Posted on 10/31/2012 10:49:45 AM PDT by Vision
This is your Turner Classic Movie channel alert for Halloween night...
Tonight...the pre-code, original (I assume the controversial unedited version only released in '99) Frankenstein(1931), 8pm est
"A crazed scientist creates a living being from body parts, not realizing it has a madman's brain."
Overview & Cast
First, the silent film "The Unknown" (1927), then "Freaks" (1932).
Actually, the films were more eerie grotesqueries than outright horror as we know it.....each with unusual story lines...with some good twists.
I was completely engrossed, leaving my comfy watching post in between the double-header only to grab a Dove chocolate ice cream bar with dark chocolate coating (pop corn and Milk Duds being unavailable).
Ah, classical movies and chocolate ice cream bars, were Paradise enow (Omar Khayyam, 1048-1131)!
Now onward to a Frankensteinian experience tonight!
Leni
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: [to Igor] Now that brain that you gave me. Was it Hans Delbruck's?
Igor: [pause, then] No.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: Ah! Very good. Would you mind telling me whose brain I DID put in?
Igor: Then you won't be angry?
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: I will NOT be angry.
Igor: Abby someone.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: [pause, then] Abby someone. Abby who?
Igor: Abby... Normal.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: [pause, then] Abby Normal?
Igor: I'm almost sure that was the name.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: [chuckles, then] Are you saying that I put an abnormal brain into a seven and a half foot long, fifty-four inch wide GORILLA?
[grabs Igor and starts throttling him]
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: Is that what you're telling me?!!!!
Yea, these are great. This version was controversial in ‘31 and am curious how it translates.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein_%281931_film%29
BTW, haagen daz (chocolate with almond, salted caramel) and magnum (triple chocolate) bars are very, very good.
(I'm such a chocoholic....sigh)
Leni
Spine Tingling!
Saw FREAKS (1932 version).
Followed by Bedlam with Boris Karloff. Some Vincent Price flick on right now.
BTW bit a trivia, Vincent Price died on Halloween.
He was authentic, even in death.
I always loved the vintage horror genre, as epitomized by the old Universal films. I think much of it had to do with the moody, creepy atmospherics.
The “modern” horror genre, with dizzying wall-to-wall graphic effects, sicko serial killers, and zombies munching on brains... doesn’t particularly appeal to me at all. In fact, I frankly find all that rather tiresome.
I wonder if the “Frankenstein” (1931) print being shown tonight is the restored print, which has been recently touted about. Should be worth a look. I did briefly meet the leading lady, Mae Clarke, one time.
Way back then Forrest J. Ackerman's Famous Monsters of Filmland and some of the black-and-white pulp horror comics would occasionally have advertisements selling classic old horror movies. The catch was--they were sold as reels of film, and you had to have a projector and a screen to watch them. Since then we've had laserdisc, beta, VHS, DVD, Blu-Ray, and now YouTube.
It amazes me to think of those long ago days now that many classic movies (horror and otherwise) are now available for free 24/7 on the Internet. Needless to say, I don't covet my old classmate's "Monster Calendar" any more!
But you cherish the memories.
One other little thought about “Frankenstein.” My grandmother always liked John Boles. She also used to proudly mention to me that she had a schoolteacher once who was the sister to Boles’ wife. I mentioned to my grandmother that Boles was in the original “Frankenstein” movie, and she gave me a sour face that conveyed disapproval that Boles had basically slummed in such an ‘icky horror film!’
That’s my favorite scene in Young Frankenstien.
Back it up just a bit though....
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein:”Igor, may I have word with you?”
Igor sits on floor.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein:”No, no ,no....up here!”
One of us, One of us.....
Frightening.
It is, but it’s also a very intriguing film.
It was one of the first to portray disabled/deformed people in a sympathetic light. Go to the Wikipedia page on the movie (for want of a better source) and check out the bios of the performers. Some were just amazing.
Classic!
I never tire of this Classic.
Watching now.
Freaks was good!
Lon Chaney in "The Unknown"
Kieth Richards
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