Could they have been Universals?

Author	Comment
Mongo	Could they have been Universals?	Lead	[-]
(05/06/08 3:40 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Tags : None Which horror/mystery films made at other studios during the 30s and 40s have the feel of a Universal flick and could have benefited even more if they would have been made at Universal, or do you think there would have been no benefit and perhaps even a detriment to the final result? As a follow up question, what do you think the popular 1930s Universal horror movies, Dracula, Frankenstein, etc.. would have been like if tackled by other studios like MGM, RKO, or Warners?
TomWeaver999		#1	[-]
(05/06/08 3:47 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	To me, the other-studio movies that most resemble Universals ... are the ones shot AT Universal. (The Poverty Row stuff using European Street, familiar interior sets, etc.).
Joe Karlosi		#2	[-]
(05/06/08 5:01 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	THE RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE (1943). Just judging by DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1931) perhaps DRACULA or FRANKENSTEIN would have been more edgy if released by Paramount. Of course, JEKYLL's edge was probably more due to Rouben Mamoulian... ---------------------- "It's MORE ... than a hobby!" Last Edited By: Joe Karlosi 05/06/08 6:42 PM. Edited 1 times.
The Batman of Gotham		#3	[-]
(05/06/08 5:22 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Joe Karlosi wrote: THE RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE (1943). Just judging by DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1931) perhaps DRACULA or FRANKENSTEIN would have been more edgy if released by MGM. Of course, JEKYLL's edge was probably more due to Rouben Mamoulian... I gotta agree with Joe. RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE probably owes it's Universality to director Lew Landers - who directed Lugosi and Karloff in Universal's THE RAVEN under his real name: Louis Freidlander. I'd also suggest that ISLAND OF LOST SOULS and MOST DANGEROUS GAME both have a Universal flavor to them... even while being distinctly RKO. - GJS Last Edited By: The Batman of Gotham 05/06/08 5:25 PM. Edited 2 times.
Imhoteps Ashes		#4	[-]
(05/06/08 5:42 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Tom's right about the re-use of standing sets. Both THE VAMPIRE BAT and THE BLACK ROOM have a Universal vibe to them. But it wasn't always the case! WHITE ZOMBIE, which features lots of castle trappings from DRACULA, has its fairt share of Universal moments, but mostly has a completely different, otherworldly eeriness of its own.
LesDaniels		#5	[-]
(05/06/08 6:33 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	The 1930s JEKYLL was released by Paramount, not MGM.
GhostofChaneysLiver		#6	[-]
(05/06/08 6:40 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	I think some of the Columbia / Karloff / mad doctor films come pretty close to feeling like a Universal B movie. Cromwell
Joe Karlosi		#7	[-]
(05/06/08 6:43 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	LesDaniels wrote: The 1930s JEKYLL was released by Paramount, not MGM. Right. Thanks, Les. Now corrected (I can't get the image of that old VHS box out of my mind). ---------------------- "It's MORE ... than a hobby!"
tomtriman		#8	[-]
(05/06/08 9:32 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	The Batman of Gotham wrote: I'd also suggest that ISLAND OF LOST SOULS and MOST DANGEROUS GAME both have a Universal flavor to them... even while being distinctly RKO. - GJS ISLAND OF LOST SOULS was produced by Paramount, not by RKO. http://www.thrillervision.com
The Batman of Gotham		#9	[-]
(05/06/08 10:23 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	tomtriman wrote: The Batman of Gotham wrote: I'd also suggest that ISLAND OF LOST SOULS and MOST DANGEROUS GAME both have a Universal flavor to them... even while being distinctly RKO. - GJS ISLAND OF LOST SOULS was produced by Paramount, not by RKO. True. And yet it still evokes ( for me ) a similar atmosphere to RKO's 'KONG' pictures and MOST DANGEROUS GAME. Paramount was capable of some awfully good films in the horror genre. However, like other studios beside Universal and RKO, they were rather trepedatious about exploring the possibility of turning them into franchises. More's the pity. - GJS
TomWeaver999		#10	[-]
(05/06/08 10:28 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	UNDYING MONSTER is very Universal/WOLF MAN, including its poem that had to have been inspired by "Even a man who is pure in heart..." Then there's Warners' Invisible Man comedy THE BODY DISAPPEARS (which is actually pretty good -- I like it better than most of Universal's Invisible Man movies of the '40s).
telegonus	Two From Warners	#11	[-]
(05/06/08 11:19 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	The 1943 Warners wartime thriller The Mysterious Doctor has the look and feel of a Universal horror, right down to the knee-deep fog and gnarled trees. When I first saw it I missed the start of the credits, thus was unaware of what studio produced this oddity, assumed that it was Uni, nearly fell out of my chair when I saw at the end that Warners had made it. Coulda fooled me. Warners' strange and badly edited 1947 horror Best With Five Fingers, though it features a largely Warnersish cast could have come from Uni, with Lorre on loan and J. Carrol Naish no stranger to that studio; substitute Robert Paige and Louise Albritton for Robert Alda and Andrea King and it could be a Universal picture.
voyttbots		#12	[-]
(05/07/08 1:22 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	CASTLE IN THE DESERT gives off the Universal feeling. To me the Paramount films don`t seem like Universals at all.
telegonus	Castle In the Desert	#13	[-]
(05/07/08 1:31 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	If you mean the Charlie Chan pic, I agree, but then a lot of the later Fox entries in the series had horrorish aspects to them, and many could have been, minus Charlie and son, Uni second features. Fox's production values are superior, though, IMO.
tomtriman		#14	[-]
(05/07/08 3:59 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	telegonus wrote: Warners' strange and badly edited 1947 horror Best With Five Fingers THE BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS is my favorite Peter Lorre movie, brilliantly directed by Robert Florey, with visual effects by Luis Bunuel and a magnificent score by Max Steiner. Could you please elaborate on why you consider it to be "badly edited?" http://www.thrillervision.com
DonM435		#15	[-]
(05/07/08 9:12 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	tomtriman wrote: . . . Could you please elaborate on why you consider it to be "badly edited?" Maybe because J. Carroll Naish's "inspector" is still in it?
telegonus		#16	[-]
(05/08/08 1:28 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	I haven't seen TBW5F in a long while, however I remember it being difficult to follow; not sure of who the lead characters were supposed to be; alternately creeped out and LMAO'ing watching the scenes of Peter and the Hand; and yes, J. Carrol Naish was very annoying. From interviews I've read with director Robert Florey, he intended for the film to turn out quite differently, and apparently Warners took it out of his hands, and either reshot some scenes or edited out ones that Florey directed that were crucial to the story, and he was quite dissatisfied with the results. My sense is that Florey was aiming to make a kind of surreal masterpiece of horror, while the studio tampered with TBW5F quite a bit, making it more like a conventional Hollywood horror movie, with a little romance and comedy thrown in for good measure.
tomtriman		#17	[-]
(05/08/08 1:33 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Lorre's performance is magnificent. His scenes with the dismembered hand are mesmerizing, as are scenes of the hand playing the piano. Steiner's score is compelling. Florey's expressionistic direction is masterful. http://www.thrillervision.com
TomWeaver999		#18	[-]
(05/08/08 1:58 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	I've seen BEAST a number of times without really warming up to it; to me, it's a lot of spooky weirdness kinda masquerading as a movie. And the climactic "comedy" (what's in a word?) scene in which J. Carrol Naish talks to the audience, like the host of a children's TV show at the end of the Halloween episode, kinda carries the unspoken message of, "If you tried to take this movie seriously, or worked hard at making sense of the plot, boy, are YOU an ass!"
tomtriman		#19	[-]
(05/08/08 2:33 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	I can't wait to get the DVD edition! http://www.thrillervision.com
luisj40	RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE	#20	[-]
(05/08/08 2:33 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	When I was a kid I always felt RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE was an unofficial sequel to Universal's DRACULA as Bela Lugosi pretty much plays the same role under a different name. Luis

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