VIDEO WATCHDOG'S Best Fantastic/Cult Cinema Blu-Ray Releases of 2020

It's that time again. This has been a horrific year in many ways, but we certainly can't complain about the state of the Blu-ray industry. It may be tightening its belt in some ways - I recorded fewer audio commentaries this year than last - but the quality of the product coming out is nothing short of dazzling, opulent, fetishistic. As always, I can't see everything and I'm guided somewhat by my own interests and biases; this list is understandably limited to what I saw, some of which was provided to me (thank you!) and some of which was bought. I couldn't settle on a Top 10 or even a Top 20; the total number of films (and different versions of films) in my main list total 66 movies. And, as John Cassavetes says in HUSBANDS, that's as far as I go without a red spotlight! Titles are listed in the order of personal preference. 

And now, on with the show...

VW'S BEST OF FANTASTIC & CULT CINEMA ON BLU-RAY 2020:

THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (Warner Archive), BRIDES OF DRACULA, CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF, PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL (Scream Factory), FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN (as FRANKENSTEIN SCHUF EIN WEIB, Anolis Entertainment GER)

    These six releases offer much more than definitive presentations of the films themselves; they encompass the yeoman efforts of Constantin Nasr and Steve Haberman, whose audio commentaries and documentary shorts boast some of the finest scholarship and critical observation ever brought to bear on the collected work of a single director: in this case, Terence Fisher. Additional invaluable content from Richard Klemensen (whose BRIDES OF DRACULA profile of Fisher ranks high among the best BD bonus items of the year) and musicologist David Huckvale. Warner's CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN is not only the year's best and most fulfilling restorations, but it is offered in three different ratios - 1.85, 1.66, and 1.37:1. I think the open matte presentation may be my favorite.

UNIVERSAL HORROR COLLECTION, VOLUME 4, VOLUME 5 and VOLUME 6 (Scream Factory)

    Constantine Nasr was also the man responsible for organizing the extras for these sets of, shall we say, second-league Universal (and Paramount) horror titles from the 1930s and '40s. The films themselves look better than ever, but once again the real point of appeal is the research conveyed in documentaries and commentaries by the leading scholars in this niche: Tom Weaver, Greg Mank, Gary D. Rhodes, Kim Newman and Stephen Jones, Bruce G. Hallenbeck, and Scott Gallinghouse. It never quite hits the heights of the Karloff/Lugosi analyses contributed to the first two volumes, but these demand to be part of any serious collection.     

THE WAR OF THE WORLDS (Criterion, also Via Vision Entertainment AU)

    As far as single title releases are concerned, nothing beats this 4K restoration of Byron Haskin's 1953 science fiction classic for producer George Pal. It looks stunning, it sounds stunning. Pure adrenaline for the eyes and ears, and the extras are superb.

ROBOCOP: DIRECTOR'S CUT (Arrow Video)

    Arguably the last great science fiction film of the 20th Century dusted off with a staggering 4K restoration of the unrated director's cut with a choice of three soundtrack options: 2.0 stereo, 4.0 surround, and 5.1 room-ripping mayhem. The 4.0 is the way to go. Three audio commentaries, one the vintage Paul Verhoeven track and the other two brand new, including one by noted historian Paul M. Sammon. And that is just the tip of the iceberg - basically every other supplement you could possibly want is here, and it can be yours for well under $25. 

THREE EDGAR ALLAN POE ADAPTATIONS STARRING BELA LUGOSI: MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE, THE BLACK CAT, and THE RAVEN (Eureka UK)

    The aforementioned "Karloff/Lugosi analyses" from the likes of Tom Weaver, Greg Mank, Gary D. Rhodes, and Ted Newsom, which originally appeared on the first two Scream Factory UNIVERSAL HORROR COLLECTION sets, are ported into this belated British release, which benefits from its more specific focus on Lugosi. The set also includes an Easter Egg that leads to a re-edit of MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE, following the suggestions first laid out by Yours Truly in VIDEO WATCHDOG #111, and subsequently modified by Gary Prange. I did it all in my head, so it was also revelatory to me to actually see the results put into action; the film really is made better by the adjustments we proposed. I may be biased, but this is my choice for Best Blu-ray extra of the year.  

SHINING SEX, BAHIA BLANCA, CRIES OF PLEASURE, NIGHT OF OPEN SEX (Severin Films)

    The first of these four Jess Franco titles is one of his rare science-fiction outings, made the same year as Nicolas Roeg's THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH, which not only suggests a distaff version of that story, but a mutation offspring of his own earlier THE DIABOLICAL DR. Z and SUCCUBUS, which would subsequently mutate again into the presently lost/unfinished AIDS: THE PLAGUE OF THE 20TH CENTURY. The other three titles are valuable retrievals from his 1980s output and a particular pleasure to see made available in English and quality presentations. CRIES OF PLEASURE is a return to de Sade territory told in lengthy sustained takes (à la ROPE), NIGHT OF OPEN SEX is a bastard entry in his Al Pereira series (with Antonio Mayans as "Al Crosby"), and BAHIA BLANCA (strictly limited to 600 copies and now SOLD OUT, so try eBay if you have the money) is a remarkable, even sui generis, achievement that infuses a haunting human drama with "Bride Wore Black" imagery decades before Tarantino's KILL BILL. David Gregory's short films following author Stephen Thrower on location visits to Franco's past locations are not only splendidly sentimental and informative, but really drive home the fact that Franco's gift for scouting locations worked miracles of production value.  

THE OUTER LIMITS - THE COMPLETE SERIES (ViaVision Entertainment, AU)

    For the OUTER LIMITS completist, this box set of the entire classic 1963-64 series contains everything found in the two Kino Lorber sets as well as three additional audio commentaries (David J. Schow on "The Architects of Fear", Craig Beam on "The Man Who Was Never Born", and yours truly on "The Hundred Days of the Dragon"), a new video essay by Mr. Schow on newly discovered revelations from a recently unearthed early teleplay of "The Forms of Things Unknown", and more. 

HAMMER: THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION (Mill Creek)

    Twenty films on ten discs, including the must-have Constantine Nasr/Steve Haberman commentary for Terence Fisher's THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN, which, alas, does not make use of the 4K restoration released in the UK as part of Indicator's HAMMER VOLUME 4 collection. In fact, though no one is saying this set isn't quite a bargain, Mill Creek was unfortunately obliged to work with Columbia's existing masters of the US versions of some of these titles, which means that STOP BEFORE I KILL! is missing an important shower scene involving nudity by Diane Cilento and CREATURES THE WORLD FORGOT (making its home video debut) is the PG cut. The disc also hosts what I believe is the US Blu-ray debut of William Castle's THE OLD DARK HOUSE, originally shipped out to US theaters in black-and-white prints, but preserved here in its original striking color palette, which restores a good deal of its Hammer ambience. In addition to the aforementioned commentary, we also get Nasr on NEVER TAKE SWEETS FROM A STRANGER, Haberman on SCREAM OF FEAR, Phoef Sutton/C. Courtney Joyner/Mark Jordan Began sharing a track on the underrated THE SNORKEL, Joshua Kennedy on THE GORGON, and THE OLD DARK HOUSE is defended by the members of the Monster Party Podcast. There are also some featurettes and retrospectives, which I've not yet looked into but am told are all original to this set. Whether or not you already own the Indicator sets devoted to this same crop of films, there is enough exclusive and valuable material here to make it an essential purchase, especially if you can find it for less than retail.  

DAWN OF THE DEAD: LIMITED EDITION (1978, Second Sight UK)

    This one just came in the door, but it strikes me as a masterpiece of organization and presentation. Inside the box are three versions of the Romero classic (theatrical, extended Cannes cut, Argento ZOMBI cut), three soundtrack CDs (Goblin soundtrack, plus two discs devoted to DeWolf Library tracks sampled in the film), a 160-page hardcover book of new essays, and a new printing of the Romero/Sparrow novelization. I have issues with the actual 4K restoration of the theatrical cut, which has a jacked-up brightness and clarity that simply were not part of the film's theatrical experience, but it carries DP Michael Gornick's endorsement. I'm not saying it looks bad, just that it works on the viewer differently.       

MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM (Warner Archive)

    One of the great pre-code horror classics of the 1930s, with its original two-strip Technicolor photography restored to its original richness and lustre. With two fine new audio commentaries by Scott McQueen and Alan K. Rode, a Fay Wray documentary featurette, and a closer look at the film's restoration. 

KISS OF THE VAMPIRE (Scream Factory)

    Another outstanding Hammer disc from Scream Factory, albeit this time the work of director Don Sharp. Separate commentaries by Nasr and Haberman, plus Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson, plus still another archive commentary with some of the film's surviving stars. The NBC-TV version KISS OF EVIL is also included.

THE THIRD LOVER and THE CHAMPAGNE MURDERS (Kino Lorber)

    Unfairly overlooked in this crazy year of releases were these two fantastic thrillers from Claude Chabrol's fascinating if highly erratic first decade. THE THIRD LOVER, from 1962, is a story of how a young journalist moves to a small town to finagle an interview with a famous writer who, with his wife, is one of its reclusive locals. He not only ingratiates himself into their friendship, but the more deeply he becomes involved with the wife (Stéphane Audran), the more he becomes committed to destroying their marriage and filling the void he anticipates will follow the writer's untimely demise. I really set out to learn more of Chabrol's work only this year, and THE THIRD LOVER is one of his best. THE CHAMPAGNE MURDERS is preserved on Kino's disc only in its English version, which is good for preserving Anthony Perkins' performance, though a reportedly different French version also exists. This movie plays a trick on the viewer that caught me absolutely off-guard, and it haunted me for days. Kino Lorber also released Chabrol's political thriller LINE OF DEMARCATION this year - outside the scope of this survey, but well worth seeing. 

WARNING FROM SPACE (Arrow Video)

    In the Western consciousness, Japanese fantasy generally conjures up thoughts of giant monsters crushing Tokyo, but this disc preserves (and beautifully restores) the first color science fiction film make in Japan - directed by Koji Shima for Daiei Studios. The film has only ever been seen in English in a distorted recut distributed by AIP-TV, and that version is presented here looking better than it ever did on television, but the real eureka is the Japanese version, presented with optional English subtitles. Remarkably, the picture (scripted by Hideo Oguni, author of Kurosawa's THE SEVEN SAMURAI!) has no real protagonist, its ever-moving eye focusing instead on the varied breadth of humanity as it responds to an ultimately well-meaning alien presence on Earth.  

THE COMPLETE LENZI/BAKER GIALLO COLLECTION (Severin Films)

    This comprehensive package of the four giallo films made in the late '60s and early '70s by Italian director Umberto Lenzi and starring his muse, the American actress Carroll Baker, is another impeccably illustrated study not just of its particulars but the larger arc of giallo cinema, which these films represent in the years between Mario Bava and Dario Argento's mastery. All four of the films, not previously available in very good presentations, are given revelatory presentations and audio commentaries by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Kat Ellinger, Samm Deighan, and Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson intensify their yield as sociology as well as entertainment. La Baker is conspicuous in her absence, but there are archival interviews with Lenzi, new interviews with screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi and author Stephen Thrower, as well as soundtracks for three of the four titles. 

THE FU MANCHU CYCLE 1965-69 (Indicator)

    Each of the five films in this comprehensive collection (THE FACE OF FU MANCHU, THE BRIDES OF FU MANCHU, THE VENGEANCE OF FU MANCHU, THE BLOOD OF FU MANCHU, and THE CASTLE OF FU MANCHU) has been impressively revitalized for this release - they look better, sound better, and they are as complete, as well organized and chronicled as they can possibly be. In some ways, this is a party for a series that never quite fulfilled its promise, and the party is the reason to get it. The festive analysis provided explains in meticulous detail why the films went downhill so quickly, and rather than seeing a sad decline over time, our eyes are keened to a greater appreciation of what was managed, and also of the inspired diversity of directorial approaches taken to the material at hand. A fun education.

THE PUPPETOON MOVIE VOLUME 2 (Puppetoon Productions) 

    Arnold Leibovit's long-awaited follow-up to 2013's Blu-Ray of THE PUPPETOON MOVIE contains another 18 fully restored HD presentations of George Pal's stop-motion animation gems from 1934-46 and additional programming in standard definition, including looks at Pal's commercial work for Shell Oil Company and Alka-Seltzer. Fascinating to watch, and at least as fascinating to step-through, frame by frame.  

FORBIDDEN FRUIT: THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE EXPLOITATION PICTURE (Kino Lorber, eight volumes to date)

    In this age of 4K restorations and comprehensive box sets, it's easy to overlook this growing set of collaborations between Kino Lorber, Something Weird Video, and other providers, which sheds new light on various forms of exploitation during the early years of the sound era. Starting with William Beaudine's notorious 1945 "birth of a baby" movie MOM & DAD (with audio commentary by Eric Schafer, author of BOLD! DARING! SHOCKING! TRUE! A HISTORY OF EXPLOITATION FILMS 1919-59, and a John Ford-directed sex hygiene short among its supporting content), continuing with various fantasias of nudism (UNASHAMED: A ROMANCE) and tragedies concerning unwanted pregnancies (CHILD BRIDE) and marijuana addiction (SHE SHOULDA SAID NO!), and most recently culminating in the first-ever home video release of the legendarily long-lost INGAGI (a faux documentary about virgin sacrifices to gorillas in jungle cultures), these films are loaded with surprises (including appearances by Lyle Talbot, Jack Elam, and other familiar faces). Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Bret Wood, and the late David F. Friedman are among the knowledgeable commentators. 

AMAZON WOMEN ON THE MOON: COLLECTOR'S EDITION (Kino Lorber)

    John Landis produced this collection of comedy sketches - featuring bits by himself, Robert K. Weiss, and a wealth of terrific material from Joe Dante - and I find it one of the most enduring things he's ever done. Much in the same vein as his earlier THE KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE, this potpourri has an emphatic focus on televised entertainment and the impact of technology on human relationships and interactions. Dante's contributions in particular have an often barbed edge to their confrontational comedy and, as I especially felt when seeing this film theatrically, delight in making the audience uncomfortable. As time has gone on, it's only grown better, with everyone exploring stylistic templates that range from 1930s James Whale horror and Dwain Esper sex education trash to 1950s Technicolor pirate and science fiction pictures, to the perky TV trends of its own time. This disc is the best way to see the film, as it includes a wealth of deleted material (originally described way back in VIDEO WATCHDOG #2) that for some reason didn't pass muster, though it certainly appealed to me!  

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

THE ELEPHANT MAN (Criterion)

AL ADAMSON: THE MASTERPIECE COLLECTION (Severin Films)

CRASH (Criterion)

THREE FANTASTIC JOURNEYS BY KAREL ZEMAN (Criterion)

TEOREMA (Criterion)

THE FLESH AND THE FIENDS (Kino Lorber)

LET'S SCARE JESSICA TO DEATH (Scream Factory)

ULTRAMAN ACE, NEO ULTRA Q, ULTRAMAN R/B: THE SERIES/THE MOVIE, ULTRAMAN ORB: THE ORIGIN SAGA (Mill Creek Entertainment)

THE CREMATOR (Criterion)

OUTSIDE THE LAW, DRIFTING and WHITE TIGER (Kino Lorber)

TEX AVERY'S SCREWBALL CLASSICS VOLUME 2 (Warner Archive)

THE NIGHT MY NUMBER CAME UP (Kino Lorber)

THE YEAR'S BEST RESTORATIONS:

THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (Warner Archive)

THE WAR OF THE WORLDS (Criterion, ViaVision Entertainment AU)

INGAGI (Kino Lorber)

ULYSSES (Kino Lorber)

MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM (Warner Archive)

THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH (Scream Factory)

THE GOLEM (Kino Lorber)

WARNING FROM SPACE (Arrow Video)

TRAIL OF THE SCREAMING FOREHEAD - DIRECTOR'S CUT (Hydraulic Entertainment)

INNER SANCTUM MYSTERIES (Mill Creek Entertainment)

PLAY MISTY FOR ME (Kino Lorber)

THE FU MANCHU CYCLE 1965-69 (Indicator)

THE WONDERS OF ALADDIN (Kino Lorber)

ORGASMO (in THE COMPLETE LENZI/BAKER GIALLO COLLECTION, Severin Films)

WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE (ViaVision Entertainment AU)

THE THIEF OF BAGHDAD (as DER GAUNER VON BAGHDAD, Colosseo Film GER)

20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA (Kino Lorber)

LET'S SCARE JESSICA TO DEATH (Scream Factory)

CURSE OF THE UNDEAD (Kino Lorber)

SUPERNATURAL (Kino Lorber)

And finally...

Having generally left my own contributions outside the discussion, I will close with this complete list of the new work I generated this past year, in the order I recorded them, for those who want to know. 

TIM LUCAS BLU-RAY AUDIO COMMENTARIES OF 2020:

THE FLESH AND THE FIENDS (Kino Lorber)

THE GOLEM (with bonus short commentary; 1920, Kino Lorber)

THE OUTER LIMITS - THE COMPLETE SERIES (“The Hundred Days of the Dragon,” ViaVision, AU only)

CANNIBAL APOCALYPSE (Kino Lorber)

BRIGHTON ROCK (1948, Kino Lorber)

SUPERNATURAL (1933, Kino Lorber)

SECRET CEREMONY (Kino Lorber)

NEUROSIS (Redemption/Kino Lorber)

THE BALCONY (Kino Lorber)

ULYSSES (1954, Kino Lorber)

THE CHALK GARDEN (Kino Lorber)

DANGER: DIABOLIK (ViaVision, AU only)

THE WONDERS OF ALADDIN (Kino Lorber)

PLAY MISTY FOR ME (Kino Lorber)

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

 

(c) 2020 by Tim Lucas. All rights reserved.

Subscribe to Tim Lucas / Video WatchBlog by Email

If you enjoy Video WatchBlog, your kind support will help to ensure its continued frequency and broader reach of coverage.

All Father/All Mother: LE BEAU SERGE and PSYCHO

Over the years, I have seen Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO (1960) countless times, and it has proven its value to me time and time again by always giving me something new to appreciate and to work with. It is hard for me to imagine a more generous film in terms of its seemingly inexhaustible supply of stylistic facets and practical ideas. It is also true that sometimes a good film can teach us something worth knowing about another director's work; for example, it's unlikely that critics would have ever contrasted the works of Terence Fisher, for example, with those of Frank Borzage had Fisher not singled out this other director for his highest praise in a CINEFANTASTIQUE interview conducted by Harry Ringel back in 1973. And so it was to my own great surprise that I recently discovered such a connection - one that struck me as so obvious, I started acting like Paul McCartney when he had dreamed the song "Yesterday" and went around playing it for all his friends, unable to believe that no one had ever written it before. 

As my interest in further exploring Claude Chabrol's work has continued, I recently had the opportunity to screen his first feature LE BEAU SERGE (1958), which is available from Criterion in a splendid Blu-ray edition. I was under the mistaken impression that I had seen it once before, as I had seen his second film LES COUSINS (1959) when Criterion first released the two films in tandem back in 2011; I loved LES COUSINS and had every intention of watching the earlier film but something apparently diverted my attention from it. My copy was still in its original shrink-wrap! Anyway, I was most impressed by LE BEAU SERGE, which is the story of a successful young author (Jean-Pierre Brialy) who returns to his hometown, a restful little village, to recover from tuberculosis. There, he discovers a fondly remembered old friend, Serge (Gérard Blain), who has become an alcoholic, trapped in an unhappy marriage with a young wife expecting a child - the second after the first was lost in childbirth and found to have had Down's Syndrome. Hating his life and circumstances, as well as the wife he knows he loves, and dreading that his new child will also be tainted with what was then called "mongolism," the film builds to the child's healthy birth and the final image of its lead character laughing with joy. As he continues laughing, cameraman Henri Decaë diffuses focus until the handsome Serge's face becomes a blurred mess from which the likeness of a skull emerges. Sitting alone in my living room at 3:00am, I couldn't hold back a "Whoa!" at this bold revelation.

Though the two films tell very different stories, both LE BEAU SERGE and PSYCHO end with the same basic image and frisson:

Not only was the connection immediately obvious to me, but so was the most likely reason Hitchcock would have knowingly quoted it. In 1957, before either man became a director in his own right, Claude Chabrol and Éric Rohmer had collaborated on the first book ever written about Alfred Hitchcock and his films, a critical overview of his first forty-four films entitled simply ALFRED HITCHCOCK in French and ALFRED HITCHCOCK: THE FIRST FORTY-FOUR FILMS in English translation.

Peter Bogdanovich's signed copy, which recently sold to a lucky collector for $2,500. 

Chabrol was the first of the French Nouvelle Vague directors to make his own film, his first wife having inherited a good deal of money that the couple put toward the production of LE BEAU SERGE, saving him the trouble of having to find a sympathetic producer as his fellows had to do. NORTH BY NORTHWEST, Hitchcock's film of 1958, would have been made before Hitchcock read the book, which means that PSYCHO would have been the first Hitchcock film to have been made by a newly critically-explained, self-conscious Hitchcock. It makes sense that he would have expressed his gratitude for their close reading of his work by showing equal attention to theirs - by acknowledging this moment from Chabrol's maiden effort in his own with a characteristic wink. 

Of course, it is also possible that Hitchcock was concerned about whether or not this quotation might be too direct, as different prints of PSYCHO have turned up over the years without its chilling subliminal double exposure at the end. Just as it is also possible that the idea may have occurred to him without being fully aware of what had inspired it. Indeed, I'm assuming in saying all of this that the nearly subliminal PSYCHO double exposure was not originated in Joseph Stefano's screenplay adaptation of Robert Bloch's novel because stylistic touches such as this are traditionally the province of the director. 

As LE BEAU SERGE reaches its conclusion, its title character finally becomes a father, a role he has tried to forget as someone like the living dead throughout the bulk of the film the duration of the film. The meaning of its closing shot is probably arguable, but I believe it shows the dawning of real parental terror at the moment of a child's birth, that first intimation of one's own life as being no more than a small and tentative link in a very long chain. Serge is no longer self-absorbed; he has become "all father," much as Norman Bates in his cell has become "all Mother."

Anyway, I checked Claude Chabrol authority Guy Austin's LE BEAU SERGE audio commentary for further information; he acknowledged that the blurring of Serge briefly resembles a skull, but draws no comparison to the film that replayed this idea for greater chills in its closing moments. I also asked some Facebook friends (including fellow critic Adrian Martin) if they knew of anyone who had explored this connection before, and to the best of their pooled knowledge, it seemed to be a fresh observation.

And so, to mark the moment and my eureka, I am sharing it now with you.

  

(c) 2020 by Tim Lucas. All rights reserved.

Subscribe to Tim Lucas / Video WatchBlog by Email

If you enjoy Video WatchBlog, your kind support will help to ensure its continued frequency and broader reach of coverage.

Frankenstein Created Discussion

A new release from Anolis Entertainment in Germany offers an excellent follow-up course to the REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN audio commentary discussed earlier this week. Anolis' new Blu-ray disc of Terence Fisher's FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN (1966) - entitled FRANKENSTEIN SCHUF EIN WEIB, and available in both standard and "media book" editions - complements their superb 1.66:1 presentation of the film with two audio commentaries (by Dr. Rolf Giesen and Dr. Gerd Naumann, and Uwe Sommerlad and Volker Kronz, respectively), in German of course, with a few truly essential and exclusive bonus documents from Dima Ballin's Diabolique Films. The first and most important of these is a 67m documentary, FRANKENSTEIN AND THE TWO FACES OF EVE, which is not just a making-of story (told with the participation of Hammer historians Constantine Nasr and Steve Haberman, as well as the film's romantic male lead, Robert Morris) but a rigorous critical dissection of the picture by DIABOLIQUE editor Kat Ellinger, author Gavin Baddeley (LUCIFER RISING: A BOOK OF SIN, DEVIL WORSHIP AND ROCK 'N' ROLL), director-historian Joe Dante, and musicologist Dr. David Huckvale.

Watching this documentary took me back to the thrill of reading David Pirie's A HERITAGE OF HORROR: THE ENGLISH GOTHIC CINEMA 1946-1972 for the first time back in the Seventies, when a three-page accounting of FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN could hit one like a thunderbolt. Neither Pirie nor his book are mentioned here, but its foundation underlies everything discussed here, as does Harry Ringel's in-depth essay and interview for for the Fall 1975 issue of CINEFANTASTIQUE: the history of the Fatal Woman concept, the film's deeper debt to Mary Shelley as it moves away from grave-robbing to embrace metaphysics, Baron Frankenstein's comparative niceness in this story (which portrays him as someone whose visionary character is feared by the uncomprehending locals, rather than his evil or criminal character), the tragic love story at its core, Fisher's affection for the tragic love stories of director Frank Borzage, the film's actual place in Fisher's Frankenstein cycle, the arc of Peter Cushing's Frankenstein portrayal, the mystery of actress Susan Denberg, and a good deal more. At one point, Robert Morris remembers auditioning for the role of Hans and being asked by Terence Fisher and executive producer Anthony Hinds how he "saw" the character he was being considered for, which prompted an outpouring of thoughts about how he was one outside in the company of other outsiders who were all working together to produce a genuine miracle, which prompted Fisher to lean over to Hinds and ask wry, "Did we put all of that into this?" Well, perhaps not consciously, but the answer is ultimately yes, because it and every other idea explored in this thought-provoking video commentary fits together with the balance and inevitability of science. I believe Fisher and Hinds would have been both astonished and tickled to see how much deeper the conversation about this one film has gone since then, and I also believe that any of us who hope to keep such discussion moving forward needs to support a release such as this, regardless of whether we already own the movie or not.   

In a separate featurette, David Huckvale (himself a widely published author on such cinema-adjunct subjects as Hammer, Edgar Allan Poe, Body Horror, and the Occult) deconstructs the film's wonderful score by James Bernard, taking immediate notice of its commencement in tritones (the use of three adjacent tones, also known as "the Devil's Interval"), and pointing out how two distinct themes for Christina (Susan Denberg) and Hans (Robert Morris) are musically entertained from the moment their souls entwine as the result of Frankenstein's experiment. Allowing that Bernard claimed he was less fond of Wagner than Verdi, Huckvale also points out the ways in which Bernard's score for this film is more specifically Wagnerian. I've seen a number of David's musical profiles on different Hammer films, and they are always thoroughly informed and entertaining - he is an excellent speaker and educator - but the best of them really are akin to the very best film criticism because they illuminate so much that is inherent under the surface of the films, and that which also lurks in the viewer's subconscious felt but unprocessed due to a lack of musical education. This lecture, which extends to something over 20 minutes, ranks with the very best he's done. He's making any disc that comes out without his, or a similar, musical awareness attached look all the poorer for it. 

FRANKENSTEIN SCHUF EIN WEIB also includes a 9m stand-alone interview with Morris (taped somewhat earlier than his bits in the main documentary, and covering some - but not all - of the same territory), another with original crew members Eddie Collins and Joe Marks, as well as trailers, TV spots, radio spots, US and German publicity materials, and a poster and stills gallery. Anolis' "media book" edition is a compact, hand-fitting, hardcover that includes an addition 24-page color booklet with a German language essay by Uwe Sommerlad, who does quote David Pirie at one point, consciously and specifically. The media book is available in a choice of A and B cover designs, as shown here. 

It should also be mentioned that Anolis' recent companion release of Roger Corman's TALES OF TERROR (1962) - under the title DER GRAUENVOLLE MR. X - is likewise now available in a similar variety of forms and a wealth of tempting extras. Two of them are new audio commentaries from the same German commentators as the FRANKENSTEIN set, but the highlight is another new documentary from Dima Ballin and Diabolique Films, this one called THE TALE OF MR. CORMAN AND MR. POE, which runs roughly 52 minutes. It covers Corman's entire Poe Cycle (from 1960's FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER through 1965's THE TOMB OF LIGEIA), in the process focusing on the place of the series within the general horror movement of the early 1960s, its innovation of "American Gothic" and the distinct ways in which such films differ from English Gothic, Corman's use of stylized set interiors and exteriors, Vincent Price and the reasons why he (with his specific theatrical demeanor and acting style) was the ideal figurehead for this series, the comic direction taken by TALES OF TERROR and THE RAVEN and its truthfulness to Poe's actual writing, the contribution of Richard Matheson, and more. 

For this program, Ballin narrows his base of commentators to the British authorities, Baddeley, Ellinger, and Huckvale (all excellent thinkers and speakers) - but the narrowing serves to sharpen focus, deepening everyone's individual contributions, giving them more time to talk and explore the points they make. We've all seen a number of featurettes covering this body of work, most of them made in America, and they tend to take a nostalgic, fun approach to the subject. THE TALE OF MR. CORMAN AND MR. POE is notable for approaching its subject from a more sophisticated, literary, and aesthetic perspective and one comes away from it feeling not only enriched and fortified, but in love with these movies all over again.

I understand the pain of double-, triple-, quadruple-dipping, so it might help those who already own these titles in other releases to think of these media-books in terms of their "book" aspect. As I say, these documentaries are mentally stimulating as well as entertaining, and their ability to describe things we can actively see or hear, to contrast an historical reference point with the subject or object being referenced, in such a fluid way makes me think that the way films are being seriously written about may be metamorphosing - away from separate monologizing to a more fluid interaction of art and scholarship.     

   

(c) 2020 by Tim Lucas. All rights reserved.

Subscribe to Tim Lucas / Video WatchBlog by Email

If you enjoy Video WatchBlog, your kind support will help to ensure its continued frequency and broader reach of coverage.

Notes on Mill Creek's REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN

Peter Cushing and Francis Matthews in THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1958). 

Spent Saturday afternoon enjoying the Steve Haberman/Constantine Nasr commentary on Mill Creek Entertainment’s THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN - part of their new 20-film HAMMER ULTIMATE COLLECTION. I have strong feelings for this film, which may not be the most important Frankenstein film ever made, though I feel there are none better.

The audio commentary is another outstanding job; I was particularly interested in its line of thought regarding Terence Fisher's portrayal of humanity in the film's Dickensian world as clueless at its best and really horrible at its worst, with personal style used as a kind of badge of superiority and as a social mask for decadence. Which, in turn, prevents genuinely good but unpresentable characters like Oskar Quitak's Karl (rudely shrugged off as "Dwarf" in the end titles) from being appreciated by even themselves for what they are in their God-given form.

Over the years, I’ve tended to think the film looks at the world through Frankenstein’s (Peter Cushing) eyes; everyone else hovers between insuffiency and carrion, it seems. Frankenstein needs assistants because he needs even more constant adulation and someone close by to take his blame for his failures. Seeing the film again, and with the commentators’ guidance, I am coming around it seeing it through the eyes of the Baron’s intern Hans Cleve (Francis Matthews), who has similar ambitions to his mentor but follows his example from a different perspective. He wants to see the Baron’s dream of creating or restoring life realized because he genuinely wants to serve others; on the other hand, Frankenstein feels superior to everyone else, including God (if he even believes in Him), who in both this film and its predecessor CURSE, thwarts his intentions with random accidents. It occurred to me afterwards, as I continued ruminating on the film and the commentary, that - just before performing the climactic operation, Cleve actually says something like “God grant me the skill to do this” - it’s a prayer, in effect - so the text would support the idea that his operation succeeded because it wasn’t performed in flagrant denial of God as his mentor's were. I do wish there had been a direct sequel made to this, as it leaves the viewer in an uncomfortably ambivalent yet tantalizing place.

The Mill Creek presentation isn't bad at all, but it's a bit dated-looking - identical, I would imagine, to their September 2016 Blu-ray release of the title, which was, then as now, doubled up with Michael Carreras' THE CURSE OF THE MUMMY'S TOMB (1965). There is an updated, superior-looking presentation of REVENGE available - the 4K restoration included with the fourth Indicator Hammer box release in the UK. This is just one of those movies that the most discerning collectors and historians need to own in duplicate.

(c) 2020 by Tim Lucas. All rights reserved.

Subscribe to Tim Lucas / Video WatchBlog by Email

If you enjoy Video WatchBlog, your kind support will help to ensure its continued frequency and broader reach of coverage.

It's Going Back Into the Woodwork

 

A word to the wise: when I posted the link to this blog's FREE download of my audio commentary for the OUTER LIMITS episode "It Crawled Out of the Woodwork" last November 3, I mentioned that this exclusive item - available nowhere else - would only be made available for 30 days. Technically, that time is now up, but I know how confusing things can become around the holidays - so I'll extend this gift to all of you well-meaners and late-comers one more day... till the end of the week.

It's going to disappear back into the vacuum cleaner sometime before midnight, east coast time, on Friday night!

Grab it now while you still can!

Go to THIS LINK. DOWNLOAD, then UNZIP and ENJOY. 

(c) 2020 by Tim Lucas. All rights reserved.

Subscribe to Tim Lucas / Video WatchBlog by Email

If you enjoy Video WatchBlog, your kind support will help to ensure its continued frequency and broader reach of coverage.

Revisiting the Inner Sanctum, Part 2

There was a uniformity to Reginald LeBorg's vision of the Inner Sanctum series; the results should have been judged as generally outstanding, especially since the details of Universal's brand acquisition left him and his team without any established traits or footholds to work with, but it was not a series that encouraged artistic or even commercial growth. Apparently Universal perceived and used the series in much the same way as rival studio Columbia used their Boston Blackie, Lone Wolf, Crime Doctor and Whistler series: as a kind of on-the-job film school wherein the best directors of their short subjects were given a chance to hone their skills on not-very-demanding co-feature product. After three such films, LeBorg was "kicked upstairs," as it were, and set to work on A-pictures like SAN DIEGO I LOVE YOU and DESTINY, while still knocking out the occasional B like THE MUMMY'S GHOST. Having reached a glass ceiling at the studio, he left in 1945 - a year that produced one last Universal picture, HONEYMOON AHEAD - and found his way into active duty as a free-lancer working for Monogram, United Artists, Eagle-Lion, and other companies. LeBorg would pass away in 1989 at the age of 86, by which time he had added a few more titles of especial interest to his filmography, including THE BLACK SLEEP, VOODOO ISLAND with Boris Karloff, and DIARY OF A MADMAN with Vincent Price.

The Inner Sanctums continued with THE FROZEN GHOST, directed by Harold Young - another Universal contracted B-director who, like LeBorg, had started out in Europe with serious credentials (he had directed THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL for Alexander Korda in the 1930s), but had petered out in America specializing in musicals (like SWING IT SOLDIER and JUKE BOX JENNY) and the odd atmospheric horror picture (THE MUMMY's TOMB). Just before entering the Inner Sanctum, Young had been farmed out to Disney to direct live action sequences for THE THREE CABALLEROS. THE FROZEN GHOST was a film of mixed parentage and absolutely feels like it: it was originated as a screen story by Henry Sucher (who had originated Universal's Paula the Ape Woman series with CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN and also written THE MUMMY'S TOMB and THE MUMMY'S GHOST) but ended up being rewritten at least twice more by the dual-billed Bernard Schubert (MARK OF THE VAMPIRE) and Luci Ward (who seems to have written only DICK TRACY VS. CUEBALL outside her main diet of B-Westerns).

Lon Chaney's male gaze gets him into trouble in THE FROZEN GHOST.

In this story, nightclub hypnotist Gregor the Great (Chaney) and his assistant Maura Daniel (a pregnant Evelyn Ankers artfully concealing her baby bump in her last Universal picture) find their stage act disrupted by a drunken audience member, whose heart stops under Gregor's angry gaze. Believing that he somehow murdered the man though sheer force of will, Gregor abandons his successful career and decides to mellow out by taking a nice, relaxing job at... a wax museum famous for its replications of famous murders! Not at all practical, but it sets the ball rolling by introducing the lovesick owner (Tala Birell) of the museum who wants Gregor for her own, her equally lovesick niece Nina (Elena Verdugo, who also made eyes at Chaney as the gypsy girl in HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN), the wax artisan (Martin Kosleck) who talks to his creations and eventually displays a dead body in historical character, and Gregor's concerned manager (GUNSMOKE's Milburn Stone). The scenario is all over the place, but Chaney is well-centered as the conscience-plagued protagonist (whose whispered interior monologues à la LeBorg continue here), and the hypnotism scenes and museum displays evoke a nicely spooky atmosphere, building to a fun fist-fight and knife-throwing battle between Chaney and Kosleck. It's probably the least accomplished of the six films in this series, but it's never boring.

J. Carrol Naish, Lon Chaney and Brenda Joyce toast their triangle in STRANGE CONFESSION.

The next film in the series, STRANGE CONFESSION (released in 1945, just one year after Julien Duvivier's STRANGE CONFESSION - also for Universal!), is a de-politicized remake of an earlier Universal picture, 1934's THE MAN WHO RECLAIMED HIS HEAD, an outstanding drama (directed by Edward Ludwig and scripted by Jean Bart) in the same spirit as Abel Gance's J'ACCUSE (1919, remade 1938). Whereas the original had starred Claude Rains as a pre-WWI newspaper editor driven mad when he discovers that his anti-war editorials are being censored by his publisher, who is actively using his paper to ramp up for war in support of the munitions manufacturers with whom he's secretly in league, this adaptation casts Chaney as Jeff Carter, a talented but unambitious chemist working for hire under mercenary pharmaceutical magnate Roger Graham (J. Carrol Naish), who has designs on Carter's young wife Mary (Brenda Joyce). I wouldn't exactly describe Chaney and Joyce's chemistry as "chemistry," but they engage in actual kissing and successfully evoke a happy marriage, if one under a good deal of economic stress. Informed by Jeff that his influenza-fighting drug-in-progress needs a special mold found only in the jungles of South America, Graham sends him and his peppy associate Dave Curtis (standout support by newcomer Lloyd Bridges) on a long trip below the equator, putting the time toward his own planned seduction of the neglected Mary. The situation sets the third act stage for disaster and an unusually grisly climax for this time period. Evidently this adaption of Jean Bart's original story was not authorized, a fact that knocked this film out of public circulation for decades; it was never shown on television as part of Universal's Shock Theater package, as the other five films were. Many people now regard this as the best film of the entire series, and I can't argue with the fact that director John Hoffman (making his feature debut after the successful short film MOODS OF THE SEA (1942, co-directed by Slavko Vorkapich) tells a very smooth, believable, and effectively modulated story. It would have fit beautifully into Columbia's Whistler series, which was more of an anthology of stories about the dark side of humanity. However, it doesn't quite muster the sense of the uncanny and the shuddery that we derive from the other Inner Sanctum films. 

Chaney warns spiritualist J. Edward Bromberg in PILLOW OF DEATH.

The final entry, PILLOW OF DEATH, intimates that Universal is closing up shop with this series from the very beginning; alone of the half dozen films, it doesn't open with the expected footage of David Hoffman's floating head in the crystal ball. The film itself is also fairly far afield from the series' usual fare, starring Chaney in a new script by George Bricker (SH! THE OCTOPUS, THE DEVIL BAT), based on an original story by Dwight V. Babcock - the same team responsible for Universal's HOUSE OF DRACULA and HOUSE OF HORRORS during this period. Handsomely photographed on a beautifully appointed manor set, this is basically a throwback to the old dark house thrillers of the late 1920s and early 1930 - pictures like THE CAT AND THE CANARY, THE THIRTEENTH CHAIR and SECRET OF THE BLUE ROOM - involving an unwelcome wedding announcement (Chaney and Brenda Joyce, again), seances, secret passages, and a series of murders committed overnight with handy pillows. It's held together well by director Wallace Fox (whose long list of B-Westerns is interrupted by two Bela Lugosi Monogrammers, BOWERY AT MIDNIGHT and THE CORPSE VANISHES) and a nicely eccentric cast of characters played by the likes of a pox-casting Clara Blandick (Auntie Em from THE WIZARD OF OZ), hatchet-faced Rosalind Ivan, amusingly elderly eccentric George Cleveland, and J. Edward Bromberg (SON OF DRACULA) as the suspicious medium and spiritualist, Julian Julian. Even on first viewing, it's a familiar picture, comfortable as an old slipper, rather than a bad one.

The first five pictures in this set look better than ever before, sparkling with heretofore unsuspected clarity and sheen that does a lot to boost the appeal of the films' sets, 1940s wardrobe, and atmosphere. For some reason, PILLOW OF DEATH isn't comparably presented; it looks dimmer and flatter than the others, even in contrast to its own previous DVD release. It's not distracting or unwatchable, but one hopes that Universal might be pressured into offering a replacement disc to make up for what appears to be clearly a mistake in selection. The supplements include two half-hour documentaries by Daniel Griffith, the first covering the original Old Time Radio Series, and the second covering the film series (though not quite in its entirety); these are informative and entertaining enough but there is a feeling of haste about them, a sense of being strapped for time and sufficient sources and resources to cook up something truly substantial and enthusiastic. There are also audio commentaries for CALLING DR. DEATH (novelist and film historian C. Courtney Joyner and the director's daughter, Regina LeBorg), WEIRD WOMAN (film historian Justin Humphreys and Dark Delicacies proprietor Del Howison), and STRANGE CONFESSION (Joyner in conversation with  HELLRAISER screenwriter Peter Atkins, speaking tinnily through a phone receiver) - and an eleven-minute videotaped interview with actor Martin Kosleck briefly covering his motion picture career. Also included are links to a number of various streaming Inner Sanctum-related properties, ranging from the films INNER SANCTUM (1948) and LADY OF BURLESQUE (1943) to three surviving recordings of the original program, including "The Tell Tale Heart" with Boris Karloff, "The Black Sea Gull" with Peter Lorre, and "Melody of Death" with Mary Astor.

           

(c) 2020 by Tim Lucas. All rights reserved.

Subscribe to Tim Lucas / Video WatchBlog by Email

If you enjoy Video WatchBlog, your kind support will help to ensure its continued frequency and broader reach of coverage.

Revisiting the Inner Sanctum, Pt. 1

My feelings toward Universal's Inner Sanctum series of the 1940s have always been somewhat ambivalent, but they are on the upswing given their latest issue as a two-disc Blu-ray box set from Mill Creek Entertainment. The series was inspired by Simon & Schuster's long-running imprint for mystery novels (1936-1969), which in turn had led to the creation of a popular thriller radio series (1941-1952), however Universal was contractually forbidden to adapt any of the past material or signature touches from either source, such as the radio show's famous use of a creaking door sound effect; it was free only to adapt other, or original, material. The result was a half-dozen B-pictures, an anthology of unease, all starring Lon Chaney (as the actor's name appears on all six films, after his only credit as "Lon Chaney Jr." on 1941's THE WOLF MAN): the films were CALLING DR. DEATH (1943), WEIRD WOMAN (1944), and DEAD MAN'S EYES (1944), all directed by Reginald LeBorg; followed by an equal number of films with one-shot directors: THE FROZEN GHOST (1944, Harold Young), STRANGE CONFESSION (1945, John Hoffman), and PILLOW OF DEATH (1945, Wallace Fox). All but one of the films was included in Universal's original "Shock Theater" TV syndication package (launched in 1957) and it is frequently contended that the films acquired a poor reputation because they were misunderstood as horror pictures in this confusing setting, when they were actually mystery programmers.

David Hoffman as the uncredited Host of the Inner Sanctum pictures.

While the Inner Sanctum films do bear a superficial resemblance to Columbia's B-picture series based on the radio series THE WHISTLER - in that they all feature the same lead actor in an anthology of different atmospheric thrillers - any resemblance should be inverted as THE WHISTLER's March 30, 1944 premiere followed that of CALLING DR. DEATH on December 17 of the previous year, by a few months -  enough time to have been made in legitimate response to it. However, as is also true of most WHISTLER films, you cannot really call most Inner Sanctum films "mysteries" in the accepted sense because they are not about presenting clues to help the viewer solve crimes; nor are they particularly innocent in encouraging people to regard them as horror, with their exploitative titles and shared opening footage of a disembodied head (David Hoffman) babbling its forebodings from a crystal ball in an eerily empty, book-lined room ("This... is the Inner Sanctum!"). They are more accurately suspense pictures, moreso about human (most particularly abnormal) psychology, assembling stories from aspects of the uncanny and evoking atmospheres of encroaching dread. Chaney was hardly Universal's most flexible actor, but his roles in these half-dozen films are remarkably well-tailored to the tragic persona that became his with his performances in OF MICE AND MEN (1939) and THE WOLF MAN, and actually put forth his finest work for the studio outside the latter, his best-known characterization.

Lon Chaney hypnotizes Patricia Morison in this promo shot for CALLING DR. DEATH.

Seen today, the three LeBorg films exercise particular interest. They share a certain uniformity not carried over into the final three, which is primarily expressed through the use of whispered internal monologues and fascinating montage sequences used to illustrate the Chaney characters' oppressed states of mind. CALLING DR. DEATH was scripted by Edward Dein, who had previously written for the FALCON series and provided dialogue for Val Lewton's THE LEOPARD MAN; he would subsequently write Universal's JUNGLE WOMAN, THE CAT CREEPS, and CURSE OF THE UNDEAD, as well as different entries in the  FALCON, LONE WOLF and BOSTON BLACKIE series, which explains the film's neat fusion of horror and noir elements. 

Seen today, CALLING DR. DEATH is of particular interest for introducing elements that would become common to the Italian giallo thrillers of the 1970s: Chaney plays Dr. Mark Steele, a neurologist who has made successful use of hypnotism in his practice, who suffers a black-out covering a period of a few days during which his wife (Ramsay Ames) is murdered - which together present us with the untrustworthy protagonist and the hero who knows but cannot recall important information needed by the investigation. J. Carroll Naish plays the persistent Inspector Gregg, who thinks Steele guilty, and Patricia Morison is Steele's devoted secretary, the delightfully named (one might even say SPOILISHLY named) Stella Madden. One would have to call CALLING DR. DEATH a "whodunit," but given the stylistic touches and tropes it introduces, it is also more than just this. 

Voodoo doll Evelyn Ankers in a nice double-exposure from WEIRD WOMAN.

WEIRD WOMAN - based on the Fritz Leiber novel CONJURE WIFE (subsequently filmed as BURN, WITCH, BURN) - is one of the best and most atypical films in the series. Though Chaney occupies center-stage throughout, it's very much a woman's picture and was in fact scripted by one, Brenda Weisberg, who had just written THE MAD GHOUL for Universal and would go on to write THE MUMMY'S GHOST and the original story for THE SCARLET CLAW, generally accepted as the finest of the company's modernized Sherlock Holmes pictures with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. Though much simplified (and sanitized) from the Leiber novel, the value of the book's core idea comes through as confident, somewhat arrogant, college anthropology professor Norman Reed (Norman Saylor in the book, Chaney) discovers that his wife Paula (Tansy in the novel, Anne Gwynne) - whom he met as the adopted daughter of a voodoo priestess while researching a book of native superstitions in the tropics - is furtively guiding the successful trajectory of his career with the very mumbo-jumbo he's built a career on debunking. He confronts her with his discoveries and demands that she stop, which instantly makes him more vulnerable to other witchery locally in play among the ambitious wives of his fellow academics than he could ever have suspected.

There is a satirical element here involving the highly competitive lifestyle within academia, which can also be carried over into similar lifestyles such as those within politics or even show business, but also an important serious analysis of the domestic roles played by men and women circa the 1940s, the latter often being asked to put their own beliefs aside to follow those of their men, for no better reason than masculine vanity. It's also interesting that this Universal adaptation renames Leiber's Tansy with the name of its parallel series' Ape Woman; one wonders if the script might have been envisioned at one time as a co-vehicle for its new star, Acquanetta (who would turn up in the next Inner Sanctum instead). This is a very well-crafted little film, made all the stronger by an exceptional cast that includes Evelyn Ankers (in a rare antagonistic role), Elisabeth Risdon, and CAT PEOPLE's always effective Elizabeth Russell.

Lon Chaney suffers a medicine chest mishap in DEAD MAN'S EYES.

The next film in the series, DEAD MAN'S EYES, marked the screenwriting career of Dwight V. Babcock, an established short story writer for BLACK MASK since 1934 who had more recently broken into novel-length work with A HOMICIDE FOR HANNA, published by Knopf in 1941. In this story, Chaney plays Dave Stuart, a struggling fine artist who suffers his worst luck while finally achieving his breakthrough work with a portrait of his exotic model, Tanya (Aquanetta). Dave is engaged to Heather Hayden (Paula Kelly), daughter of wealthy Stanley "Dad" Hayden (Edward Fielding), who's quite fond of his prospective son-in-law - and hooked on a daily routine of refreshing his tired eyes with an eyewash labelled Acetic Acid. When Tanya overhears discussion of Dave's pending nuptuals, she excuses herself and makes a little mess in the bathroom that she straightens by carelessly returning the bottles to the medicine cabinet, mixing up Dave's Acetic Acid with an almost identical bottle of the far worse Boric Acid, which really has no business in anyone's medicine chest. The dreaded mistake happens, Dave goes blind, and aging "Dad" Hayden makes a new addition to his will, ensuring that Dave will receive his corneas in a transplant procedure in the event of his death. When "Dad" turns up... "Dadder than a doornail," you might say... the incapacitated Dave seems the least likely suspect, but persistent Captain Drury (Thomas Gomez) must take into account that he also had the most to gain from his death. No film in the series exceeds co-billing length, and this 64m item can hardly be accused of overstaying its welcome. 

As with the first film in the series, LeBorg and Babcock establish some early giallo traits here - notably, the art milieu of Argento's THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE (1969) and the use of a blind protagonist as detective as in THE CAT O' NINE TAILS (1971). It's surprising that the story interjects no dark side to the subject of cornea transplants, as the inheritance of other's organs always has in films, from Robert Weine's THE HANDS OF ORLAC (1924) to Eric Red's BODY PARTS (1991), based on the Boileau-Narcejac novel CHOICE CUTS. This was the first of three Inner Sanctum titles to be photographed by DP Paul Ivano, who had previously shot Robert Florey's acclaimed short THE LIFE AND DEATH OF 9413, A HOLLYWOOD EXTRA (1928), Josef von Sternberg's THE SHANGHAI GESTURE (1941), Julien Duvivier's FLESH AND FANTASY (1943), as well as some additional photography for FRANKENSTEIN (1931) and QUEEN KELLY (1932). For a film completed in less than two weeks, DEAD MAN'S EYES is remarkably polished and shot through with memorable noir images. 

TO BE CONTINUED  

   

(c) 2020 by Tim Lucas. All rights reserved.

Subscribe to Tim Lucas / Video WatchBlog by Email

If you enjoy Video WatchBlog, your kind support will help to ensure its continued frequency and broader reach of coverage.