31 Days of Gothic Romance | Hammer Films

It's amazing how much tastes can change in a decade. In the '40s, gothic romance movies were moody, shadow-filled things like Rebecca and The Uninvited. But in 1957, Hammer introduced a whole new way of doing it. Starting with adaptations of gothic romance staples Frankenstein and Dracula, Hammer told stories of young women being threatened by sinister aristocrats in spooky, old buildings, but in lurid, colorful ways.

They continued to glean from classic gothic stories like The Hound of the Baskervilles and Phantom of the Opera, but they so perfected the uncanny, fog-filled atmosphere that they were able to lay it over many different kinds of tales - everything from mummies to Satanists to Jekyll and Hyde - and still have them feel gothic.

The result was some confusion about the definition of gothic romance. For many, it's less about specific themes than just a particular atmosphere, usually in a period setting. We have Hammer to thank for that. Not that I'm complaining. One of the reasons I wanted to talk about gothic romances this Halloween was to help myself circle around a working definition, but there's no need to be snobbish about it. What follows is a long list of Hammer horror films with gothic elements; some much more authentic than others, but all of interest.

The Year in Movies: 1931 - Mystery and Horror

Dracula (1931)



It's tough not to compare Tod Browning's Dracula to Murnau's Nosferatu from nine years earlier. The ability to add sound to movies was a great reason to do a new version of Stoker's story (with all the proper rights, too, instead of sneakily changing the characters' names) and Browning was a good choice to direct it. His style is very different from Murnau's, but it's distinct and creepy and brings some beautiful atmosphere to Dracula.

But Murnau's version is actually scary and Browning's never is. Murnau's Count Orlok is a true monster, from his very appearance to his strange powers that Murnau so cleverly gives him through special effects. Browning's version - truer to Stoker's novel - is meant to be creepily charming. You don't realize he's a threat until it's too late. Which is cool, but Browning uses so little effects that even when Dracula is supposed to be frightening, it's mostly suggested by the way other characters are reacting to him.

That can be very effective sometimes, especially in the case of Dwight Frye's Renfield, who's easily the most chilling character of the film. Edward Van Sloan also adds to Dracula's menace as Van Helsing. The Van Helsing character is a giant weakness of Nosferatu, but I always have a lot of fun watching him work in Dracula, trying to first figure out who the vampire is (initially suspecting Renfield), then playing a game of wills against Bela Lugosi's monster.

I wish that Helen Chandler was a better Mina, though. Mina is the heart of any version of Dracula and it's important to get her right. Nosferatu gives her a tragically heroic role (renamed Ellen and played with full commitment by Greta Schröder). In Browning's movie, Mina is simply the MacGuffin; the object that the characters are all fighting over. She's not written very well, but she's played even worse by Chandler who never eases into the character and always reminds me that she's an actress playing a role. (Lupita Tovar is much better in the Spanish version that was shot simultaneously with Browning's using the same script and sets, but with a different director and cast. That's a different review, though.)

The movie is also dreadfully slow, but in spite of that and my misgivings about Chandler, I always enjoy revisiting Browning's Dracula for its mood and its cultural impact and especially for Lugosi, Frye, and Van Sloan. I should give a quick shout out to David Manners' John Harker, who's mostly nondescript, but has one great moment when he throws down his newspaper in disgust and leaves the room because of Van Helsing's crackpot ideas about shape-changing, immortal blood-suckers. Manners is visually pretty nondescript, but he's grown on me as an actor and I always seem to find something to enjoy in his performances.

The Sleeping Cardinal (aka Sherlock Holmes' Fatal Hour) (1931)



Unlike the silent Sherlock Holmes from 1922, this is a pretty good representation of Holmes and Watson. Holmes is smart and knows it, but his arrogance is gentler than in a lot of adaptations. Watson is always a step behind, but he's familiar with Holmes' methods and no fool. I liked these guys a lot.

I also enjoyed how much focus the movie gives to some of the supporting characters before bringing in the detectives. That helped pull me into the mystery.

M (1931)



Sort of Ocean's Eleven meets Silence of the Lambs with a gang of crooks teaming up to capture a serial killer/pedophile. Peter Lorre is super creepy and appropriately baby-faced as the murderer, but my favorite part is the cat and mouse game when the criminals have him holed up in an office building and he's working to get away from them. That section holds up next to any modern thriller.

And the film wraps up with a fascinating meditation on justice that had my son and I arguing about what the right thing to do would be. Nicely done.

The Maltese Falcon (1931)



It's been a long time since I've seen the original, so I can't compare the two versions, but I really enjoyed Ricardo Cortez as Sam Spade. He's a sleazy, but charming ladies' man in a way that Bogart can't possibly pull off. As interesting as that is, though, I couldn't really root for him the way I can with Bogart. And I kept missing Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet.

It was sure great seeing Dwight Frye as a tough though. I love that guy.

The Black Camel (1931)



It's fun to see Warner Oland as Charlie Chan interacting with Bela Lugosi and Dwight Frye from the same year as Dracula. And The Black Camel a pretty good mystery story. But this is early days in the Charlie Chan series and it moves slowly. There are much better as the series goes along.

Murder at Midnight (1931)



Fun, if unbelievable and convoluted mystery about a murder that takes place during a party in front of witnesses. Once you know the relationships between the victim and the other characters, the broad strokes of the plot are predictable, but there were also a couple of twists that I didn't see coming.

Daughter of the Dragon (1931)



Aside from the problems of non-Asian actors playing Asian characters, I always enjoy Warner Oland as Charlie Chan. That doesn't make him a good Fu Manchu though. He's not threatening enough, though Daughter of the Dragon's script gives him a pretty good scheme to implement.

As the title suggests, it involves his daughter, played by Anna May Wong. She's great in the role, but the character has super shaky motivations for taking over her father's vendetta against an English family. And not just that, but she also has extremely good, personal reasons not to pick up that mission. But even though her struggle isn't really earned, the movie does some interesting things with it and there are enough pulpy elements to keep the story entertaining.

The Phantom (1931)



I usually have a high tolerance for slow-moving movies of the early '30s, especially if there's an old, dark house involved, but I couldn't finish this one. Without an interesting actor to latch onto or any sort of plot development that I haven't seen done better in countless other mystery/horror films, it became too much of a chore to keep going. Dull and unremarkable.

Frankenstein (1931)



Seen it a million times, but I'm still surprised at how scary and creepy it is. Not much faithful to the plot of Mary Shelley's novel, but very faithful to its themes.

My only issue is the way it rushes through parts of its final act. Everyone learns about the monster and processes that information really quickly. On the other hand, I'm not sure I actually want a slowed down version.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)



The inventive camera work can be distracting, but the performances are so earnest and March's makeup is so effective that the movie is legitimately horrifying, even today. Miriam Hopkins is especially heart-breaking as Hyde's terrorized, primary victim. March's Hyde is easily the most monstrous of movie monsters from that era.

7 Days in May | Pee Wee's Big Cloverfield

So here's what I watched last week:

Pee Wee's Big Holiday (2016)

Nothing will ever top Pee Wee's Big Adventure, but Big Holiday is super funny and sweet. Makes me want to re-watch Big Top Pee Wee to see where that one went wrong. I don't remember much about Big Top other than being disappointed, but there's no such problem with Holiday. Although I also doubt I'll watch it over and over again the way I do Adventure.

10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)

Not the Cloverfield sequel I'd wanted, but an excellent thriller-with-a-twist nonetheless. Mary Elizabeth Winstead is a great, relatable hero and John Goodman does an excellent job keeping her and viewers on our toes. John Gallagher Jr is also compelling as the third major character and I had a good time trying to decide whether he or Goodman (or neither of them) was a villain.

The Peanuts Movie (2015)

Probably the last word on these characters, at least as far as I'm concerned. As sweet and funny as any of the classic shows, with a great balance of classic bits and new material. And what's so great about the new stuff is that it moves the kids' story forward and lets them learn something great about themselves. Just lovely and charming.

Top Secret! (1984)

Some of the jokes no longer hold up, but most of them still do and are just as funny after dozens of viewings. The music is also fun, as is the cast with Val Kilmer and Michael Gough (long before Batman Forever), Jim Carter in the complete opposite of his Downton Abbey role, and a cameo by Peter Cushing.



King Arthur (2004)

For the longest time, I've wanted to work my way through British history as portrayed in the movies. I finally started that with King Arthur, so obviously accuracy isn't a factor in this project. It's just that I generally like this movie and it 's one of the few I know of that cover the Roman occupation, the Celts, and the Saxon invasion.

Even though I like King Arthur, the premise does feel cynical. It's basically Braveheart with brand recognition. But even though it's derivative and only nominally an Arthurian film, it's gorgeously shot and has an amazing cast. I never feel like I'm watching a King Arthur movie, but I don't care. As a fictionalized account of Rome's last days in Britain, it's fun and compelling.

The Vikings (1958)

Pretty standard mid-'50s "historical" adventure, but it covers the Saxon period before the Norman invasion, which is rare. It has three things worth mentioning:

1. It's not sure what it wants to do with Kirk Douglas. He's clearly the villain for the entire movie, but I think the film wants to redeem him a little at the end. He never really changes though; he just hesitates at a crucial moment. The movie seems to want me to feel something other than simple victory when he dies, but it does nothing to help me do that.

2. The location of the Viking village is gorgeous. I could look at that place all day. I wish more of the movie was set there.

3. Tony Curtis is absolutely dreamy in a beard.



The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

Like last week, I'm continuing to work my way through a bunch of silent films. Some of them are new to me, but a lot of them are re-watches like Dr. Caligari. I've grown less satisfied with the twist ending on this one the more I see it, but I never get enough of looking at the movie. Just beautiful.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920)

Not my favorite adaptation of the story, but a good one. I wrote plenty about it already.

One Week (1920)

This short is one of my favorite Buster Keaton films of any length. It's got a great concept to build gags around (putting up a prefab house) and makes full use of the opportunities. Sybil Seely is super cute and a great partner for Keaton, bringing her own athleticism and comedy to the team.

The Saphead (1920)

Buster Keaton's first feature-length film is good, but not typical of his stuff. It's a pretty standard romantic comedy most of the way. It makes great use of Keaton's deadpan, sad sack persona to endear me to his clueless, insanely wealthy character. I root for him and Beulah Booker's character to overcome the obstacles to their being together, which are mostly thrown in the way by other people.

As straightforward as most of the movie is, the climax finally gives Keaton the chance to go nuts with his awesome physical comedy, so it's even good on that level. There's just not enough of it to be completely satisfying.

Convict 13 (1920)

One of the things I both admire and am frustrated by in Keaton shorts is the way he leads into the premise. Convict 13 is built around Keaton's being mistakenly imprisoned, with all the gags that take place in that setting. But there's a long explanation for how he got there, featuring golf jokes. The golf jokes are funny and pay off at the end, so I don't dislike them; it's just that - especially on re-watches - I'm impatient to get to the prison stuff that I consider the meat of the film. I've probably been over-influenced by Looney Tunes cartoons that cut to the chase right away.



The Mark of Zorro (1920)

A splendid version of the Zorro story. Douglas Fairbanks isn't as handsome as some of his swashbuckling successors, but he makes up for that with sheer athletic ability and a ton of charm. His stunts in the climax are nothing short of early parkour.

He's also the model for what Christopher Reeve did with Superman/Clark Kent. He makes it believable that no one connects Don Diego with Zorro, because he plays them as two totally separate characters: sheepishly slouching as Diego, while full of life as the hero. I also love the touch of Diego's constantly amusing himself with shadow figures and little handkerchief tricks, then nerdishly trying to share them with the uninterested people around him. Great performance in a great movie.

Neighbors (1920)

Another of Keaton's best. Simple plot (star-crossed lovers in a New York tenement), super funny, and with some amazing stunts.

The Scarecrow (1920)

Like Convict 13, the story takes a while to get going. Before getting to the main plot about Keaton's rivalry with his roommate over a young woman, The Scarecrow indulges in lots of gags about the multi-functional gadgets of Keaton and his pal's one-room house. Then there's a bit about Keaton's being chased by a dog he thinks has rabies (actually it's just eaten a cream pie). But eventually feelings for Sybil Seely's character (so glad to see her return from One Week) reveal themselves and Keaton goes on the run from his roommate and Seely's father. Every bit of it is funny stuff, so I don't mind the meandering plot. It's just not as focused as my most favorite Keaton films.

On to some stuff I've been reading/listening to:



Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by JK Rowling

I discovered Harry Potter through the movies and by the time I did, I decided to discover that world through cinema first and then come back later and pick up the books. I finally read the first one on vacation a few years ago, but never found time to do the rest. Now that the audiobooks are available on Audible, I'm planning to listen to the whole series this year.

Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone is as magical as I remember from the first time reading it. Rowling has a wonderful imagination and a great sense of humor. It's a joy to attend Hogwart's alongside her characters. Some of the mystery-solving relies more heavily on coincidences than I'd like, but that's easy to forgive in a book about and for pre-teens. Especially since the characters' motivations and relationships are already so sophisticated. I'm eager to get on to brand new territory with Chamber of Secrets.

Long John Silver comics by Xavier Dorison and Mathieu Lauffray

This is a series of four comics albums and they're great. The first volume, Lady Vivian Hastings, is gorgeous. And it's an excellent sequel to Treasure Island. Lauffray's artwork is incredibly detailed and immersive. Dorison's plot introduces a fascinating character, Lady Hastings, who is as different from Jim Hawkins as can be. Delightfully wicked, cunning, and courageous, she's a worthy foil for Silver and the perfect person to bring him into a new treasure-seeking venture. And Silver himself is as charmingly crafty as ever. (I went into more detail about this one a couple of years ago.)

A lot of stories set at sea bore me with the same old tales of storms and doldrums and complaining crews, but Neptune, the second installment, avoids that by filling the time with politics and scheming. It's the same tactic that Stevenson used in Treasure Island, but to very different results. Stevenson's adventure story has its moments of darkness, but this is a scarier version with rougher stakes.

In part three, The Emerald Maze, the pirate adventure becomes more psychological thriller and Heart of Darkness. The crew of treasure-seekers heads upriver into the jungle in search of a lost, gold-filled city, and doubts arise in some of them about the wisdom of the venture.

Finally, the whole thing wraps up in Guyanacapac. I always worry about how well these things are going to end, but Dorison and Laufray do a nice job with a conclusion that's both epic and emotionally satisfying. They have pirates fighting Aztecs with shades of Lovecraft looming over it all. They also offer a great read on the character of Long John Silver and what drives him. Great series of books. Highly recommended.

Happy Robert Louis Stevenson Day!

He would've been 165 today.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920)

Who's in it?: John Barrymore (Drew's grandpa)

What's it about?: Oh, you know.

How is it?: I judge adaptations of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on two things: the ability of the lead actor to play both characters, and the doctor's motivation for conducting his experiment in the first place. The first one's a challenge for obvious reasons and not every movie star pulls it off (cough! Spencer Tracy), so it's a great deal of fun to watch it done really well.

The motivation is more serious business though. I grew up loving the Victorian setting of the story and the idea of the transformation, but baffled about what in the world would make Jekyll want to conduct his experiment in the first place. Too many adaptations don't help with that. He does it for the same reason any other mad scientist conducts his experiments: because he can. But while that works for 98% of the mad scientists out there, it doesn't work for Jekyll, who's supposed to be a shining model of goodness. Why would this perfect example of moral uprightness knowingly transform himself into an evil monster? It's a difficult question that I'm not sure even Robert Louis Stevenson answers very convincingly, so it's a rare adaptation that pulls it off.

As far as the material transformation goes, the 1920 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is one of the best. John Barrymore is second only to Fredric March's classic, extremely physical performance in the 1931 version. Barrymore's makeup is outstanding, but he also does a lot with his posture and other body language to become an entirely different character when he's Hyde.

Fortunately, Barrymore's version also does really well with the spiritual transformation too. It presents Jekyll not as a naturally upright man, but as someone who works hard to be good. That's more believable in the first place, as are the cracks we see in his facade when some of his friends coax him into situations that test his virtue. The desire to remain virtuous in spite of temptation is especially strong in a Victorian gentleman like Jekyll, so it's completely understandable that he wants to develop a scientific loophole to that dilemma. Transforming himself into Hyde allows him the release of being bad, while keeping Jekyll's conscience clean.

There are all sorts of arguments about how that's not really a loophole at all - first among them being that Jekyll takes the serum voluntarily - but that's sort of the whole point of the film. Jekyll doesn't get off that easy and once he lets his selfish side run loose, it becomes increasingly difficult to put him back in his cage. This version makes it more clear than most that Jekyll's trouble with Hyde is simply a representation of an experience that most people can relate to: the battle between selflessness and selfishness, and the danger of giving in to the latter. Fredric March's version is also good at explaining this, but it's more subtle than Barrymore's. There are advantages and disadvantages to that.

One of the disadvantages of the lack of subtlety in Barrymore's version is that the person most responsible for tempting Jekyll to selfishness is the father of his fiancée. Sir George Carew is known to all of his acquaintances as an especially worldly man and one character claims that Carew's worldliness has made him a great protector for his daughter. I'm not clear on how that logic tracks in the first place, but even if it's generally true, Carew doesn't seem to be acting in Millicent's interests by trying to convince her fiancé to screw around on her.

It's the result of the movie's wanting to be as explicit as possible about Jekyll's dilemma. Carew becomes the demon on Jekyll's shoulder, pushing him towards wanting to become Hyde. March's Jekyll doesn't need someone literally telling him how nice sin is. He's sees a woman's naked leg swinging hypnotically over the side of her bed and he knows without having it explained. And so does the audience. Barrymore's version doesn't trust us enough to get it without having Carew outline it. Still, I'm glad to have the 1920 Jekyll and Hyde spell everything out really clearly, because it ultimately helps me better understand March's more sophisticated version.

Rating: Good.

Dr Acula and Mr Hyde

Preview of The Complete Dracula comic



I wish there was another way of telling the story without all the text-heavy captions, but the art sure is nice.

Another Jekyll/Hyde movie



And this one doesn't have Keanu Reeves in it! Of course, it does have 50 Cent (as Hyde), but I've never seen him act, so for all I know he's better than Keanu. Forest Whitaker is playing Jekyll, and I know he can act.

I need a good monster movie...

...but I don't think these will be it.

Run and Hyde



Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Set in modern times. Starring Keanu Reeves. Only one of those factors kills my interest in it.

Wolf Man could bite



This is disappointing because I had high hopes for the Benicio Del Toro remake, but /Film is reporting that reshoots on the film include a new action sequence with two werewolves fighting each other. Which sounds cool on the surface until you remember that there was no such fight in the original.

Not that the remake should slavishly mimic the original, but what I love about the original isn't the action. It's the completely believable horror of an honorable man becoming something against his will that he can't control. Just as he's starting to reconnect to his loving, but stern father from whom he's been estranged for years. Just as he's starting to discover a new romance and build a new life for himself in his ancestral home. It's a beautifully tragic story and I hate that it could potentially become more like Underworld or Van Helsing. (Not that Underworld is as bad as Van Helsing. I actually like the Underworld movies a lot, but if I want that kind of film I'll watch them.)

Keeping my fingers crossed that the filmmakers know what they're doing and that Wolf Man still ends up being very cool.

Marvel Classics Comics: Jekyll and Hyde

I just discovered Marvel Classics Comics. Or maybe I've re-discovered it. It sort of rings a bell, but I don't remember seeing these particular covers. Anyway, I thought it might be fun over the next few weeks to share some covers from classic adventure literature done in the Mighty Marvel Manner circa the 1970s.

Adventureblog Gallery: Frankenstein and Friends

The Addams Family



By Sam Hiti.

Mr. Hyde



By Dave Malan.

Frankenstein's Womb



Art from Warren Ellis' Frankenstein project by Marek Oleksicki. I love how faithful it is to Shelley's description.

Wake the Dead



Concept art by Gino Acevedo from the film based on Steve Niles and Chee's modern-day retelling of the Frankenstein story. Another faithful depiction.

Happy Birthday, Dear Monster



Today's not an anniversary for Mary Shelly or her book or any of her creations, but this picture's too cool not to share anyway. It's Boris Karloff celebrating the 150th anniversary of Frankenstein's publication in 1968. (Found in Life's photo archive.)

Oh, and as long as we're talking Frankenstein, check out this short interview with actor Doug Jones (Abe from Hellboy) about Guillermo del Toro's planned Frankenstein film. Jones wants to play the Monster and there's a strong chance that this version's depiction of the creature will be yet again faithful to Mary Shelly's description. Turns out that del Toro is a big fan of Bernie Wrightson.

(I feel like I should mention that my preference for this look on the Monster doesn't have nearly as much to do with fundamentalist demand for faithfulness to the source material as it does with the design just looking really really cool.)

Happy Treasure Island Day

Robert Louis Stevenson

November 13, 1850-December 3, 1894

Adventureblog Gallery: Supernatural Thrillers and Uncanny Tales

I was searching for some image or other not too long ago and discovered these old comics series. I wonder how hard it would be to track some of these down.

Uncanny Tales

There've been three comics called Uncanny Tales. This '50s one from Atlas (which would later change its name to Marvel).



Then this one from Alan Class in the '60s. Apparently this was a British series that reprinted US comics, but as far as I can tell it didn't actually reprint the Atlas series of the same name.



And finally, Marvel again in the '70s.



Supernatural Thrillers

A year before Marvel relaunched Uncanny Tales it had another horror book called Supernatural Thrillers that featured stories about classic monsters like The Invisible Man, Jekyll and Hyde, and of course, the Mummy.

Happy Long John Silver Day!

Today's Robert Louis Stevenson's 157th birthday, which also makes it Jekyll and Hyde Day.

And it's also my dad's birthday, but he's considerably younger.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Jesse James trailer, Jekyll DVD, and Depp as Sweeney Todd

Dust to Dust-Related

The trailer for The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford has been released. I wondered before if they were going for a Legends of the Fall vibe with it and that (or Unforgiven maybe) seems to have been accurate.

David Woodbury is looking into books about Jesse's life and reports his preliminary research into which might be the best ones. I'll look forward to his eventual reviews of them.

Horror

Oh, mama!

I know at least one person reading this will be glad to know that the BBC mini-series Jekyll will be available on DVD next month. The rest of you should too though.

Science Fiction

If I'd ever known that George Lucas had once approached David Lynch about directing Return of the Jedi, I'd forgotten it. Man, what if Lynch had said, "Yes?" I'm trying to decide if that would've increased my chances of still liking the movie today.

Comics

Browsing Stupid Comics is a great way to kill a couple of hours. (Found via Tom Spurgeon.)

Artist du Jour

Pascal Campion. Further proof that Charles Raymond (from whom I've discovered three great artists in about as many days) and I have really similar tastes in art.

Jekyll (sort of)

I'm leaving for WizardWorld Chicago early on Thursday and tomorrow will be spent getting ready for it. Today was spent trying to stay on top of work so that I can leave with a clean desk. All of which means: lame post today.

Last night we watched the premiere of Jekyll. I'm not gonna review it except to say that it was mesmerizing. If you want a real review, check out SFScope. They give a nice summary of the episode and point out all the things I liked about the show. Especially that quote at the end about murder being like sex.

And looking at my links file, I guess I should mention that "Monstrous" apparently isn't so much the name of the J.J. Abrams giant-monster movie as it is a tag line for it. Other versions of the poster are rumored to exist with tag lines like "Colossus" and "Terrifying." Oh, well.

I'll be back online on Tuesday. See you then!