This boxed set arrived in my mailbox yesterday. It includes the following:
* CAT PEOPLE
* CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE
* THE LEOPARD MAN
* I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE
* THE BODY SNATCHER
* ISLE OF THE DEAD
* BEDLAM
* THE 7TH VICTIM
* GHOST SHIP
Plus, a documentary about Val Lewton.
I watched ISLE OF THE DEAD last night . . . I hadn't seen this movie since I was a little kid. It's about Greek army officers (including Boris Karloff) and civilians quarantined on an island, waiting to see which of them will die of the plague. There are a few creepy shocks near the end involving a woman in white who rises from a tomb and kills people with a trident. Overall, it's pretty slow-moving and talky, but the black & white cinematography is interesting (dark and shadowy . . . creates a creepy mood) and the last 15 minutes are pretty good.
> Overall, it's pretty slow-moving and talky, but the black &
> white cinematography is interesting (dark and shadowy . . .
> creates a creepy mood) and the last 15 minutes are pretty good.
>
Yeah, ISLE is pretty slow moving. The last 15 minutes are hair-raising though! My favorite Lewtons are from fave to least fave:
1. CAT PEOPLE
2. THE BODY SNATCHER
3. CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE
4. I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE
5. GHOST SHIP
6. THE LEOPARD MAN
7. THE 7TH VICTIM
8. ISLE OF THE DEAD
9. BEDLAM
Cat People.... ah what a wonderfully executed scene in the swimming pool when the lights go out.
The Body Snatcher is, as far as I know, the only film where the two great masters of the genre, Karloff and Lugosi actually appear together. Too bad the scene is so short. Another brilliant film.
Cat People was good, and I liked Isle of the Dead, but The Leopard Man was my favorite. I can't say anything about it without spoiling it, but considering the type of movie it is, it'a really very good... and better paced than Isle of the Dead...
I like LEOPARD MAN and that scene with the the door...wow! But as a whole it is a lesser work compared to my favorites.
Shadowphile wrote:
> The Body Snatcher is, as far as I know, the only film where the
> two great masters of the genre, Karloff and Lugosi actually
> appear together.
It's their last movie together, but previously they had appeared together in
THE BLACK CAT (1934)
BLACK FRIDAY (1940)
THE INVISIBLE RAY (1936)
THE RAVEN (1935)
All of which can be seen on the recently released (and misnamed) Bela Lugosi Collection (should have been the Lugosi/Karloff Collection).
Plus, and in no way the least SON OF FRANKENSTEIN (1939)!!!
THE BLACK CAT has some of the best interplay between the two masters of horror ever on screen. The air positively sizzles when they lock gazes!
I stand corrected. I knew there was something significant about their scene inthe Body Snatcher.
Oddly I just had a friend bring up the Lugosi collection in conversation....
Post Edited (10-18-05 21:26)
Actually, I offer one correction for you. Lugosi was not in The Raven.
Vincent Price, Peter Lorre and A young Jack Nicholson, but no Legosi
Post Edited (10-18-05 21:26)
Gerry wrote:
> I like LEOPARD MAN and that scene with the the door...wow! But
> as a whole it is a lesser work compared to my favorites.
Yeah, I love that whole sequence... for the kind of film it is (I don't want to give anything away for those who haven't seen it), I was very impressed... I haven't seen The Body Snatcher yet... I've only seen The Leopard Man, Isle of the Dead and Cat People... Each really have some good moments, and each seem fairly original when compared with the repetitive films of today.
BTW for those who haven't heard, there's a Val Lewton marathon on TCM tonight, starting at 8pm and going all night. Sometimes black & white can be a good thing...
The only movies I really like in this collection are 'I Walked With A Zombie' and 'Bedlam'. The others I like, but not as much.
A correction to the correction. There are two "Ravens." The 1935 version w/ Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi and the 1963 version w/ Boris Karloff, Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, and Jack Nicholson. And in reference to the other thread, does the one count as a remake of the other?
BoyScoutKevin wrote:
> A correction to the correction. There are two "Ravens." The
> 1935 version w/ Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi and the 1963
> version w/ Boris Karloff, Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, and Jack
> Nicholson. And in reference to the other thread, does the one
> count as a remake of the other?
I wouldn't say so. About the only thing they share in common is the title. Both great films BTW!
To qualify as a remake the movie must obvious have been inspired by the original. The Magnificent Sevn, for example is a remake of The Seven Samurai.
Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings is NOT a remake of the cartoon. They are both inspired by Tolkien, which I think qualifies as parallel development despite the length of time between them.
Curse of the Cat People is one of my alltime favorite films. The photography of the snow scenes alone qualify it as real Art & not just a B movie.
So many little things in that film -- the relationship of the servant to the family/"Little Miss"/The use of Goya paintings in the backgrounds/The substudy of Senile Demetia/Alzheimers' . . . just a fine film. A perfect "first horror film" for the younger ones in that it's spooky without being too spooky -- and can you really forget how her new "special friend" makes the shadows dance? The black and white cinematography is just freaking lovely -- I never get tired of this thing --
I liked Bedlam too, but then I like everything Lewton had his hand in --
Re. Tolkien/Jackson/Bakshi. Bakshi is abrasive as a person, and I think he comes off badly in interviews. I tend to like his work a lot more than most folk who post on the genre websites like this one. In point of fact, I can think of several scenes in Jackson that were completely imitative of the Bakshi cartoon -- eg. When the Ringwraith is sniffing around the base of the tree for the ring & the Hobbits shrink back amongst the roots/Frodo is tempted to put the ring on, etc.. Jackson films this scene exactly the same way Bakshi did/does. There is no reason for this from Tolkien, re. the scene is not described that way, yet Jackson shot it identically to Bakshi's version, either consciously or not.
Personally, I think Bakshi gets a bum deal because he's a jerk in person. Whether an artist is a jerk or not should really have no bearing on assessing their body of work. I still think Heavy Traffic -- the uncensored/uncut version -- is one of the better films made in any genre & bears repeated viewing.
peter johnson/denny crane