Movie 137: Wolf (1994)

Starring: Jack Nicholson, Michelle Pfeiffer, James Spader, Kate Nelligan, Richard Jenkins, Christopher Plummer.

Director: Mike Nichols.

I'll finish off the proposed loose trilogy of early nineties retreads of classic Universal Monster Movies with the oft-overlooked (perhaps for good reason) Wolf.  Much like the recently reviewed Bram Stoker's Dracula and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, it's a big studio attempt to rework old material with big stars and high production values.  It is interesting to note that all three of these films were created by Columbia Tri-Star, and were made near to one another.  Dracula predated the other two by about two years, with the latter two being done the same year.  

As I said in a previous entry, I recently read a thought-piece that considered the three a loose fitting trilogy, and it's from that perspective that I'm watching them.  So far, I would agree with that assessment: even though the quality of the films have varied thus far (one stylishly ridiculous, the other occasionally attractive garbage) but there is a sense of connection with theme and presentation that does make them analogous.  So, let's see how Wolf fares.

I think I may have literally only seen this once, so I have no idea what I'm getting into.  The credits say Rick Baker did the makeup effects, so I have that to look forward to.  So, maybe this will be fun?  Maybe?

So, Jack Nicholson runs over a Wolf on a cold winters night.  I can tell that this film is going to take its time, considering how slowly Jack is going to check on his unfortunate prey.  Jack seems utterly perplexed by this turn of events, and doesn't notice the Wolf briefly open its eyes and look at him.  It's not a bad suspense move: we understand the Wolf isn't quite dead, so when it springs to life and bites its assailant, it does make for a good jump scare.  Jack's seen enough and peels right the heck out of there, unaware that he is being watched by some fairly unconvincing looking Wolves.

Jack is apparently senior management for what seems a publishing company, I think, and has the utmost loyalty from his people.  He's worried about losing his job due to some sort of hostile takeover: apparently there's a big party where everyone will find out if they're fired or not.  Jack's people swear that they'll leave if he's fired, which Jack forbids them from doing.  James Spader is a (shockingly) smug, slimy individual who is seemingly Jacks protege.

The party is filled with people making dry, droll wit statmenets, some of which is actually pretty clever.  Jack makes a pretty interesting little monologue that upsets a bunch of the stiffs: kind of accurate one, if you ask me: he suggests the world has already ended, that art is dead and has been replaced with pop culture and day time TV.  Jack is then fired from his job (well, offered a demotion in Eastern Europe), as he figured he would, upsets some horses with his presence. 

Jack then meets Michelle Pfeiffer, who offers him a drink and happens to be the Daughter of the man who just took Jack's job.  Jack's name is Will, by the way, but I think I'll probably just call him Jack.  Jack stumbles from the drink she gave him, accidentally cops a feel...after Michelle calls him "The Last Civilized Man" which, while not as bad as the obvious ironic statements of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein but it's still pretty obvious.  

Jack's Wife is pissed that Spader, Jack's Protege, has successfully taken Jack's job.  Jack confronts Stewart (Spader) about the fact that Stewart basically stole his job (but nicely, because Jack is not an aggressive guy because irony)...his Wife really wants Jack to yell and scream, but he won't.  Jack then discovers a new sense of sexual vitality, making love to his Wife again for the first time in what it said to be awhile.  He goes to work with heightened smell and eye sight, and feels twenty years younger.  It's a fairly typical transformation for a Werewolf movie: aging nice guy gains a newfound physical prowess and a killer instinct...interesting that it's within a publishing company, I suppose, instead of some other corporate interest.  It would actually probably make a little bit more sense if it were a Wall Street kind of thing.  But we still have the corporate takeover, the younger "wolf" taking the position of the older "wolf" (and presumably, his Wife, too, if my instincts don't fail me)...yeah, pretty overt metaphor.  It isn't a bad one, though, really.

Oops, Jack bit Spader...so now he's a Werewolf, too.  And, uh, yep, Spader has been nailing his Wife.  Figures.  But now we have a pair of literal rivals on multiple levels, along those young wolf/old wolf lines I was discussing.  It's a very straight line of an allegory, maybe a little TOO straight, but it kind of works.  

Jack strolls into his office with a newfound sense of purpose, inspiring his secretary ("About fucking time, sir" she says off handedly.  It was kind of glorious).  Then he confronts Spader, who is a slimy shit as usual.  He feigns love and respect, and even has the balls to suggest Jack stick around as his subordinate.  Jack then meets with his assistant and David Hyde Pierce (once again offering his unique brand of stuffiness) and suggests a new plan of attempting to create his own firm.  He tells Pierce to make some calls and tell some lies, which comes to a great exchange:

Pierce: Is any of this true?
Jack: Not yet.
Pierce: You're my God.
It was really well done.

Michelle and Jack meet up again, spending time together in a mutual act of defiance against her Father and his former boss.  Jack turns on the charm, pointing out the irony in Michelle's hopes for someone to see past her beauty to her true self, but realizing that her true self could only be discovered due to her beauty.  She is formidable, though, and aggressively rebuffs him.  The scene continues, though, in an effort to continue to establish who Michelle is...but it's difficult to really ascertain who that is.  One would assume Jack is right, it's just that she doesn't find that particularly challenging.

This movie keeps saying "Wolves?  In New England?!" as if it's the weirdest thing in the whole world.  There ARE Wolves in New England, screenwriter.  Seriously.  Anyway, he confides in her about his newfound lease on life, and she decides to invite him to stay for dinner.  Then he starts to feint, which gets her sympathy and they have a moment.  I don't feel like we gained a lot from their scenes together, really.  It felt awkward: maybe it's a lack of chemistry between the stars?  Maybe it's the awkward nature of their meeting.  I dunno.  The scenes just didn't work that well.  

The full moon rises, Jack looks like Wolverine (in a lap dissolve very reminiscent of The Wolf Man) and runs out to hunt a deer.  It's dated: slow motion, soft lighting, graceful leaps from both the animal and our Werewolf, but it works well enough.  There's certainly enough animal savagery to his leaping onto the poor deer and snapping it's neck.  As a first foray into Werewolf stuff, the scene is strong enough...

It's beginning to feel a bit like this is a Werewolf movie made for people who've never seen a Werewolf movie.  I suppose that would be a general thematic hook for this unofficial trilogy, really: Horror movies for people who don't like horror movies.  All three films are very generalized in their approach to horror tropes: scary and weird enough to generally work for genre fans, but not quite scary or weird enough to alienate genre novices.  It's not a bad thing-I'm all for the indoctrination of outsiders, and everybody starts somewhere when it comes to this stuff-but it doesn't do much for me as a hardcore genre "expert."  I would never ACTUALLY refer to myself as an expert in the genre...just well versed in it.  

The key thing that differentiates Wolf from most Werewolf films-other than the aforementioned generalization-is the more upbeat nature of the film.  Even as Jack is hunting the deer, it's a scene of freedom and self-actualization rather than horror.  Jack feels great, after all.  He's not horrified by his change-concerned, maybe, because it's certainly abnormal for a middle aged publisher to suddenly have super senses-but rather invigorated by it. He's not Larry Talbot fearing the change, he is half tempted to embrace it.  His conversation with the old expert-replacing the old Gypsy person from The Wolf Man-is a halting discussion about how to stop it, with Jack being told that the Wolf may be a demon.  However, after the old man asks for Jack to "gift him" with his bite, he suggests that the Demon is not evil, "Damnation is not a part of my belief system" the old man intones.  Jack refuses to bite and instead leaves, carrying an amulet meant to protect him.  Again, the allusion to the original film is actually presented.    

It is kind of funny though that, despite the characters transformation into feeling younger, Jack Nicholson still gets out of chairs like an older man.  He already was in his Fifties when he made this film, shockingly enough.  Covered in mutton chops, he goes to the zoo, upsetting the animals.  He's then confronted by cops.  He then super powers his way out of there.  One of the cops was David Schwimmer, by the way.  He then fights some muggers with some good ole fashioned Jack swagger.  Once again, it's discretionary, though: it doesn't present any gore or violence.

Jack then gets his new offer, keeping his job, and gloats over Stewart's downfall.  And pees on his shoe.  It's a nice moment.  Of course, then he finds a bloody rag and two fingers removed from the hand of one of the muggers.  

Y'know, I was just going to say "Y'know, we didn't get much of a follow up with the Wife" and then she returns to beg forgiveness.  Much like the scene with Stewart, it's a cathartic one, even thought it's also alarming.  His order to her to "keep away" has a clear double meaning: here is where he has found a source of doubt and horror in his new condition.  He wants her to stay away not just because of her betrayl-though there certainly is that-but also that he could certainly do her harm.  Michelle witnesses the encounter and lets herself into his hotel room only to find that he's handcuffed himself to the radiator.  The scene kind of stalls out then.  The romance angle just isn't really working.  I think it is a lack of chemistry between the two.  They're giving it their all (though Michelle doesn't have an awful lot to work with) but it isn't quite there.  Michelle handcuffing his hands behind his back, smirking at his helplessness and beginning to undress him is a bit more interesting, if a little cliche.  

So, uh, is Jack howling at the moon.  

Ah.  Here is Richard Jenkins!  He's a Detective. He's here to tell Jack that his Wife was murdered.  Jack is going to take this personally, thinking that he is responsible.  But, come on, we know it's Spader, right?  Jenkins plays it pretty coy, fairly straight-forward Detective performance. It's not a super transformative role.

James Spader is so good with the slimy smarm.  Of course he would be, considering he's a character actor who specifically plays that...well, for the most part.  He did have some departures from that role but...well, we all know who James Spader is.  He gives a wonderfully menacing performance once the reveal of his wolf affliction is in full effect.  His creepy contacts are a nice touch, too.  The fact that the Detectives don't notice his otherworldly eyes, or clear motives for framing Jack, bugs me a lot...it's not like the movie really NEEDED that source of tension.  It could have been easy enough to just have Spader wanting to destroy Jack and, being younger and stronger, has the clear advantage.  We don't need the Police involved at all, really, especially not when they're going to be so inept.  If the plan was to eventually implicate Spader in the crimes, okay, but we're clearly ramping up to a fight to the death.  I mean, we have to be under the circumstances.  

Why does NOBODY notice that James Spader is obviously not human?!  The Police, The Gatekeeper, The Groundskeeper...everyone just talks to him like he's a normal guy.  I mean, sure, they're suspicious of his sudden appearance in a place he has no business being but nobody even reacts to the fact that he looks like a Werewolf.  It's absurd, even for a film that obviously wants to steer clear of any deeper genre conventions.  In fact, it has more in common with suspense thrillers than horror films, despite the whole Werewolf thing.  It has the supernatural presence, but in the end you could have generally the same plot with normal humans and had a passable thriller.   The Wolf just adds allegory.  But really: Guy gets ousted from his job and marriage by his douchey protege, falls for a younger woman, decides to fight back against his ruination and the protege responds by attempting to frame him for his Wife's death.  It's still the same movie, just without Werewolves.  Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for the Werewolf element but I feel like you could have cut the cops out under the supernatural thriller circumstances.

I like that Michelle lunges at Spader with a pitchfork.  Actually, this isn't a bad fight scene, even if it feels the need to rely on slow motion to attempt to sell the action...again, it doesn't want to descend into full genre territory, so the fight needs to be stylized and generalized.  It feels very TV movie like, actually, but it was 1994 so that is forgivable as just a side effect of its age. For the most part, anyway.  

Final Thoughts: I think the key to the analysis of this film, and the others of that loose trilogy, is what I said earlier: it wants to utilize genre conventions without fully being a genre film.  This, and again I'm repeating myself, is not a bad thing: sometimes the key to success is knowing ones audience, and this movie clearly did that.  In fact, one could argue it was somewhat more successful than the other two comparative films.  Wolf wanted to be a suspense thriller with a little something extra, something that would differentiate it from others of its kind, so it went half-horror with its execution.  This does make it relatively unsatisfying to a horror viewer for exactly the same traits that would delight, say, your Mother or Grandmother.  It's JUST genre enough to make the uninitiated feel like they saw something different.  So, maybe it's not for genre buffs, but it's still a perfectly acceptable film as films go.  Of course, that's primarily a surface read: not everything in this film works, even from that generalized perspective.  This isn't flaws in the genre, though, but rather in cinema itself.  Actually, the genre elements work well: the Werewolf makeup, effects and scenes are pretty good considering their role.  However, the romance feels flat.  Actually, most of the writing kind of does.  The plot is very simple and even utilizes conventions it doesn't need, almost as if it's checking off boxes on the "suspense thriller" list.  The characters aren't super well drawn out, and actually more than a few drop off the face of the earth mid way through.  But, beyond three or four key players, none of them mattered anyway: the world they inhabited didn't breathe on its own.  So, I dunno: bad idea, good execution?  

Final Rating: Two and a Half Stars.  The spirit was willing, the flesh was weak...and so was its mind.

Movie 136: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994)

Starring: Robert De Niro, Kenneth Branagh, Helena Bonham Carter, Tom Hulce, Aidan Quinn, Ian Holm, John Cleese.

Director: Kenneth Branagh.

Ah, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.  Where Kenneth Branagh watched Bram Stoker's Dracula and said "Me, too!"  I can't remember the last time I watched THIS, either.  I remember a very different sort of insanity from this film.  I'm hoping that, like Coppola's film, this one will also turn out to be something of a pleasant surprise.  This, however, feels like something of a fool's hope.  I recently read a thought piece that suggested that this was the second of an unofficial Universal Monster Movie Revival Trilogy (try saying that five times fast), between the aforementioned Bram Stoker's Dracula and Wolf (which is up next, by the way).  It's an interesting assertion, and is certainly the perspective I'm looking to watch these films from.

We begin with both a voiceover narration (apparently supposed to be Mary Shelley) and then a text set-up, we get things underway.  The text informs us about the whole social/political/scientific upheaval of the late 1700's, which I suppose is useful for those of us unable to remember our history and/or inability to understand contextual narrative subtext, and that a ship is looking to do something or other.  I was kind of too busy typing this to read all of it.

Aidan Quinn is acting all over the place.  It's not quite Gary Oldman, but...well, it's there.  Then we have some moaning, some dead dogs, and Kenneth Branagh(who has a tendency to cast himself-it's a wonder that he didn't cast himself in Thor-in everything ever) whispering into Aidan Quinn's face.  "You share my madness?"  He asks the Captain (Quinn), who responds with venomous malice that there is a passage to the North Pole and HE WILL FIND IT!  Who needs subtext?!

Young Victor is introduced to his new adopted sister by Bilbo Baggins, who also decides to mention the death of said girl's parents right next to her head.  I guess Ian Holm just didn't really care so much about young Elizabeth's feelings on the subjects.  We cut rather rapidly to some very quick and somewhat...flirty...scenes between Victor and his Mother.  Then, fast forward to a lot of heat, sweat and blood as Ian Holm attempts to deliver another child and is forced to perform a C-section, punctuated by a lightning strike because, really, seriously, who needs subtle subtext.  Then Victor goes to her grave, growls "You never should have die.  None should ever die.  I'll stop this."  and then Elizabeth says "You're obsessed!"  I do admire directness....well, no, I don't, I like subtlety.  "None for you, Nathaniel!" the movie cries.

The lightning rod scene had some charm until Victor asks "How do you feel Elizabeth" and she replies "Alive!" and then a spark passes between them.  Jesus.  Cut that crap out, movie.  We know what we're watching, okay?  EVERYONE knows the general principles of Frankenstein, you knobs.  A nice moment of Ian Holm describing the inscription on the journal Victor's Mom got him, followed by a genuine emotional reaction from Branagh was nice enough...and then Victor and Elizabeth kiss while dancing.  Because, well, weird.  I mean, we know they're not REALLY brother and sister but...creepy.  It's accurate to the book, though.  It probably wasn't even all that unusual back in the sixteenth century...but weird enough for the old Universal stuff to cut it.  There seems to be a disconnect between Branagh and Carter in how to play it, too: Carter plays it a little more awkwardly, in contrast to Brangh's open-faced emotional reverie.  This is particularly odd because Branagh is the, y'know, DIRECTOR.  

More directness: Victor argues with his head instructor over established medicine versus Philosophical and thinking for oneself (which the Professor directly says "You are not here to think for yourself")...no subtlety here.  Then there's John Cleese!  Hooray!  Cleese decides to teach Victory and his buddy Henry about electrical impulses in the body, demonstrating with a monkey hand.  Branagh does provide some halfway decent visuals and costume design, if nothing else.  Everything is very dingy.  His sense of pacing isn't on target...and neither is this script.  Cleese says "I tried to create new life and it kinda sucked" and then is murdered by Robert De Niro.  Because that's how these things go.  Man...this movie just flies by.  Hardly any attempt in really building anything. 

It's a serious problem: earlier I suggested that the movie seemed to forget that we, the audience, basically already know the basic ebbs and flows of the Frankenstein story.  Now, it seems to take that for granted.  No real establishment or building of suspense and just rushing by, understanding that we DO know the inevitable outcome of all of this.  Of course, it's spurred on by a really direct script: "Did you think there wouldn't be a terrible price?!" Exclaims Henry.  "To make happy people able to be together, forever?" Victor asks.  Yikes.

Branagh loves to utilize some very...I'm trying to find the right word.  Visceral?  Maybe.  Earthy.  Tangible. I don't know what you'd call hot, sweaty, pressure-cooking-looking medical sequences, such as a Woman excreting Amniotic Fluid.  Electrical wiring attached to a dead frog.  Stuff like that.  It's the closest he gets to aping Coppola's aggressive tendencies.  Branagh also loves to be bare chested, as evidenced by the "post-dumping Elizabeth" scene, where he throws off his shirt and runs around frantically, man nipples and chest hair for the whole world to see.  It's obviously meant to be something of a romantic gesture (the time period/literary version of the word, not the "love" kind) and I suppose it kind of is: he strips himself bare (well, mostly:the scene might actually make  more sense if he were naked) before summoning lightning to animate his fleshy pile of human parts.  It's meant to be an animalistic sequence, one of savage humanity, but it mostly is just a messy jumble of ugly edits.  It could have been a truly extraordinary scene, really, given it's pretensions and, well, good intentions.  Considering it involves Victory dragging a naked, stiches-covered De Niro through massive puddles of viscous fluids...yeah...I hate to say it but Branagh should have been naked.

De Niro's makeup is pretty good...so is the justification that, even though he is now an entirely new entity, he still looks like the guy who murdered John Cleese.  So, when seen by the locals, they attack him.  Pretty sweet chokeslam, too.  It's not a bad representation of what a little bit of super strength might look like.  

Helena Bonham Carter is a weird Woman.  She manages to both be stunningly beautiful and...well, weird looking.  It varies between scenes here.  Some of her dresses look fantastic on her.  Henry doesn't seem to find the whole "adopted siblings" thing.  Again, a lack of subtlety as Victor and Elizabeth run to embrace one another beneath a direct spotlight of sunshine.  Geez.

I want to feel more sympathy for De Niro's take on The Monster but...it's just not really there.  I mean, there is something to his kindness at aiding the Farmers by working their fields as they slept, learning the word friend, protecting them from the landlord and all that.  Of course he's ultimately rejected.  I wonder if it's the fact that he can talk that undercuts the sympathy.  When Karloff played the role, he played it with a sense of childishness, of innocence.  The fact that he couldn't talk made that more apparent, a sense of helplessness despite his raw power.  The fact that The Monster weeps does have some weight, however, especially as he runs back to the house to offer them a flower only to find they've moved on.  De Niro is making due with what he has, but the film seems more or less determined to keep him from actualizing what he could do with it.  This isn't any more apparent as when he yells "I will have revenge....FRANKENSTEIN!" to the sky.  Man, is this movie sloppy.  Especially when that is followed with him once more attempting friendship with Victor's younger brother.

The whole "kid dies in the woods" thing seems off somehow.  Not really sure what that was meant to do, aside from attempting to be shocking.  The shadow of Coppola's Dracula is all over this, especially as they lynch Justine for no real reason.  This whole side plot of the death of the kid and Justine and all that...what is there to gain?  Maybe it's in the book?  I'd accept that.  I really ought to read Frankenstein.  Dracula, too, for that matter.  Oh, okay, so The Monster killed the kid, I guess.  

Another sign that the shadow of Bram Stoker's Dracula is over this: De Niro and his over acting.  It worked for Oldman, but De Niro can't seem to find the footing.  At least De Niro does have a partner worth working with in Branagh, who is a strong actor more often than not, but their interactions lose something in a fairly lackluster presentation: the two men barely even seem to share the same frame.  He insists on a mate, Victor shrugs it off...and we get an overly stylized sex sequence that nobody really needed...again, there seems to be an attempt to utilize bodies, animalism, and other visual metaphors but they fall flat under the seeming need to make things pretty and victorian.  Rather than be physical and visceral, we instead get flowery...but even the flowery is flubbed because, well, there's that half-hearted attempt to go in the other direction.  It's a frustrating film.

"There's nothing left to lose."
"Nothing but your soul!"
 I swear I am going to scream.

See, if Branagh had been naked earlier, his lack of  nudity when he is fixing Elizabeth up for reanimation would have a fun amount of contrast: the intimacy of his original creation vs. attempting to resurrect his lover.  It could have been something, really.  To have a more hurried, less personal approach to bringing Elizabeth back would have underscore a considerable amount of things about Victor and his selfishness, his own hubris, and his lack of true regard for those he loves.  But, instead...retread the hurried, over-acted rush job of a procedure.  That isn't to say the grotesque appearance of Elizabeth post-operation is ineffective, though: far from it.  Carter seems to relish the ghoulishness of her own appearance and brings that to the performance.  It's probably the best thing to happen in this film.  Branagh, I think, undercuts the moment with the slow dance which...well, it's clearly supposed to be tragic and at least mildly insane but instead comes off as a little unintentionally hilarious.  You broke it, Kenneth.  You broke it.

Y'know, I feel like Aidan Quinn would have been a better Victor Frankenstein than Branagh.  I really do.  You had him there and you didn't use him.  But, we all know Branagh.  

The ending is a pretty decent one: The Monster finds his creator dead, and he laments that he was never given a name, and mourns his "Fathers" death.  It feels a little unearned after all the savagery and aggression De Niro brought forth...maybe if there had been a little more sympathy and pathos to the presentation of the character, things might be a bit more even.  Somehow, even Aidan Quinn seeking to rescue the Monster and inviting him to join feels more emotionally relevant than The Monsters tragic end beneath the icy waves.  There's something to the mixture of fire and ice (or even water) but...well, it's just another obvious movement in a film positively FILLED with obvious movements.

Final Thoughts: I really wish this movie was better.  There's so much that one WANTS to like in here, but it never seems to really build itself to anything resembling what it wants to be,  How in the hell did Frank Darabont have a hand in writing this thing?!  I just saw his name in the end credits and it made me throw up in my mouth a little bit.  One of the best screenwriters in the business and even he wasn't able to make this turkey work.  But, again, I feel like-as tragic as the story of Frankenstein is-the real tragedy is that this movie was so bad.  It had every real advantage a movie could have and we ended up with...well, poor dialogue, a complete lack of subtlety, poor characterization and awkward scene and narrative structure.  What we has is a group of lost actors, all more talented than what we see here (and that includes Branagh, who has conviction but no sense) and some decent visual flourishes with strong costume and makeup design.  

Final Rating: Two Stars.  I want to give it another half star but I...I just can't.

Movie 135: Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)

Starring: Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins, Keanu Reeves, Cary Elwes, Sadie Frost, Tom Waits.

Director: Francis Ford Coppola.

I don't think I've seen this movie in many, many years.  To the point that basically the only thing I probably recognize is certain visual cues (such as Oldman as Dracula) and the score (which, of course, has been used a few more times since).  Oh, right, and the kinda sorta sympathetic backstory and all.  

Right away there's a certain hammy element to Vlad The Impaler doing his whole military battle-shown in shadowy profile, with a blood red backdrop no less-and Winona Ryder tossing herself off of a roof at false news of the the dudes death...Oldman is both a good and strange choice for the role.  Oldman has a way of making over-acting look flawless, even if his physicality is a strange choice.  Seeing him in his blood red armor freaking out and stabbing crosses has both a joyfully nonsensical madness and lamentable silliness.  Bleeding crosses and Oldman roaring and...man, is this movie wonderfully silly.  I'm kind of excited now.

Holy crap, I'd forgotten about Tom Waits as Renfield!  That's such inspired casting.  I mean, sure, it's batshit insane casting but..,this IS the MTV, Rock Video Dracula.  That self indulgent, self aware approach is what's going to keep this whole thing afloat.  I mean, hell, we have early nineties pretty people stars Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves doing their not-reactions and bad pseudo-british accents in overdone voiceover.  It's fantastic.

What in the blue hell was up with that carriage driver?!  I mean, really.  Some strange reptillian beast literally LIFTS Harker into the carriage and his reaction is...well, nothing.  Like, even for Keanu Reeves it was nothing.  Wolves are running alongside the damn thing and Harker barely raises an eyebrow.  Who is his shrink?!  How do I get that unconcerned about everything?

That shadow bit is kind of awesome.  The shadow moves, massive, along the walls even as Dracula stands completely still.  It's a simple effect, but it's so very effective.  Great costume work here, too: that long robe of The Count is such a striking image.  Very classical set design, too.  This movie might be completely out of it's mind, but man is it pretty.  

Oldman just LOVES this.  You can tell he's having a blast with this performance.  His make-up is pretty good, too, considering the era.  As pre-CGI old man makeup goes, it looks pretty great.  Re-using the shadow bit is...well, it's a bit much.  The gag is good but it isn't THAT good.  Once again, though, Harker just doesn't really have a reaction to the fact that Dracula seemingly teleports around the room.  

Reeves really wasn't the best choice for this role: Oldman is thoroughly unopposed in the scene.  Oldman may as well be talking to himself for all the good Reeves is doing.  I have some respect for Reeves (despite some of his roles begging for my hatred) but this is not one of his finer moments.  Admittedly, the role isn't super meaty but...acting is reacting.  Under the circumstances, there's nothing for Oldman to do but just devour the scenery en mass.

The scene of Lucy and Mina looking at the engravings in the old book is cute...it doesn't offer much else, though.  Hell, other than introducing Lucy it really doesn't do anything...Lucy is a bit of a scandalous young Woman.  It's somewhat charming in its silliness. We get some very quick character introductions of some side people, a portent of Dracula's interest in Mina, all to more voiceover from Ryder which feels uncomfortable and forced.

...and then we're off to a overly stylized mental institution where Dr.Seward deals with an overacting Tom Waits.  Oh, man, is Waits going over the top here.  Seward wants to give him a cat.  I don;t think Seward is a very good Doctor...

Finally, Reeves actually reacts to something.  It took Dracula making an inhuman noise, mocking his cross, and finally expressing his admiration for the sounds of the night-not a bad line read of "Listen to them, Children of the Night, What music they make" by the way-to finally lose his shit.  Then, again in voiceover, he expresses his fears before going to...Dracula's anti-gravity room, apparently.  I do like the other worldly Dracubabe voices, though.  It's some very good sound work, actually.  Has a strong effect.

I find myself briefly wondering just how much this movie cost.  The scene of Harker being beset by the Dracubabes is all at once beautiful, sensual, decadent, expansive and completely and unmistakably insane.  I mean, they come out of the bed, naked, and go to town on Reeves...it's incredibly self indulgent but truly beautiful.  Then, Dracula shows up and feeds them a baby, because this movie wants to be incredibly shocking.  Then an uncomfortable close close-up of a bellowing Reeves...I'm running out of adjectives to describe this movie and it's pants-shitting insanity.  But, for all that insanity, it's...well, it's really kind of well done.  For a movie entirely about excess, aggression and, perhaps most importantly, self-indulgence, it's really successful.  Strong first act, at least in context.

There is definitely a challenge thrown down with this movie.  I'm not sure exactly what that challenge IS, exactly, but it's there.  It's not as if the film is overtly shocking or anything, not really...I mean, I suppose for a mainstream film it could be seen as such.  Maybe.  But there is such a direct sense of aggression to the film, and that unmistakable air of self-indulgence that I keep harping on.  But, sure, once we see a soaking wet Winona Ryder and Sadie Frost kiss one another in the rain, followed by animals losing their minds and Tom Waits tearing at himself, we're confronted by a considerable amount of ferocity and, well, madness.  I mean, Dr.Seward decides to inject himself with heroin during Dracula's magic rainstorm, conveying an animalistic savagery.  

I think therein lies that challenge thrown before the audience: Coppola wants us to view this decadent savagery, possibly with a wink...I haven't been able to quite ascertain if this is to be taken seriously or not...the overt sexual imagery of Lucy, draped in a red dress, being bitten by a wolf-like Dracula (in a decidedly sexual position, of course) during a raging thunderstorm...it's a beautiful image, really, but...is this supposed to be straight?  I'll have to come up with an answer by the end...but the over-the-top nature isn't necessarily a sign of mirth.  But it could be.  Maybe that, too, is the challenge: make sense of this, suckers!  Am I kidding?  Am I being serious?  Is this stylish or insane?  Do you like it or hate it?  No matter what the answer, it's ballsy.

How interesting it is that things gradually slow down.  As Dracula-now in his more gentlemanly getup-moves through the streets of London, Coppola uses a weird sped up film to show frenzy and bustle and then it slows to a crawl as Drac lays eyes on Mina.  It's odd.  Oldman also completely transforms his performance in more than a few ways.  It's fascinating.

There's also a fascination with sexuality throughout as well.  I mean, that's also like saying Winter is cold, but it's definitely there.  Seward meets with Lucy, who basically acts incredibly sexually aroused at all times, her performance riding between pleasure and pain.  After this, her fiance and his buddies show up discussing the victorian equivalent of "guy talk."  Then Drac puts the moves on Mina at a movie, despite her protests, his vampiric transformations being an obvious allegory to masculine lust.  In the end, he controls himself, because there character is meant to be something of a romantic figure...then he charms her with his ability to control Wolves, which, I mean, I totally get.  If I could control Wolves, I'd do nothing but that all the time, primarily to get chicks.  I can barely control my fat cat, even when nobody is watching.

Seemingly to make sure that Oldman isn't the most over-acting guy in the film, here comes Anthony Hopkins to do his thing.  His first order of business, tending to Lucy who is once again somewhere between moaning in pain from her illness and moaning in orgasm.  Hopkins immediately goes to work using his ability to shout and spit every single line.  

It's kind of unfortunate Cary Elwes never really did get too steeped in serious roles.  He has better chops than his usual comedic roles suggest.  But, then, they always do say: Drama is easy, comedy is hard.  If you can do comedy, you can do anything.   

What the hell is going on with Hopkins' accent, anyway?  It's like he occasionally decides to just start trying something else.  Luckily, he has a way with exposition and always has.  His speechifying allows for excellent authority (which is key to exposition: without authority, information becomes suspect to an audience.  Nobody thinks about that too frequently.  A credible source is crucial for plot building).  

Somewhere along the way this movie did manage to lose its sense of urgency.  Maybe it's the quick pacing, moving along the story without adequately expressing itself within a scene?  Maybe it's the love story they try to build between Mina and Dracula: it does tend to slow things down.  The overt use of visual flashback within the scene itself: not a full flashback, but occurring around the fringes of the frame...well, it doesn't quite work.  I think it crosses a line beyond self-indulgence and primarily insults the audiences memory, which is never a good thing.  Underestimating your audience will only cause you to lose them.  The lack of chemistry between Oldman and Ryder doesn't help matters, either...honestly, I already miss the lunacy of the first act, really.  

Oh, great, now Dracula and Mina are dancing in the music video of "Wrapped around your finger" The Police.  Which, while it's a good song and a pretty video, isn't really what I needed.  I took a side trip to watch that video again and find myself wondering just how much coke String was on.

and here it is.

Well, thank you Anthony Hopkins.  "You, Minnnnna...you are one of the ligggghts.  The LIGHT OF all liiife."  And then he sniffs her.  Nice.  Everyone ranges from either TOO restrained to entirely unrestrained (like Lucy, who writhes about moaning, shrieking, and then whispering invitations to kiss her...and then biting a dude.)  Or, if you're Oldman, both, seemingly at the same time.  

How many candles does one man need, really?  Both Dracula and Van Helsing are apparently huge fans of candles.  I mean, sure, Sting needs 'em but...

There is some wonderfully nonsense dialogue that really could only be delivered by a guy like Hopkins: "She is now the devil's whore!  Ha ha!  The Devil's Concubine! HA!"  Then followed with odd high shutter speed photography of roses wilting and bugs crawling on statues.  Well, I did say I wanted the crazy back.  Guess the movie decided to give me my wish.  Good thing, too, that middle act really was starting to drag a lot.  Hmm.  The shutter speed thing seems to be designed to show what he sees in animal form.  Fascinating.  Meanwhile, in a VERY catholic ceremony, Mina and Harker are married...not bad juxtaposition, really.  

Oldman is back to chewing scenery and spitting it out in venomous line reads.  Way to go, Mina.  Break the guys heart and he goes and turns your best friend into a Vampire.  It's all your fault, Mina.  I love how white Lucy's corpse is, though: glass casket, white dress, pure white face, surrounded by figures dressed in black and abnormally pale faces.  Under some pale lights,too.  Some fantastic imagery.  Then: "Oh, no, I just want to cut off her head and tear our her heart." And Mina, now married, thinks that maybe she really loves Dracula.  Oh, get your head out of your ass, Mina.

I like that Lucy is preceded by a weird, otherworldly moaning string instrument...and then, draped in a gorgeous white funeral dress...actually she's one of the scariest vampires I think I've ever seen.  She looks great, even as she vomit blood all over Van Helsing and does a weird death rattle laugh.  Man, this is a really good scene.  

That roast looks really good.  I could go for one of those.  Someone make me a pot roast in a slow cooker.  Seriously, it looks really, really good.  I don't think I could make a good one.  I can do a good turkey, though.  Maybe I'll totally make myself a turkey sometime soon.  Seriously, that huge amount of food looks really good.  I should probably be paying attention to the movie but that food really captured my attention.

Luckily, here is Renfield to scream and bellow some more to bring me back into it.  Mina wants to have a chat with the guy, for some reason.  Tom Waits does his twitchiest best for the scene, which is somewhat wasted on Ryder, who seems to fall into the Reeves area of acting.  No adequate reaction.  Waits does a pretty good job of showing a brief moment of sanity as he pleads for Mina to flee, and kisses her hand.  It's a nice enough scene, even if it is one sided.

The Vampire Hunting party does cut an imposing visage.  Nice suits and torches.  Not sure why they wore nice suits, though.  Oh, shit, I had forgotten about how the full-vampire bat creature thing looks.  Pretty similar to the stuff in parts of From Dusk Till Dawn.  While that latter movie has it's issues, visual effects certainly were not one of them.

Again, Coppola falls back onto sexuality: after disposing of Renfield, Dracula's mist form crawls up Minas sheets as she moans and writhes...and then Dracula kisses her way down her body.  Ryder tingles her way through the scene, but at least has enough wits to ask Dracula the truth of his existence. Y'know, raw sexual magnetism isn't a trait I'd attribute to Gary Oldman.  Kind of weird that they expected me to.  The transformation of Mina is clearly supposed to somehow be sexy but...it isn't.  I would think it to be predatory, but it isn't even really that.  It's actually kind of a flubbed sequence...it really wants to be sexy, or predatory, or romantic but gets confused.  It feels like a love scene with a head injury.

Giant bat-creature Dracula looks amazing...and then he collapses into rats.  Fantastic effects work.  We then cut to the hunters moving across the countryside (after a fairly unnecessary hypnosis scene that provides a "where did he go" justification that, well, where else would he go?) to go fight Dracula.  We're also given way too much voiceover as well.  Like, way too much.  It's not a great device.  But, we get some very pretty snow scenes, though.  Snow is very pretty.

And now a weird love scene between Mina and Van Helsing...well, it's a trap.  But still, he was totally going to do it.  Which is really weird.  But we do have the Dracubabes again.  They don't look as amazing this time (but still pretty scary looking Vampires), nor do they look as good as Lucy did, but hey, still a fun scene.  The image of Van Helsing tossing their heads off the side of a castles battlements, screaming Draculas name is really fun, though.

Winona Ryder is really lovely, especially when she's allowed to get a little unrestrained with everybody else.  It is something of a shark-jumping moment, though, when she cries into the winds and starts doing some sort of purple magic thing.  There's something pretty frantic about it, especially as Dracula bursts from his casket and fights his assailants...the fight is pretty truncated, though, which is somewhat unfortunate.  It makes sense: a full frontal assault on a foe as powerful as Dracula would be pretty foolish if not finished quickly.  It just feels anti-climactic, especially when followed up with Mina and Dracula cuddling together, and Ryder's "I understood then that my love could save us all" voiceover nonsense.  

And then, like the classics: it just ends after Dracula is dead.  Nice.

Final Thoughts: I'm not sure there's anything more to add.  I think I've kind of said everything I can possibly say.  I did have the pressing question of whether or not this was a joke or not.  Was it meant to be serious or tongue-in-cheek?  I still don't really have an answer.  Both?  Neither?  It seems to change as often as Dracula's form itself: from act to act, it metamorphoses into very different things, at times clearly meant to be excessive to the point of self-parody to times of dead seriousness.  The movie seems content enough to just be aggressive and...well, just to be.  

Final Rating: Jesus, I don't know...Three Stars?

Movie 134: The Mummy's Hand (1940)

Starring: Dick Foran, Peggy Moran, Wallace Ford, Eduardo Ciannelli, George Zucco, Cecil Kellaway

Director: Christy Cabanne.

This is the end of round two of my Universal classic monster run: the second movie in The Mummy franchise.  No Karloff, which is already kind of upsetting.  I was hoping to see more of his sympathetic take on the titular monster.  But oh, well, let's see what they got for me.

We've got some flashback stuff where an aging priest gives his son a history lesson (which is footage from the original film, with Karloff replaced by another actor), telling the backstory of Imhotep and his attempts to bring his ladyfriend back from the dead.  It's footage worth revisiting, since it's quite pretty and has some great prop work.  Well, okay, so it's not Imhotep.  It's Kharis, and he's apparently hanging around to totally ruin the day of anyone who screws around with tombs.  Apparently the son has to maintain Kharis' stuff, and if he screws it up, Kharis is gonna just go run around causing chaos for laughs.  Doesn't take a psychic to realize what's gonna happen.

Meanwhile, a couple of dudes in white are having a hard time with their dig harass poor people and street vendors while one of them does silly vaudeville or whatever.  If there is one thing I've found about these old Universal films is that the comic relief makes me pretty tense.  It's just...too silly.  Anyway, the street vendor had something cool on it, and now they know how to find the place the old dude was talking about at the beginning.  They apparently they need the aid of Dr.Evil (if his presentation is anything to go by) to get where they need to.  Dr.Evil says their little pot is a fake...probably to attempt to steal it for himself so he can find the tomb for himself.

Our lead is unconvinced, and is going to seek financial aid elsewhere...Dr.Evil then "accidentally" drops the pot.  Nevertheless, our leads are going ahead with the search for the forbidden temple...and Dr.Evil looks at a medallion and mentions the curse to himself.  Ah.  So, he was trying to keep them from disturbing the temple.  

Okay, so the comic relief guy is a bit of a grifter and is going to con some men into giving them their money...well, instead, he fails because the guy who he's trying to con is apparently a talented stage magician.  The guy is a good sport, though, and instead invites our heroes to join him.  Apparently the Magician-The Great Solvani-is going to finance the expedition.  Dr.Evil is still trying to keep them from succeeding, though, sending his beggar friend to cause a fight.  Solvani has a Daughter, who will obviously be our damsel in distress later...

Well, no, maybe not.  Marta, the daughter, gives her Dad a bunch of crap about agreeing to the contract.  Then she goes, holds up our heroes with a gun-which is awesome-and decides eventually to allow the men to go ahead with the expedition in order to protect their investment.  Marta is awesome.  I love these Universal girls.  They just kick ass.

Well, they disturbed the tomb.  It's not the Princess they were looking for, though, it's probably that Kharis guy.  Our characters seem disappointed, save for the comic relief guy, who rightly asserts that finding anything at all is a positive thing.  His misnaming of Jackals as Jackasses is actually kind of funny, too.  He's growing on me a little.

The Mummy is alive and poor Dr.Petrie is about to get it.  The Mummy looks pretty good, and Dr.Evil (who also showed up and is responsible for the Mummy's resurrection) says nobody will leave the valley alive.  Our heroes don't hear this, though...but now they're going to have a problem.  Oh, Dr.Evil apparently controls The Mummy, which is kind of bad news for our heroes.  It won't end well for the guy, though, that's for sure.

Marta is wonderful!  She just figured out something that the rest of the idiots didn't.  She's not too hard on the eyes, either.  They have some really beautiful Women back in the day.  But, she's a great character.

The movie is pretty run-of-the-mill thus far.  It's pretty simple plot-wise (guys go to desert, dig up mummy, mummy comes alive and kills people), the sets (while certainly not poor by any means) don't quite live up to other Universal entries, and nobody but Marta is particularly interesting.  The comic relief guy and the magician ain't so bad, but they aren't providing an awful lot.  The Mummy does look pretty good (it's important to remember that the cliches didn't quite exist yet) and has a pretty interesting eye and mouth effect.  His eyes look like black water.  It's kind of interesting...well, I will say that the character relationships are kinda nice, too.  Marta asks the comic relief guy to make sure Steve doesn't get hurt, and he says "Like having around, huh?  Yeah...me, too."  That was kinda nice.

Aww, The Great Solvani bites it and The Mummy kidnaps Marta, leading our heroes to another cave to rescue her.  The comic relief character turns out to be braver than meets the eye.  He really is kind of growing on me.  The Mummy takes Marta to a temple with two giant jackal heads...now, here we go with some solid set design.  This chamber looks pretty damned fantastic.  These Universal movies really knew how to build standing sets.  Amazing what could be done with comparatively little money...well, okay, if you look at it proportionately, it's probably all the same thing.  $200,000 isn't as much but today's standards but then...well, I don't really know what I'm talking about anyway.

So, Dr.Evil wants to make Marta his immortal babe.  I can't fault him.  As evil plans go, making Marta beautiful and immortal for all eternity makes an awful lot of sense.  Probably would have been nice of him to ask her how she felt about it beforehand, though...

Oh, shit, the comic relief guy just plugged Dr.Evil!  That was amazing!  "I'm gonna give you to the count of three to tell me where she is."  He counts to three, ignores the villain saying "if you kill me the Mummy runs amok and shooting me in cold blood would be bad" and then plugs him.  Awesome.  That just made me really, really like him now.  Steve is less effective in handling the Mummy.  I guess we know who the real talent is, don't we Steve?  Oh, snap, comic relief guy just handled the Mummy, too.  I guess his name is...Babe.  Okay.  Well, anyway, he was the hero.  Good on you, Babe.  You have a special place in my heart.  You and Marta.

Oh, The Great Solvani lived.  And our heroes go back to America prosperous...Babe should have taken Marta and left the others to rot.

Final Thoughts:  A couple of great characters and a good looking Mummy buoy an otherwise fairly underwhelming story.  Some bright spots are there, though, especially in the last act.  I always have a soft spot for comic relief characters who actually end up worth a damn when push comes to shove, and this movie gave me that in spades by the end.  And Marta...oh, Marta...

Final Rating: Three Stars.

Movie 133: She-Wolf of London (1946)

 

Starring: June Lockhart, Don Porter, Sara Haden, Jan Wiley, Lloyd Corrigan, Dennis Hoey.

Director: Jean Yarbrough.

Pretty much from here on out, I don't know much of anything about these old Universal classics.  I'm going to keep on trucking through them, though (with a few digressions to some more recent versions).  For now, let's keep on going through the Female counterpart flicks with She-Wolf of London.

The beginning focuses on a large amount of exposition-possibly as a recap of Werewolf of London-and then we get two people on horses who are going to race over who gets to pick the date of their wedding...the guy wins, because the forties.  Doesn't matter, though, because she didn't really want to wait so...why the hell did you race over it?!  They get interrupted by the cops, who are investigating a Werewolf related murder.  Phyllis, the lady in question, is pretty upset over it.  So, she would be the Werewolf.  Not that it took a great deal of thought to get to that conclusion considering the title of the film.

We've jumped to a new plot, it seems: Carol apparently wants to marry some dude who hasn't any dough.  Mom is kinda pissed about it, to the point of threatening to fire the servant who was going to deliver a letter for her...wow, talk about some convoluted backstory.  Phyllis isn't a daughter, or even an Aunt...she apparently owns the house, with the people she thinks of as her family are the Housekeeper(who was apparently with Phyllis's Dad but rejected him and then got married to another dude who died, and then became her ex's housekeeper) and her kids, and they've been pretending to be relatives and that's why Carol can't marry a poor dude because the jig will be up when Phyllis gets married and...I mean, wow.  That's a pretty tangled tapestry of backstory.  I mean, that's really a lot to unpack.  

The dogs hate Phyllis.  'Cause Werewolf.  Apparently.  There hasn't been any set up to the idea or anything, just...seems to be the case.  I would assume they'll reverse engineer a justification later on after the reveal.  But, given that this is a B-movie from 1946, all bets are kind of off.  

"They say that a howling Dog means death!"
"In that case half of London must be at deaths door!"  Thank you, movie.  

Oh, Phyllis, just because you woke up with blood on your hands doesn't mean you killed somebody.  You might have just really, really hurt them.  The slippers covered in mud...oh, okay, there's a family curse?  Apparently Phyllis believes herself afflicted by The Allenby Curse.

How does a housekeeper manage to develop this kind of clout?  I need a diagram to show how all of this occurred.  She bosses around the new maid/housekeeper/servant/whatever around like she owns the place.  Was she put in charge of the estate until Phyllis came of age?  Phyllis is unaware of her lack of familial relation...I suppose it doesn't really matter.  Not really, anyway.

Hannah the housekeeper is my favorite character so far.  She doesn't like her employer, seeks to help the two younger household members with their love lives (including aiding Phyllis' fiance Barry to see Phyllis) and generally seems kinda rad.  Cool old broad.

Phyllis just ain't that into you, Barry.  Her Werewolf thing means more to her.  So, Barry is going to take Carol on a drive.  Barry is gonna marry someone, damn it!  I would assume that isn't the case, really, but the movie decides to leave us with Phyllis, putting us in her position: both she and us see Barry leave with Carol, with no idea what happens or what is said when they go.  

Hmm.  Carol is actually pretty nice.  She spent the drive talking to Barry about how they're both concerned, and Carol wants to offer Phyllis a sympathetic ear about what's bothering her.  Phyllis declines, but I guess it was kinda nice.  Carol's Mom is a huge bitch.  Phyllis is intending to stay awake all night to make sure she doesn't kill again.  Good for you, Phyllis, taking agency!  

I'm not sure what the Police side story is really accomplishing.  Each scene basically seems to retread the same beats: someone is murdering people, cops are looking for them, one of the inspectors believes in Werewolves and the other doesn't.  This just circles around and around.  Well, okay, one of the inspectors is attacked by the she-wolf and killed, but not before blurting out "she" to the other cops.  I'm betting that Phyllis isn't actually the wolf.  Maybe it's her Not-Aunt.  Actually, Phyllis might be being gaslit.  That would work. In fact, now I'm certain Not-Aunt is probably doing just that.

Barry figured out the family curse thing...Barry is a fairly atypical 1940's movie guy, but he seems somewhat less irritating than a lot of the other characters of his kind. Y'know, it's interesting: these Universal films are pretty well read.  Barry is quoting Plato, Pythagoras, and Shakespeare...of course, his quoting merely upsets Phyllis further, 'cause Barry is kind of a jerk.  Because the Forties.  But it is interesting that a lot of old philosophy, folklore, history and literature gets referenced so frequently in these old films.  Especially when you consider how frequently all of that is so mangled in modern era films.  

Well, there is a fascinating turn of events: Barry (who is a barrister.  Barry The Barrister.) decides to hang out in the park to try and catch the She-Wolf.  He meets up with the Police...apparently the next victim was Carol's boyfriend Dwight.  He survives, apparently due to the interference of the Police and Barry.  Carol shows up, which alarms everyone...I am now entirely convinced that Not-Aunt is the villain...and probably isn't a Werewolf.

Carol seems to think Phyllis is being gaslighted.  Damn I'm good.  Of course, it's an elaborate ruse to get her Mother to tip her hand...at least, that's what I think it is.  This seems to be a lot like some shakespearean farce, really: Carol leaves, a guy follows her, Barry follows the other guy...hmm, interesting photography here near the end.  All the camera angles are titlted, putting everything off kilter.  Not-Aunt is insistent on Phyllis drink her warm milk...and that Phyllis will have to go to an asylum.  Ah, now we have visual evidence of her being drugged!  Well, okay...Not-Aunt just admitted everything to Phyllis, unaware that Hannah is listening at the door.  I was right about everything.  Rad.  

Yeah, Hannah!  Just outright says "I'm going to the police" and off she runs.  Didn't really need to, though, since Barry, Carol and the cops show up right after.  The End.  I still love that: once the story is done, movie over.  Love it.

Final Thoughts: I mean, it wasn't really a Werewolf movie but instead a fairly interesting murder-mystery story.  I enjoy movies that involve gaslighting, so that makes me happy.  The characters and stuff, well, I mean it wasn't a great movie.  Strong premise, interesting overall plot, mostly mediocre everywhere else.  I generally enjoyed the flick, though.

Final Rating: Three Stars.

Movie 132: Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

 

Starring: Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Valerie Hobson, Ernest Thesiger, Elsa Lanchester, Gavin Gordon.

Director: James Whale.

This has always been my favorite of the Universal films.  I've always loved Bride of Frankenstein for a very, very long time.  I hope it holds up.  As a side note, I recommend checking out the excellent Gods and Monsters, which tells the tragic story of director James Whale.  Ian Mcellan and Brendan Fraser give great performances.  It's a beautiful film.  But, let's talk about Bride.

I've always loved the story of the night where Lord Byron, Doctor Polidori, and Percy and Mary Shelley gathered together on a dark and stormy night where Mary conceived Frankenstein. It was also the inspiration for a rather entertaining if bizarre Ken Russel film called Gothic. The beginning of this film conveys it in a somewhat comedic way, along with some flashbacks to the original film as a recap.  It's certainly not a bad device to utilize.  The original story probably was in need of a recap for the audiences of '35.  It also sets up the continuation, as Mary decides to tell her companions of the rest of the story, bringing us back to the hillside where the townspeople believe they have destroyed The Monster.

The sequel is certainly more aggressive as The Monster slaughters the over acting townspeople, which works well enough.  I remembered this as being a bit more serious minded, but perhaps I'm mostly thinking of the later acts.  For now, things have had a decidedly comedic tone.  Slapstick, pratfalls, and exaggerated facial expression are the name of the game thus far.  Well, other than that aggression I mentioned.  Hopefully that shrill Woman is done for the day?  Nope.  Guess not.

Dr.Preatorius!  I always liked him, as a brand new mad scientist who convinces Frankenstein to come back to the mad scientist realm.  Elizabeth is freaking out about a bunch of stuff, and her horrible premonition from the original film of being torn from Henry.  This is certainly a weirder movie than I remembered it being: I had forgotten about the tiny people in jars and stuff.  Weird stuff.  The effects work isn't bad, though...

Preatorius and his weird science gets Frankenstein to decide to create a lady monster, and we cut back to The Monster wandering through the wilderness.  The makeup isn't as fantastic as it was in the original, but Karloff's superb performance and physicality keeps things interesting.  The Monster lashes out at his own reflection, and accidentally frightens a Woman into falling off a waterfall...it's a sad moment, as The Monster tries to get her to calm down, and he is shot by hunters.  Wounded and frightened, he runs off into some rather gorgeous sets (the cloudy sunset backdrop is once again present) with trees and rocks providing a strange labyrinth for both the Monster and his pursuers to run through.  It's such a frantic sequence, with the Monster being reduced to little more than a hunted animal who is then strung up and pelted with rocks by his assailants.  

It's amazing to watch Karloff run around and tear apart sets.  There's just so much energy to the performance, filled with aggression.  It's somewhat difficult to enjoy scenes such as The Monster hanging out with the blind man after you see Young Frankenstein.  It's really a heartwarming and beautiful scene about unlikely friendship and innocence but...I mean, after watching Gene Hackman dump boiling soup into Peter Boyle's lap it's hard to fully love the sequence.  It really is lovely, though, in all seriousness.  It's very sweet to see a child-like monster learn to speak and enjoy his friend.  Of course, it would have to end in tragedy as everything else does in his unfortunate existence.  

Another amazing set piece: the crypt that The Monster enters.  It's another giant space, filled with dust and cobwebs and beautiful statuary and rusted iron bars.  Adding to that the sadness of The Monster attempting to speak to a corpse, seeking others like himself...well, it's another strong scene.

The Monster making demands of his creator, and once again attacking poor Elizabeth (she can't really catch a break), is a pretty justified turn of events.  Given everything the Monster goes through up until that point, it makes perfect sense that Pretorius's offers of creating him a companion, to make him not alone any longer...well, desperation can make villains of anyone.  It's an interesting turn, though, considering that the Monster is usually a gentle and well-meaning creature.  Of course, an argument can be made that he would ensure that Elizabeth would not be harmed.

The ending of the film is really what's worth getting to.  As the Bride is created, her hairstyle inhuman and her face confused and distressed...well, she's a shocking and provocative image in her own right.  The emotionally damaging tragedy that occurs-even though she has a Monster herself, she still rejects her intended mate as readily as anyone else has, out of her own childlike fear of the unknown, and her own confusion about her sudden and unasked for existence(it seems like the most important element of the Frankenstein story, really: did any of us ASK to be born?)-is devastating.  So, it stands to reason then that, in the end, The Monster understands his own existence as being something that must end...but more importantly, that Henry and Elizabeth must live.  Their normal, potentially happy lives must be protected in the end, no matter what The Monster might feel for his careless creator.  

"You stay.  We belong dead." The Monster drones, making sure that both he and his Bride are destroyed in the fire that destroys Praetorius' laboratory. It's a sad but somewhat inspiring and certainly poignant finale.

Final Thoughts: It's still an incredibly beautiful film, even if it IS a lot sillier and rougher than I remember it being years ago.  It's still an all time favorite of mine, because parts of it are so beautiful that I might make an argument that they are, to some degree, unrivaled in horror cinema.

Final Rating: Four Stars.

Movie 131: Dracula's Daughter (1936)

 

Starring: Otto Kruger, Gloria Holden, Marguerite Churchill, Edward Van Sloan, Gilbert Emery, Irving Pichel.

Director: Lambert Hillyer.

I don't know anything at all about this movie, so I'm just gonna go with it and see what it brings me.  It does have Edward Van Sloan reprising his role as Van Helsing, so there is that to look forward to. No Lugosi, but, Dracula is dead so...makes sense. So away we go.

Two cops do some comedy bits-including asking Van Helsing point blank if he committed the murder that Helsing literally informed them about-and Van Helsing tells them about his killing of Dracula...and then they arrest him.  Apparently the first corpse was Renfield, and the other is the Count himself.  Cool hook for a sequel, actually: Van Helsing arrested for killing the bad guy at the end of the previous film.

The comedy bits of the two cops aren't working for me.  It was probably funnier back in '36.  They're practically Three Stooges-ing. The eponymous Daughter of Dracula shows up after the more cowardly of the pair is left by himself in the station.  She does some mind control whammy and gets her way, walking into the room where Dracula's body is left.  Coward Cop might actually be dead.

Gloria Holden makes a striking figure, head to toe in black, delivering a eulogy as she burns the Count's body.  It's surprisingly affecting.  She provides a fairy compassionate performance.  She is now happy to be free to be her own Woman.  I'm happy for her, too.  She's very interesting looking, too, like Helen from The Mummy.  Symmetrical features and pretty braided hair.  Despite her yearning for freedom, all her buddy (not sure what their relationship actually is) Sandor sees in her eyes is "death."  She seems like a tragic figure in a way that Dracula couldn't be, really: she seems unhappy with her lot in life (or undeath) and seems kind of sad.  Not Larry Talbot sad, not yet anyway, but definitely sad.

Sandor is another weird looking fellow.  Very hulking and menacing but carries an air of intelligence.  He's kind of ghoulish.  I'm curious about him.

So, there seems to be-at present-two narratives occurring simultaneously: Dracula's Daughter is doing Vampire stuff, and Van Helsing needs his buddy to convince a jury of his sanity and the validity of his story (logically speaking, his buddy is totally right: telling people "The guy was a five hundred year old Vampire and I put a stake through his heart" isn't the best defense against a murder wrap). 

 Our Daughter now has a name: Countess Marya Zeleska. We get a cross between the two narratives now as the Countess meets Jeffery Garth, the psychiatrist Helsing brought in, and his receptionist/girlfriend (who is NOT interested in taking any of Garth's shit, and is currently my favorite character: yelling at him about driving all night and not having any patience, and irritatingly hanging around to make sure he doesn't sleep with the "dangerous brunette."  I want more of her, please, movie) and we get some Dracula references.

Janet, the receptionist (not his Girlfriend, yet anyway) gives him some more shit and laughs at him.  I adore her.  She then crank calls the Doctor while out on his date.  She then hangs up, rolls over on her bed, and laughs uproariously.  Oh, Janet, I will write love songs for you.

Okay, so Sandor is The Countesses Servant.  He goes and gets her a young lady to pose for the countess and refers to her as "his Mistress."  So, yeah, Servant and companion.  Lily, the model, is fairly unlikely to make it out of her alive, though, I'm sure.  Yeah, Lily we hardly knew ye.  I'm not digging on this as much as I was on the others.  Except for Janet, whose contentious relationship with the Doc is wildly entertaining (mostly because she always ends up on the winning side of their quibbles), there's nothing that really stands out overall.  The style of the film seems fairly generic and, well, it's just not that interesting.  Gloria Holden is kind of fun doing her best to channel Lugosi, but...it just isn't working all that well.

Janet is so lovely.  She can do better than this jerk of a boss.  I do like how she just cuts him off and orders him about, though.  Poor Janet.  So unappreciated.  She's way more desirable than The Countess.  Not that The Countess isn't lovely...and she IS a Vampire which is kind of like cheating when competing for a lover.  Oh, no, Janet is alone with The Countess!  Run Janet!  She wants him for herself! Aww, they kidnapped Janet.  Bummer.

Now The Doctor is aware of The Countesses murderous intentions, and she's now blackmailing him for his services by kidnapping Janet.  So, now we rush towards the climax as The Doctor seeks to save the wonderful Janet from the evil Countess.  With the aid of Van Helsing, of course.  The Countess, for some reason, wants this jellyfish to remain with her for all eternity (refusing Sandor, poor guy).  What's so special about this guy that these beautiful Women are so into him?  He's really nothing special.  Well, they kill The Countess, save Janet and it's all over.

Final Thoughts: Far cry from the other classics I've watched so far, but this wasn't really bad or anything.  There were some strong performances and some clever scripting for the excellent character of Janet, who was amazing and I love her.  The Countess was okay but mostly underdeveloped and kind of haphazard plot wise.  But...it was certainly watchable enough, even if it lost it's momentum by the end.

Final Rating: Three Stars.

Movie 130: The Mummy (1932)

Starring: Boris Karloff, Zita Johann, David Manners, Arthur Byron, Edward Van Sloan, Bramwell Fletcher, Kathryn Byron.

Director: Karl Freund.

I was originally gonna wait on The Mummy when doing this run through.  I was planning on sticking with the big three but...well, what the hell, right?  I never did see this one, either, so this is another first time for yours truly.  I'm getting a real education on the Universal stable, and it's a wonderful one.  I've been enjoying myself immensely.  These really are amazing flicks that still actually hold up well.

After some textual prayers to Amon-Ra, we're off to Egypt to see, once again, some science guys pouring over technical stuff and having a philosophical discussion on the nature of archaeology and discussing some Mummy stuff.  The young guy is super excited to go over the Mummy and all the sensational stuff, while his stuffy boss (rightly) suggests that more information gets found going over broken pottery.  His younger counterpart is undeniable, though, and they pour through the Mummy's stuff to find out more about the poor sacrilegious dead dolt.  Dr.Muller-again, Edward Van Sloan plays a Professor-is insistent that they not open the box because curses and such.  Young guy decides to open it anyway because, well, youth.

Pro trip: Never read from ancient scrolls or books.  You'll bring Boris Karloff back to life and go insane.  Like, hysterical laughter insane.  Like, finding Big Bang Theory actually funny kind of insane.  That's a terrible show.

Karloff's makeup looks really, really uncomfortable.  Imhotep (Karloff) brings our new characters to the location of another tomb-because Imhotep would know where it was considering he's magic and ancient and stuff-and then we have a cut to a bunch of workers digging the whole thing up. There's some more great set design, but also some good prop work.  The museum with Egyptian artifacts and the like is actually really good looking.

Man, Karloff is great here.  His performance as Imhotep is truly otherworldly, very gruff and sorrowful.  There's again a sense of menace to all of it, of course, but in the end this really is just a dude who wants his Girlfriend back.  Actress Zita Johann looks like a silent film actress, so I'm rather smitten with her.  Big eyes, dark hair, plush lips, pronounced cheekbones, chin and nose...love that look.  Apparently, she didn't do much work according to Imdb.  She certainly looks exotic (maybe even a little odd looking), though, so she's very well cast.  

Whemple seems like a good name for this geek.  Of course, he and Helen are probably going to fall in love but...he's not the atypical heroic figure.  But, hey, if a guy opens conversation with "Hey, you're part Egyptian, aren't you?" he's definitely a keeper.

My first riff of the movie: Frank says "You'll think me strange, but...when I saw her face..." I yelled "Now I'm a believer!"  He goes on to say he thinks he fell in love with the Princess he unearthed...Zita gives a charming line read of "Do you often need to dig up graves to find Women to fall in love with?"  Zing!

Ugh.  Frank is hitting on this girl with his face inches from hers.  It works, too, because that's the kind of thing that happens in these movies.  She plays coy and is charming, but he's weird.  Then they make out and Whemple the senior is convinced that the curse has afflicted Helen and now will kill his Son.  I'm hoping for the latter but not the former.  I'm shipping Imhotep and Helen hard, you guys.

Y'know, Universal Pictures seems to have a thing about Voyeurism.  Dracula creeps into Women's rooms while they're sleeping, Frankenstein's Monster attacks Elizabeth in her bridle suite, Frank Talbot sees his ladyfriend across the street with a telescope and Imhotep stares at Helen as she sleeps. Monsters dig the ladies and, apparently, prefer them when they're alone and sleeping in their rooms.

Helen actually has short hair, too.  Not much of that in these early Universal pictures. I just realized she looked a little bit like Betty Boop.  Helen is also totally digging Imhotep.  She protests when her Doctor orders her to go home-"I'm not a child!"-but she goes anyway.  Interesting that the scene that follows is almost just like the confrontation between Dracula and Van Helsing: Edward Van Sloan plays coy and gets Imhotep to basically show his plan, and the pair threaten one another, and depart as enemies.  Sloan definitely has a strong presence, but he was more of a match for Lugosi.  Karloff towers over him with menace.  He just exudes power in a way Lugosi didn't as the Count.  That isn't to say Lugosi didn't exude power-far from it-it was just a far sneakier kind of power.  More subversive.  Karloff presents, as The Mummy at any rate, a sense of grandeur and confidence to his presence.  Lugosi was like a Wizard, Karloff a warrior.

Please stop calling the guy "The Nubian."  Please.  I know it was probably acceptable back then but it kind of hurts today.  Oh, well, can't blame it for being a product of it's time.  Those who ignore the past are doomed to repeat it and all.

Imhotep's robe/smoking jacket this is pretty damn suave.  Helen goes to meet him...shipping these two hard.  Imhotep/Helen forever.  Hemhotep 4 life.  Or after life.  Whatever.  Some cool flashbacks follow as Imhotep tells Helen his backstory.  Sinned against the Gods by casting a spell to bring his Dead Girlfriend back, which is kinda romantic, really.  He loved her enough to fight Gods.  'Course, he was caught and turned into a Mummy because that's how they rolled back then.  It's actually pretty well done, with lavish costumes and set design that I've come to expect from these old Universal pics at this point.  There's definitely craftsmanship and pageantry to spare in every frame.  Karloff's ability to act with just his eyes is really something to behold.  Much as he did in the closing moments of Frankenstein, Karloff shows a lot of pain and fear in his eyes as he's wrapped in bandages and sealed in a sarcophagus.  Without sound, dialogue, or even a frown, Karloff can project extraordinary emotions to an audience.  How can Helen resist?  He went through hell for her.  Well, okay, her ancestor but still.  Romantic!

I really don't like Frank.  At all.  Leave Helen alone.  Frank says he loves her after knowing her for, like, five minutes.  Weirdo.  Of course, now all of a sudden Helen decides she's afraid of Imhotep...damn it, Frank, you weird me out.  "Now that you've asked for help, I'll never leave you again!  You can come to my house!"  Don't deliver those lines with that creepy smile, dude.  These guys are friggin' weird.  They want to keep Helen locked up "under our specific supervision."  Damn.  "I know I can make you love me."  God damn it, Frank.  I hate you so much.

Oh, please, let this be Frank's death.  Please please please please...damn it, I think that amulet may have saved his life.  At least Helen steps right over the creep's unconscious body.  Wish she'd stepped on him.  On his throat.  And stood there.

Imhotep has put his Princess in Helen's body, and she looks great.  Not sure why her hair grew longer but, hey, magic.  "I did not love this body, it was your soul I loved."  Imhotep is way better than Frank.  They're a good looking couple.  Can this be the end of the movie?  I want them to be together.  I know it's not gonna happen, though.  Doctor Muller and Frank are going to save her, unfortunately...aww, Anuksunam is rejecting him.  Bummer.  Well, I guess it makes sense that she doesn't want to die again...but it's still kinda crummy that she doesn't like him anymore because he's dead.

Damn it, Frank is alive.

Y'know, if villains didn't get so wrapped up in theatrics, they could probably get a lot more done.  Well, Helen/Anuksunam actually defeats The Mummy instead of Frank, so that's actually kinda cool.  We don't see that too often in these older flicks.  "Come back, it's Frank" Frank begs Helen...I riffed "Oh, Frank?  No.  No, I don't think I'm coming back."  That turned out to be the end of the film.  So, at least, Helen and Frank don't end up together.  

Final Thoughts: This was all Karloff's show, and it was a wonderful show at that.  Creepy hero and flimsy plot aside, it's a fun movie.  It's not quite up to par with Universal's other outings, but it's worth it for Karloff's performance alone.  

Final Rating: Three and a Half stars.