Halloween Diary - Hammer Mummies & Frankenstein, with Vampire's Mark
Mummy Double Header
The Mummy (1959) 4/5
Cushing's John Banning, after his father and uncle were murdered by the mummy, Kharis (Lee, who looks even more towering than he did as Dracula or Frankenstein's first Monster), visits Egyptian Bey (George Pastell, who with rich accent and sophisticated and mannered speech, comes off quite impressive when engaged with Cushing) in a conversation about Karnak, where he dismisses the religion purposely...this actually turns out to be one of my favorite scenes in the film. Just how Cushing uses a tone of disregard and Pastell's response, trying to reel in his disgust while maintaining a semblance of civility. Bey can't wait to unleash Kharis on Banning after that. Dare to desecrate the tomb of Ananka...Bey won't tolerate that! Lee's eyes tell the story, buried under the wraps he still shows a hell of lot when seeing Yvonne Furneaux, considering her his beloved, Ananka, obeying her when she tells him to stop. Without her, Cushing would have been choked to death. This film sticks to the Universal series in that Kharis chokes with one hand and those clutched in his grasp can't fight him off. But Bey is as much a fixture in the deaths of Cushing's father and uncle (impressively bending/breaking bars on a window of a padded cell, Kharis gets in and chokes the dad without much trouble) as Kharis, using the scroll to conjure the mummy weapon and his orders to send him on his way. That is before Bey decides to try and kill Banning's wife, sealing his own fate when snapped across the knee of Kharis.
The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (1964) 3/5
This hasn't been a film that progressively worsens with me as I watch it. I typically watch this during off-days of the year, not in October, although mummy movies seem perfectly suited for the month. Fred Clark will probably be more memorable than much else in the film. There are two scenes I certainly enjoy, such as Clark being tossed down steps with a great distance shot of the mummy from afar looking down at his handiwork and another scene where he bursts through a window to choke down and bash over the head with a bottle Jack Gwillim (Giles, a respected archeologist succumbing to alcoholism once his career dissolves after ruination thanks to Clark). The Egyptian back story of brothers in turmoil, one (Terence Morgan, ultimately proving he's eternal and longing to die, very wealthy and in romance with Jeanne Roland) responsible for the murder of another (ultimately the mummy who was attacked in his tent unawares) is just alright, with an ending that is rather appropriately tragic (the mummy brings down stone upon himself after drowning his brother, earning revenge but looking over at Roland with remorse for the violence by his hand). Hands come off by daggers with regularity and even poor Pastell (returning as another Egyptian Bey, this time complicit in the desecration of the mummy's tomb) has his head crushed underfoot. So not a total waste. The consistent criticism of how the tomb sets and decor are just too freshly painted right out of the prop workshop I can't really dispute.
Mark of the Vampire (1935) 2.5/5
I admit that I often just forgo the final ten or so minutes when it is revealed that the entire film isn't supernatural and that the supposed vampires (Lugosi and Borland) tormenting the Borotyns and their associates are merely actors hired to stage it all so that a professor (Lionel Barrymore, really laying it on thick) and inspector (Lionel Atwill, pretty much an ornery grouch the entire film) can trip up a baron (Jean Hersholt), who is responsible for the murder of Elizabeth Allan's (pretty much in the Mina role while Henry Wadsworth is Harker, her beau also playing along as a vampire victim) father. While Lugosi and Borland move about the grounds of the Borotyn estate scaring the hired help and leaving Barrymore to go on about vampires while Atwill dismisses it all as hogwash, the revelation at the end seems quite flimsy and easy to scrutinize. I don't like it, and even though seeing Lugosi ham it up out of the persona while Borland and a stage hand urge him to drop the ego act amuses me I far prefer the idea that they are members of the undead causing a lot of fear and mischief. Barrymore just gets on my nerves, quite frankly, using his glasses as a type of emphasis on his words when talking to those involved in exposing the baron which includes keeping their murderer unaware of their suspicions of him. A lot of this feels very similar to Dracula (1931), but Borland gets a lot more screen time, it seems, than Lugosi. I dug Borland's look, and it is iconic in my opinion, as it is for a lot of others. I think there are some good things here, don't get me wrong, but the ending ruse takes me right out of the film. Is it clever? Perhaps. And some I'm sure dig it. But I love to suspend my disbelief. If anything, seeing Lugosi sort of adopting the persona again (for a similar example, see "Return of the Vampire"), as if sliding on the count effortlessly without much dialogue sadly, is fun. But Barrymore gets a lot of screentime and, ugh, is he stagy. In the right role, I like Barrymore. He does fit the ending, but I would prefer Van Sloan if this were an actual vampire film.
Frankenstein Double Header
Frankenstein Created Woman (1967) 3/5
Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969) 2.5/5
I had a hard time tonight with the second Hammer Frankenstein film of this double feature. I have always enjoyed Thorley Walters in the first, more or less Frankenstein's patsy, his surgical knowledge and available hands of use to the scientist looking to transplant the soul of a hired help (Hans, a healthy young buck with a love for a facially deformed sweetheart whose cafe owner father doesn't like him) into the altered body of his lover (surgery through the use of Frankenstein's genius and Walters' doctor's assistance). Disaster was obvious although Frankenstein didn't seem to seriously consider the repercussions. While Cushing's Frankenstein in the first film is tolerable and somewhat decent, his scientist in the second film is reprehensible and has no irredeemable qualities. The rape of Carlson is inexcusably despicable and totally unnecessary. We already knew that Frankenstein was a monster through his blackmail of West and Carlson because of cocaine taken from an asylum for Carlson's mother (West a young doctor at the asylum) and his utter contempt and disregard for them as human beings (he slaps West for merely asking him a question, orders Carlson for coffee and bosses her continuously) but to rape Carlson also due to pressures from Hammer's exec (audiences want their dirty sex it seems) was just piling on.
While Walters is a lovable old dolt who had a hard time figuring out Frankenstein's methods and explanation in the whole soul transference process in Frankenstein Created Woman, he's an incorrigible, crude, bossy, impolite police inspector in Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed. I couldn't stand the sight of him in the latter film. Just his fussy and abrupt handling of people was enough to turn my stomach. Only Frankenstein is worse at handling human beings than he is. Walters is just so different in the two films, it is astonishing how appealing (if a bit dimwitted) he is in one and rudely disrespectful in the other. While Frankenstein sees fit to try and rescue Denberg in Frankenstein Created Woman, losing her once Hans had her kill all three of the gang responsible for her father's murder and his unjust guillotine execution and she wishes to end it all, he's not so thoughtful about personal responsibility in Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed. It is about learning how to successfully transplant a brain from one head to another through the use of a genius he once corresponded with (whose brain he moves into another doctor's head through successful surgery with West assisting) that matters the most. Soul transference required use of dead bodies and those killed are three dicks who exploited their fathers' wealth in order to be catered to in Frankenstein Created Woman. While Frankenstein orders around Denberg and Walters in the first film, it wasn't with as much viciousness and coldness (although he isn't exactly warm and cozy, cerebral and driven as always),but in Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed there is no regard or degree of humanity at all. He expects and receives. He gets what is coming to him in the latter film, while the first film allows him to actually walk away, disappointed but without hurt. Cushing was allowed what Colin Clive wasn't afforded: to develop Frankenstein in different variations, often completely different from one film to the next. The Frankenstein in The Evil of Frankenstein (1964) isn't the same one in Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed. Cushing seemed to often take what the script offered and performed that scientist accordingly. Never more monstrous, though, as Frankenstein was he than in Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed. Not foreseeing disaster when his former colleague awakens in another doctor's body, Carlson responsible, Frankenstein just stabs her with West finding her. The vicious screenplay is quite mean-spirited and never lets up. Cushing has never been more hateable.
The Mummy (1959) 4/5
Cushing's John Banning, after his father and uncle were murdered by the mummy, Kharis (Lee, who looks even more towering than he did as Dracula or Frankenstein's first Monster), visits Egyptian Bey (George Pastell, who with rich accent and sophisticated and mannered speech, comes off quite impressive when engaged with Cushing) in a conversation about Karnak, where he dismisses the religion purposely...this actually turns out to be one of my favorite scenes in the film. Just how Cushing uses a tone of disregard and Pastell's response, trying to reel in his disgust while maintaining a semblance of civility. Bey can't wait to unleash Kharis on Banning after that. Dare to desecrate the tomb of Ananka...Bey won't tolerate that! Lee's eyes tell the story, buried under the wraps he still shows a hell of lot when seeing Yvonne Furneaux, considering her his beloved, Ananka, obeying her when she tells him to stop. Without her, Cushing would have been choked to death. This film sticks to the Universal series in that Kharis chokes with one hand and those clutched in his grasp can't fight him off. But Bey is as much a fixture in the deaths of Cushing's father and uncle (impressively bending/breaking bars on a window of a padded cell, Kharis gets in and chokes the dad without much trouble) as Kharis, using the scroll to conjure the mummy weapon and his orders to send him on his way. That is before Bey decides to try and kill Banning's wife, sealing his own fate when snapped across the knee of Kharis.
The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (1964) 3/5
This hasn't been a film that progressively worsens with me as I watch it. I typically watch this during off-days of the year, not in October, although mummy movies seem perfectly suited for the month. Fred Clark will probably be more memorable than much else in the film. There are two scenes I certainly enjoy, such as Clark being tossed down steps with a great distance shot of the mummy from afar looking down at his handiwork and another scene where he bursts through a window to choke down and bash over the head with a bottle Jack Gwillim (Giles, a respected archeologist succumbing to alcoholism once his career dissolves after ruination thanks to Clark). The Egyptian back story of brothers in turmoil, one (Terence Morgan, ultimately proving he's eternal and longing to die, very wealthy and in romance with Jeanne Roland) responsible for the murder of another (ultimately the mummy who was attacked in his tent unawares) is just alright, with an ending that is rather appropriately tragic (the mummy brings down stone upon himself after drowning his brother, earning revenge but looking over at Roland with remorse for the violence by his hand). Hands come off by daggers with regularity and even poor Pastell (returning as another Egyptian Bey, this time complicit in the desecration of the mummy's tomb) has his head crushed underfoot. So not a total waste. The consistent criticism of how the tomb sets and decor are just too freshly painted right out of the prop workshop I can't really dispute.
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| Incredible scene challenges the credibility of the trick ending |
Mark of the Vampire (1935) 2.5/5
I admit that I often just forgo the final ten or so minutes when it is revealed that the entire film isn't supernatural and that the supposed vampires (Lugosi and Borland) tormenting the Borotyns and their associates are merely actors hired to stage it all so that a professor (Lionel Barrymore, really laying it on thick) and inspector (Lionel Atwill, pretty much an ornery grouch the entire film) can trip up a baron (Jean Hersholt), who is responsible for the murder of Elizabeth Allan's (pretty much in the Mina role while Henry Wadsworth is Harker, her beau also playing along as a vampire victim) father. While Lugosi and Borland move about the grounds of the Borotyn estate scaring the hired help and leaving Barrymore to go on about vampires while Atwill dismisses it all as hogwash, the revelation at the end seems quite flimsy and easy to scrutinize. I don't like it, and even though seeing Lugosi ham it up out of the persona while Borland and a stage hand urge him to drop the ego act amuses me I far prefer the idea that they are members of the undead causing a lot of fear and mischief. Barrymore just gets on my nerves, quite frankly, using his glasses as a type of emphasis on his words when talking to those involved in exposing the baron which includes keeping their murderer unaware of their suspicions of him. A lot of this feels very similar to Dracula (1931), but Borland gets a lot more screen time, it seems, than Lugosi. I dug Borland's look, and it is iconic in my opinion, as it is for a lot of others. I think there are some good things here, don't get me wrong, but the ending ruse takes me right out of the film. Is it clever? Perhaps. And some I'm sure dig it. But I love to suspend my disbelief. If anything, seeing Lugosi sort of adopting the persona again (for a similar example, see "Return of the Vampire"), as if sliding on the count effortlessly without much dialogue sadly, is fun. But Barrymore gets a lot of screentime and, ugh, is he stagy. In the right role, I like Barrymore. He does fit the ending, but I would prefer Van Sloan if this were an actual vampire film.
Frankenstein Double Header
Frankenstein Created Woman (1967) 3/5
Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969) 2.5/5
I had a hard time tonight with the second Hammer Frankenstein film of this double feature. I have always enjoyed Thorley Walters in the first, more or less Frankenstein's patsy, his surgical knowledge and available hands of use to the scientist looking to transplant the soul of a hired help (Hans, a healthy young buck with a love for a facially deformed sweetheart whose cafe owner father doesn't like him) into the altered body of his lover (surgery through the use of Frankenstein's genius and Walters' doctor's assistance). Disaster was obvious although Frankenstein didn't seem to seriously consider the repercussions. While Cushing's Frankenstein in the first film is tolerable and somewhat decent, his scientist in the second film is reprehensible and has no irredeemable qualities. The rape of Carlson is inexcusably despicable and totally unnecessary. We already knew that Frankenstein was a monster through his blackmail of West and Carlson because of cocaine taken from an asylum for Carlson's mother (West a young doctor at the asylum) and his utter contempt and disregard for them as human beings (he slaps West for merely asking him a question, orders Carlson for coffee and bosses her continuously) but to rape Carlson also due to pressures from Hammer's exec (audiences want their dirty sex it seems) was just piling on.
While Walters is a lovable old dolt who had a hard time figuring out Frankenstein's methods and explanation in the whole soul transference process in Frankenstein Created Woman, he's an incorrigible, crude, bossy, impolite police inspector in Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed. I couldn't stand the sight of him in the latter film. Just his fussy and abrupt handling of people was enough to turn my stomach. Only Frankenstein is worse at handling human beings than he is. Walters is just so different in the two films, it is astonishing how appealing (if a bit dimwitted) he is in one and rudely disrespectful in the other. While Frankenstein sees fit to try and rescue Denberg in Frankenstein Created Woman, losing her once Hans had her kill all three of the gang responsible for her father's murder and his unjust guillotine execution and she wishes to end it all, he's not so thoughtful about personal responsibility in Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed. It is about learning how to successfully transplant a brain from one head to another through the use of a genius he once corresponded with (whose brain he moves into another doctor's head through successful surgery with West assisting) that matters the most. Soul transference required use of dead bodies and those killed are three dicks who exploited their fathers' wealth in order to be catered to in Frankenstein Created Woman. While Frankenstein orders around Denberg and Walters in the first film, it wasn't with as much viciousness and coldness (although he isn't exactly warm and cozy, cerebral and driven as always),but in Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed there is no regard or degree of humanity at all. He expects and receives. He gets what is coming to him in the latter film, while the first film allows him to actually walk away, disappointed but without hurt. Cushing was allowed what Colin Clive wasn't afforded: to develop Frankenstein in different variations, often completely different from one film to the next. The Frankenstein in The Evil of Frankenstein (1964) isn't the same one in Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed. Cushing seemed to often take what the script offered and performed that scientist accordingly. Never more monstrous, though, as Frankenstein was he than in Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed. Not foreseeing disaster when his former colleague awakens in another doctor's body, Carlson responsible, Frankenstein just stabs her with West finding her. The vicious screenplay is quite mean-spirited and never lets up. Cushing has never been more hateable.
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