The Corpse Vanishes.

Review #2447: The Corpse Vanishes.

Cast: 

Bela Lugosi (Dr. Lorenz), Luana Walters (Patricia Hunter), Tristram Coffin (Dr. Foster), Elizabeth Russell (Countess Lorenz), Minerva Urecal (Fagah), Angelo Rossitto (Toby), Frank Moran (Angel), Vince Barnett (Sandy), and Kenneth Harlan (Editor Keenan) Directed by Wallace Fox.

Review: 

Okay, sure, the 1940s had a few oddball movies that can be called "horror", at least the ones that aren't part of Universal (such as, in part, The Inner Sanctum Mysteries). But fret not, you have Monogram Pictures here to distribute a cheapie movie mystery horror, complete with finding the one actor they could corral for appearing when not busy with other things: Bela Lugosi. When Lugosi wasn't busy doing stuff like Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943), he did a handful of movies for Monogram with Sam Katzman as a producer. Lugosi wanted to do movies that weren't horror (ironically his popularity had received a boost in 1938 because one man did a double feature involving Lugosi's Dracula) and yet here he was, complete with doing opiates to treat his chronic sciatica and doing stage appearances. The film was written three-fold: the screenplay was done by Harvey Gates (a veteran writer who apparently wrote around 200 movies before he died in 1948), while the story was done by Sam Robins and Gerald Schnitzer. The movie was directed by Wallace Fox, who did over 50 movies that started at the tail-end of the silent era to 1951. 

Okay, let's just say the plot of the movie straight out: a mad doctor aims to target the gland fluid of virgins to help his vain wife from straight up dying of old age. But, well, what's the "corpse"? Uh, well, when the doctor gets his orchid to unwitting brides on their wedding day, the flower knocks the lady out in a way that makes people think they are dead and therefore make the body a sitting duck to finagle out to his totally normal lab. Naturally the one investigative force that moves the plot is a reporter that gets directed to an orchid expert: the doctor, who happens to have a few folks in his cellar in a crazy woman and two sons in a dwarf and a strong half-wit. Needless to say, the movie isn't exactly good, but if you did films such as The Death Kiss (1932) with Lugosi around, you might find something curious in its lurid ideas, mainly because it is just 64 minutes long. Lugosi lumbers around a bit with the usual routine that he does with basically being aloof in saying or leering whatever he has to do, most notably when he talks about finding a coffin more comfortable than a bed. Otherwise the movie is mostly by-the-book in monotone nature, as if just showing a dwarf, a lumbering brute and saying a few weird things is going to be enough. It is ridiculous (particularly the fact that it is an orchid of all things), but you are basically chuckling at the film rather than being all into it such as say, Plan 9. The body count isn't even that lurid, since the only people that are shown to get it are just some of the villains (it occurs to me I didn't bother to think about if the brides were okay). The fake-out for the climax is at least funny because even the villain thought it was a goofy idea to try and do a bride-trap (seriously they try to lure the villain with a "bride" but then it goes to a quick climax because the bad guy takes out the reverend). The movie is too silly to really do anything too morbid about old people wanting to stay young, but so it goes. As a whole, The Corpse Vanishes is nothing particularly special, but it may have a strange lurid taste for those who like the plumb the depths of old movies from the way way back that has a few odd little moments to go along with the general Lugosi performance that comes with movies like this. It's a creaky movie but you can't blame the movie for being what it is.

Overall, I give it 5 out of 10 stars.

The Penalty (1920).

Review #1617: The Penalty.

Cast: 

Lon Chaney (Blizzard), Claire Adams (Barbara Ferris), Charles Clary (Dr. Ferris), James Mason (Frisco Pete), Milton Ross (Lichtenstein), Ethel Grey Terry (Rose), Kenneth Harlan (Dr. Wilmot Allen), and Doris Pawn (Barbary Nell) Directed by Wallace Worsley (#850 - The Hunchback of Notre Dame)

Review: 

"Between pictures, there is no Lon Chaney."

There were plenty of icons and actors in the 1920s, but when it comes to ones with the talent to back up their reputation, no one can quite match up to the "Man of a Thousand Faces" with Lon Chaney. Born to deaf parents, he found a talent in pantomime that made for an early career on the stage and vaudeville in the early 20th century, although he eventually became hooked on entering film (doing so in 1913). Although he started in small parts, he eventually grew to character roles while even writing/directing his own shorts (the last venture he reportedly directed was The Phantom of the Opera (1925), although he was left uncredited alongside other directors). In a time where actors needed to be adept with their own makeup, Chaney excelled. The Miracle Man (1919) helped give him prominence, and the advent of the 1920s only made that more clear, as one could highlight from his future films, which involved him playing monsters and masterminds over several films (for which some survive, like the aforementioned Opera film) before his death in 1930 (his son would take up acting not long after, becoming a dependable presence in his own right). Can you imagine any modern film doing the challenge that Chaney had to do for this film? He strapped his ankles to his hips while his knees were into special leather stumps that were strapped into the body while his jacket held his feet - and he had to do it over and over again, because Chaney could only be in the stumps for a limited amount of time (for obvious reasons - searching the Internet makes it look even more grueling), so there are no camera tricks needed - originally the film had an epilogue that showed the audience Chaney walking down the stairs on his own two feet (somehow, the footage ended up lost). The film was written by Charles Kenyon and Philip Lonergan, which is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Gouverneur Morris (if one desires to check out the book to compare and contrast, you're in luck, since it is available to seek out on the Internet). This was the first film that Chaney would star in with director Worsley (who was briefly an actor before turning to directing for eight years), and they would do five films together, which included the famed The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923). 

What we have is a film that uses its star to wonderful effect to elevate melodramatic material to enjoyable entertainment, a charming and gruesome time one could look up any time they desire for public domain night (or day). Think about it: how many movies involve a legless mastermind of crime that wants revenge on the doctor that amputated him as a boy along with robbing San Francisco with riots along with an alliance with certain anarchists. Oh, and he just happens to have an interest in a mistress that can peddle with him for the piano alongside an operating room (so he can have someone's amputated legs grafted to him?!), a trap door, and an armory that also contains people making straw hats while folks decry him for being an amputee (uh...) and a secret service agent tails him. Playing a tortured monster type would obviously be drawn out for several performances in Chaney's career, and he has the charisma required to balance mastermind and occasional tenderness without falling prey to a silly plot that would have undermined a less interesting actor. He moves around with tenacity that dominates everyone else in watchability in a wise fashion, since the other folks turn out to be puppets anyway. Adams and Terry are okay in the casual sense of needing to act with Chaney for touches of romance, whether spent in the art room (where he manipulates to be a model for the devil after the fall) or in his own domain. Clary (playing a doctor that not only amputated a boy's legs unnecessarily but also forgot that he had a head injury too) plays middling authority with pithy interest, but it surely works better than with Harlan as his assistant (who mostly serves as foil to Adams and her art talent because...). Mason (an American actor that usually played henchmen and cowboy roles) does fine with the sniveling adversary role that is needed for a certain sequence at the end for effect. By the time the film ends its time at 90 minutes, one will have found plenty of interesting enjoyment from Chaney that its redemption plot will come off with no real hitches (aside from the obvious moral part at the end). If one desires something involving crime, maniacal mayhem with an actor at the helm putting all of his effort into a role with a challenge like no other, this century old film will certainly fit the bill well for a silent era that had plenty of curiosity to go around.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

The Toll of the Sea.

Review #766: The Toll of the Sea.

Cast
Anna May Wong (Lotus Flower), Kenneth Harlan (Allen Carver), Beatrice Bentley (Barbara 'Elsie' Carver), Priscilla Moran (Little Allen), Etta Lee (Gossip), and Ming Young (Gossip) Directed by Chester M. Franklin.

Review
Not only am I reviewing a 1920s film, I'm reviewing a movie filmed in Technicolor. In fact, this was the 2nd (two-color - red and green) Technicolor film made in Hollywood (the first being the now mostly lost film The Gulf Between - 1917), with this also being Wong's first starring role. The same process that this film was made under would later be used for the 1925 version of The Phantom of the Opera, The Black Pirate, it was utilized until 1928. The movie was thought to be lost in the 1967 MGM vault fire, but it was restored in 1985 by the UCLA Film and Television Archive from the original negative, though they did need to shoot the final four minutes due to that part being lost, even utilizing an original two-color Technicolor camera to capture shots of the Pacific Ocean, key to the climax, while also recreating the titles for the close sequence. The movie is based off the opera Madame Butterfly, which had been adapted twice prior to this film. It's interesting to look at the movie and the colors brought out by the camera (especially the greens), which makes it all seem like I'm looking at a painting come to life. The colorful look of the movie certainly seems to contrast with the gloomy tone, especially evident in Wong's expressions (and tears), especially near the end. She stands out among the rest of the actors (rightfully so), visually and in terms of acting, filled with grace, style, but also grief. It is a great movie? No, but it is at least a good one to watch, and given that it lasts barely less than an hour and is easily available to find, I'd recommend seeing it, alongside the technical achievements of color that the movie made in over 90 years ago.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.