Review: When did you meet James Whale?

Curtis Harrington: I would say it was about 1948, because I had already made one or two of my short films.

FIR: Had he ever seen any of your experimental shorts?

CH: I must have shown them to him at one time, because I remember we were talking about my films, and the making of experimental films, on the occasion that I brought Christopher Isherwood to Whale’s house to meet him.

FIR: How would you describe James Whale?

CH: Well… he was a great cigar smoker. I remember that about him. And he loved to play bridge. In those years, with no more career, he spent a considerable amount of time playing bridge. And he also loved to paint.
At the time I met him he was living with his longtime companion, David Lewis – they were sharing the house. David had been associate producer for CAMILLE and KING’S ROW, had been a producer at MGM and Warner Brothers, and by 1948 had his own company.

FIR: Did Whale resent talking about his horror films?

CH: No, but he was in the tradition of someone who was self-deprecating. His attitude always was, “Oh, you want to talk about that…” He didn’t say it, but he was surprised that I considered them to be of importance.
We see these things so differently now than people did in the 40’s. I wrote and published my index to the films of Joseph Von Stemberg around that time, which started the critical reevaluation of his work. Now he’s a giant in the history-of movies, but in 1947, Von Sternberg was at the bottom of the barrel critically. He was completely disregarded in Hollywood, and everywhere else for that matter. And James Whale had no critical reputation at all.

FIR: Kind of like what happened to D. W. Griffith.

CH: Just read Lewis Jacobs on the subject in his book The Rise of the American Film. I can even quote it, when he speaks of the Dietrich/Sternberg collaboration, “A series of deplorable films, each stupider than the last.” (laughs)

FIR: So at this point Whale was very much into forgetting about Hollywood.

CH: Yes. I never felt that he was anxious to go on making films. He said, “After I made FRANKENSTEIN, it became such a hit. I was suddenly regarded as Universal’s number one director. I was making all this money all of a sudden. And I said to myself, ‘There’s no way this can last. I’d better save it.’ So I immediately got a business manager, my money was invested wisely for me, and I continued to do that during my career.”
His career only lasted about on years, but he came out of it smelling like roses because be was very prudent. And he mentioned, for instance, Elissa Landi, the British actress who starred in THE SIGN OF THE CROSS [1932]. He said, “You know Elissa Landi and her mother, at the height of her career, which was not very long, gave the most lavish parties. Of course, everybody in Hollywood went. And everybody would sit around saying, ‘isn’t she a fool. Spending all this money for this party.” Elissa Landi apparently died penniless.

Curtis Harrington directs Ralph Richardson in WHO SLEW AUNTIE ROO? 1971. Photo courtesy David Del Valle.

FIR: Well, the Rathbones used to throw great parties and Basil paid for it in the end.

CH: Poor Basil; whom I worked with when he was happy to get five thousand dollars to appear in a movie.
But James lived a sumptuous life style. He had a beautiful house in Pacific Palisades when I met him. And he had two servants: Anna and Johanna. One of them was the cook, and one was the general maid around the house, which was a large two-story house, with gleaming furniture and beautiful upholstery and antiques, and many paintings by a British artist named Doris Zinkeisen, whose claim to fame was chiefly in Britain. Her sister, who was also a painter, had done the mural for the Queen Mary. Jimmy had been very close to Doris, and I think they had even contemplated getting married at one point.

FIR: Elsa Lanchester, in an interview, said, “James Whale was a very strange personality. He was tall and thin, and had a face rather like a nice-looking monkey. He was a bitter man. Very billet I think it was because he had been in love with a lady painter called Zinkeisen, who he brought with him to the cave of harmony. They didn’t marry, and I think he believed that was to blame for not having a normal life.”

CH: That’s her bias, her prejudice. The way she felt about her husband.

FIR: Well she was married to an openly homosexual actor – Charles Laughton. Was Whale openly homosexual?

CH: Not in the sense of screaming it from the rooftops or coming out. But yes, he was openly homosexual. Any sophisticated person who knew him knew he was gay. And nobody made a thing out of it as far as I could perceive.

FIR: This was at a time when Gore Vidal published his groundbreaking The City and the Pillar, which forever ruined his chances of becoming a politician. What could the climate have been like for Whale then – in the late 40’s and early 50’s – with McCarthyism and all. Was it better to keep quiet about that sort of thing?

CH: I think it was like what Mr. Clinton put through in the army: Don’t ask, don’t tell. You didn’t sit there saying “Are you gay, Mr. Whale?” No journalist would ask that question in that period. They might now. And there was no such thing as this deplorable practice by some militant gays called “outing.”
It seemed to me that he was perfectly at ease socially. He had many women friends, and usually at parties there would be some of his women friends – not dykes – just ladies that he knew and played bridge with. I never felt any great bitterness from him. It may have been there, but it never was anything that informed his presence or personality in all the time I knew him.
The outstanding thing about him – which is why I can’t reconcile this talk about bitterness – was his wonderful sense of humor. He had this big sense of joie de vivre. He gave elegant little dinner parties, with wonderful food, and a beautifully appointed dining room. In his films, you see these gorgeous flower arrangements on the sets, and the shining silver, and that’s the way his house was. If you knew him, you would then know where the inspiration for his sets came from.

FIR: THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN is regarded as probably one of the greatest films ever made, not to mention one of the top ten horror films. His sense of humor is what makes it so timeless.

CH: I admired all Whale’s films, particularly THE BRIDE and THE OLD DARK HOUSE. I think it was the combination of very stylish filmmaking with the wonderful eccentricity of the characters, and the very personal James Whale humor. The whole combination is absolutely delicious to me, and I find them wonderfully entertaining and rewarding. I would quiz him about the making of these films, and he told me several very amusing anecdotes.
One concerned FRANKENSFEIN’s first sneak preview up in Santa Barbara. In those days, if they went to Santa Barbara for a sneak preview, they stayed the night at the Biltmore Hotel. They didn’t just drive back. So about 3:00 a.m. the phone in his room rang, and a man’s voice said “Is this Whale, the guy who made that movie they showed tonight?” And he said, “Yes.” And the man said, “Well, I can’t sleep, and I’ll be goddamned if I’m going to let you sleep!”
Another was an outrageous story he was fond of telling about Elsa Lanchester. I was very curious about what it was like working with her. I had not met her at that point in my life. She was just the bride of Frankenstein. He said, “Well, you know, she wore absolutely nothing underneath that rubber sheet as the Bride. To get attention she would raise the sheet and stand there for all the crew to see her totally nude.”

FIR: Well, having met her, I found her to be very eccentric and with her own special humor, so I can believe that story.

CH: I suppose.

'If you knew him, you would then know where the inspiration for his sets came from.' A tableau from FRANKENSTEIN, 1931. (Photo courtesy Robert A. Harris)

'...she would raise the sheet and stand there for all the crew to see her totaly nude.' Elsa Lanchester unveiled in THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, 1936.

FIR: Since we brought it up earlier, how did he handle Christopher Isherwood, who was another openly gay artist.

CH: I arranged the whole thing. I had met Christopher Isherwood (See Ken Geist’s ruminations on TOTAL ECLIPSE in our Film Review section) separately through Iris Tree, the daughter of Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, the mother of the screenwriter Ivan Moffet. Through a mutual friend I had been invited to Ojai, California to visit her, and in those days, since I didn’t have a car, I asked if there was anyone I could ride up with – it was a weekend invitation. She said, “Well Christopher Isherwood is coming up,” and she gave me his number. So I rode up with Christopher and his boyfriend at that time, whose name I can’t remember. I was very young then, and well read for my age-though I hadn’t even read any of his work-and whatever sophistication I had was from reading, not from life experience.
So I got it into my head, here is this great British writer, and I’m friendly with one of our great British filmmakers in Hollywood. I ought to bring them together. I mentioned it to both of them and they said, “Oh, yes. We’d love to meet each other.” So I brought Isherwood to dinner at James Whale’s, and it was a total disaster. For whatever reason, by the time I picked Christopher up he was pretty drunk. I drove him to the house and he continued to drink quite fulsomely at dinner, and took an immediate dislike to Whale which, being drunk, he didn’t bother to conceal. And I was sitting right in the middle of all this, absolutely mortified that I had mixed oil and water into this disastrous encounter. They were talking about me and my short experimental films, and Isherwood said to Whale, “I want to write one and you should be in it. I see a scene where they open a manhole and you creep out of it.” I was just sinking into my chair.
I finally took Isherwood home, apologizing in the vestibule as he was wandering out the door. And Jimmy, being a sophisticated person, took it with great good grace. He said, “Don’t think about it, it’s one of those things.”

FIR: Did you ever see any of Whale’s films in his company?

CH: He had no screening facilities and he never had people to screenings. There was only one time I watched one of his films with him. I was in Europe in late ‘51, and James wrote and said he would be in Paris, and then London, and hoped we could see each other. I was very friendly with Gavin Lambert (Editor of Sight and Sound magazine) at that point, who was working with the British Film Institute, and I suggested to Gavin, “Let’s have a tribute to James Whale.” We arranged a screening of a wonderful print of THE OLD DARK HOUSE. There were lots of people there so it must have been a British Film Institute mailing list or something. James was terribly flattered, terribly pleased. And of course there was the usual self-deprecation: “Oh well, it’s just a trifle…”

FIR: So you saw none of the ego that one reads about his displaying on the sets of both FRANKENSTEIN and THE BRIDE?

CH: I have a feeling, since I never saw him at work, that there was great passion in his work, and he was probably very exigent on the set. But I only knew him socially.

Taken in Montmartre by a friend when I was living in Paris in the 50's and Whale came to visit for a few weeks. (Photo courtesy of Curtis Harrington)

FIR: Do you have any vivid memories of him in Paris or London?

CH: I can give you an insight into his great kindness. In Paris, he stayed at the Hotel Royale on the Left Bank. I was staying in a very cheap Left Bank hotel… I was getting 20 dollar hills in the mail from my mother, and was just barely living, but fortunately 20 dollars went a long way in Paris in those days because the dollar was strong and the franc was still weak.
Jimmy took me out to dinner two or three times, and at one point I remember after dinner we were walking down the street and he said, “Here. I want you to have this.” He reached into his wallet and pulled out 100,000 francs, which was like a $150 or something like that, which represented a fortune to me. And I said, “Oh, no.” And he said, “Yes. I want you to have it. I admire you so much for having the courage to come over here and have this experience in life. And if this will help, I want you to have it. No strings attached.”

FIR: That’s wonderful. He had a great generosity.

CH: Yes, which again doesn’t fit in with this constant talk about bitterness. I think in his heart of hearts, of course, he must have been disappointed that his career came to an end, though we never discussed that. But on a day-to-day basis he was light, witty, charming, and a very sympathetic person.
I remember that he went to some French gay bars when we were in Paris. I was never a boyfriend of James. We always had a strictly platonic relationship. And I never went with him, I don’t even know how he found them. But he said, “1 met this wonderful boy last night. I want you to meet him.” Pierre was a lower-class Frenchman, [and] I don’t think there’s anything worse. I mean, let’s face it, the boy was a hustler out for what he could get.

FIR: And Whale was a wealthy older man.

CH: Whale brought him back to California, and he did stay with him until he died. And then there was this rumor that the boyfriend had pushed him into the pool, which we all know is an absolute lie.
His life changed once he had this live-in lover. I hardly ever saw him after that because Pierre was there and Jimmy didn’t invite me to the dinner parties anymore. David Lewis had left by then. I went to a couple of big parties that he invited me to. I don’t think I saw him at any point very near his death in 1957, which came as a complete shock and surprise to me.

FIR: James Curtis, who is the only person to have written a full-scale biography of James Whale, is currently doing a revised version with new information, which may help set some of these rumors to rest arid to paint a more accurate picture of him.
You are responsible for the resurfacing of THE OLD DARK HOUSE.

CH: Well, I always admired that film tremendously. I saw it when I was a child, during a re-release at the old Paramount theater downtown. I was fascinated by it, but didn’t have much of a memory of it until I saw it again in London that year in the fifties. When I was put under contract at Universal in 1967, I made a personal effort to find the materials on it. I was aware of the fact that there had been a remake at Columbia by William Castle.

THE OLD DARK HOUSE, 1932 (saved through Harrington's intervention). Raymond Massey, Lillian Bond, Gloria Stewart, Melvyn Douglas, Boris Karloff, Charles Laughton, and Eva Moore. (Photo courtesy Jerry Vermilye).

FIR: A comedy, and not a very good one.

CH: Which meant that Universal no longer had the rights to the story. The rights to the original novel, BENIGHTED, had reverted to the J. B. Priestly estate and were resold to Columbia. All Universal had was a film they couldn’t re-release or do anything with on television. So they couldn’t have cared less about it. They would just as soon have let it molder in the vaults.
I became friendly, while I was working there, with the head of the editorial department. I asked if he could make an inquiry where all the old Universal material was kept. I begged the hell out of him, and finally one day he called me and said, “Well, I’ve had word back from New York. They found the original nitrate negative. The first reel has deteriorated so badly it doesn’t seem like it can be printed. However, they have the lavender protection print.”
I immediately sent wires to Eastman House in Rochester, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Library of Congress, and the American Film Institute in Washington DC. I got an instant telephone call from James Card, who was the head of Eastman House. He was thrilled that the material was found; Eastman House would put up all the money for the restoration and new prints. I went to work getting clearances from Columbia’s legal department. It took a long time, and as a result, the material could be legally copied, though not for commercial use.
Eventually, they made four or five beautiful 35mm copies: one for Eastman House, one for the Museum of Modem Art, one for the American Film Institute in Washington, and one for Universal Studios. Those are the only extant copies that I know of. The first reel is somewhat out of synch, the title particularly. The sound of the airplane going around the world comes in late. But once the actual film starts, it’s back in synch. And the first reel doesn’t have the incredible crispness of the others because it’s a dupe. Still the prints are impeccable, and it might have all deteriorated if I hadn’t stepped in at that moment. I’m very proud of myself for having done it.
And I was able to tell Boris Karloff that the film had been preserved. He was shooting one of those episodes of IN THE NAME OF THE GAME. I got on the set and he was in his wheelchair. I was introduced to him, and after chatting with him for a while, I told him, and all he said, pleasantly, was “Oh, that’s nice.” None of these people had the right perspective about these things. I remember I was mad for Erich von Stroheim’s GREED, which is one of the great classics of the silent cinema. One of the first people I met in my role as a teenage fan was Zasu Pills back in 1947. I got on the set and I said, “Miss Pills, I want to talk to you about GREED.” “GREED? What do you want to talk to me about that for?” No concept. I said, “Do you realize Paul Wilson called your performance one of the greatest in the history of the cinema.” She said, “Really?” I said, “1 want to talk to you about Mr. von Stroheim.” She said, “Well, what is it you want to know about the old coot?”

Dennis Hopper in Curtis Harrington's eerie first feature, the experimental NIGHT TIDE, 1963. (Photo courtsey David Del Valle).

FIR: Getting back to Whale, I wanted to ask you, as an expert on his films, as well as a personal friend, what you think of the reading of THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN as a metaphor for homosexual behavior? You have the character of Ernest Thesiger, a wildly effeminate kind of cartoon, and the overly hyper, eccentric Cohn Clive, also a known homosexual, creating life in the laboratory, bypassing God, bypassing the traditional male-female intercourse that usually begets children. Do you think Whale had this kind of hidden agenda when he was putting the film together?

CH: No. Not even remotely. I think all of that is a younger critic’s evaluation. All artists do work that comes out of the unconscious mind and later on you can analyze it and say the symbolism may mean something, but artists don’t think that way and I would bet my life that James Whale would never have had such concepts in mind. He was making a wonderfully amusing entertainment.

FIR: We’re mainly talking about his sense of humor here, and one could say that he was informed with a sense of camp, which today is regarded as a homosexual creation, but in 1934 and ‘35…

CH: This was not the case. And it would be interesting to know how much Whale had to do with the script. Did he say to John Balderston and William Hurlbut, “I want you to create the Dr. Praetorius character like this,” or did they write it, after which Whale then said, “Ah. My old friend Thesiger will give it that very special quality.” I don’t know if it’s the chicken or the egg.

James Whale on the set with Boris Karloff...

...and with a Karloff look-alike.

FIR: The creation of the bride, a major set piece in the film, according to an article in the recent Sex and Horror issue of Bright Lights Magazine, “…serves as Whale’s emphatic reminder to the audience, his Hollywood bosses, peers, and the society beyond, of the majesty and power of the homosexual creator.”

CH: My opinion is that’s just pure bullshit. That’s a critical interpretation that has nothing to do with the original inspiration. It has nothing to do with the film. That’s the way he interprets it, and that’s his privilege, but I don’t think it has the slightest relationship to any of Whale’s concepts.
It’s sort of like the surrealist game, Le Cadavre Exquise – the exquisite corpse – where you have a piece of paper folded three ways: one person draws a head and you fold it over and give the next person a blank and he draws a body, then fold it again and give another person a blank and he draws legs and feet. You can draw a clock for the head, for instance. For the body you could have a coffin, and so on with the feet. Anything you want. And when you open it up it’s this monster, a surrealist monster, and it’s supposed to suggest the unconscious mind. And sometimes you can find curious relationships between the three parts.

FIR: So if one wanted to, one could put this layer of homosexuality over his horror films, even THE INVISIBLE MAN, because the invisible man and the Frankenstein monster are both outsiders.

CH: But I think Whale would have been absolutely astonished by such talk. Artists don’t think in terms of psychoanalytic interpretation. And I think the closest you can come to a homosexual metaphor in his films is to identify that certain sort of camp humor.

FIR: Any final memories of your friend?

CH: Just what I’ve already said. I have an entirely positive view of him, as a kind, generous, and charming man who always saw the amusing side of things.
I remember his attitude toward Boris Karloff. He felt that Karloff was a minor actor who became a big star because of FRANKENSTEIN. He said, “What happened was that Karloff began to take himself seriously. When we made FRANKENSTEIN it was a million laughs on the set every day, even when he was in makeup. By the time he made THE MUMMY, he had become very serious indeed.” Karloff sent him a note one day that he was to come to Jack Pierce’s makeup department. He was ushered in with great ceremony, and everyone was whispering, and there was Karloff being unveiled. As Jimmy described it, “it just looked to me like he had a lot of garbage on his face. I never saw so much junk on a man’s face.” He said, “Boris, I think this will be the most mervelous thing ever seen on the silver sheet!” That was when they were just billing him as ‘Karloff.’

FIR: And to your knowledge, Whale’s demise was a final good-bye to age and pain.

CH: Yes. There was a note. It’s in Jim Curtis’ book. I believe James says in that note that he felt he would be happier where he was going than where he was. I didn’t see him in those very last years. I don’t know if he’d had a falling out with Pierre, whether his health was failing, or whether he suffered terrible world-weariness in his old age. But it wasn’t a case of foul play.
There were rumors about some sort of scandal that hastened the end of his career, but I’ve never heard chapter and verse on that, and if you examine his career and consider what he told me, his retirement seems calculated on his part. Carl Laemmle had been his great admirer and protector. When he first started, producers were merely called supervisors, and his first films were produced and directed entirely by him-there was no middleman. They were his creations completely. And then the credits began gradually to be “Produced by,” and Whale felt his power to do whatever he wanted was greatly eroded. He didn’t want to work for the producer, and that’s apparently what happened.
He began his career directing JOURNEY’S END, which was a World War I story, and he was the number one director at Universal Studios from about 1931 to 1937. Then it began to erode. After SHOWBOAT, he was supposed to do a big production, again with a World War I theme, called THE ROAD BACK, and something went wrong, though I don’t know what. His work was being compromised and he didn’t feel it was worth coping with that.

FIR: So it would have been full circle, and the irony of that title is that there was no road back for his career. Did he have a favorite among his films?

CH: Yes-one of the films we haven’t mentioned at all – REMEMBER LAST NIGHT.

FIR: That’s a great comedy.

CH: It’s an outrageous comedy, very similar in tone (about drinking) to the current hit TV series from Britain, ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS. At one point Edward Arnold says, “You’re all a bunch of drunks, but I love ya anyway” There’s no such thing as a lovable drunk in America now, nor was there in that period in the thirties, I suppose.
It’s interesting to me, if you’ve seen REMEMBER LAST NIGHT or HELLO OUT THERE, in addition to the horror films, how unique the sets of his films were in his heyday. The set design for HELLO OUT THERE is heavily impressionistic, and the sets for REMEMBER LAST NIGHT are enormous. He must have had a very strong influence on the set designers and decorators of the time.

FIR: Do you think Whale had an influence on your work?

CH: Oh yes, I do. I can’t point to chapter and verse on that, but my own quirky sense of humor and my love of eccentric characters certainly contain echoes of Whale. I’ve used Estelle Winwood and people like that whenever I could in my films. When I made a television film called THE CAT CREATURE (1974), I brought back Gale Sondergaard after her long exile from Hollywood.
Vermilye).">
David Del Valle, veteran correspondent for U.K.’s Films and Filming, is a contributing writer for Video Watchdog, Psychotronic, and The Dark Side, writes liner notes for laserdiscs such as the Corman/Poe double bills, and has produced video interviews with genre personalities including Curtis Harrington, Russ Meyer, Cameron Mitchell, and Vincent Price.

Further reading: James Whale: A Biography or The Would-Be Gentleman, by Mark Gatiss, published by Cossell.

Source

Human Freaks (Youtube tribute video)

2010-03-13T21:40:00.000Z

Fantastic Four (1994) - Thing's scene :)

2010-02-13T22:49:00.000Z

The Silent Command (1923)

2010-02-13T22:11:00.000Z

A tobbi reszt megtalaljatok a kapcsolodo videoknal!

Photos: Eartha Kitt

2010-02-10T21:29:00.004Z

Eartha Kitt Broadway Bound with a New Show - Say Magazine December 9, 1954

Eartha Kitt a London Hotel-ben pihen (Jet Magazine, January 19, 1956)

New Eartha Kitt - Hollywood Style - Jet Magazine, February 11, 1954

Eartha Kitt (Carl Van Vechten fotója, 1952)

Image courtesy of Marquette University Archives.
Kapcsolódó képek: digitalmarquette.cdmhost.com/CVV/index.html

Jet Magazine July 1, 1954

Jet Magazine July 1, 1954 (borító)

Jet Magazine Jul 29, 1954

A Hue magazin címlapja 1955 márciusában

Egy svéd magazin címlapján

Ha jól sejtem ez szintén egy skandináv magazin lesz...

Az "I Spy" c. filmben

Photos: The Invisible Ray (1936)

2010-02-03T15:33:00.001Z

Dr. Felix Benet (Bela Lugosi, left) and Dr. Janos Rukh (Boris Karloff), former scientific colleagues find themselves at increasing odds over the uses and study of a powerfully radioactive meteor discovered in the depths of Africa by means of Rukh's extensive research.