THE MONSTER (1925) in Silent Horror Forum

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THE MONSTER (1925)

Author	Comment
GaryP11111	THE MONSTER (1925)	Lead	[-]
Oct 23 05 12:10 AM Burgomaster Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	My friend sthorntn had the following to say about THE MONSTER in the Underrated/Overrated, which I thought was a good excuse to give this film it's own folder and jot down my thoughts about the movie. *Quote:* Overrated: THE MONSTER. Lon Chaney, Roland West, a mad doctor cavorting about in an old dark house settingon paper this sound like a real winner. But Ive seen the film a good half dozen times and I always have a hard time staying awake until the end. If I would have thought of it at the time, I would have picked THE MONSTER as the most underrated silent horror film! I really get a kick out it, one of my favorites and a Roland West film I prefer it to THE BAT (or THE BAT WHISPERS). And yeah, I even like Johnny Arthur. I think THE MONSTER has two of the most chilling scenes in silent horror history. Chaney's mad Dr. Ziska is the epitome of composure -- until Amos Rugg calls him crazy. Ziska's reaction is genuinely disturbing as he first bristles and then visibly quakes with anger before getting himself under control. Ziska's death in the electric chair is equally disturbing even though we watch him die as a a shadow on the wall as smoke wafts above his body. Rigo, the knife-wielding hooded terror, is genuinely creepy and menacing. I really wish this one would get a proper DVD release. GARY L. PRANGE "Sic gorgiamus allos subjectos nunc." Last Edited By: GaryP11111 Aug 31 11 10:49 PM. Edited 2 times.
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Chesterbelloc	Re: THE MONSTER (1925)	#1	[-]
Oct 24 05 9:48 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I agree with Gary that this is one seriously underrated movie. Heck, even Mike Blake hates it! I think that it has a wonderful Chaney performance, a few genuine laughs and (best of all) great art direction and atmosphere. Hopefully, this will be included with the next Chaney collection when Warners decides to release it.
hnicolella	Re: THE MONSTER (1925)	#2	[-]
Oct 24 05 10:49 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	William K. Everson liked it too and called it a "parody of a genre that hadn't been invented yet." It's hardly a masterpiece but it's a fun old dark house piece with a bit of "Tarr and Fether" thrown in for good measure. If it been remade in the forties no doubt Bela would have played Dr. Ziska and John Carradine and Frank Moran would have been his henchmen. Of course the naive young hero who wants to be a detective would probably t have been replaced by a wisecracking reporter (likely Wallace Ford)
Return of the Ape Man	Re: THE MONSTER (1925)	#3	[-]
Jun 4 07 6:43 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Just noticed TCM will broadcast THE MONSTER tonight at 8:30 EST.
Cushings View	Re: THE MONSTER (1925)	#4	[-]
Jun 4 07 8:05 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I agree, Gary. Far from overrated, this is a little gem. I like Johnny Arthur fine in this (remember him playing Darla's dad in one or two of the Littlel Rascals shorts?), and Chaney is one MAD scientist! Mad, I tell you! And heck, what's not to like about Charles Sellon ("Sit down, Mr. Muckle, honey!") as the con-sta-bule!? Dagnabit! This house is dark enough and the scares are creepy enough to provide some solid chills amid the comedy. I've always liked shadows, and there are a couple good shadowy moments in this flick! Robert
captainmarvel1957	Re: THE MONSTER (1925)	#5	[-]
Jun 4 07 9:05 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	This is great. TCM's running of The Monster was in conjunction with its Gay Images Night. Ah, well. And later in the evening they're going to be running a William Haines movie. And here I thought it was going to be a silent horror night.
Koukol 5	Re: THE MONSTER (1925)	#6	[-]
Jun 4 07 9:24 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Am i missing something? what does this movie have to do with gay night? Is one of the actors gay? None of the characters were.
doctor kiss	Re: THE MONSTER (1925)	#7	[-]
Jun 5 07 5:15 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	*Quote:* Am i missing something? what does this movie have to do with gay night? Is one of the actors gay? None of the characters were. Johnny Arthur, who plays the store-clerk-turned-amateur-detective, is generally believed to have been gay, and certainly played an unambiguously gay character in the pre-Code Joe E Brown comedy GOING WILD (1930). There's an intertitle referring to 'pansy seeds' lurking somewhere in THE MONSTER, if I remember correctly, which was ostensibly an 'in-joke'. THE MONSTER is certainly far from the most obvious example of Arthur's work in the context of his sexuality, though.
Latarnia	Re: THE MONSTER (1925)	#8	[-]
Jun 5 07 10:59 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	*Quote:* Johnny Arthur, who plays the store-clerk-turned-amateur-detective, is generally believed to have been gay Generally believed from what sources? This wasn't mentioned in the TCM intros and exits of THE MONSTER presentation. Mirek
captainmarvel1957	Re: THE MONSTER (1925)	#9	[-]
Jun 5 07 11:42 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	This was discussed during the oiutro to the picture between Osborne and his co-host for the evening. I was only half listening, but I believe there was even mention that his characters were too openly gay to make it past the Hayes office.
Latarnia	Re: THE MONSTER (1925)	#10	[-]
Jun 5 07 12:00 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	The references were to the characters Arthur played, not the actor himself. Mirek
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captainmarvel1957	Re: THE MONSTER (1925)	#11	[-]
Jun 5 07 12:17 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Ooops! Sorry, Latarnia, I misread your post. You're right, the gay references were made in reference to the character and not the actor.
theraven49	Re: THE MONSTER (1925)	#12	[-]
Jun 5 07 12:44 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I wonder if The Monster will be on the Lon Chaney set due out next year. Nevermore!
GaryP11111	Re: THE MONSTER (1925)	#13	[-]
Jun 5 07 12:48 PM Burgomaster Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I'm enjoying this series on TCM very much, but I'm afraid THE MONSTER wasn't a very good example of early gay stereotyping. Johnny Goodlittle, the character played by Johnny Arthur, is no cinematic "pansy." He's absolutely smitten by the female lead (he can barely function when she enters the store) and the crushed look on his face when his rival Amos Rugg enters the soiree in full coat & tails (with his tail coat buttoned, a genius piece of characterization that tells you everything you need to know about him) strongly indicates that Betty Watson isn't mere window dressing to keep audiences from feeling threatened by an overt stereotype. Goodlittle is simply a little on the puny side and somewhat timid. And Gertrude Olmstead is much more than "camouflage" as Robert Osborne's guest Richard Barrios claimed. While Barrios struggled to shoehorn Goodlittle into a gay stereotype pigeon hole, he missed Ziska's flamboyance and overlooked the transgender text of the film: the ends of Ziska's experiment in mad science is to transfer the soul of a woman into the body of a man. GARY L. PRANGE "Sic gorgiamus allos subjectos nunc."
Latarnia	Re: THE MONSTER (1925)	#14	[-]
Jun 5 07 12:59 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	*Quote:* While Barrios struggled to shoehorn Goodlittle into a gay stereotype pigeon hole, he missed Ziska's flamboyance and overlooked the transgender text of the film: the ends of Ziska's experiment in mad science is to transfer the soul of a woman into the body of a man. And Ziska's near carressing of Amos Rugg, when the latter is shackled in a chair. Mirek
JimPV	Re: THE MONSTER (1925)	#15	[-]
Jun 5 07 1:41 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	*Quote:* Johnny Goodlittle, the character played by Johnny Arthur... Is this the meek, lead character? 'Cause I thought that actor was what really sank this for me (the last time I watched it, anyway). Chaney, etc. are game, but this actor was obnoxious and unfunny. Think of what Harold Lloyd could've done in the part. "How many cares one loses when one decides not to be something but to be someone" -Coco Chanel
HalLane	Re: THE MONSTER (1925)	#16	[-]
Jun 5 07 5:00 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	*Quote:* he missed Ziska's flamboyance Exactly. That's where I THOUGHT they were going with this unusual bit of scheduling. I'm surprised neither of them mentioned the scene toward the end where Ziska's in the chair and his devoted acolyte Caliban is down on his knees with his head in Ziska's lap, all lovingly photographed in sillouette from several angles. Maybe they were distracted by that famous electrical panel in the background, which has appeared in countless serials, and may well be making it's debut here in the Ziska basement (a lab that Lugosi would have been proud to strap people on the table in!). "Snips and snails and poppydoc tails...."
Latarnia	Re: THE MONSTER (1925)	#17	[-]
Jun 5 07 5:13 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	*Quote:* I'm surprised neither of them mentioned the scene toward the end where Ziska's in the chair and his devoted acolyte Caliban is down on his knees with his head in Ziska's lap, all lovingly photographed in sillouette from several angles. Ha, and the look of laughable horror on the onlookers who see this! Yeah, that weird fellatio-like scene stood out for sure. Mirek
Count Gamula	Re: THE MONSTER (1925)	#18	[-]
Jun 5 07 7:10 PM Burgomaster Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	*Quote:* I'm afraid THE MONSTER wasn't a very good example of early gay stereotyping. Johnny Goodlittle, the character played by Johnny Arthur, is no cinematic "pansy." He's absolutely smitten by the female lead... Goodlittle is simply a little on the puny side and somewhat timid. I thought the same thing. Far from being disinterested in girls (as Richard Barrios stated in the intro) Goodlittle is head over heals for Gertrude Olmstead. I would campare his character to the kind of parts Don Knotts played in the '60s.
captainmarvel1957	Re: THE MONSTER (1925)	#19	[-]
Jun 5 07 8:17 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	So just imagine what they'll be saying about Don Knotts in another eighty years.
GaryP11111	Re: THE MONSTER (1925)	#20	[-]
Jun 5 07 9:25 PM Burgomaster Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	*Quote:* Is this the meek, lead character? 'Cause I thought that actor was what really sank this for me (the last time I watched it, anyway). Chaney, etc. are game, but this actor was obnoxious and unfunny. Think of what Harold Lloyd could've done in the part. Yes, that's Johnny Arthur, though I find him very likable in THE MONSTER. GARY L. PRANGE "Sic gorgiamus allos subjectos nunc."
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