Apologies for the light posting. I’ve been operating under the spell of what I might call a jag lately. Not a chemical jag, but a creative one. Perhaps I’ll be able to tell you about it someday. Perhaps it’s related to the horror holiday we shall soon be celebrating. In any event, enjoy the above capture of the most horrific non-Halloween disguise of a particular golden age of horror. And go strolling through the crowd like Peter Lorre contemplating a crime.
God damn, I love that movie. It’s one I show to a lot of friends who aren’t familiar with early horror. They’re always floored.
It’s a great film. It’s really sort of Lorre’s signature performance, too, isn’t it, in that so many caricatures of his demeanor seem to be pulled from it. Not the look, but the way of talking, etc.
Hmm, was not aware that 2009 was the Year of the Cat.
What movie is this…I know I know I shall gladly, willingly be drawn and quartered after receiving the answer for my crimes againt Lorre
I’m with you, John, shamefully ignorant but extremely curious.
@John and Rob – MAD LOVE
Thanks, Bill! I see it’s on dvd along with THE DEVIL DOLL, which a Netflix reviewer describes as “Mrs. Doubtfire crossed with Count of Monte Cristo.” Anyone seen this?
No, that’s one that I haven’t seen. I have the box-set that includes that double feature, and it’s very good. Along with MAD LOVE and DEVIL DOLL, it has MARK OF THE VAMPIRE (the LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT remake with Lugosi), THE MASK OF FU MANCHU (so much damn fun I can’t even tell you), DR. X, and THE RETURN OF DR. X (Bogart’s sole horror film).
Glenn, perhaps your jag has caused you to forget this? http://www.altfg.com/Stars/y/yeux-sans-visage.jpg
Or this? http://www.pesarhorrorfest.it/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/onibaba5.jpg
@ Rob- THE DEVIL DOLL is a blast. Lionel Barrymore plays a prison escapee who runs around in drag and uses miniature humans to kill the former business partners who framed him. It’s not as brilliant as MAD LOVE but it’s a great time and, like so many of the films of that era, it gets the job done in an hour and a quarter or so. I find this increasingly endearing in an age where it apparently takes 2:30 to convey the latest doings of transforming robots.
The box set that Bill refers to is totally worth the purchase/Netflix. Everything on there ranges from very solid to awesome. Though you should keep in mind that I’m something of a horror fanatic and therefore may be grading on a curve. My friends learned this after the fourth or fifth conversation in which I employed the same level of enthusiasm to recommend say GRAND ILLUSION and THEY LIVE.
I have the box myself, damn good set. The Karloff Fu Manchu has, aside from the obvious, aged surprisingly well as an adventure film.
Thanks, Bill(s)! That set does look excellent and is pretty cheap. I think I’ll definitely pick it up given my total lack of knowledge about this era/genre. And while it’s difficult to win a rational argument with people who complain about complaining about running times, ultimately I agree with you. I’ve gotten a few people to watch CHRISTMAS IN JULY just by telling them it’s only a little longer than an episode of an HBO drama.
Also, THEY LIVE is a stone classic.
I love horror movies so much. I even love bad horror movies. Mind you, I hate bad movies even more than I love them, but I still love them, because they’re horror movies.
Commander Kenny, this might perk you up. TCM and UNIVERSAL team up for a WARNER ARCHIVE-style venture starting with obscure Universal horror:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118010524.html?categoryId=1009&cs=1&cache=false
@THE FUTURIST! – That’s fantastic news. The only thing that bothers me, slightly, is the absence of extras. I know, the films should be enough, and they are, but I’m a whore for commentary tracks on classic horror movies. I can listen to the likes of Stephen Jones, Kim Newman, Tom Weaver, Steve Haberman, Tim Lucas and etc. rhapsodize about the history and making and interpretation of that stuff all day long.
@bill – THE FUTURIST! agrees wholeheartedly with you regarding the commentaries. They are so informative and, oddly, at the same time feel comfortably “cozy”. But, we must be old horror lovers at heart … we never can get enough. They bring back that childhood joy.
@ THE FUTURIST!- you just cost me $49.99. And thank you.
Bret Wood’s excellent article “The Witch, The Devil, And The Code” in the November-December issue of “Film Comment” reveals in fascinating detail how “The Devil-Doll” – terrific though it is – emerged from MGM in quite a different form than the one Tod Browning envisioned.
Peter Lorre is strangely hot in “Mad Love,” isn’t he?
Just me, then? OK.
hamletta: Can’t say Lorre steams my glasses, but that Frances Drake – hubba hubba! Such a beautiful woman.