Oct 19 entry:

#12: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920/USA)



John Barrymore may well have been the greatest actor who ever lived. If the depth of character he brings to Dr. Jekyll in this film isn't enough to keep you glued to the screen, just wait for his famous transformation scene, which he did without the aid of any special effects nor editing. He does the whole thing in camera through his facial expressions, making it amazing, terrifying, and more seemingly realistic than anything ever done with trick photography. Rumor has it that, on the first take, the camera man fainted. I believe it.

John Barrymore is amazing in this film and he's does it with a stroke of genius and perfection!

Oct 20 entry:

#11: Bride of Frankenstein (1935/USA)



While absolutely the pinnacle of high production values for the time period, Bride is, at first glance just a fun replay of the original Frankenstein film, inserting a few more bizarre aspects and odd moments of perverse James Whale humor, externalizing the mad doctor's conflict by introducing a second, madder doctor, and giving the monster the ability to speak so that he can more explicitly articulate the innocence and yearnings he so effectively conveyed through pantomime in the first film.

And yet this film is remarkably effective, especially in its three tragic episodes (the blind man's hut, the "bride"'s reaction to meeting her "husband," and the climax shortly after); three crushing and unforgettable moments that elevate this film above mere horror into the realm of great tragedy, further driving home with a sledgehammer the message put forth in the first film that ugliness is a life sentence -- unless you're willing to seek the death penalty.

Well we're going to disagree on that one

#9: The Old Dark House (1932/USA)



Much like the "Aristocrats" joke to comedians, the old dark house genre was pretty much a pre-packaged story in the early half of the 20th Century (ensemble cast mystery in a spooky old house, with disguised motives, a compelling mystery, some sense of danger at work, and usually two naive lovers at the center of it all), with various novelists, playwrights, and film directors adding their own particular spins to it as a sort of rite of passage. In the case of James Whale, he outright named his film "The Old Dark House" and then went wild with it.

Beyond the amazing acting, camera work, production values, and overall permeating tone of things being "old," "dark," and questionably menacing, what's the most astounding about this film is the odd tightrope it walks, sometimes playing for absurd humor, sometimes for seriously dark and demented content, and never leaving you comfortable predicting which is coming next. Certain scenes leave you feeling as odd and awkward as the naive protagonists experiencing the inhabitants and mystery of the old dark house along with us, and those few truly shocking moments of horrific brutality and terror catch us even more blindsided as a result.

This is one seriously weird film, great for off-beat humor, a foreboding sense of creepiness, and a few great moments of true horror as well. It so uniquely captures the ideal balance of all things James Whale -- the great tragedy, terror, beauty, and perverse humor of which he was capable, but (for the first and only time) with the absolute right mix. Though not my favorite Whale film (any true horror fan should already realize what's still coming), this is the one that I feel best captures the man in his entirety.

And, for what it's worth, fans of The Rocky Horror Picture Show might be surprised to find many elements of that film here, albeit delivered in a more serious manner.

I love the look of this movie--the color and lighting is very similar to the covers of horror pulps from the 30s. Lee Tracy is very good here--he was very popular in the pre-code era, but largely forgotten today.

#7: Dracula (1931/USA)



There's a certain safety in early monster flicks. They may be deadly, and they may be unstoppable, but they tend to have some degree of struggling morality within them and, more importantly, they are easily detectable.

Not so for the Bela Lugosi Count Dracula.

Though the ever-present parodies have, perhaps, desensitized us to what was so thrilling about the character in 1931, the character was shocking in both his total absence of morality and in the fact that, when necessary, he could come off as completely non-threatening and, in fact, as a respectable man of stature. Only the exotic accent, menacing glances, and absence of a reflection ever managed to give him away.

It's that masterful balance Lugosi achieved between absolutely menacing amoral predator and harmless kindly man-about-town that knocks me senseless every time I watch this. And Tod Browning does a masterful job of pulling out all the stops to emphasize his bestial side while also pulling back and allowing the social mask it wears to charm and surprise us. Browning's usage of shadows, lighting, and even some early usage of techniques like the tracking shot are the perfect compliment to the sinister monstrosity Lugosi so brilliantly brings to life. In a world of bad Bela Lugosi parodies, we can hear him utter the words "Come here" to Van Helsing in his thick Hungarian accent and find it funny or silly, but it can truly drive chills up one's spine when you put aside preconceptions and simply allow yourself to experience the character for the first time as presented through the eye of Tod Browning.

Oh, and Dwight Fry plays a brilliantly demented henchman.

One word of warning. As I always caution, Tod Browning is an absolutely brilliant filmmaker whose films, for some reason, always seem to have one pivotal tragic flaw keeping each from achieving its true potential and greatness. With Dracula, the flaw is the awkward soundtrack, which often drops out entirely, leaving awkward silences throughout. Though this may not seem like a significant obstacle in an otherwise brilliant film, I absolutely encourage anyone reading this to purchase/view a version of the film that offers the alternate 1998 Philip Glass soundtrack as an option. Accompanied by the right music, the film attains a whole new beauty as certain rhythms in the acting and editing that were not apparent with the old soundtrack suddenly spring to life, offering the film a more seamless flow that I believe it was always intended to have.