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MARK OF TERROR (1931) see Drums of JeopardyMARK OF THE
GORILLA (1950/Columbia) 68mins. BW. US.
Credits: Dir: William Berke.
Cast: Johnny Weissmuller, Trudy Marshall, Suzanne
Dalbert, Onslow Stevens, Slelmer Jackson, Robert Purcell, Pierce Lyden.
Jungle Jim, (Weissmuller), encounters Nazis disguised as apes searching for gold.
A nonsensical entry to the Jungle Jim series.
MARK OF THE VAMPIRE (1935/MGM.) 60mins. (Originally 80mins.)
BW. US.
Aka: VAMPIRES OF PRAGUE; VAMPIRES OF THE NIGHT.
Credits: Dir: Tod Browning;
Prod: Edward J. Mannix; Sc: Guy Endore & Bernard Schubert; Ph: James Wong Howe; Ed:
Ben Lewis; Art: Cedric Gibbons, Harry Oliver & Edwin B. Willis; Sfx: Warren Newcombe;
Mu: Jack Dawn & William Tuttle; Mus: Edward Ward, Domenico Savino & Dr. William
Axt. From the story "The Vampires of Prague" and "The Hypnotist" by
Tod Browning.
Cast: Lionel Barrymore,
Jean Hersholt, Elizabeth Allen, Bela Lugosi, Carol Borland, Lionel Atwill, Henry Wadsworth, Donald Meek, Jessie Ralph, Ivan Simpson, Holmes Herbert, James
Bradbury Jnr., Franklyn Ardell, Michael Visaroff, Lelia
Bennett, June Gittleson, John George, Egon Brecher, Rosemary Goltz, Guy Bellis, Claire Vedera, Mrs.
Lesovosky, Torben Meyer, Lionel Belmore, Henry Stephenson,
James Mercer, Doris Lloyd, Greta Meyer .
"Doomed a living death!...the vampires rise up in amazing revolt against all
mankind...and exact a terrible revenge! Drama so startling you'll relish each quivering
moment of it!"
Visoka is a small Czechloslovakian village plagued by the vampir es Count Mora and his
daughter Luna living at Borotyn Castle. A year later a police inspector and Professor
Zelin, (Barrymore), hire actors, (Lugosi & Borland), to resurrect the legend and scare
a murderer to confess the murder of Sir Karrell Borotyn, (Herbert), who was found drained
of blood.
Despite the faltering script, there are some splendid visual moments including a memorable
scene in which Borland descends from a castle ceiling on batwings.
A remake of Browning's own London after Midnight (1927), infused
with spooky Dracula styled images and this time with two actors
playing the detective and the "vampire".
Any indication of Mora's suicidal and incestuous past was removed before the film's
release leaving the appearance of a bleeding bullet hole in the vampire's temple
unexplained.
The trailer for the film is presented by Lugosi.
THE MARRIAGE OF PSYCHE AND CUPID (1914) 3 reels. BW. Silent.
Prosperine, the Queen of the Underworld, is visited by "Psyche".
M.A.R.S. (1923) see Radio Mania
MARS ATTACKS THE WORLD (1938) see Flash Gordon's Trip to
Mars
MARS CALLING (1923) see Radio Mania
THE MARVELLOUS PEARL (1909/Cines) 1 reel. BW. Silent. Italy.
When a man possesses a pearl it casts a spell on him causing him to wander into the sea
and drown.
MASK OF DIIJON (1946/PRC.) 73mins. BW. US.
Credits: Dir: Lew Landers; Prod: Max Alexander &
Alfred Stern; Sc: Arthur St. Clair & Griffin Jay.
Cast: Erich Von Stroheim, Jeanne Bates, Edward Van Sloan, William Wright, Denise Vernac.
Diijon, (Stroheim), a once great magician, hypnotist and a student of the occult attempts
a comeback by trying to hypnotise his wife to kill a younger rival. His plan fails, and in
trying to evade capture he escapes through a warehouse of a magician's shop, but he trips
over his cat Sheba, falls onto his prop guillotine and is decapitated.
A moderate second feature, distinguished only by Stroheim's performance, his last in
America before his film career continued in Europe. |
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THE MASK OF FU MANCHU (1932/Cosmopolitan/MGM.) 70mins. BW.
Credits: Dir: Charles Brabin & Charles Vidor
(uncredited); Prod: Hunt Stroberg; Sc: Irene Kuhn, Edgar Allan Woolf & John Willard;
Ph: Gaetano Gaudio; Ed: Ben Lewis; Art: Cedric Gibbons; Electrical Fx: Kenneth Strickfaden; Mu: Cecil Holland. From the stories by Sax
Rohmer.
Cast: Boris Karloff,
Lewis Stone, Charles Starrett, Jean Hersholt, Myrna Loy, David Torrence, Karen Morley, Lawrence Grant, E. Alyn Warren, Ferdinand Gottschalk, C.
Montague Shaw, Willie Fung.
Scotland Yard's Nayland Smith, (Stone), leads an expedition into the Gobi desert to the
tomb of Mongol conqueror Genghis Kahn to retreive his golden mask and scimitar, treasures
that are vital to Fu Manchu's power over the Orient, and ultimately the rest of the world.
The diabolical Fu Manchu, (Karloff), and his daughter Fah Lo See, (Loy), subject members
of the expedition to various devices of torture including spiked walls which close inwards
on it's victims, an alligator pit, and a decapitation device to discover the w hereabouts
of the relics. Fu Manchu is eventually defeated, and the relics are sent to the bottom of
the sea to keep them out of the hands of future tyrants.
A hugely enjoyable adventure of derring do and one of Karloff's finer portrayals who
relishes in the diabolical deeds that unfold. Loy is memorable as Fu's sadistic daughter
and Strickfaden's electronic set designs remain impressive.
MGM. became alarmed at the initial box office failure of the film and decided that it was
too grotesque leading them to replace Charles Vidor with Charles Brabin and reshoot the
majority of the footage.THE MASTER MIND (1920) 6 reels. BW. Silent. US.
Credits: Dir: Kenneth Webb.
Cast: Lionel Barrymore, Gypsy O'Brien, Ralph Kellard,
Bradley Barker.
A man forces secrets from his enemies with telepathy in a quest for revenge.
MASTER MINDS (1949/Monogram) 64mins. BW. US.
Credits: Dir: Jean Yarbrough; Prod: Jan Grippo; Sc:
Charles R. Marion & Bert Lawrence; Mu: Jack P. Pierce.
Cast: Alan Napier, Glenn Strange, Jane Adams, Huntz Hall, Skelton Knaggs, Minerva Urecal, Leo
Gorcey, Bernard Gorcey, Billy Benedict, Gabriel Dell, Bennie Bartlett, David Gorcey.
One of the Bowery Boys, Satch, (Hall), can only utilise his prophetic powers when his
tooth aches. At the carnival the boy's ability interests a mad scientist, (Napier), and
his gigantic assistant, (Strange), who want to use the boy's brain and put it into
"Atlas the beast-man"'s head while trying to create a race of superbeings from
human lymphatic glands.
Dated Bowery Boys nonsense strictly for fans.
THE MASTER MYSTERY (1919/Octagon) BW. Silent. Serial. 15 Chapters. US.
Credits: Dir: Burton King; Prod: Benjamin A. Rolfe;
Sc: Arthur B. Reeve & Charles A. Logue.
Cast: Harry Houdini, Marguerite Marsh, William Pike,
Ruth Stonehouse, Charles Graham, Floyd Buckley, Jack Burns, Edna Britton.
Quentin Lock, (Houdini), faces "Q the Automaton", (Buckley), a clunky
boiler-plated robot.
An early mystery serial of which the first fourteen episodes were not registered for
copyright under any titles. Chapter fifteen is titled "Unmasking of the
Automaton".
THE MECHANICAL BUTCHER (1895/August & Louis Lumiere) BW.
Silent. France.
Believed to be the first science fiction film.
A MEDIEVAL MYSTERY (1901) see The Magic Sword
THE MEDIUM (1934) 38mins. BW. UK.
Credits: Dir: Vernon Sewell. From the play
"L'Angoisse" by Jose Levy.
A psychic phenomenon thriller with low-key thrills.
THE MEDIUM'S NEMESIS (1913/Mutual) 2 reels. BW. Silent. US.
At a seance, a man who believes himself to be a murderer faces the spirit of his supposed
victim.
MEET THE GHOSTS (1948) see Abbott and Costello Meet
Frankenstein
MEETING AT MIDNIGHT (1944) see Black Magic
MEIN GOTT, FRANKENSTEIN (1948) see Abbott and Costello Meet
Frankenstein |
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MELODY IN THE DARK (1948/Advent) 68mins. BW. UK.
Credits: Dir. & Prod: Robert Jordan Hill; Sc:
Robert Jordan Hill & John Guillerman; Ph: Jo Jago.
Cast: Ben Wrigley, Richard Thorpe, Eunice Grayson,
Dawn Lesley, Myrette Morven, Russell Westwood, Lionel Newbold, Ida Patlanski, Neville
Sidney, Alan Dean, Carl Carlisle, Maisie Weldon, The Keynotes, The Stardusters, The London
Lovelies.
A company of out of work entertainers stay at a mansion owned by their leading lady where
they seem to be haunted by a ghost of the woman's dead uncle. The housekeeper and her
husband have locked the man away expecting to inherit his fortune when people believe he
is dead.
A barely passable spooky comedy musical.LE MÉLOMANE (1903/Star
Films) 168 feet. BW. Silent. France.
Aka: THE MELOMANIAC.
Credits: Georges Méliès.
Melies removes his head six times and tosses the grimacing heads onto telegraph wires
where they remain to form the musical notes of "God Save The King" played by an
assembly of girls and a drummer.
THE MELOMANIAC (1903) see Le Mélomane
MEN WITH STEEL FACES (1940) see Phantom Empire
THE MENACE (1932/Colombia) 64mins. BW.
Credits: Dir: Roy William Neill; Sc: Dorothy Howell,
Charles Logue & Roy Chanslor.
Based on the novel "The Feathered Serpent" by Edgar Wallace.
Cast: Walter Byron, H.B. Warner, Bette Davis, Natalie
Moorhead, William Davidson, Halliwell Hobbes.
An escaped convict, (Byron), receives plastic surgery and returns to his home to clear his
name for the murder of his father. He returns as a stranger and attempts to find those who
really committed the crime.
This murder-mystery curio contains some atmospheric horror overtones such as the
omnipresent statue of a feathered serpent Quetzelcoatl, and mummy cases that make up a
creepy museum room in the house in which the action takes place. The climax occurs on
Halloween night during a party in which even the band is heavily costumed and may be the
only horror movie of the thirties to boast a real Jack-o-Lantern!
The cast includes a young Bette Davis.
(Thanks to Kenneth Strong for this review)
MENACE (1934/Paramount) 59mins. BW.
Credits: Dir: Ralph Murphy; Sc: Philip MacDonald.
Cast: Ray Milland, Montagu
Love.
An aviator and engineer, (Milland), is working on a dam construction site in British East
Africa when his superiors demand his presence at a party. Leaving in a plane during a
storm, he sees from the air that a flood has destroyed all his work on the dam and has
swept away his sister's house. His dispair causes him to commit suicide and crash the
plane. The tradegy is covered up, but the engineer's brother swears revenge for his
brother's death and escapes from the insane asylum where he has been kept and invites all
his brother's superiors to a party where he plans to enact his vengeance.
An effective old dark house thriller.
MEPHISTO (1912/Natural Colour Kinematograph Co.) 2000 feet. BW. Silent. UK.
Credits: Dir: Alfred de Manby & F. Martin
Thornton; Sc: Alfred de Manby & Leedham Bantock.
Cast: Alfred de Manby.
Manby portrays Mephisto in three sequences filmed from the stage production which were
later used in The Tempter (1913).
MEPHISTO AND THE MAIDEN (1909/Selig Polyscope Co.) 15mins. BW. Silent. US.
A lustful friar trades his soul with Satan in exchange for two hours with a young girl.
MEPHISTO'S SON (1905/Pathe) 2 reels. BW. Silent. France.
The Devil's son is driven away by a crucifix.
THE MERRY FROLICS OF SATAN (1905) see Les Quatre Cents
Farces du Diable
THE MESA OF LOST WOMEN (1949/Wade Williams Prod./Howco)
67mins. BW. US.
Released: 1952. Aka: LOST WOMEN; ATTACK OF THE SPIDER WOMEN.
Credits: Dir: Herbert Tevos & Ron Ormond; Prod: G.
William Perkins & Melvin Gale; Ex.Prod: J. Francis White Jnr. & Joy N. Houck; Sc:
Herbert Tevos; Ph: Karl Struss & Gilbert Warrenton; Ed: Hugh Winn, Ray H. Lockert
& W. Donn Hayes; Sets: Theodore Offenbecker; Sfx: Ray Mercer & Centaur
Productions; Mu: Paul Stanhope & Harry Ross; Mus: Hoyt S. Curtin.
Cast: Jackie Coogan, Richard Travis, Tandra Quinn,
Mona McKinnon, Mary Hill, Allan Nixon, Lyle Talbot, Robert Knapp, Katina Vea, Fred Kelsey,
S amuel Wu, Chris Pin Martin, Harmon Stevens, Nico Lek, Kelly Drake, George Burrows, John
Martin, Candy Collins, Delores Fuller, Dean Reisner, Sherry Moreland, Doris Lee Price,
Mona McKinnon, Ginger Sherry, John George, Angelo Rossitto. |
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"Beautiful! Kissable! Lovable! But deadlier than a
black widow spider!"
Dr. Masterson, (Stevens), arrives in the Muerto desert in Mexico on the invitation of the
mysterious Dr. Aranya, (Coogan), who has managed to combine tarantula spider
characteristics with native women, creating beautiful creatures with insect emotions and a
desire to kill. Masterson refuses to become a part of Aranya's research and is promptly
lobotomised, but he manages to lead a group of air crash survivors to the laboratory and
blow it up. Masterson later recovers his sanity.
One of the worst schlock B-movies that graced the cinemas in the 50's. Coogan is sadly
miscast, and the incessant spanish guitar music can wear down the most ardent fan of the
genre.THE MESMERIST (1898/G.A.S. Films) 75 feet. BW. Silent. UK.
Credits: George Albert Smith.
A professor manages to draw the spirit from a young girl's body and then return it.
THE MESMERIST (1915/Neptune) 1250 feet. BW. Silent. UK.
Credits: Dir: Percy Nash.
Cast: Douglas Payne.
A hypnotist, (Payne), forces his victims to steal.
MESSAGE FROM MARS (1913/Nicholas-Ormsby Scott/UK Films) 4000 feet. BW. Silent.
UK.
Credits: Dir. & Sc: J. Wallett Walker; Prod:
Nicholas-Ormsby Scott. From a play by Richard Ganthony.
Cast: Charles Hawtry Snr., E. Holman Clark, Crissie
Bell, Hubert Willis, Frank Hector, Kate Tyndale, Evelyn Beaumont, Eileen Temple, R.
Crompton, B. Stanmore, Tonie Reith.
A Martian is sent to Earth to admonish a selfish man while the alien's leader watches his
progress.
Re-made in 1921.
A MESSAGE FROM MARS (1921/Metro) 6 reels. BW. Silent. US.
Credits: Prod: Maxwell Karger; Sc: Arthur Zellner
& Arthur Maude; Ph: Arthur Martinelli.
Based on the play by Richard Gathoney.
Cast: Bert Lytell, Raye Dean, Leonard Mudie, Frank
Currier, Maude Milton, Gordon Ash.
A spectral messenger from Mars arrives on Earth and wanders through the streets pointing
out the needs of the poor. |
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METROPOLIS (1926/UFA.) 4189 metres. 10 reels. 150mins. (most prints
run 120mins.) BW. Silent. Germany.
Credits: Dir: Fritz Lang;
Prod: Erich Pommer; Sc: Fritz Lang & Thea Von Harbou; Ph:
Karl Freund & Gunther Rittau; Sfx: Eugen Schufftan;
Models & Des: Otto Hunte, Erich Kettlehut & Karl Vollbrecht; Costumes: Ann
Wilkomm; Sculptures: Walter Schultze-Middendorf; Mus: Gottfried Huppertz.
From a novel by Thea Von Harbou and influenced by Yevgeny Zamatian's novel
"Wir".
Cast: Brigitte Helm, Rudolph Klein-Rogge, Fritz Rasp, Theodore Loos, Heinrich Georg,
Alfred Abel, Gustav Frohlich, Erwin Biswanger, Olaf Storm, Hanns Leo Reich, Georg John,
Margaretta Langer, Heinrich Gotho, Max Dietze, Walter Kuhle, Margarete Lanner, Max Dietze,
Arthur Reinhard, Erwin Vater, Grete Berger, Olly Buheim, Ellen Frey, Lisa Gray, Rose
Lichtenstein, Helene Weigel, Beatrice Garga, Anny Hintze, Helen Von Munchofen, Hilda
Woitscheff, Fritz Alberti, Curt Siodmak.
In a future society workers live below ground and toil for the elite who live above ground
in magnificent splendour. The city's ruler, John Frederson, (Abel), has a son, Freder,
(Frohlich), who starts to question the inhumanity of the system when he falls in love with
one of the workers named Maria, (Helm). The girl tries to quell a revolt against the
system with the help of Freder while waiting for a mediator, but Rotwang, (Klein-Rogge), a
mad scientist hired by the city's ruler, captures Maria and makes a robot duplicate of her
to lead the masses to revolt in a way that will make the rebellion easy to quell. The
scientist and the city's ruler lose control of the robot and most of Metropolis is
destroyed when they flood the worker's quarters. The workers burn the robot, the scientist
goes insane and the ruler becomes sympathetic to reform.
A science fiction classic that contains scenes of undeniable power and political insight,
although Lang considered it to be his weakest production. The stunning sets, inspired by
the skyscrapers of New York when Lang visited the city, and the magnitude of the
production makes up for the illogical plot.
The film was shot over a period of eighteen months, using 750 secondary actors, and over
30,000 extras, putting UFA. into a financial crisis when it was unsuccessful upon release.
In 1927 it was re-edited for the American market losing about two reels of footage, but
during the time that Paramount bought the company, the original three hour negative was
destroyed.
The acting is refreshingly modern except for Frohlich as Freder who seems to believe that
acting is an excuse to make as many facial contortions as possible.
The romantic subplot of John Frederson, (Abel), stealing Freder's mother away from the
Engineer mirrors Lang's romance that stole Thea von Harbou away from actor Rudolf
Klein-Rogge wriiten into the script by Harbou herself.
Bridgitte Helm was badly bruised during the scene leaping from the cathederal roof and
also caught fire when the robot is burnt at the stake.
1984 saw a restoration of the avaliable print which was unfortunately colourised and put
to an inappropriate rock score by Giorgio Moroder.
Thea Von Harbou, who was a Nazi sympathiser, did not leave Germany with her husband Fritz
Lang, when he fled to America as the Nazis rose to power.
Like other directors, Lang insisted that his hands appeared somewhere in his films.MEXICAN
SPITFIRE SEES A GHOST (1942/RKO.) 70mins. US.
Credits: Dir: Leslie Goodwins.
Cast: Lupe Velez, Leon Errol, Charles
"Buddy" Rogers, Elisabeth Risdon, Donald McBride, Minna Gombell, Mantan
Moreland.
A weak "haunted" house comedy and the fifth in the series of Mexican Spitfire
films featuring the beautiful Velez and comedian Errol. Each entry became more derivative
of the original success MEXICAN SPITFIRE.
MIDNIGHT (1916/IMP/Universal) 1 reel. BW. Silent. US.
Credits: Sc: E.J. Clawson.
A priest is led to a dying man by a ghostly girl.
MIDNIGHT AT MADAME TUSSAUDS (1936/Premier Sound
Films/Paramount) 74mins. BW. UK.
Aka: MIDNIGHT AT THE WAX MUSEUM (US).
Credits: Dir: George Pearson; Prod: James Steven
Edwards; Sc: Roger MacDougall & Kim Peacock; Ph: Jimmy Berger; Ed: E.D.G. Pilkington;
Art: Donald Russell. From a story by James Steven Edwards & Roger MacDougall.
Cast: James Carew, Lucille Lisle, Charles Oliver, Lydia Sherwood, Kim Peacock, Patrick Barr,
William Hartnell, Bernard Miles.
Sir Clive Cheyne, (Carew), accepts a bet of £100 from a financeer to spend the night in
the "Chamber of Horrors" at London's famous wax museum, however, the financeer
plans to kill Cheyne as he has fallen in love with the man's ward. In his murderous
attempt the man only manages to wound Cheyne and then falls into the torture pit and dies.
A stagey and weak thriller filmed in Madame Tussaud's wax museum with little suspense and
no horror elements. Silent film director Pearson obviously struggled with the dialogue.
MIDNIGHT AT THE WAX MUSEUM (1936) see Midnight at Madame
Tussauds |
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A MIDNIGHT BELL (1921/First National) 6 reels. BW. Silent. US.
Credits: Dir: Albert Ray.
Cast: Charles Ray, Donald MacDonald.
A man is dared to spend the night in a haunted church.A MIDNIGHT EPISODE (1899)
see Un Bon Lit
MIDNIGHT FACES (1926/Otto K. Schrier Prod.) 54mins. BW. Silent. US.
Credits: Dir. & Sc: Bennett Cohn; Prod: Otto K.
Schreier; Ph: King Grey; Ed: Fred Bain; Electrical Fx: Howard Bush; Tech.Fx: Clyde
Whittaker; Titles: Forrest K. Sheldon.
Cast: Francis X. Bushman Jnr., Jack Perrin, Kathryn
McGuire, Edward Piel Snr., Charles Belcher, Nora Cecil, Al Hallett, Martin Turner, Andy
Waldron, Eddie Dennis, Larry Fisher.
Lynn Claymore, (Bushman Jnr.), arrives at the estate he has inherited from his uncle,
Peter Martin, in the Florida Bayou with the executor of the will, Richard Mason, (Perrin),
and his black manservant Trohelius Washington Snapp, (Turner). Other family members are
gathered at the estate who are plagued by disappearing corpses, poisoned wine, a cloaked
phantom and a Chinese Mandarin.
An independent feature that quite remarkably pre-dates all the standard "old dark
house" trappings later employed the following year for Paul
Leni's The Cat and the Canary, considered by most to have
started the popular sub-genre. |
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MIDNIGHT MANHUNT (1945/Paramount) BW. US.
Credits: Dir: William C. Thomas.
Cast: George
Zucco, Leo Gorcey, William Gargan, Ann Savage.
A group of people search a wax museum for a killer.
A weak thriller.MIDNIGHT MYSTERY (1930) BW. US.
Credits: Dir: George B. Seitz.
Cast: Betty Compson, Lowell Sherman, Raymond Hatton.
A rarely seen thriller set during a house party on a remote island.
THE MIDNIGHT SPECTRE (1915) see Lo Spettro di Mezzan Otte
THE MIDNIGHT SUMMONS (1924) see The Further Mysteries of
Dr. Fu Manchu
MIDNIGHT WARNING (1932/Mayfair Pictures) 63mins. BW. US.
Credits: Dir: Spencer Gordon
Bennet; Sc: John Thomas Neville; Ph: Jules Cronjager; Ed: Byron Robinson; Mus: Lee
Zahler. From a story by Norman Battle.
Cast: William "Stage" Boyd, Claudia Dell,
Huntley Gordon, John Harron, Hooper Atchley, Lloyd Whitlock, Phillips Smalley, Lloyd
Ingraham, Henry Hall, Lon Poff, Art Winkler.
Enid Van Buren, (Dell), returns from the Orient and stays at a a hotel with her brother,
but when he disappears the hotel personnel deny that t hey ever saw him. Detective William
Cornish, (Boyd), aids Enid in unlocking the mystery, but she is driven to madness by a
mysterious voice she believes to be her brother's. Pieces of bone are found in the hotel
incinerator when it transpires that the hotel owners conspired to destroy the man's body
because he died of the bubonic plague.
MIGHTY JOE YOUNG (1949/RKO.) 94mins. BW. with a tinted
sequence.
Aka: MR. JOSEPH YOUNG OF AFRICA.
Credits: Dir: Ernest B.
Schoedsack; Prod: Merian C. Cooper; Ex.Prod: John Ford; Sc: Ruth Rose (Mrs.
Schoedsack); Ph: J. Roy Hunt; Ed: Ted Cheeseman; Art: James Basevi; Ph.Fx: Harold Stine
& Bert Willis; Sfx: Willis O'Brien, Ray Harryhausen
& Marcel Delgado; Co-Fx: George Lofgren, Linwood G. Dunn & Fitch Fulton; Mus: Roy
Webb & Constan tin Bakalenikoff. From a story by Merian C. Cooper.
Cast: Terry Moore, Ben Johnson, Robert Armstrong,
Frank McHugh, Douglas Fowley, Denis Green, Paul Guilfoyle, Nester Paiva, Regis Toomey,
Lora Lee Michel, James Flavin, Primo Carnera, Swedish Angel, Bomber Kulkavitch, Dennis
Green, Dale Van Sickel, Wee Willie Davis, Sammy Stein, Karl David, Eddie Parker.
"The ten most terrific thrills ever pictured."
Nightclub promoter Maxie O'Hara, (Armstrong), embarks on a journey to Africa to bring back
a sensation for his nightclub in Hollywood. In the African wilderness his expedition
encounters a fifteen foot gorilla named Joe and a young girl, (Moore), who considers the
beast to be her pet. O'Hara takes them to America, but the girl becomes concerned when Joe
is locked in a cage day after day, until one evening the gorilla escapes to cause havoc in
Hollywood. Sentenced to be shot, O'Hara helps smuggle Joe and the girl away, but Joe risks
his life to save some orphans from a fire at their orphanage. Championed as a hero, Joe
and the girl are allowed to return to Africa.
A charming parody of King Kong that includes shots from some of
Willis O'Brien's earlier abandoned projects, although most of the animation was created by
O'Brien's 29 year old protogee Harryhausen.
Originally the last sequence was colour tinted.
The special effects team won an Academy Award. John Ford remains uncredited for some
second unit photography.
MINGLING SPIRITS (1916/Nestor) 1 reel. BW. Silent. US.
Credits: Prod: Al Christie; Sc: Al Christie &
Robert McGowan.
Cast: Lee Moran, Eddie Lyons, Betty Compson.
A spiritualist is frightened by a man disguised as the Devil.
THE MINOTAUR (1910/Vitagraph) 2 reels. BW. Silent. US.
Depicts the legend of Theseus and the Minotaur.
THE MIRACLE (1923) see The Mystery of Dr. Fu Manchu
THE MIRACLE MAN (1919/Paramount/Artcraft) 8 reels. BW.
Silent. US.
Credits: Dir. Prod. & Sc: George Loane Tucker; Ph:
Philip Rosen & Ernest Palmer. From a novel by Frank L. Packard & Robert H. Davis,
and the play by George M. Cohan.
Cast: Lon Chaney, Frankie
Lee, Joseph Dowling, Betty Compson, Thomas Meighan, J.M. Dumont, Lucille Hutton, W. Lawson
Butt, Ruby Lafayette, Elinor Fair, F.A. Turner.
Four crooks try to take financial advantage of a blind faith healer known as the
Patriarch, (Dowling), by one of them known as The Frog, (Chaney), who is able to contort
his body to appear crippled, pretending to be cured by the Patriarch in front of a large
group of spectators. When a truely crippled boy throws down his crutches and runs to the
Miracle Man, the virtue of a faith healer and their witness to a true miracle reforms the
crooks who give up their life of crime.
Chaney chose paralysis as his character's handicap as it avoided prolonged make up
sessions between the times he had to appear normally for the cameras.
The film gave birth to the phrase: "Don't step on it, it may be Lon
Chaney!" and brought him to the attention of Hollywood for his outstanding
ability to effectively unfurl his "crippled" body in front of the cameras.
Tucker chose Chaney only after interviewing a number of real contortionists who
unfortunately couldn't act.
Only two fragments of the film remain in existence, one is of the climactic healing scene.
Remade with sound in 1932.
THE MIRACLE MAN (1932/Paramount) 85mins. BW. US.
Credits: Dir: Norman Z. McLeod; Sc: Waldemar Young
& Samuel Hoffenstein; Ph: David Abel; Mus: W. Franke Harling. From a story by Frank L.
Packard & Robert H. Davis, and a play by George M. Cohan.
Cast: Sylvia Sidney, Chester Morris, Irving Pichel, John Wray, Robert Coogan, Hobart Bosworth, Boris Karloff, Ned Sparks, Virginia Bruce, Lloyd Hughes,
Florine McKinney, Frank Darien, Lew Kelly, Jackie Searle.
A trio of big city crooks led by John Madison, (Morris), exploit a faith healer known as
the Patriarch, (Bosworth), by faking a miracle in front of a crowd while Madison's
girlfriend Helen, (Sidney), collects money from them for a fictitious chapel, but when the
Patriarch performs a genuine miracle, the gang reform their wicked ways and build a
church.
A modest remake of Lon Chaney's 1919 film of the same title with John Wray in Chaney's
role as The Frog. |
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MIRACLES FOR SALE (1939/MGM.) 68mins. BW.
Credits: Dir: Tod Browning;
Sc: James Edward Grant, Marion Parsonnet & Harry Ruskin; Ph: Charles Lawton. From the
novel "Death in a Top Hat" by Clayton Rawson.
Cast: Robert Young, Frank Craven, Henry Hull, Lee Bowman, William Demarest.
An illusionist catches a murderer.
An unexciting occult murder mystery with a few simple illusions.THE MIRROR OF LIFE (1909/Pathe)
5mins. BW. Silent. France.
A young couple gazing into an enchanted mirror see themselves growing older.
THE MISER'S CONVERSION (1914/Thanhouser) BW. Silent. US.
Credits: Thanhouser.
Cast: Sidney Bracy, Harry Benham, Miss Beautiful.
A 75 year old miser, (Bracy), obsessed with Darwin's theories of evolution, exchanges his
daughter for a rejuvination serum from the Maharajah of Lahaif. The man takes a couple of
drops, loses his wrinkles and reverts to forty years of age, but when the Maharajah's back
is turned the miser drinks the entire contents of the bottle and turns into an ape. |
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The first film to ever depict a transformation by using a
series of dissolves with footage of the character's different stages of makeup. This was
later used to great effect in many films including Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
Hyde (1932) and The Wolfman (1941). THE MISER'S DOOM (1899/Robert
W. Paul) 220feet. BW. Silent. UK.
Credits: Walter R. Booth.
After a miser causes the death of a woman, he is haunted by her spirit and dies of shock.
As an admirer of Melies achievements Paul, filmed this, his first film, in a one stage
studio he built himself in North London, and hired Booth, who like Melies was also a stage
magician, to create trick films.
MISS FAUST (1909/Pathe) 1 reel. BW. Silent. France.
Miss Faust trades her soul for youth and beauty.
A distaff adaptation of the Faust legend. |
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MISS JEKYLL AND MADAME HYDE (1915/Vitagraph)
3 reels. BW. Silent. US.
Credits: Dir: Charles L. Gaskill.
Cast: Helen Gardner, Paul Scardon. THE MISSING GUEST (1938/Universal) 68mins. BW. US.
Credits: Dir: John Rawlins; Prod: Barney A. Sarecky;
Sc: Charles Martin & Paul Perez; Ph: Milton Krasner; Ed: Frank Gross; Art: Jack
Otterson; Tech: Robert Pritchard; Mus: Charles Previn.
Cast: William Lundigan, Paul Kelly, Constance Moore,
Selmer Jackson, Edwin Stanley, Billy Wayne, George Cooper, Patrick J. Kelly, Florence Wix,
Harlan Briggs, Pat C. Flick, Guy Usher, Margo Yoder, Hooper Atchley, Michael Slade, John
Harmon, George Ovey, Thomas Carr, Myrtis Crinley, Allen Fox, Frank McCarroll, Leonard
Sues, Ray Parker, Billy Engle.
Twenty years ago Sam Kirkland died when he spent a night in the Blue Room at the sinister
Baldrich mansion on the South Shore of Long Island. A reporter named "Scoop"
Hanlon, (Kelly), investigates the disappearence and finds that the strange house seems to
lure people to it.
A dismal remake of the mystery The Secret of the Blue Room.
THE MISSING HEAD (1945) see Strange Confession
THE MISSING LINK (1927/Warner Bros.) 7 reels. BW. UK. US.
Credits: Dir: Charles F. Reisner; Sc: Darryl F.
Zanuck; Ph: Devereaux Jennings & Fred West.
Cast: Syd Chaplin, Ruth Hiatt, Tom McGuire, Craufurd
Kent, Nick Cogley, Sam Baker, Akka the Chimp, Otto Fries, Kewpie Morgan.
Poet and misogynist Arthur Wells, (Chaplin), and big-game hunter Lord Dryden, (Kent),
travel with others to Africa where they plan to hunt for the legendary ape-beast, the
Missing Link, (Baker). When the creature kidnaps Beatrice Braden, (Hiatt), Arthur
overcomes his hatred of women to rescue her, while Dryden accidentally shoots the
creature.
A tame farce with very few redeeming qualities.
THE MISSING MUMMY (1915/Kalem) BW. Silent. US.
Cast: Bud Duncan, Charles Inslee, Ethel Teare.
A man disguises himself as a mummy.
MR. GRIGGS RETURNS (1946) see The Cockeyed Miracle
MISTER JOSEPH YOUNG OF AFRICA (1949) see Mighty Joe Young
MR. TVARDOVSKI (1916) see Pan Tvardovski
EL MISTERIO DEL ROSTRO PALIDO (1935/Productions Alcayde) BW. Mexico.
Credits: Dir., Sc. & Ed: Juan Bustillo Ora; Prod:
Jose Alcayde & Alberto Monroy; Des: Carlos Toussaint; Mu: German Cueto; Mus: Federico
Ruiz.
Cast: Carlos Villarias, Joaquin Busquets, Rene
Cardona, Jose Cortes, Abraham Galan, Natalia Ortiz, Beatriz Ramos, Manuel Noriega.
A scientist, (Villarias), is obssessed with finding a cure for leprosy, the same disease
that killed his father. The scientist's son reluctantly joins his father on an expedition
into the mountains to research native medicines and aids him with his grisly experiments.
After months pass, the scientist returns alone back to his decaying art-deco mansion and
is greeted by mysterious violin music and a hooded figure wearing a wax mask wandering
through the grounds. The strange figure is revealed to be the scientist's son, turned
monstrous by his father's experiments. The increasingly demented scientist murders anyone
who stumbles on the truth.
Villarias, best known for his performance in the Spanish version of Dracula,
is somewhat more restrained in this creepy mystery tale. Considered to be one of the most
relentlessly grim Mexican horror films of the thirties despite lacking the slickness and
production values of the Universal horrors.
Rene Cardona later directed thrillers and horror films during the forties and fifties.
THE MISTLETOE BOUGH (1904/Clarendon) 500 feet. BW. Silent. UK.
Credits: Dir: Percy Stow. Based on a poem by E.T.
Bayley.
A bride vanishes at her wedding. Thirty years later the groom, prompted by a vision, opens
a chest and discovers her skeleton.
THE MISTRESS OF ATLANTIS (1932) see L'Atlantide |
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THE MODERN DR. JEKYLL (1908) see Dr. Jekyll and
Mr.HydeTHE MODERN SPHINX (1916/American) 3 reels. BW. Silent. US.
Credits: Dir: Charles Bennett.
Cast: Winifred Greenwood, Edward Coxen, Robert Klein,
George Field, Nan Christy, Charles Newton.
An ancient Egyptian girl is placed in suspended animation for 3,000 years by her
astrologer father, and awakes in the present to have a tragic love affair and commit
suicide, but she finds herself alive and unharmed back in ancient Egypt.
A MODERN YARN (1911/Pathe) 6mins. BW. Silent. France.
A man driving a fantastic car travels on the ocean floor and encounters strange sea
monsters.
MOERDER UNTER UNS (1931) see M
LA MOMIE DU ROI (1909/Lux) 1 reel. BW. Silent. France.
Aka: THE MUMMY OF THE KING OF RAMSEES.
Credits: Dir: Gerard Bourgeois.
The mummy of the King of Ramsees is brought to life by a professor. |
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LE MONDE TREMBLERA (1939/P.C.C.) BW. France.
Aka: LA REVOLTE DES VIVANTS; THE DEATH PREDICTER; THE WORLD WILL SHAKE.
Credits: Dir: Richard Pottier; Sc: Henri-Georges
Clouzet & J. Villard.
From a story by Charles Robert Dumas & R.F. Didelot.
Cast: Erich von Stroheim, Claude Dauphin, Madeleine
Sologne, Carette, Roger Duchesne, Armand Bernard, Mady Berry, Christiane Delyne.
A machine that can accurately predict people's time of death creates enough social
disorder that many people commit murder and suicide.MONEY TO BURN (1922/Fox) 5
reels. BW. Silent. US.
Credits: Dir: Rowland V. Lee; Sc: Jack Strumwasser;
Ph: David Abel.
Cast: William Russell, Sylvia Breamer, Hallam Cooley,
Harvey Clark.
A man buys a house which is supposedly haunted.
A MONKEY BITE (1911/Pathe) 1 reel. BW. Silent. France.
Those who are bitten by a monkey begin to act like apes.
THE MONKEY MAN (1908) BW. Silent. France.
After a sugeon replaces a patient's brain with a monkey's brain he is pleased to see that
the man acts like an ape and takes him for a walk through the streets. |
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THE MONKEY TALKS (1927/Fox) 6 reels. BW. Silent. US.
Credits: Dir: Raoul Walsh; Prod: William Fox; Sc: L.G.
Rigby; Ph: L. William O'Connell; Mu. & Monkey suit Des: Jack
P. Pierce. From a play by Rene Frauchois.
Cast: Jacques Lerner, Olive Borden, Don Alvarado,
Malcolm Waite, Raymond Hitchcock, Ted McNamara, Jane Winton, August Tollaire.
"The sensational novelty stage hit of New York, London and Paris!"
A midgit named Jocko, (Lerner), who masquerades as a talking ape for the circus, is in
love with the beautiful high wire performer Olivette, (Borden), but his rival for her
affections, the lion tamer, kidnaps Jocko and replaces him with a real ape. Not knowing of
the exchange, Olivette approaches the dangerous creature and is rescued in the nick of
time by Jocko who has escaped from his captivity. Unfortunately Jocko is fatally injured
saving Olivette's life and he dies in her arms.THE MONKEY'S PAW (1915/Magnet)
2800feet. BW. Silent. UK.
Credits: Dir: Sidney Northcote. From the story by W.W.
Jacobs
Cast: John Lawson.
A strange monkey's paw grants John White, (Lawson), three wishes.
THE MONKEY'S PAW (1923/Artistic) 5700feet. BW. Silent. UK.
Credits: Dir: Manning Haynes; Prod: George Redman; Sc:
Lydia Hayward. From the story by W.W. Jacobs.
Cast: Moore Marriott, Marie Ault, Charles Ashton,
Johnny Butt, A.B. Imeson, George Wynn, Tom Coventry.
A mother wishes on a strange mummified monkey's paw for her dead son to be brought back to
life.
THE MONKEY'S PAW (1932) US.
Credits: Dir: Wesley Ruggles. From the story by W.W.
Jacobs.
Cast: Bramwell Fletcher,
C. Aubrey Smith, Louise Carter, Ivan Simpson.
A mother wishes on a strange mummified monkey's paw for her dead son to be brought back to
life.
The first sound version of the famous story.
THE MONKEY'S PAW (1948/Kay Films) 64mins. BW. UK.
Credits: Dir: Norman Lee; Prod: Ernest G. Roy; Sc:
Norman Lee & Barbara Toy; Ph: Bryan Langely. From a story by W.W. Jacobs.
Cast: Milton Rosmer, Megs Jenkins, Joan Seton, Norman
Shelley, Michael Martin-Harvey, Eric Micklewood, Brenda Hogan, Sydney Tafler, Alfie Bass,
MacKenzie Ward, Hay Petrie, Rose Howlett, Patrick Ward, Vincent Lawson.
A curio dealer warns Mr. Trelawne, (Rosmer), that although the mummified monkey paw he
purchased will grant three wishes, disaster usually follows. Trelawne wishes for his
gambling debts to be paid off and is horrified to learn that his son is dead and his debts
have been paid with the compensation money. Heartbroken, Trelawne's wife, (Jenkins),
wishes for her son to be brought back to life, but he appears as a shambling living
corpse. Realising their terrible mistake she wishes for her son to rest in peace.
THE MONSTER (1903) see Le Monstre
THE MONSTER (19 /Georges Petit)
"A mysterious vision in four parts after the celebrated novel by Miss
Shelley". |
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THE MONSTER (1925/Roland West Prod./Tec-Art) 70mins. 7 reels. BW.
Silent. US.
Credits: Dir. & Prod: Roland
West ; Prod Manager: W.L. Heywood; Sc: Willard Mack & Albert G. Kenyon; Ph: Hal
Mohr; Ed: A. Carle Palm; Titles: C. Gardner Sullivan.
From the Broadway play By Crane Wilbur.
Cast: Lon Chaney,
Gertrude Olmstead, Hallam Cooley, Walter James, Johnny Arthur, Charles A. Sellon, Knute
Erickson, George Austin, Edward McWade, Ethel Wales.
Vivisectionist, Dr. Ziska, (Chaney), uses his hideous manservant to lower a mirror across
a road near his isolated sanitorium at night, causing the motorists to crash their
vehicles so that he can use the victims in his experiments to try and transfer the soul of
a female into a man and discover the secret of life. A young man, (Arthur), investigates
as part of his detective correspondence course.
Badly timed comic relief spoils the moodiness achieved early on when the skeletal faced
killer hiding in the branches of a tree lowers the mirror that causes the car to crash.
The earth gives way as another mysterious figure reaches out and takes the body away.
MGM distributed the film, and bought the rights to the picture from Roland West in 1927.THE MONSTER AND THE APE (1946/Columbia) BW. Serial. 15 episodes. US.
Credits: Dir: Howard Bretherton.
Cast: Robert Lowery, George MacReady, Ralph Morgan,
Carole Matthews, Willie Best, Eddie
Parker .
Enemy agents try to capture the Matelogen Man with a trained ape.
THE MONSTER AND THE GIRL (1940/Paramount) 63mins. BW. US.
Aka: D.O.A.
Credits: Dir: Stuart Heisler; Prod: Jack Moss; Sc:
Stuart Anthony; Ph: Victor Milner; Ed: Everett Douglas; Art: Hans Dreier & Haldane
Douglas; Mus: Sigmund Krumgold.
Cast: Paul Lukas, Rod Cameron, Marc Lawrence, Onslow Stevens, Joseph Calleia, George
Zucco, Ellen Drew, Phillip Terry, Gerald Mohr, Robert Paige, Cliff Edwards, Edward Van Sloan, Tom Dugan, Willard Robertson, Minor Watson,
George F. Meader, Charles Gemora, Skipper the dog.
After Scott Webster, (Paige), is executed for a murder he didn't commit, a scientist,
(Zucco), retrieves Webster's brain and places it in the body of an ape. The creature then
embarks on a campaign of revenge against the gangsters who framed him and sold his sister,
(Drew), into prostitution.
Unfortunately this is not as impressive as it sounds, although the white slavery subplot
is an original addition to a well worn theme.
THE MONSTER DOG (1921) see The Pet |
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MONSTER MAKER (1944)THE MONSTER
OF FATE (1914) see Der Golem
THE MONSTER OF FRANKENSTEIN (1920) see Mostro di
Frankenstein |
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THE MONSTER SHOW (1932) see FreaksTHE MONSTER WALKED (1932) see The Monster Walks
THE MONSTER WALKS (1932/Action/Like) 65mins. BW. US.
Aka: THE MONSTER WALKED.
Credits: Dir: Frank R.
Strayer; Prod: Ralph M. Like; Sc: Robert Ellis; Ph: Jules Cronjager; Ed: Byron
Robinson; Art: Ben Dor; Sets: Ralph Black; Mus: Lee Zahler. From a story by Robert Ellis.
Cast: Mischa Auer, Sheldon Lewis, Martha Mattox, Vera
Reynolds, Sleep'n'Eat (later Willie Best), Rex Lease, Sidney
Bracy.
"Greater than Frankenstein say the critics!"
Following the death of her father, Ruth Earlton, (Reynolds), returns from Europe with her
fiance Ted Clayton, (Lease), to the family's dark and foreboding house to claim her vast
inheritance, much to the annoyance of the housekeeper, Mrs. Krugg, (Mattox), and her
demented son Hanns, (Auer). An apparently paralytic uncle, (Lewis), attempts to coerce
Hanns to murder the girl and then blame the crime on an ape named Yogi kept in the cellar.
A tepid murder mystery and camp horror story influenced by the grandfather of all
"old dark house" films, The Cat and the Canary (1927).
Probably the first of the B-movies.
Soon after the film's completion Action Pictures amalgamated with Mayfair Pictures Inc.
LE MONSTRE (1903/Star Film) 168 feet. BW. Silent. France.
Aka: THE MONSTER.
Credits: Georges Méliès.
In ancient Egypt, a prince requests a dervish to revive his dead wife who is now a
skeleton, but he is horrified when the neck of the woman covered by a sheet grows to
strange proportions and dances about. After a time the woman seems to return to normal,
but when the prince embraces her and lifts the sheet he finds only her skeleton.
THE MOONSTONE (1909/Selig Polyscope Co.) 17mins BW. Silent. US.
From the novel by Wilkie Collins.
A person is put in a hypnotic trance.
THE MOONSTONE (1911/Pathe) 1 reel. BW. Silent. France.
From the novel by Wilkie Collins.
Those who steal the jewel of the Moon God are cursed.
THE MOONSTONE (1934/Monogram) 62mins. BW. US.
Credits: Dir: Reginald Barker; Prod: Paul Malvern;
Ex.Prod: Trem Carr; Sc: Adele Buffington; Ph: Robert Planck; Ed: Carl Pierson; Tech: E.R.
Hickson; Mus: Abe Meyer. From the novel by Wilkie Collins. |
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Cast: David Manners, Phyllis Barry, Jameson
Thomas, Gustav von Seyffertitz, Herbert Bunston, Evelyn
Bostock, John Davidson, Elspeth Dudgeon, Claude King, Olaf Hytten, Charles Irwin, Fred Walton.
"An unseen menace that struck in the night!"
Franklin Blake, (Manners), and his Hindu servant Yandoo, (Davidson), arrive during a
raging storm at the home of Sir John Verinder, (Bunston), to deliver the Moonstone, a
precious gem that was stolen long ago from a temple in India. When the gem is stolen from
under the pillow of Verinder's daughter, Anne, (Barry), Scotland Yard's Inspector Cuff,
(Irwin), investigates the crime and interrogates the household. Eventually Von Lucker,
(von Seyffertitz), is found to be the culprit.
A condensed version of Wilkie Collins' 1868 novel featuring a predominantly British cast. MOONSTRUCK
(1909/Pathe) 1 reel. BW. Silent. France.
Moonmen appear in a person's dream.
MORTMAIN (1915/Vitagraph) 1 reel. BW. Silent. US.
Cast: Robert Edeson, Donald Hall.
In a dream a man loses his hand and another one is grafted in it's place.
THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME (1932/RKO.) 78mins. BW. US.
Aka: THE HOUNDS OF ZAROFF (UK).
Credits: Dir: Ernest B.
Schoedsack & Irving Pichel; Prod: Merian C. Cooper
& Ernest B. Schoedsack; Ex.Prod: David O'Selznick; Sc: James Ashmore Creelman; Ph:
Henry Gerrard, Robert de Grasse & Nicholas Musuraca; Ed: Archie F. Marsheck; Art:
Mario Larrinaga & Byron L. Crabbe; Sets: Carroll Clark & Thomas Little; Special
Props: Marcel Delgado & John Cerisoli; Ph.Fx: Lloyd Knechtel, Vernon L. Walker &
Linwood G. Dunn; Sfx: Harry Redmond Jnr.; Miniatures: Don Jahraus & Orville Goldner;
Mu: Wally Westmore; Mus: Max Steiner. From a story by Richard Connell.
Cast: Leslie Banks, Fay Wray, Joel McCrea, Robert Armstrong, Hale Hamilton, Noble Johnson, Steve Clemento, Oscar "Dutch" Hendrian,
William B. Davidson, Landers Stevens, James Flavin, Phil Tead.
"He hunted men like beasts! The mounted heads in his trophy room were the pride of
Zaroff, polished Russian sportsman. Just for the sporting thrill, he matched wits with the
most dangerous animal on earth...MAN! But one night mighty Zaroff met a creature more
dangerous...WOMAN! Strange and terrible is the story of this fascinating fiend!"
Somewhere near the Malay archipelago, the luxury yacht "Sylph" strikes a reef
and the only survivor to reach Baranka Island is Bob Rainsford, (McCrea), an American
big-game hunter. Welcoming him to his castle home, Russian refugee, Count Zaroff, (Banks),
also a hunter, introduces him to Eve Trowbridge, (Wray), and her brother Martin,
(Armstrong), survivors of a previous shipwreck. Rainsford soon learns that Zaroff's claim
to hunt "the most dangerous game" refers to humans, whose heads adorn his prized
trophy room. The fake lights in the channel are there to purposely lure ships onto the
reef, providing Zaroff with enough quarry to satisfy his lust for the hunt. |
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A superby crafted film with powerful images and a cleverly
utilised strong sexual undertone, but because of stringent censorship demands, the
climactic chase scenes were printed darker to obscure any gruesomeness.
Made at the same time as King Kong (1933), this shares many of
the standing sets and personnel.
Schoedsack actually visited a morgue to discover how heads were preserved in alcohol.
Irving Pichel, who worked on the film as a dialogue coach was given a co-directorial
credit by Cooper to boost his directorial aspirations.
This was Englishman Leslie Banks' sole American appearance.
The British censor edited out the scenes showing the heads along the castle walls and then
re-titled the film THE HOUNDS OF ZAROFF.
Reissued in 1938 as SKULL ISLAND with some prints tinted in green.
A French version LA CHASA DU COMTE ZAROFF was directed by Henri Diamant-Berger with voices
dubbed by Germaine Bredy, Maurice Candy & Henri Baudin.
In 1944, RKO remade the film as A Game of Death, using more than
eighty stock shots from the original film. |
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MAS ME MI MO MON MOS MOSTRO |
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Classic Horror Movies A B C D
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