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A LA CONQUETE DU POLE (1912)AARON'S
ROD (1923) see The Mystery of Dr. Fu Manchu
ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (1948/Universal) 83mins.
BW. US.
Aka: MEET THE GHOSTS; DEUX NIGAUDS CONTRE FRANKENSTEIN, (Two Simpletons Against
Frankenstein), (Fra.); ABBOTT ET COSTELLO ET LES MONSTRES (Bel.); MEIN GOTT, FRANKENSTEIN
(Germ.). Script Title: THE BRAIN OF FRANKENSTEIN.
Credits: Dir: Charles T. Barton; Prod: Robert Arthur;
Sc: John Grant, Frederic I. Rinaldo & Robert Lees; Ph: Charles Van Enger; Ed: Frank
Gross; Sfx: David S. Horsley & Jerome H. Ash; Art: Bernard Herzbrun & Hilyard
Brown; Mu: Bud Westmore; Mus: Frank Skinner.
Cast: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Glenn Strange, Lon Chaney Jnr.,
Ann Blyth, Jane Randolph, Bela Lugosi, Lenore Aubert, Frank Ferguson, Charles
Bradstreet, |
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Howard Negley, Joe Kirk. Voice: Vincent
Price.
"Jeepers! The Creepers are after somebody - and guess who! More howls than you can
shake a shiver at!"
The Wolfman, (Chaney), learns that Dracula, (Lugosi), and Frankenstein's monster,
(Strange), have been shipped to a Florida wax museum. Delivery boys, Bud and Wilbur,
(Abbott & Costello), become embroiled in the events that follow when Dracula and his
assistant, (Aubert), decide to use Wilbur's brain to revive the monster. The Wolf man also
arrives to try and find a cure for his lycanthropic affliction.
The best of the Abbott and Costello "Meet" films despite the duo's usual comic
antics. The monsters effectively play it straight even though by this time they had become
the subject of humour and parody. |
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Features a cameo role by Vincent Price as the voice of the
Invisible Man.
Chaney attempted suicide on April 22nd., a month before the film's premier by taking forty
sleeping pills. He was found by one of his sons and rushed to hospital for recovery. |
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ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE KILLER BORIS KARLOFF (1949/Universal)
84mins. BW. US.
Aka: IL MISTERIO DELLA PIRAMIDE (Italy).
Credits: Dir: Charles T. Barton; Prod: Robert Arthur; Sc:
Hugh Wedlock Jnr., John Grant & Howard Snyder; Ph: Charles Van Enger; Ed: Edward
Curtiss; Sfx: David S. Horsley; Art: Bernard Herzbrun & Richard Riedel; Mu: Bud
Westmore; Mus: Milton Schwarzwald.
Cast: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Boris Karloff, Lenore Aubert, Gar
Moore, Donna Martell, Alan Mowbray, James Flavin, Roland Winters, Nicholas Joy, Percy
Heldon, Bill Gray, Mikel Conrad, Morgan Farley, Victoria Horne, Claire du Brey.
"More ghoulish glee than when they met Frankenstein!" |
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Hotel detective, (Abbott), and busboy Freddy, (Costello),
become embroiled in a mystery when Freddy discovers a body in the hotel and unwittingly
pockets a handkerchief, the only evidence to the real killer's identity. A swami,
(Karloff), who tries to hypnotise Freddy to commit suicide and then frame him for the
murder, leads the real killers. A masked man chases the busboy to try and retrieve the
evidence.
A thinly plotted entry that barely raises a chuckle with Karloff alone providing any
interest during his too few appearances in the film.
Karloff is the first screen actor to have his name used in the title of a feature film.ACCENT ON HORROR (1947) see Scared to Death
ACE DRUMMOND (1936/Universal) BW. Serial. 13 episodes.
Credits: Dir: Ford Beebe & Cliff Smith.
Cast: John King, Jean Rogers, Noah Beery Jnr., Guy
Bates Post, Lon Chaney jr.
John King is a civil aviation pioneer who confronts an evil power named The Dragon.
THE ACE OF SCOTLAND YARD (1929/Universal) BW. Silent/Sound.
Serial. 10 episodes. US.
Sequel to: Blake of Scotland Yard (1927).
Credits: Dir: Ray Taylor; Sc: Harold M. Atkinson.
Cast: Crauford Kent, Florence Allen, Grace Cunard,
Monty Montague, Herbert Prior, Albert Priscoe.
Blake of the Yard tries to catch a jewel thief named The Queen of Diamonds who desires a
valuable ring.
An atmospheric and spooky mystery melodrama released in both silent and sound versions,
Universal touted this as the first talking serial. |
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UNE ADVENTURA EN LA NOCHE (1947/Anda/Azteca) BW. Mexico.
Aka: AN ADVENTURE IN THE NIGHT.
Credits: Dir: Rolando Aguilar; Ph: Raul M. Solares;
Mus: R. Ramirez. Based on a play by Chano Urueta.
Cast: Luis Aguilar, Miroslava, Jorge Reyes, Carlos
Villarias.
A fantasy featuring ghosts, a medium, and an appearance by Villarias, the actor previously
seen in the title role of Universal's 1931 Spanish version of Dracula.AN
ADVENTURE IN THE NIGHT (1947) see Une Adventura en la Noche
ADVENTURE UNLIMITED (1945) see White Pongo
ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN (1943) see Baron Munchausen
THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN MARVEL (1941/Republic) BW. Serial.
12 Episodes.
Aka: THE RETURN OF CAPTAIN MARVEL.
Credits: Dir: William Witney & John English; Prod:
Hirram S. Brown; Sc: Ronald Davidson, Norman S. Hall, Arch B. Heath, Joseph Poland &
Sol Shor; Ph: William Nobles; Ed: Edward Todd & William Thompson; Mus: Cy Feuer.
Cast: Harry Worth, Tom Tyler, Frank Coghlan Jnr.,
William Benedict, Louise Currie, Bryant Washburn, George Pembroke, Nigel De Brulier,
Robert Stange, Jack Mulhall.
While on a scientific expedition in Siam, radio operator Billy Batson, (Coghlan), is
trapped in a cave and endowed with special powers by Shazam, (Brulier), to become Captain
Marvel. Armed with an atom-smashing device, he is now able to thwart the evil |
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Scorpion's attempts to obtain a series of lenses from the
other expedition members that can turn rocks into gold.
An edited feature length version of this standard cliff-hanger was released in 1966.
Former western star, Tyler, also appears as the mummy in The
Mummy's Hand. THE ADVENTURES OF THREE KNIGHTS (1913/Eiko) 5 reels. BW.
Silent.
A ghostly countess haunts an old castle.
AELITA (1924/Mezhrabpom) 77mins. BW. Silent. USSR.
Aka: REVOLT OF THE ROBOTS.
Credits: Dir: Yakov A. Protazanov; Sc: Fedor Otzep
& Alexei Faiko; Ph: Yuri Zhelabuzsky & Emil Schunemann; Art: Victor Simov &
Sergei Kozlovsky; Des: Sergei Kozlovsky, Alexandra Exter & Isaac Robinovich. Based on
the novel by Alexei Tolstoy.
Cast: Yulia Solntseva, Nikolai Batalov, Igor Ilinski,
Yuri Zavadsky, Nikolai Tsereteli, Konstantin Eggert, V. Orlova, Valentina Kuinzhi.
Russian astronauts and their spacecraft's designer Spiridonov, (Tsereteli), are on a
mission to Mars and begin a revolution against the tyrannical Martian queen, (Sointseva),
who forces the oppressed Martian workers to wear helmets so that their thoughts can be
monitored.
An early science fiction film influenced by the works of H.G. Wells, but adapted with very
obvious communist messages and interesting footage of 1920's Moscow.
The imaginative Martian costumes and sets are worth noting.
AERIAL SUBMARINE: A STARTLING FORECAST- PIRACY IN SEA AND IN AIR
(1910/Kineto) 600 feet. BW. Silent. UK.
When a mysterious pirate submarine kidnaps a boy and his sister their father finds his
children' s camera which contains a picture of the craft and informs the authorities. The
pirates meanwhile sink a treasure laden liner and transfer the fortune to the sub before
the Royal Navy give chase in their own submersible craft only to find that their prey have
taken to the air to bomb them. The pirates are eventually forced to land and are destroyed
by explosives dropped from an aeroplane. |
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AFTER DEATH (1913) see Dopo la MorteAFTER THE WELSH RAREBIT (1913/Edison) 2 reels. BW. Silent.
US.
Cast: William Wadsworth.
A man's late supper causes him to have a nightmare in which he is tortured in Hell.
THE AGONY OF FEAR (1915/Selig Polyscope Co.) 3 reels. BW.
Silent. US.
Credits: Dir: Giles R. Warren; Sc: William E. Wing.
A man dies of fright.
THE AIRMAN'S ENEMY (1913/Film de Paris) 5 reels. BW. Silent.
France.
Features hypnotism.
ALADIN OU LE LAMP MERVELLUISE (1906/Pathe) 15mins. BW. Silent.
France.
Aka: ALADDIN AND THE WONDERFUL LAMP.
Features a magician, a gnome, a giant and vases that transform into grotesque human faces.
ALADDIN AND THE WONDERFUL LAMP (1906) see Aladin ou le Lamp
Mervelluise
ALADDIN AND THE WONDERFUL LAMP (1917/Fox) 8 reels. BW. Silent. US.
Credits: Dir: C.M. Franklin & S.A. Franklin Sc:
Bernard McConville.
Cast: Violet Radcliffe, Virginia Corbin, Buddy Messinger,
Elmo Lincoln.
Features an evil magician and diabolical spirits. |
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THE ALCHEMIST (1913/Natural Colour Kinematograph Co.) 3 reels. Colour. Silent. UK.
Astrology forecasts a girl's peril.L'ALCHEMISTE PARAFARAGAMUS OU
LA CORNUE INFERNALE
(1906/Star Film) 200feet. BW. Silent. France. Aka: THE MYSTERIOUS RETORT.
Credits: Georges
Melies.
The Devil's messenger appears in a dream sequence as a monstrous reptile with a grimacing
crocodile head in a spider's web.
THE ALCHEMIST'S HALLUCINATION (1897) see L'Hallucination de
l'Alchemiste
ALGOL (l920/Deutsche Licht) BW. Silent. Germany.
Credits: Dir: Hans Werkmeister; Sc: Hans Brenert; Ph:
Axel Graatkjar & Herman Kricheldorff; Art: Walter Reimann & Paul Scheerbart.
Cast: Emil Jannings, John
Gottowt, Kathe Haack, Hanna Ralph, Erna Morena, Ernst Hoffman, Gertrud Welcker, Hans
Adalbert Von Schlettow.
An evil female alien from the star Algol gives a man a mysterious machine that makes him
omnipotent.
ALIAS NICK BEAL (1949/Paramount) 93mins. BW. US.
Aka: THE CONTACT MAN (UK).
Credits: Dir: John Farrow; Prod: Endre Boehm; Sc:
Jonathan Latimer; Ph: Lionel Lindon; Art: Hans Dreier; Mus:
Franz Waxman. Based on a story by Mindret Lord.
Cast: Ray Milland, Audrey Totter, Thomas Mitchell,
George MacReady, Fred Clark.
"No man has ever held more terrible power over women than this tall dark handsome
stranger from nowhere!"
A stranger, (Milland), who possesses mysterious powers and might be the Devil himself,
corrupts an honest politician, (Mitchell).
A compelling gangster drama heightened by Milland's sinister portrayal, but the film never
enters the realms of the supernatural.
ALICE'S SPOOKY ADVENTURE (1924/Disney) Silent. Animated. US.
Alice visits Spooksville, a town that combines both live action and animation.
ALL THAT MONEY CAN BUY (1940/RKO.) 106mins. BW. US.
Aka: HERE IS A MAN; DANIEL AND THE DEVIL; THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER.
Credits: Dir: William Dieterle; Prod: Charles L. Glett
& William Dieterle; Sc: Dan Totheroh & Stephen Vincent Benet; Ph: Joseph August;
Ed: Robert Wise; Art: Van Nest Polglase; Sfx: Vernon L. Walker; Mus: Bernard Herrmann.
From the story "The Devil and Daniel Webster" by Stephen Vincent Benet.
Cast: Walter Huston, Edward
Arnold, Simone Simon, Gene Lockhart, James Craig, Anne
Shirley, Jane Darwell, John Qualen, H.B. Warner, Jeff Corey, William Alland.
"A soul. A soul is nothing. Can you see it, smell it, touch it? No. Think of it,
this soul, your soul, a nothing, against seven whole years of good luck! You will have
money and all that money can buy." - Mr. Scratch (Huston).
New Hampshire farmer Jabez Stone sells his soul to the Devil, (Huston), and receives money
for himself and his family. However, when the Devil comes to collect the farmer's soul
seven years later the farmer refuses and has to attend a ghostly court. Senator Daniel
Webster, (Arnold), a man of the people, who promises to forfeit his own soul if they lose,
defends the farmer. The special jury is made up of damned American killers, but an appeal
by Webster to their patriotism saves them both.
A delightful adaptation of the "Faust" legend. During the blizzard scene
1,200lbs. of firm white onions, 2,500 moth balls, and uncooked tapioca were dropped on the
characters while the wind machines blew at them.
The film was cut to 85 minutes for a 1952 re-release, but now it has been restored to its
full length.
Director Dieterle, whose former name was Wilhelm, appeared in numerous German silent films
before his relocation to America.
Amongst the cast William Alland can be seen who became a producer for Universal and is
responsible for Jack Arnold's Creature From the
Black Lagoon among others.
Walter Huston is famed director John Huston's father.
Music won an Academy Award while Walter Huston received a Nomination.
ALONE WITH THE DEVIL (1914/Nordisk) 5 reels. BW. Silent. Denmark.
Features hypnotism.
ALONG THE MOONBEAM TRAIL (1920) BW. Silent.
Credits: Prod: Herbert M. Dawley.
Features some footage of Willis O'Brien's dinosaur animation from his film The Ghost of Slumber Mountain.
ALONZO THE ARMLESS (1927) see The Unknown |
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ALRAUNE: DIE HENKER-STOCHTER, GENANNT DIE ROTE HANNE
(1918/Neutral Film/Luna) 88mins. (9 reels). BW. Silent. Germany.
Credits: Dir. & Ph: Eugen Illes. From the novel by
Hanns Heinz Ewers.
Cast: Hilde Wolter, Gustav Adolf Semler, Friedrich
Kuehne, Max Auzinger, Ernst Rennspies.
Insane scientist, Ten Brinken, experiments with genetics and artificially inseminates a
prostitute with the semen collected from the base of a gallows below a hanged murderer.
The result is Alraune, (Wolter), a soulless woman who eventually turns against her
creator.
The first, and now lost adaptation of the 1913 novel.ALRAUNE (1918/Phoenix)
80mins. (8 reels). BW. Silent. Austria/Hungary.
Credits: Dir: Mihaly Kertesz
(later Michael Curtiz) & Fritz Odon; Sc: Richard Falk.
From the novel by Hanns Heinz Ewers.
Cast: Guyla Gal, Rozsi Szollosi, Jeno Torzs, Margit Lux,
Kalman Kormendy, Geza Erdelyi, Andor Kardos, Violette Szlatenyl, Karoly Arnyai, Boske
Malatinsky.
An insane doctor produces a soulless woman by forcing a prostitute to mate with a mandrake
root that grows in the spot beneath a hanged man's gallows.
This also seems to be a lost version
ALRAUNE (1928/Amafilm/UFA.) 98mins. BW. Silent. Germany.
Aka: A DAUGHTER OF DESTINY; UNHOLY LOVE.
Credits: Dir. & Sc: Henrik
Galeen; Prod: Helmut Schreiber; Ph: Franz Planer; Art: Walter Reimann & Max
Heilbronner. From the story by Hanns Heinz Ewers.
Cast: Brigitte
Helm, Alexander Saschia, John Loder, Ivan Petrovich, Paul Wegener, |
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Mia Pankan, Georg John, Valeska Gest, Wolfgang Zilzer,
Louis Ralph, Hans Trautner, Heinrich Schroth.
Insane scientist Dr. Ten Brinken, (Wegener), artificially inseminates a prostitute with
the sperm of a criminal degenerate that has been gathered from beneath his hanged body to
discover if their offspring will reveal the secret laws of heredity. The result is
Alraune, (Helm), a little girl whom the scientist adopts. Imprisoned in a convent until
sixteen she openly displays her evil instincts and escapes with a man who she forces into
thievery. Dr. Brinken retrieves her and despite knowing her destructive capabilities
towards men, he falls in love with her. Upon discovering the origins of her birth she
ruins Brinken and leaves to begin a new life.
The best adaptation of the successful novel in which Helm virtually recreates her robotic
vamp role from Metropolis. Subtlety suffused with sexual
perversion, this raises the question whether Alurane was actually evil or just conforming
to her father's expectations.ALRAUNE (1930/Amafilm/UFA.) BW.
Germany. Aka: DAUGHTER OF EVIL.
Credits: Dir: Richard Oswald;
Prod: Erich Pommer; Sc: Charles Roellinghoff & Richard Weisbach; Ph: Gunther Krampf;
Art: Otto Erdmann & Hanns Sohnle; Mus: Bronislaw Kaper. From the story by Hann Heinz
Ewers.
Cast: Albert Basserman, Brigitte Helm, Agnes Straub, Kathe Haack, Harald Paulsen, |
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Liselot Schaatz, Bernard Goetzke,
E.A. Licho, Wan Kowal-Samborski, Paul Westermeier, Henry Bender, Martin
Kosleck.
A weak remake of the 1928 silent version. Basserman is Dr. Brinken and Helm reprises her
role as the soulless Alraune. Seemingly made to exploit the new technical aspects of sound
rather than convey the arguments presented in the novel.ALRAUNE AND THE GOLEM
(1919) see Alraune und der Golem
ALRAUNE UND DER GOLEM (1919/Riesenbioskopfilm) BW. Silent.
Germany.
Aka: ALRAUNE AND THE GOLEM.
Credits: Dir: Paul Wegener & Nils Chrisander; Ph:
Guido Seeber; Art Sup. Nils Chrisander. Based on Jewish legend, a novel by Schim Von Arnim
and Hanns Heinz Ewers' novel "Alraune".
AMANT DE LA LUNE (1905) see Revee a la Lune
THE AMAZING EXPLOITS OF THE CLUTCHING HAND (1936) see The Clutching Hand
THE AMAZING MR. X (1948/Eagle Lion) 78mins. BW. Aka: THE
SPIRITUALIST.
Credits: Dir: Bernard Vorhaus; Prod: Ben Stoloff; Sc:
Muriel Roy Bolton & Ian McLellan Hunter; Ph: John Alton; Mus: Alexander Laszlo. From a
story by Crane Wilbur.
Cast: Turhan Bey, Lynn
Bari, Cathy O'Donnell, Richard Carlson, Donald Curtis, Virginia Gregg.
"In his eyes...the threat of terror! In his hands...the power to destroy!"
A woman, (Bari), is haunted by the ghost of her dead husband, and becomes involved with a
spiritualist, (Bey), who tries to contact him. Eventually it is revealed that the spi
ritualist and the seemingly dead husband, (Curtis), are trying to con the wealthy
"widow" out of her money.
Although in need of better handling, the atmosphere is similar to an eerie Val Lewton
film.
Vorhaus also directed numerous "quota-quickies" in Britain during the thirties.
THE AMERICAN SUICIDE CLUB (1910/Lux) 1 reel. BW. Silent. US.
AMID THE WORKINGS OF THE DEEP (1906)
see Deux Cent Mille Lieues Sous le Mers ou le Cauchemar d'un Pecheur |
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AMONG THE LIVING (1941/Paramount) 68mins. BW. US.
Credits: Dir: Stuart Heisler; Prod: Sol G. Siegel &
Colbert Clark; Sc: Lester Cole & Garrett Fort; Ph:
Theodor Sparkuhl; Ed: Everett Douglas; Art: Han Dreier & Haldane Douglas; Mus: Gerard
Carbonara. Based on a story by Brian Marlow & Lester Cole.
Cast: Albert Dekker,
Susan Hayward, Frances Farmer, Harry Carey, Gordon Jones, Jean Phillips, Ernest Whitman, Maude Eburne, Frank M. Thomas, Harlan Briggs, Archie Twitchell,
Dorothy Sebastian, William Stack.
One twin brother, (Dekker), is a respected businessman, while the other, a homicidal
maniac, is thought to be dead, but is kept isolated in the family mansion. He escapes and
kills when he hears sounds that remind him of his dead mother's screams while the innocent
twin is blamed for the murders.
A generally well regarded "doppelganger" thriller with excellent performances by
Dekker.AMORE E MORTE (1932/Aurora Film Co.) 94mins. BW. US.
Credits: Dir. & Sc: Cav. Rosario Romeo; Ph: Alfred
Gandolfi & Nicholas J. Rogalli.
Cast: Cav. Rosario Romeo, Carmelina Romeo, Antonio
Ruggieri, Ada Ruggieri, Raffaele Bongini, Clara Diana, Angelo Gloria, Guglielimo Onofri,
G. Perez, P. Perez, J. Busacco, A. Fratellione, F. Colombo.
Past indiscretions of the Agro family has brought about a family curse. Ruggiero de Agro
is a ladies man from a little farming community in Eastern Sicily, who has neglected his
wife and children to such an extent that they have to steal to survive. One of Agro's
former lovers, Chiara (Diana), dies after confessing her plight to her father who then
vows revenge. When he is about to kill Agro, a great storm intervenes and the curse is
fulfilled when a bolt of lightning kills Agro.
Filmed in New Jersey with a cast made up of a theatrical troupe of Sicilian Americans. The
dialogue is completely in Sicilian, Italian and Italo-American without any subtitles. |
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AN ANCESTOR'S LEGACY (1914/Ambrosio) 2 reels. BW. Silent. Italy.
"Gruesome details in an old castle causes a weird dream in which the various
horrors attack their victims with ultra-modern accessories". - Bioscope.THE
ANCIENT ROMAN (1909/Cines) 1 reel BW. Silent. Italy.
Three professors discover a Roman gladiator alive in an ancient tomb.
AND THEN THERE WERE NONE (1945/Popular Pictures/Popkin)
97mins. BW. US.
Aka: TEN LITTLE NIGGERS (UK).
Credits: Dir. & Prod: Rene Clair; Sc: Dudley
Nichols; Ph: Lucien Androit; Mus: Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. Based on "Ten Little
Niggers" by Agatha Christie.
Cast: Louis Hayward, Jane Duprez, Walter Huston, Barry Fitzgerald, Roland Young, Richard Hayden,
C. Aubrey Smith, Judith Anderson, Queenie Leonard, Mischa Auer.
"Very stupid to kill the only servant in the house. Now we don't even know where
to find the marmalade." - Miss Brent.
Ten strangers are invited to a gloomy mansion on an island near the English coast, but
find that a mysterious killer is stalking them. Only two guests uncover the identity of
the killer and discover that the culprit is punishing them for past transgressions.
The best adaptation of Christie's novel with some fine performances and eerie sets. Clair
emphasises the horror of the guest's isolation, while also providing some classic comic
moments.
AN ANDALUSIAN DOG (1928) see Un Chien Andalou |
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ANDALUSIAN SUPERSTITION (1912/Pathe) 13mins. BW. Silent. France.
Features a ghostly hand and hideous creatures bottled in spirits in a cavern.DAS ANDERE ICH (1918/Sascha Film) BW. Silent. Austria. Aka: THE OTHER
SELF.
Credits: Dir: Fritz Freisler.
Cast: Raoul Aslan, Fritz Kortner, Magda Sonja.
A professor separates a soul from its body. |
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DER ANDERE (1913/Vitaskop)
BW. Silent. Germany. Aka: THE OTHER.
Credits: Dir: Max Mack.
Based on the stageplay by Paul Lindau and loosely on Stevenson's "The Strange Case of
Dr. Jekyll and Mister Hyde".
Cast: Albert Basserman, Hanni Weisse, Emerich Hanus,
Rely Ridon, Otto Collot. |
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ANGEL ON MY SHOULDER (1946/Rogers/UA.) 101mins. BW. US.
Credits: Dir: Archie Mayo; Sc: Harry Segall & Roland
Kibbee; Ph: James Van Trees; Mus: Dimitri Tiomkin.
Cast: Paul Muni, Anne Baxter, Claude
Rains, George Cleveland, Onslow Stevens, Erskine Sanford,
Hardie Albright.
A murdered gangster, (Muni), is sent back to earth by the Devil, (Rains), to inhabit the
body of a respected judge sworn to wipe out evil. However, the gangster tries to outwit
the Devil and the judge's fiancee, (Baxter), becomes extremely confused by her
sweetheart's behavior.
An entertaining and engaging fantasy. Remade for television.ANGEL STREET (1940)
see Gaslight
ANITA (1920/Wiener Kunstfilm) Austria. Aka: TRANCE.
Credits: Dir: Luise Kolm & Jacob Fleck; Sc: Fritz
Lohner-Beda.
Cast: Lola Urban-Kneidinger, Wilhelm Klitsch, Julius
Strobl, Nora Herbert.
A hypnotist puts Anita under his spell.
ANOTHER'S GHOST (1910/Pathe) 748feet. BW. Silent. France.
A variety artiste's ghost haunts the innkeeper who supposedly killed him.
L'ANTRE INFERNALE (1905/Pathe) 223feet. BW. Silent. France.
Credits: Dir: Gaston Velle.
Features the devil and a magic cave.
THE APE (1928/Collwyn Pictures) 5 reels. BW. Silent.
Credits: Dir: B.C. Rule.
Cast: Gladys Walton, Ruth Stonehouse, Basil Wilson,
Bradley Barker.
An ape goes on the rampage.
Supposedly based on an actual police file. Filmed at the Triangle Arts studios in
Riverdale, California.
THE APE (1940/Monogram) 61mins. BW. US.
Credits: Dir: William Nigh; Prod: Scott R. Dunlap;
A.Prod: William Lackey; Sc: Curt Siodmak & Richard
Carroll; Ph: Harry Neumann; Ed: Russell Schoengarth; Art: E.R. Hickson; Mu: Gordon Bau;
Mus: Edward Kay. Based on a play by Adam Hull Shirk.
Cast: Boris
Karloff, Maris Wrixon, Gertrude Hoffman, Henry Hull,
Gene O'Donell, Jack
Kennedy, Jessie Arnold, George Cleveland, I. Stanford Jolley, Selmer Jackson, Philo
McCullough, Dorothy Vaughan.
"I must have human guinea pigs to kill!" Mad genius...or blood-crazed
killer...He has murdered more men than any man alive!" |
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Doctor Garth, (Karloff), dedicates himself to finding a
cure for the crippling spinal disease that killed his wife and daughter. When an ape
escapes from a circus fire, Garth kills and skins the animal to use as a disguise to
ambush passing villagers and extract their spinal fluids to use in a cure for a pretty
young polio victim, (Wrixon). The police shoot him, but as he dies he sees his young
patient leap from her wheelchair and run to him completely cured.
Mongram's first entry into the horror genre that was previously filmed as The House of Mystery in 1934. Although a minor project and the only
picture he made for the B-movie studio, Karloff is as enjoyable as ever. |
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THE APE MAN (1943)AN
APISH TRICK (1909/Pathe) 1 reel. BW. Silent. France.
A man exhibits simian traits when his wife injects him with a serum derived from monkeys.
APPARITION, OR MR. JONES' COMICAL EXPERIENCES WITH A GHOST (1903)
see Revenant
THE ARRIVAL OF A TRAIN AT A STATION (1895) see L'Arrive d'un Train en Gare |
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L'ARRIVE D'UN TRAIN EN GARE (1895/Lumiere) 50 secs. BW. Silent.
France.
Aka: THE ARRIVAL OF A TRAIN AT A STATION.
Credits: The Lumiere Brothers.
One of the first ever uses of the new medium records a train arriving from Marseilles at
La Ciotat's station platform, but its impact on the first film audience made history. As
the world's first screen monster people paid one franc only to scream for their lives as
they saw the train coming towards them.
This is the first public showing of a motion picture, which took place in Paris on
December 28th 1895.THE ARROW MAIDEN (1916/Mutual) 15mins. US.
An American Indian is revived from a spell cast by a medicine woman and frightens other
braves who thought he was dead.
ARSENIC AND OLD LACE (1942/Warner) 118mins. BW. US. Released
1944.
Credits: Dir: Frank Capra; Prod: Frank Capra, Howard
Lindsay & Russell Crouse; Sc: Julius J. & Philip G. Epstein (also Howard Lindsay
& Russell Crouse - un credited); Ph: Sol Polito; Ed: Daniel Mandell; Art: Max Parker;
Sfx: Byron Haskin & Robert Burks; Mu: Perc Westmore; Mus: Max Steiner. Based on a play
by Joseph Kesselring.
Cast: Cary Grant, Josephine Hull, Jean Adair, Priscilla
Lane, Raymond Massey, John Alexander, Peter Lorre, James Gleason, Jack Carson, Edward Everett Horton,
Grant Mitchell, Spencer Charters.
"Insanity runs in my family. It practically gallops." - Mortimer (Grant). |
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Abby and Martha Brewster, (Hull & Adair), two
well-meaning ladies, invite elderly men who are "all alone in the world" to
their Brooklyn home and poison them with elderberry wine. Their insane brother Teddy,
(Alexander), who is convinced he is Teddy Roosevelt, buries the dead men in the cellar
believing them to be yellow fever victims. When their nephew, Mortimer, (Grant), who is
about to be married, discovers his aunts' secret he tries desperately to cover up their
murderous activities, but his homicidal brother Johnathan, (Massey), arrives with another
corpse and hides it in the same house.
A splendidly hysterical adaptation of the farcical stageplay. Capra brings out the best
comic touches from his cast and star while still filling the story with his usual American
whimsy.
Hull, Adair and Alexander also appeared as the same characters in the original Broadway
play with Karloff as Johnathan Brewster. Karloff was disappointed not to be included in
the film version, but he felt that if too many of the principal Broadway cast left, the
show would close.ASYLUM OF HORROR (1932) see Funf Geschichten
AT MIDNIGHT IN THE GRAVEYARD (1909) see V
Polnoch Na Kladbische
AT THE MERCY OF TIBERIUS (1921) see The Price of Silence
AT THE SIGN OF THE JACK O'LANTERN (1922/Hodkinson/Renco) 5 reels. US.
Credits: Dir: Lloyd Ingraham Sc: Lloyd Ingraham &
David Kirkland.
Cast: Betty Ross Clark, Earl Schenck, Wade Boteler,
Victor Poten, Monte Collins, Mrs. Raymond Hatton.
Ghostly events occur at a remote country home.
AT THE STROKE OF MIDNIGHT (1920) see Korkarlen
AT 3:25 (1923) see Paris Qui Dort
ATKETA FANTASMA (1919/Giglio) 85mins. BW. Silent. Italy.
Credits: Dir: Raimodo Scotti; Prod: A. de Giglio; Sc:
Renee de Liot.
Cast: Elsa Zara, Mario Guaita-Ausonia, Gaetano Rossi,
Dino Bonaiuti.
A timid man named Audreses, (Ausonia), has a girlfriend named Jenny, (Zara), who becomes
involved in a series of adventures caused by her possession of an antique jewel. A masked
wrestler appears, to heroically rescue her from any danger and is eventually revealed to
be Audreses himself.
An early film that anticipates the Mexican Santo films and the story of Superman. |
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L'ATLANTIDE (1921/Thalman) 125mins. BW. Silent. France.
Credits: Dir & Sc: Jacques Feyder Ph: Georges Specht
& Victor Morin.
Based on the novel by Pierre Benoit.
Cast: Jean Angelo, Stacia Napierkowska, Georges
Melchior.
Two explorers in the Sahara desert discover the lost continent of Atlantis and fall in
love with its Queen who captures men to be her lovers, but when she tires of them they are
kept in coffins and displayed in her trophy room.
A commercial adventure fantasy made for 2 million francs that played in Paris for a year.L'ATLANTIDE (1932/Nero Film) BW. Germany.
Aka: LOST ATLANTIS; MISTRESS OF ATLANTIS; QUEEN OF ATLANTIS; DIE HERRIN VON ATLANTIS.
Credits: Dir: Georg Wilhelm Pabst; Sc: Ladislaus Vajda
& Hermann Oberlander.
Based on the novel by Pierre Benoit.
Cast: Brigitte
Helm, Tela Tschai, Jean Angelo, Pierre Blanchard, Gustav Diessl, John |
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Stuart, Odette Florelle, Gibb McLaughlin, Heinz
Klingenberg.
Antinea, (Helm), the Queen of Atlantis, renowned throughout the African desert causes the
death of her lovers and preserves them in a mummified state. When she finally meets her
one true love, he rejects her, so she has him killed by his best friend.
A French version was made simultaneously.ATLANTIS (1913/Nordisk) BW. Silent.
Denmark/Germany.
Credits: Dir: August Blom; Sc: Karl Ludwig Schroeder
& Axel Garde; Ph: Johann Ankerstajerne. From the novel by Gerhardt Hauptmann.
Cast: Olaf Fonss, Frederik Jacobsen, Carl Lauritzen, Ida
Orloff, Ebba Thomson.
ATOM MAN VERSUS SUPERMAN (l950/Columbia) BW. Serial. 12 Episodes. US.
Credits: Dir: Spencer Bennet; Prod: Sam Katzman; Sc:
George H. Plympton, Joseph F. Poland & David Mathews; Ph: Ira Morgan; Ed: Earl Turner;
Mus: Mischa Bakaleinkoff. From the Radio Serial and the comic book character written by
Jerry Siegel and drawn by Joe Schuster.
Cast: Kirk Alyn, Noel Neill, Lyle Talbot, Tommy Bond,
Pierre Watkin, Jack Ingram.
Several dangerous devices designed by the evil Lex Luthor and his henchmen threaten
Metropolis. Only Superman, (Alyn), can save the city.
Columbia's first film featuring the comic book superhero.
ATOMIC MONSTER (1941) see Man Made Monster
ATOMIC ROCKETSHIP (l936) see Flash Gordon
ATOMIC SPACESHIP (l936) see Flash Gordon
ATTACK OF THE SPIDER WOMEN (1950) see Mesa of
the Lost Women
AU SECOURS! (1923/Gance) 18mins. BW. Silent. France.
Credits: Dir. & Prod: Abel Gance; Sc: Abel Gance
& Max Linder; Ph: Georges Specht.
Cast: Max Linder, Gina Palerme, Jean Toulot.
Max, (Linder), accepts a wager that he will not be able to stay among the ghosts at the
Manoir de la Marjolaine without calling for help before midnight. Max enters the
oppressive manor and witnesses a tiger carrying its head and a gigantic skeleton before
seeing his sweetheart menaced by a brutish rapist. When Max calls for help, the monstrous
man is revealed to be just another illusion staged to ensure Max loses the bet.
When comedian Linder returned to France from America, he bet that Gance could not make a
film within three days. Gance accepted and created this ghostly parody. Unfortunately, as
Linder was still under American contract at the time, the film was never shown until it
appeared on French television in 1958.
L'AUBERGE ENSORCELEE (1897/Star Films) 130feet. BW. Silent.
France.
Aka: THE BEWITCHED INN.
Credits: Georges
Melies.
A traveller, (Melies), is frightened when his candle moves, a chair collapses and his
clothes come to life.
One of Melies' nine films of the year.
L' AUBERGE ROUGE (1923/Pathe) 5900 feet. BW. Silent. France.
Aka: THE RED INN.
Credits: Dir. & Sc: Jean Epstein; Ph: Raoul
Abourdier, Roger Hubert & Robert Lefebvre.
Based on "Une Tenebreuse Affaire" by Honore de Belzac. |
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Cast: Gina Manes, Leon
Mathot, Jacques Christiany, Courtois.
An early psychological horror film.DIE AUGEN DER MUMIE MA (1918/UFA./Union)
6 reels BW. Silent. Germany.
Aka: EYES OF THE MUMMY; DIE MUMIE MA.
Credits: Dir: Ernst Lubitsch; Sc: Hans Kraly & Emil
Rameau; Ph: Alfred Hansen; Sets: Kurt Richter.
Cast: Emil Jannings, Pola
Negri, Harry Liedtke, Max Lawrence.
During a study tour of Egypt, young painter Alfred Wendlund, (Liedtke), encounters the
supposed ancient Ma, (Negri), near a tomb where Radu, (Jannings), guards her. In
actuality, the girl and Radu are running a scam for the visiting tourists. Bringing her to
Europe, Alfred teaches her to read and write after which she becomes a famous dancer.
Meanwhile, Duke Hohenfels also returns from Egypt, accompanied by Radu, who tries to find
his partner, the unfaithful Ma.
An early film from Ernst Lubitsch, whose success story after his emigration to Hollywood
is responsible for some of the better American musicals and comedies.
THE AUTOMATIC MOTORIST (1911/Kineto) BW. Silent. UK.
Credits: Dir: Walter R. Booth.
A robotic driver chauffeurs a honeymooning couple to the planet Saturn and under the sea.
AUTOPSY (1947) see Scared to Death
AVARICE (1917/IMP./Universal) BW. Silent.
Credits: Dir. & Sc: E. Magnis Ingleton.
Cast: Claire McDowell, T.D. Crittenden, Leo Pearson,
Betty Schade.
Death, (Crittenden), reviews the life of a miserly woman, (McDowell).
THE AVENGING CONSCIENCE (1914/Mutual/Reliance) 58mins. 6
reels. Tinted. Silent. US. Aka: THOU SHALT NOT KILL.
Credits: Dir., Prod. & Sc: D.W. Griffith; Ph: G.W.
(Billy) Bitzer; Ed: James Smith & Rose Richtell. Based on "The Tell-Tale
Heart", "Annabel Lee", and other Edgar Allan Poe short stories.
Cast: Henry B. Walthall, Blanche Sweet, Dorothy Gish,
Donald Crisp, Spottiswoode Aitken, Mae Marsh, George Seigmann, Ralph Lewis, Robert Harron,
Josephine Crowell, George A. Beranger.
A young man, (Walthall), frustrated for the love of a woman, (Sweet), is opposed by his
uncle , (Aiken). After visions of Christ on the cross and a spider trapping a fly in its
web, the man accepts that murder is an intrical part of life, so he kills his uncle and
walls up the body.
An early version of the macabre tale about a murdered corpse whose heart won't stop
beating and drives his killer insane. With a plethora of double-exposures coupled with
effective editing, it is something of a disappointment that the denouncement reveals that
the images were all a dream by someone reading Edgar Allan Poe.
THE AVENGING HAND (1915) see The Wraith of the Tomb
THE AVENGING HAND (1936/Stafford Films) 64mins. BW. UK. |
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Credits: Dir: Frank
Richardson; Prod: John Stafford; Sc: Reginald Long; Ph: James Wilson; Ed: Sidney Cole;
Art: MacDonald Sutherland; Mus: Jack Beaver.
Cast: Noah Beery, Kathleen Kelly, Louis Borell, Charles Oliver, Reginald Long, Penelope Parkes, Tarver Penna,
Joan Kemp-Welch.
A cloaked murderer lurks in and about the shadows of London searching for a stolen hoard.
An American gangster, (Beery), tries to track the killer.
Despite all the spooky goings on, this is a slow moving mystery melodrama built around
Beery. THE AVENGING SPECTRE (1914) see Spettro Vendicatore
AVENTURES DE DON QUICHOTTE (1908/Star Film) 355 feet. BW.
Silent. France.
Aka: INCIDENT FROM DON QUIXOTE.
Credits: Georges Melies.
A suit of armour is transformed into a giant spider.
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Classic Horror Movies
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