Category: Golden Age
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The Devil & Daniel Webster (1941)
aka All That Money Can Buy The Devil & Daniel Webster (1941) evokes It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) for me. Both are about men who make unfortunate decisions but discover the error of their ways and are given an opportunity to return to their original lives. Also, both save the climactic resolutions for a few…
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The Woman in the Window (1944)
Midway through his directing career, Fritz Lang is still going strong with The Woman in the Window (1944,) a nearly two-hour noir that speeds along as if it’s half the length. Not a horror film in any sense of the word, it nevertheless generates suspense that’s palpable. With Lang directing and Joan Bennett (Dark Shadows)…
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The Thirteenth Chair (1929)
If Tod Browning’s Dracula (1931) is criticized for being too much like a play, then The Thirteenth Chair (1929) doesn’t have a chance! On the other hand, this film is better suited for the stage; restricted locations don’t slow its pace. The plot unfolds primarily in two rooms, so we’re not longing for action anywhere…
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Night Monster (1942)
For a 73-minute movie, Night Monster (1942) has a lot happening! In fact, it took a while for me to get acclimated and understand exactly what was happening. The cast is large, and the set-up is complicated. It left me a little tired, just like I imagine the actors felt each time they ran up…
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The Mad Genius (1931)
When I think of Michael Curtiz, I automatically associate him with Casablanca (1942.) I forget the number of classic horror films he directed, starting with this one, The Mad Genius (1931.) With nearly 179 credits (according to IMDb) in his 50+-year career, it’s not surprising that he made movies of all genres. I forget this,…
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The Seventh Victim (1943)
I run to death, and death meets me as fast, and all my pleasures are like yesterday. Holy sonnet VII, Jonne Donne The Seventh Victim (1947) is my least favorite of producer Val Lewton’s early films. In fact, I think I’d rank them in the order they were made: Cat People (1942), I Walked with…
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The Monster & the Girl (1941)
Universal monster movies from the 1940s have a distinct look. Had I not seen the Paramount logo at the beginning of The Monster & the Girl (1941) from Shout! Factory’s The Universal Horror Collection Vol. 5, I still would have suspected something was different about it. Indeed, this is one of over 700 films that…
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Love from a Stranger (1937)
aka Night of Terror Get out your whiteboards and markers for this one… In 1924, Agatha Christie (you may have heard of her) wrote a short story called, Philomel Cottage. In it, a woman named Alix Martin inherits a fortune. Her boyfriend, Dick Windyford, disapproves of her financial independence. When she meets Gerald Martin and…
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The Undying Monster (1942)
It doesn’t take a stretch of the imagination to believe Twentieth Century-Fox was eager to capitalize on the success of Universal’s The Wolf Man (1941) when it made The Undying Monster a year later. Then again, that might not be the case, because it was not promoted as one. As Jeff Rovin writes in The…
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The Man with Nine Lives (1940)
Added to the many miracles performed by modern science that have accounted for the saving of thousands upon thousands of human beings, comes its newest and most modern discovery – frozen therapy. Estimates of how long frozen therapy can produce a state of suspended animation range from days to years. But on the fact that…
Classic Horrors Club 