[profh0011]

Glenn Erickson at DVD Savant wrote in 2007:

H. Rider Haggard's 1887 novel She: A History of Adventure is said to be the first of the modern 'lost world' escapist successes, although we wonder why Jules Verne's 'Extraordinary Voyages' don't qualify. Acknowledged Haggard-influenced works include Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World (1912, a remote plateau in Venezuela), Edgar Rice Burroughs' At the Earth's Core (1914, a land called Pellucidar at the center of the earth), Pierre Beno?t's L'Atlantide (1919, an Atlantean culture discovered under the sands of the Sahara) and James Hilton's Lost Horizon (1933, a refuge from war in the Himalayas). The format has persisted in Science Fiction and fantasy movies, from Universal's anemic The Mole People to the abysmal The Incredible Petrified World.




NOW I'm even more keen to get ahold of this, as I see it relates directly to a project I'm currently working on!

[profh0011]

The movie itself has its moments though overall it's a bit dull. Helen Gahagan is nowhere near as bad as she was reputed to be. Neither is she particularly good. It's worth the watch anyway.

"A bit dull" describes the film of "KING SOLOMON'S MINES" I saw a couple decades back.  I don't know how many (few?) stories Haggard wrote, but Hollywood seems hell-bent on making the same 3 or 4 of them over and over and over.

I've just been scouring multiple websites looking for info.  It seems Helen Gahagan only ever made one movie, then married Melvyn Douglas, then later had a Senate race. She went up against that arch-bastard Richard Nixon, who smeared her as "a Communist" (the same thing S*** L** called Arnold Drake).  That miserable MF is directly responsible for SO MUCH HELL going on in this country right now (since he was the one who pushed thru a Supreme Court judge who believed the INSANE idea that "money is free speech", thereby making BRIBERY of public officials LEGAL), I'd love to read some day that his grave has been violated ("The Haunted Palace" style).

ANYWAY... that just gives me one more reason to wanna get a copy of this film.   


My "wanted" list just keeps getting longer.  It's gonna be a real FUN summer, I think!

[profh0011]

THE INVISIBLE MAN
(Universal Pictures  / 1933)

Just submitted to the IMDB:

Edgar Barrier__Radio Announcer__(uncredited)

In the last year, I've watched "Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror" (1942) 3 times. According to the IMDB, Edgar Barrier was the uncredited "Voice Of Terror" heard on the radio. I've just watched "The Invisible Man" twice in 2 days. I would swear it's the same voice! This would be especially fitting, as the train crash in "The Invisible Man" was reused in "Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror"!

[crashryan]

In the 1933 Invisible Man the IM's voice belonged to Claude Rains. According to TCM (via IMDB) one of the reasons Rains was cast was his clear speaking voice, which could be easily understood even if muffled.

[profh0011]

Of course!

But I'm referring to the voice that came ON THE RADIO when all those people were dancing, warning them of the invisible man on the loose, and that they should lock their doors, etc.

I might never have noticed it or thought about it, if I hadn't been watching the Basil Rathbone films 3 times over the last 2 years.

As it turns out, his 2 earliest listings at the IMDB were a 1930 movie and then episodes of THE MERCURY THEATRE in 1938.

I just looked again, and someone was nice enough to add my info to his page, as well as THE INVISIBLE MAN.  I've seen instances where one has to add credits in on both ends manually.  An actor might have a movie listed on his page, but he might not be listed on the movie page, etc.  Somebody there must be on the ball this time.



It was "funny" (actually annoying) the last time I added some info, there were 4 movies based on the same novel... but they only added the "connections" info to 3 of the films.  The 1st of the 4, is STILL incorrectly credited to the WRONG novel.  (Go figure.)

Hollywood has this long-standing "tradition" of using the name of one book but the story from a different one.  It seems in the case of THE INVISIBLE MAN, Universal had 12 different "treatments" all based on Philip Wylie's THE MURDERER INVISIBLE (1931), and it was only the final screenplay where the writer went out of his way to get ahold of a copy of Wells' novel, knowing full well that Wells had "final script approval".   

[profh0011]

"BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN"
(Universal Pictures / 1935)

It's been a few years since I half-heartedly played my (mostly-awful videotapes of) Hammer Frankensteins. Now armed with the (slightly-defective) Universal Blu-Rays, I am slowly working my way thru their "CLASSIC MONSTERS" box set. Tonight, arguably, the peak of their entire output from that era.

As I was a few years ago, I am once again struck my the idea that had this film actually been remade by Hammer, the casting might have been very interesting...

Francis Matthews -- Henry Frankenstein
Peter Cushing -- Dr. Pretorius
Christopher Lee -- The Monster
Michael Gough -- The Burgomeister (replacing Michael Ripper from the previous film-- HEEHEEHEE)
Karl -- Patrick Troughton

Somebody here will have to suggest casting ideas for Elizabeth and Mary Shelly.

The scene where "Karl" (Dwight Frye) goes out and MURDERS a woman in the street to bring back a fresh heart, looks like it stepped right out of "FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED".

What a misguided bit of dialogue:

"We need a young woman victim of SUDDEN death. Can you DO it?"

Later they talk about "accidental" death, but that's NOT what Henry said to Karl! When he returns, he absent-mindedly mutters...

"It was very FRESH!"

Pretorius interjects, "It was a POLICE matter. but let's not worry about that NOW..."

We learn earlier that Karl is already a murderer. When he's tossed right off the toof of the tower, he had it coming. Oddly, we never see what happens to his pal Ludwig.

One of my favorite bits is still Pretorius having lunch in the underground mausoleum, laughing hysterically. The Monster stumbles out of the shadows...

"Nnn."
"Oh. I thought I was alone!"

THAT'S JUST NOT a normal reaction!!!

I still think one of the most bizarre things about the film is that nearly every set and character from the previous film has been replaced with something or someone else (escept for Colin Clive & Boris Karloff), and the mountain-top watch-tower, though greatly expanded, is the FIRST set in the film that actually LOOKS like it did in the previous film.

What a wild, crazy movie.

The accompanying documentary, seems to be SCREAMING that it contains not a single reference to MEL BROOKS. Tsk!

[The Australian Panther]

This one's for you Prof.
I don't know which film they got the images from but apparently a silent version of Nosferatu. Prof, you will know.
But the quality of the restored prints!. Makes me realize just what quality the original silent films actually had.  Would be also good to hear the original organ soundtrack. For those who don't know - while the films were without a sound 'track', music was written for them and played live by an organist.
If you like Surf/Ventures/Shadows music you will like that too.
From Turkey
taner ?ng?r, 43.75 -cihangir vampiri
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wVLqmFzw9k

Enjoy! 

[Captain Audio]

I have a restored version of Metropolis and the cinematography and artistic imagery are astounding for any era of film making.

[profh0011]

Tonight's film:  "CHALLENGE THE DEVIL" (1963)

Now this is some weird S***!!!  I'll just copy & paste a description I found online:

"The movie's working title was "Faust '63" due to director Veggezzi being influenced by Goethe's play "Faust".
Filmed as a gothic movie under the title of "Katarsis" in 1963. Its production company "I films della mangusta" went bankrupt shortly after filming. The movie, which was about 90 minutes long, was bought by production company "Eco Film". They cut out half an hour and added newly shot scenes involving gangsters, a monk and a cabaret dancer. The finished product was 78 minutes long, retitled "Challenge the Devil" and released in 1965.
Sir Christopher Lee's voice was dubbed into Italian by another actor for this movie."

I found it had some very interesting photography, and a lot of mood.  The schizo nature of the narrative is explained above, as 2 different writers, directors, directors of photography & music composers were involved, and only ONE actor came back to shoot the new scenes, the "troublemaker" who later became a monk, and who tell the original story as one long flashback.

After the film, I watched an interview with someone who discussed the life of the film's writer & director, and in a sort of sad/tragic way, I could actually relate to some bits.  You had a guy who was obsessed with doing work, had long stretches of not being able to, then hooked up with a producer, who ran out of money partway into the project.  It was decided the film had "no market" after it was shown only once, and then another outfit acquired the film and did the major reshoots.  The original director tried to sue, but the contract prevented him from doing so.  Later, he stopped caring. Later still the 2nd company went bankrupt, and he attempted to BUY back the film, but was unable to.  He then lost all interest in film-making, became a recluse, a poet and sometime publisher of what was accused of being "pornography", though certain police and local elite defended him and it was decided it was an "art book".  He also developed an obsession with LEFT-WING politics, and joined a group of Marxist-Leninist Communists, who were fierce enemies of Trotsky-style "communists" (otherwise known as BOLSHEVIKS, criminals posing as "communists"-- MOST of the world, and especially people in the USA, seem to have NO idea at all of the huge difference).

So far, Severin Films did an INCREDIBLE job with such a (deservedly?) obscure film.

Oh, by the way... NO "errors" in the disc authoring.  Once again, small outfits are doing a BETTER job than the "big boys".

[profh0011]

I was just today doing some research about the 1922 "NOSFERATU".  It seems there's been multiple versions put out on the market, and multiple restorations, with several different cuts and several different music scores.  One particular website, "Brenton Film_com", went into EXTREME detail, and listed what they considered the "top 5" discs currently available.  But here's the crazy thing.  4 of them are REGION B only (England & Europe), and the one that isn't, from Kino Lorber, apparently was processed in a way that, to an obsessive fanatic about quality, is somehow a TOTAL BOTCH-JOB.  My jaw dropped on reading this.

The writer was strongly urging people to AVOID the Kino discs at all costs, and to bite the bullet and buy a "region-free player".  But some of us can't do that so easily.  (Regular region-free DVD players aren't bad, but a region-free Blu-Ray player gets REAL pricy!!!)

Crazy enough, a different site, "DVD Beaver", seems to think the British "Eureka" disc is region 0!  I actually have at least one disc that is allegedly "PAL" (Europe system), but because the disc itself was "Region 0", will play on my machine.  Go figure.

I think I've decided to go for a USED 2001 DVD, from Image Entertainment, which has an earlier restoration on it.  I found a 2001 review of that particular disc, and it heaped the highest praise on it.  Good enough for me...

[The Australian Panther]

Finding some crazy S______  our there!
Here is Spanish film Los Monstruos Del Terror - Assignment Terror in English - a real horror smorgasborg!
Starring Michael Rennie, so you know its worth watching. And a great soundtrack!
Synopsis!

Aliens from a dying world plot to conquer earth by praying on man?s superstitions. Bringing two dead scientists (Michael Rennie and Karin Dor) back to life, they use their knowledge to re-animate various earth monsters, including the werewolf Waldemar Daninsky, Frankenstein?s monster (both played by Jacinto Molina), the mummy Tao-Tet, and the vampire Count de Meirhoff.   

Actually it's not bad at all!
Assignment Terror 1970
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1CYetsu2O0
Enjoy!

[profh0011]

I must have this around here somewhere... but someone at the Hammermaniacs FB group reccomended an online store to me that specializes in rare & import films.  And sure enough, they made a big deal at their site saying they were THE #1 source for all things from MEXICO!!

As you might expect, they had a pile of "SANTO" films, and many other things.

Ah, here it is... "Creature Features".

I think some of their products are "quality" DVD-Rs of films you just can't get any other way (similar to "Rare Films And More" or "Sinister Cinema").

One of the items that caught my attention was "FRANKENSTEIN VS. BARUGON", which includes, as an extra, the "alternate" ending, which I saw photos of in Famous Monsters magazine decades ago, and, which ONCE-- just once-- turned up on Philly's channel 17, after the commercial break.  They used to run odd things to fill out the 2-hour slot when the film was running under.

[profh0011]

One of my favorite Michael Rennie films is CYBORG 2087.  It's has almost the identical plot to THE TERMINATOR, but I like it a LOT more!

Funny enough, during the climax, there's a piece of "KPM Library" stock music that was also used on the 1968 episodes of SPIDER-MAN.  I forget which one, but there was no mistaking it.

I gotta get a copy of it on DVD one of these days.

[Captain Audio]

One of my favorite Michael Rennie films is CYBORG 2087.  It's has almost the identical plot to THE TERMINATOR, but I like it a LOT more!

I've often thought the same things about this film. Another inspiration for Terminator was likely "Colossus...the Forbin Project". Which mirrors almost exactly the Skynet takeover of missile defense systems in the USA and Russia.

[profh0011]

One of my favorite Michael Rennie films is CYBORG 2087.  It's has almost the identical plot to THE TERMINATOR, but I like it a LOT more!

I've often thought the same things about this film. Another inspiration for Terminator was likely "Colossus...the Forbin Project". Which mirrors almost exactly the Skynet takeover of missile defense systems in the USA and Russia.

OH, man, I only saw that once, and it was too depressing and disturbing for me to ever wanna sit thru it again.

Famously, there were 2 OUTER LIMITS scripts that Harlan Ellison sued James Cameron over...

"Soldier" and "Demon With A Glass Hand"

However, there was a 3rd episode, by Anthony Lawrence-- "The Man Who Was Never Born"-- which, arguably, supplied EVEN MORE of the story.  It's about a mutant in a devastated future who comes back thru time to KILL the man who caused the biological disaster.  But he finds out he's too early... the man who did it hasn't been born yet.  He meets that man's eventual mother, who's engaed to marry an army officer.  But she falls for the gentle man from the future, and they run off together.  They go to the future... where, because time has changed, HE vanishes.  Yikes!

Lawrence never bothered suing Cameron.   

[profh0011]

By the way-- I'm not 100% sure about this-- but, I would almost swear-- there's a location, a certain rooftop where some action takes place-- that is the IDENTICAL rooftop in both CYBORG 2087 and Al Adamson's DRACULA VS. FRANKENSTEIN.


It's not as famous as those rocks from the STAR TREK episode "Arena".  Those appeared in DOZENS of films and TV shows.

[profh0011]

I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment... or something.

Last Friday, I had trouble keeping my eyes open... which is a real problem when you're trying to read subtitles.  Well, today, I watched this again, with a couple of breaks to help keep myself going.  And whatta ya know?  I managed to get a pretty decent review for the IMDB out if it!


CHALLENGE THE DEVIL (1963 / 1965)
Pre-Psychedelic Haunted House Romp *** (of 10)

6 drunken wastrels invade a seemingly-empty castle for a party, but find an old man who claims to have sold his soul to the Devil to prolong the life of the woman he loved. He offers them all the riches of the castle if they can find her now-dead body and give it a proper burial... but, this leads to what seems unending hellish torment, as the owner of the castle may be possessed by The Devil himself!

I came away from this feeling like it was at least 5 years ahead of its time, more the sort of movie some film-makers who'd done too much drinking, drugs & sex would have knocked out. The location work is very nice, there's lots of excellent, spooky photography, and the eerie music is very fitting. The problem is, the story itself would have probably have worked better as an episode of some TV anthology like "THRILLER".

The history of the film is quite crazy. It actually started out at 90 minutes, but was then acquired by a different company, who cut 30 minutes out and then filmed 19 minutes' worth of entirely-new material as what seems a totally-unrelated framing sequence, with the original "haunted house" story presented in flashback! Even the 60 minutes of the "haunted house" seems too long and stretched out, which is a shame, as with a better script or MUCH-tighter editing, this might have had the making of something pretty cool.

I was actually reminded of no less than 3 later (and all better) films. First, "DRACULA: PRINCE OF DARKNESS" (1966), for the way a group of idiots barge into Dracula's castle and find a table with food and drink already waiting for them (I wonder if THIS film might possibly have inspired that scene in THAT one?). Then there's "HORROR HOUSE" (1969) with Frankie Avalon, which I saw on a big screen way back, and, the more-recent and rather infamous "HALLOWEEN: RESSURECTION" (2002), with more idiots stumbling around a dark house. "KATARSIS" (the original Italian name of this thing) makes more sense on that score, because it's easier to believe all this crazy stuff going on in a full-sized CASTLE rather than a mid-sized suburban house.

I'm sure the main draw here is Christopher Lee, who plays 3 different roles in under 10 minutes of screen time, but sadly was dubbed into Italian by another actor (and it appears this was never dubbed into English by anybody, so get ready to read subtitles-- heh).

It's really a schiophrenic experience, between the castle scenes, the "crime" plot added 2 years later, and the long nightclub scenes, which includes a pair of dancers, a cute singer (who oddly enough reminds me of a young Markie Post!) and an overweight and not-pretty solo dancer who's trying to blackmail someone. Sonia Scotti, the cute singer, who's completely out-of-place in the film, I would have asked out to dinner given a chance.

As part of "The Eurocrypt Of Christopher Lee" box set, Severin Films did a FABULOUS job on this deservedly-obscure film. As I used to joke about the Ralph Bakshi-produced episodes of "SPIDER-MAN" (1968-70), this probably makes more sense if you're on drugs while watching it.











"Bloody Disgusting" does a nice review of the Eurocrypt box set.

bloody-disgusting.com/home-video/3651964/severin-films-unearthed-buried-gems-starring-christopher-lee-massive-blu-ray-box-set/

[profh0011]

CRYPT OF THE VAMPIRE   (1964)
Gorgeous Gothic Mystery     ********   (of 10)

A Count's daughter is having nightmares, and he fears she may be possessed by an evil ancestor out for revenge against his family. While his house-keeper uses occult rites to try and get at the truth, he hires a librarian-historian to search thru his books looking for the same. And meanwhile, following a brief road accident, a woman drops off her daughter for a few days of rest. WHO is the reincarnation of the evil "witch", and how many will die before the truth comes out?

Italian director Camillo Mastrocinque (absurdly credited as "Thomas Miller") does one of the most BEAUTIFUL horror movies I've ever seen. The locations, the photography, the lighting, the sound-- this is a stunning film from start to finish, though very old-fashioned when it comes to pacing and presentation.

Christopher Lee gets one of his rare opportunities to play the hero, and unlike the 2 earlier films in "The Eurocrypt Of Christopher Lee" box set, he actually got to DUB his own voice for the English version. (The Italian-language version is also nice, and I thought the voice of the young romantic lead was better in Italian than in English. The dialogue seems IDENTICAL between the English dub and the English subtitles.)

This turns out to be the 3rd film version of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's "Carmilla" (1872), although I can only attest to ONE scene taken straight out of that story, which happens about a third of the way in. Given that this very loose adaptation is more MYSTERY story than supernatural thriller, it might be best enjoyed if one doesn't know the source material, as that ONE scene kinda spoils the mystery (I found myself yelling at my TV, "CARMILLA!" --heh).

One of the best parts has to be, after spending two-thirds of the movie trying to track down the face of the evil ancestor, the count and historian finally do-- then, leave the audience in non-stop suspense by REFUSING to say who it is, until the last few minutes of the story! It's a wonderful example of keeping the audience guessing.

Early-on, the scene where the castle-bound count hires a historian reminded me of the opening act of Hammer's "DRACULA" (1958), except, it makes FAR more sense here! The creepy old housekeeper delving into reincarnation reminded me of Grayson Hall in "NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS" (1971), while the plot of an executed witch determined to come back from the grave for revenge reminded me a bit of Roger Corman's "THE HAUNTED PALACE" (1963), which itself I am sure inspired Dan Curtis' 1971 film.

This being an Italian film, it turned out there was only one other actor in it I'd seen before-- John Karlsen, who turns up at the end as Franz. I'd seen him as "the sachristy" in my favorite Italian horror film, "THE CHURCH" (1989)!

Severin Films did an absolutely STELLAR job on their 2021 Blu-Ray, with crystal-clear picture & sound (both languages). Even the English trailer looks spotless, when so many included as extras are not cleaned up at all.

[profh0011]

Tonight's movie:

NOSFERATU, EINE SYMPHONIE DES GRAUENS
(NOSFERATU: A SYMPHONY OF TERROR)
(Jofer-Atelier Berlin-Johannisthal /
Prana-Film GmbH / Germany / 1922)

2 separate online articles described and compared multiple restorations & Blu-Rays of this, and came to the conclusion that the 4 best discs were all ONLY Region 2 / UK, while ripping the recent Kino Lorber disc to pieces due to some bizarre and seemingly-inexcusable technical problem that they felt should never have been allowed on the market. They also highly reccomended upgrading to a REGION-FREE player. Well, I'm sure as hell not going to do that any time soon... so, I opted for Image Entertainment's 2000 DVD with a 1991 restoration, until someone in the US does a better job.

I have no complaints. Sure, the clean-up (assuming there was one) makes it look like it could still use one (lots of scratches and damage everywhere), but nowhere near as bad as some of the Sherlock Holmes films I've gotten ahold of lately. I'm decades overdue getting a copy of this at all, so this one'll do for now.

It's got 2 different musical scores-- a "modern" one by "The Silent Orchestra" which I just heard, which is gorgeous and, in some spots, THRILLING as all get out, plus, an organ score, and, an audio commentary (something to look forward to next week!).

There's also "The Nosferatu Tour", where they compare all the locations to how they look today, and it seems only ONE location in the film is unrecognizable now, the rest, pretty much UNCHANGED in the last 100 years!

This is only the 3rd time I've ever seen this-- the 1st was on TCM (I think) and the 2nd was on Youtube (a few years back). Watching it tonight, I picked up a few things I hadn't quite before. In this version of the story, they combined Harker's boss Mr. Hawkins ("Knock") with Renfield, making this perhaps the first time someone had tried to "fix" Stoker's outright neglect of never explaining (to my satisfaction) what the HELL Renfield was even doing in the novel. (When I read the book, I came away strongly feeling his editor should have insisted he include an explanation-- or, REMOVE the character entirely. Each film that features him "explains" him in its own different fashion, with the Hammer film removing him from the story completely... at least, until one of the sequels.)

Also, the scene where Harker ("Hutter") walks out of the castle, crosses the courtyard, and enters another area from the outside, and goes down to find the vampire's coffin, would seem to me to have MOST definitely been the inspiration for the similar scene in the 1958 Hammer film!!! I don't think I've ever run across anyone else pointing this out, and I now rank it as one more instance of Hammer being influenced by an earlier GERMAN version of a story they were later adapting themselves. (Hammer's "HOUND" borrowed from 2 different earlier German "HOUND"s.)

I can see myself at some future point now doing a new "Dracula" marathon, and finally being able to include THIS film with all the others.

[profh0011]

CASTLE OF THE LIVING DEAD
(Italy / 1964)

Fun flick!

I just watched the "career interview" with producer Paul Malansky on the Severin Films Blu-Ray. This had to be one of the most mesmerizing, mind-blowing interviews I've ever sat thru! I knew virtually NOTHING about this guy, and was amazed at all of his stories, how so many things in his life and career connected, all the people and projects he crossed paths with or were involved in. Wow.

Among other things... as a kid in the 60s, I always connected in my head "JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS" and "THE LONG SHIPS", as both involved sea voyages in ancient times. Never would have guessed that someone was involved in BOTH movies!

Then there was the story about "RACE WITH THE DEVIL"... and how "POLICE ACADEMY" came about (with Hugh Wilson's involvement-- I just finished watching the "WKRP" DVD box set twice). Hearing about someone who followed his dreams this way felt very inspirational, as it's something I've tried to do (not always with success) in my own life.

[profh0011]

DIE SCHLANGENGRUBE UND DAS PENDEL
("The Snake The Pit And The Pendulum")
(THE TORTURE CHAMBER OF DR. SADISM / English title)
(Constantin Film / West Germany / 1 hr. 24 min.)

Okay, this is one BAT-S*** crazy film!! Insane story involving torture and murder, attempted immortalty, a curse, seeming reincarnation, a haunted castle, a blood serum, and yet another tribute to Poe's "The Pit And The Pendulum".

Given the main villain and the main hero-- played by Christopher Lee & Lex Barker-- I can't help but want to nick-name the movie, "COUNT DRACULA vs. LORD GRAYSTOKE", especially as the hero is an orphan who starts out unaware of his true heritage. It's a shame Tarzan producer Sol Lesser was so enamored of the dumbed-down Johnny Weismuller version, as I've read Barker was one of the most-intelligent people to ever work in Hollywood, and would have made an excellent "educated" ape-man.

The locations are cool (and apparently haven't changed much since it was made), the interior sets are jaw-droppingly wild in an amusement park "haunted house" kind of way, and the COLORS look like they stepped right out of a Ralph Bakshi-Gray Morrow SPIDER-MAN cartoon. According to BluRay_com, Severin previously included the film in an earlier box set, but that version was taken from a pair of very-dodgy 16 mm prints, while THIS massive upgrade is a brand-new 4K scan from the original negative. WOW!!

I said last year if I was ever gonna see these films, The Eurocrypt Of Christopher Lee box set was the way to do it, and I've been proven correct. LOTS of extras, I must say Severin really batted this out of the park.

[profh0011]

Just re-watched "THE TORTURE CHAMBER OF DR. SADISM" again, this time in GERMAN.  As the audio commentary mentioned, the English version removed the music over the prologue & opening credits, and very oddly, replaced the moody music over the finale with the "elevator music" heard earlier in the film.

I'm now convinced MUCH this film was inspired by "D:POD".  You have 4 people in a carriage riding to a castle, a scene where people are stranded, a rather "earthy" clergyman with a weapon, a really spooky manservant who's carrying out his long-dead master's wishes, a knife slashing causing blood to drop on the dead corpse bringing it back to life... HONESTLY, if so very, very much of the story wasn't so drastically-different, Hammer might almost have been tempted to cry "PLAGIARISM"!!

And yet between the two, I find "TORTURE CHAMBER" to be FAR MORE fun to watch, and incredibly-gorgeous to look at on top of that.  The COLORS in this put anything Hammer ever did to shame!

Perhaps to return such a "favor", Lee gets to repeat his line "At last my vengeance is COMPLETE!" in either 1 or 2 of the later Draculas.  What goes around comes around!

Funny thing-- the way this disc is designed, you can actually "toggle" back and forth between the ENGLISH and GERMAN soundtracks without stopping the film!  Never ran across something like that before.

😆

[profh0011]

DRACULA: PRINCE OF DARKNESS  (the saga continues)

Mind-boggling. I've just watched this thing for the 5th time in 8 DAYS!!! The 1st time was the UK version on the Blu-Ray. The following night, I watched the 1980s videotape I recorded off some local commercial channel, which was not only in fullscreen, but had HORRIBLE picture quality. (Oddly, it was ALMOST uncut.) 3 days later, I watched the US version on the Blu-Ray with the 1st audio commentary, and 2 days after that, the UK version with the 2nd audio commentary. (You can watch either UK or US version your choice of 4 ways apiece. Crazy fun, HMM?)

Just now I watched my early-2000s videotape. This is the one I'd been watching over and over as part of running the entire series, about once a year for around a decade. And boy was I shocked. I could have SWORN this was recorded off of TCM (as the 1958 film was). NOPE!!! It was actually from AMC-- no doubt, just before AMC stopped being a "real" movie channel and started running COMMERCIAL BREAKS. So, apart from the opening and closing credits-- which were in widescreen-- the ENTIRE rest of the film was in FULLSCREEN!!! Which means, until one week ago, I had NEVER really seen this film in its visual ENTIRETY. Sheesh. And as I've noticed, most times, even a really BAD film is better, if seen IN WIDESCREEN.

The tape, compared to the disc, was slightly FUZZY. However, I find myself in total agreement with ALL 6 online website reviews I read last week, in that BOTH the UK and US versions on the disc are TOO DARK in different places. The print AMC ran 20-21 years ago, ISN'T. You can SEE EVERYTHING. And it's not "faded" looking. It just seems the way it's supposed to... except for having about 2/3rds of the visual image MISSING on the ends (heh).

Now, arguably, some shots in the film could use some darkening down. In "...PRINCE OF DARKNESS", Dracula's castle looks EVEN NEWER, CLEANER and BRIGHTER than it did in 1958. And to me, Dracula's castle should NEVER look this way! People love to BITCH about "SCARS OF DRACULA", but, to me, Dracula's castle in that rather tacky film looks more like it should than it does in any other Hammer film. Here... well, it's no wonder I read someone sarcastically refer to this film as "Dracula's Bed And Breakfast". It does look more like a fancy hotel than an 600-year-old castle with no servants around to keep it clean.
Somehow, between close-ups being CLOSER due to it being fullscreen, and the image being brighter, allowing me to see everyone's faces, the scenes where the 4 main characters acted STUPID got on my nerves more than it did in the previous 4 TIMES I saw it in the last week. For instance, after all the idiotic things the Kents did before, when Alan decides to put on his robe and go prowling around the castle AT NIGHT to "find out" what Klove's up to, I couldn't help but YELL at my TV, "MY GOD!!! This is the STUPIDEST thing anyone's done in this film SO FAR!!!" And sure enough, 2 minutes later, he's stabbed in a scene STRAIGHT out of Hitchcock's "PSYCHO", and right after, gets his throat cut.

After Charles runs across Father Shandor, the film FINALLY improves. A full HOUR in.

In general... I've been able to put up with this film far more when I do watch it as part of the whole series. It's like, this ISN'T a complete story... it's more like the first chapter of a whole series of stories, that finally climaxes with "THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA". It's like any TV series-- watching ALL the good episodes can often make it easier to put up with the bad ones.

[The Australian Panther]

Prof, are you aware of this Argentine Film, a mash-up of several AE Poe stories.
This is a good print and its not a bad film.
Master Of Horror (1965) Full Movie - Argentinian Horror Anthology About Edgar Allen Poe Stories
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZneHTwuHNI

enjoy!

[profh0011]

DRACULA'S DAUGHTER (1936)

This will never be a favorite of mine, thought it has the occasional interesting moment here or there.

Tonight I noticed that Janet (Margueritte Churchill) at the end winds up in the EXAXT SAME predicament (lying on a slab in a deeps state of vampire-induced hypnosis) that Jessica Van Helsing did in both DRACULA A.D. 1972 and THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA. Also, Sandor arrogant insists to Countess Zalesky that HE was promised vampiric immortal life... making him a much-creepier precursor to Johnny Alucard!

The making of this film was a PROLONGED confused mess, mostly due to NON-STOP interference by the Production Code, and when the film went over-schedule & over-budget, Carl LLemle had to take out a $1,000,000 loan he was unable to replay... causing his family to completely LOSE control of the studio they had started. The new owners had NO interest in horror films, and Universal didn't make any more until 3 years later, when said new owners were themselves BOOTED out by a 3rd set of owners.

The whole viscious story is told here...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dracula%27s_Daughter