Stubs – London After Midnight

London After Midnight (1927) Starring: Lon Chaney, Marceline Day, Henry B. Walthall, Percy Williams, Conrad Nagel. Directed by Tod Browning. Screenplay by Waldemar Young. Based on the story The Hypnotist by Tod Browning. Produced by Tod Browning. Run Time: 65 minutes (as seen 45 minutes). U.S. Black and White, Silent, Horror.

It’s not often that a lost film is resurrected. There have been some notable exceptions when films thought to be lost have been found and made whole again. Wings (1927) is an example of a film made whole when all seemed lost and they kept finding bits and pieces of Metropolis (1927) as they restored that masterpiece. Sadly, though, there are thousands of films that have been lost, 70% of all silents, and will never be made whole again.

Such is the fate of London After Midnight, Tod Browning’s first foray into vampire films; he would later direct Dracula (1931) for Universal Pictures. The last known print of the film burned in a vault fire at MGM in 1967. The electrical fire in Vault #7 on May 13 destroyed hundreds of silent films, including pre-1924 films from Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures and Louis B. Mayer Pictures Corporation, as well as the silent Our Gang shorts from 1927-1929 and all the film prints of pre-1960 MGM Cartoons, including Tom and Jerry and cartoons by Tex Avery.

Some films survive only in memory and others have been found in private collections. But some films refuse to go gently into that good night and hang on in one form or another. In the case of London After Midnight, a version of the film was reconstructed in 2002 by Rick Schmidlin, a film preservationist who was behind the re-edited version of Erich von Stroheim’s Greed (1924) and Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil (1958). Using a collection of stills, as well as the continuity script held by the Library of Congress, Schmidlin and crew put together a version of the film. Robert Israel, noted composer, wrote a new soundtrack and TCM has been airing this since 2002.

What we have now is a record of the movie, but not the movie itself. The experience of watching “the film” is more like looking very closely at someone’s scrapbook while they tell you in great detail everything that is going on in a particular photo. There is no real acting or reactions between actors, just frozen expressions that on their own lose some of their bite, so to speak.

The film was shot in 24 days on a budget of $152,000; the shortest schedule and lowest budget of any of Lon Chaney’s MGM films.

Roger Balfour (Claude King) is found shot dead in his London home late one night. Within fifteen minutes, at 1:08 AM, Inspector Burke of Scotland Yard (Lon Chaney) is already at the scene asking questions. There is Sir James Hamlin (Henry B. Walthall), Balfour’s neighbor, friend and the executor of his estate; Williams (Percy Williams), the Butler who discovered the body; Sir James’ nephew, Arthur Hibbs (Conrad Nagel), who was next door in his reading room; and Balfour’s daughter Lucille (Marceline Day). There is a brief suicide note, “I am taking my own life. Forgive me, Lucille” and Burke declares it a suicide, even though Hamlin insists his friend would never take his own life.

Inspector Burke of Scotland Yard (Lon Chaney) is called in to investigate Balfour's death.

Five years pass and a creepy man with long hair and sharp teeth, known as The Man in the Beaver Hat (Lon Chaney) and Luna (Edna Tichenor) a pale woman in a long gown, also known as Bat Girl, rent the Balfour estate. The Man in the Beaver Hat tells the leasing agent (Allan Cavan) that they are moving in that night and are already expecting guests.

The Man in the Beaver Hat (Lon Chaney) leases the Balfour estate.

Smithson (Polly Moran), Hamlin’s new maid, is the first to see the couple and reports to her boss that the Balfour’s house is haunted and that the new residences are “dead people from the grave! Vampires is what they are!”

The maid, Smithson (Polly Moran), is the first to see the new neighbors.

Alarmed by his new sinister-looking neighbors, Hamlin calls in Burke to investigate, who comes to stay at the house. Also living in the Hamlin household are the other people who were present in Balfour's house the night he died: Arthur Hibbs, Lucille, and the butler.

Lucy (Marceline Day) five years after Balfour's death.

Hamlin insists to that these new neighbors might have been involved in Balfour’s murder, but Burke expresses skepticism about the idea, since the death was declared a suicide. But Hamlin has a copy of their lease and it is signed by Roger Balfour, whose signature he’s very familiar with.

Further, Lucille tells Sir James and Burke that she’s been hearing her father’s voice calling out to her from the garden. They tell her that they’ll take care of it, but later, Sir James tells Burke that he won’t be satisfied until he sees that Balfour is in his tomb. The two investigate and find that the tomb is indeed empty.

Meanwhile, Arthur reads up about vampires (or as they’re spelled vampyrs) and learns that when they sleep during the day, they will sometimes take the form of bats. “As such, they seek sleep in the seclusions of spots accursed.” He shows this to Burke and tells him that after what happened tonight, “I do believe in vampires!” To which Burke responds that “This is all ancient tommyrot!”

Their discussion is cut short when Smithson screams and it is discovered that she’s locked Lucy up in a closet. She explains that she did this to protect her after she was confronted by the Man in the Beaver Hat in Sir James’ house. She describes him as having wings like a bat and threatening her. Smithson’s scream is what scared him away and adds “And out of the window ‘e flew!”

The Man in the Beaver Hat scares Smithson.

Outside they all see the Bat Girl and the back of the man. Smithson is convinced more than ever that the man is a vampire. Sir James wants to call for the police to arrest everyone in the Balfour house, but Burke doesn’t want the police involved.

Meanwhile, Arthur and Lucy realize they are in love since she turned to him when she was in danger.

Arthur (Conrad Nagel) and Lucy realize they are in love.

The next morning, Burke and Hamlin go into the Balfour mansion. The house shows five years of neglect, with dust everywhere, paintings askew and the furniture still covered. But there is no one there. The only living creature they find is a bat. They flee.

The bat in the Balfour mansion.

Later, Burke tells Lucy that her father’s death was not a suicide and asks her to trust him and to keep the secret from everyone. She agrees.

When Arthur asks her what Burke said, she tells him she can’t tell him. Arthur doesn’t trust Burke, since he wouldn’t bring in the police the night before and worries that Lucy is under his spell. Lucy blurts out that Burke thinks someone killed her father.

That night, lights and strange noises herald the return of the tenants to the Balfour house. Burke and Sir James go to investigate. Looking through the window, they see the Man in the Beaver Hat, his butler (Andy MacLennan) talking to Roger Balfour. In the background, Bat Girl can be seen floating above the floor. Frightened, Burke and Sir James flee from the house.

Wreaths with swords through them are set up by Burke to protect Lucy from the vampires. Burke tells Lucy to obey his instructions. It is made obvious to all that Sir James is holding Lucy’s hands.

Wreaths with swords are used to protect Lucy from the vampires.

Burke and Arthur retire to Burke’s room to talk, where Burke tells the young man that he has long suspected him in Balfour’s death. A hypnotist as well as a detective, Burke puts Arthur into a trance but learns nothing new about Balfour's death.

He leaves Arthur in his room and goes to Arthur’s. In the middle of the night, Burke fires his gun after being attacked in his sleep. He first accuses Williams but lets him go. Sir James wonders what happened to Arthur and Burke adds to that suspicion, again refusing police help and asking Sir James to trust him.

Burke awakens Arthur, who doesn’t know he’s been hypnotized. Next, the three men go to Lucy’s room but find both her and Smithson missing. Lucy is over at her former home. In front of Sir James, Burke accuses Arthur of knowing what happened to Lucy.

Back at the Balfour house, her father is reminding her that she’s doing this for her father. She is given an old dress to wear.

Meanwhile, we see Burke conversing with The Man in the Beaver Hat, telling him they have the nephew and the butler where they want them, all that is left is Sir James.

Burke gives Sir James his gun and instructs him to go next door and ask to speak with Roger Balfour.

Meanwhile, Arthur breaks into the Balfour house in an attempt to rescue Lucille, but he's intercepted by Burke and a couple of detectives and taken away.

Sir James, acting at Burke's instructions, goes to the Balfour house, but is met out front by the beaver-hatted man, who puts him into a hypnotic trance and tells him that it is five years ago and you are at Roger Balfour’s house.

While Smithson and Burke observe, Sir James, under hypnosis, re-creates his actions the night Roger Balfour died, with Lucille and the butler, Williams, playing themselves, and Burke's double playing the part of Balfour.

Balfour has just signed his will naming Sir James the executor of his estate and Lucy’s legal guardian. The obviously smitten Sir James tells Roger that he hopes Lucy will be his wife someday. But Balfour rejects James’ idea of marrying his daughter, thinking the age difference was too great. Sir James leaves. Lucy thinks that eliminates him as a suspect, but Burke wants them to wait.

Balfour's (Claude King) double interacts with The Man in the Beaver Hat.

At 1:10 AM, Sir James returns and forces Balfour to write a suicide note and then shoots him with Burke’s gun. Burke, with police back up, swoops in and arrests Sir James for Balfour’s murder and accuses him of being the one who attacked him in Arthur’s room the night before in an effort to get rid of his rival for Lucy.

Later it is revealed that the man in the beaver hat and pointed teeth was really a disguised Inspector Burke, who was aided at times by a double. Smithson, the new maid, is actually an assistant detective; and the mysterious young woman is a stage performer working for the police.

The mystery of Balfour's death solved, Lucille and Arthur, who have come to realize how much they love each other, are free to marry.

The movie was a big success at the U.S. box office, but foreign books were below average. The film had domestic sales of $721,000 and a gross profit of about $540,000, making it the biggest success of Browning’s ten film collaborations with Chaney and putting it fourth for the studio’s 1927-28 hit list. London After Midnight finished behind White Shadows in the South Seas, The Cossacks and The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg. Critically, however, it was not considered to be their best film together.

Browning must not have been completely satisfied with the film either because 8 years later, he remade the story as Mark of the Vampire (1935). Names and circumstances were changed and the dual parts played by Lon Chaney were split between Lionel Barrymore and Bela Lugosi. That film came late in Browning’s career, which had been derailed by Freaks (1932) and would never recover. I have not seen the remake yet, but all the reviews from the time seem to indicate it is a better film than the original.

While I cannot comment on how well the film is made or acted, since there is really no film anymore, I can see the shortcomings of the story. London After Midnight is really a murder mystery with a horror film laid on top of it. I’m all for mixing genres, but in this case it doesn’t really seem to work all that well. The supernatural bent the story takes is a little out of left field as far as a technique to solve murders. This is so obviously a ploy to showcase Chaney’s makeup abilities, he is the Man of a Thousand Faces after all, but otherwise there is no reason for it. And frankly, the Man in the Beaver Hat looks more like a buzz saw with those sharp teeth, rather than a vampire with fangs.

Adding to the horror quotient, we’re told the Man in the Beaver Hat and Bat Girl are vampires, but short of a bat in the mansion, there really isn’t anything else that suggests it, except for Smithson’s accusation and that she’s in on the plot. And while I think the vampire story doesn’t really go anywhere, it’s the murder mystery that is even more of a head scratcher.

The only person who doesn’t think Balfour’s death was a suicide is the killer. How dumb does he have to be to insist the police investigate a crime he would otherwise get away with? And if Sir James was intent on marrying Lucy that he would kill for the right, why hasn’t he in the five years since her father’s death? As far as can be determined from the film, with the exception of some obvious hand holding, they are not even engaged. What’s Sir James waiting for? Or, perhaps scarier, how young must Lucy be at the beginning of the film?

I’ve heard you can tell how good a song is if it still holds up with only one person playing it on one instrument. In the case of London After Midnight, we’re left with only an illustrated screenplay, without acting and directing to obfuscate the plot holes. In its sort of naked form, the story doesn’t really hold up.

I’m all for preserving our film heritage and I’m happy someone spent the time and money required to bring it this far. I only wish that London After Midnight was as good as the effort they must have put in to its restoration.

In the mood for horror, check out our reviews of other Horror films here.

Back to the Future Part II

To continue our series of re-reviews of the Back to the Future trilogy, we’re going to cover Back to the Future Part II, released by Universal Studios in 1989. However, the timing of this review is also to commemorate a milestone, for if the posting has been timed right, it will be the exact date and time that Marty McFly and Doc Brown arrive in the future (or at least the future depicted in the movie): Wednesday, October 21, 2015 at 4:29 PM. This exact date and time will only occur once, so what better way to celebrate it than by posting thoughts on the movie itself?

Back to the Future Part II begins exactly where Part I left off, where Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) is arriving at 1985 in the DeLorean to take Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) and Jennifer Parker (Elisabeth Shue) “back to the future” to prevent their future children from doing something disastrous. When they arrive in 2015, Jennifer is knocked out and Doc Brown gives Marty clothing to help him blend in, as well as specific instructions on what to do at Café ‘80s to prevent his (Marty’s) son from getting into trouble. Though the plan works, they later find out that an elderly Biff Tannen (Thomas F. Wilson) has stolen the DeLorean and used it to create a dystopian version of 1985, aka 1985-A, where his younger self is a multi-billionaire. Marty and Doc Brown must now figure out what exactly happened to cause this and use that knowledge to fix the timeline.

Behold, the proper day on the time machine.

Compared with the first movie, I felt that Part II was a bit sillier. While the movie has become more iconic over time for its unique vision of 2015, more on that later, it relies a little more on the audience’s willing suspension of disbelief than before. For instance, how is it that Marty wouldn’t have been able to hear or notice the DeLorean being stolen by an older Biff Tannen? How is it that in the return trip to 1955, no one notices the various things that Marty does even when logically he would be heard, such as the case of communicating with Doc Brown via walkie-talkie while in the back of 1955 Biff’s car? The plot in general also requires Doc and Marty to be very inattentive with the Delorean, as they so easily leave the door open, creating an opening for 2015 Biff to steal it in the first place. Because of the number of these moments that can pull someone out of the film, it’s pretty obvious at times that there wasn’t meant to be a sequel and the only way to cover it up is to go through several time hops. For that, I’d conclude that Part II just simply isn’t written as well as Part I, which had a much tighter and better thought-out script.

While this movie may not be as well-written, that doesn’t stop it from being funny, albeit not quite as laugh-out-loud funny. The jokes still aim for smart humor that doesn’t stoop to appealing to the lowest common denominator, save for maybe the repeat of the famous manure scene. Character interaction is still a great source of humor, especially when it’s between Doc and Marty or between the 2015 and 1955 Biff Tannens. As with Part I, the science jokes are pulled off well and the minimal swearing that exists is done in a humorous fashion.

I also wish to point out that the movie seems to like hitting a lot of the same notes from the original. These include Marty regaining consciousness in a McFly residence and being confused about his temporal location, a Biff Tannen being covered in manure, Mr. Sandman playing when visiting 1955 and Marty being chased by Biff and coming out on top. For that last one, I could see the repetition of the hoverboard chase being justified as both versions are in different time periods and feature Marty against different technology. Whether these repetitions in general are good or bad is up to you.

With that said, I have to commend the special effects during the revisit to 1955. The scenes that were reshot are generally pretty convincing replications and it was very interesting how they were able to incorporate multiple copies of Doc and Marty into the appropriate scenes. Though it’s not perfect, it does at least help to sell the idea that the Doc and Marty of Part II were running around during Part I as well. As for the effects in general, the time travel is still good to look at and the variations in the sets for Hill Valley are rather impressive. The effects are also good enough to sell the 2015 technology as plausible, so it’s no wonder an audience watching it at the time would’ve wanted their own hoverboard or self-lacing shoes (or “power laces” as Marty calls them).

I should talk about the movie’s time travel logic, which is still fairly consistent from Part I. However, it seems to work a little differently despite this. Doc Brown mentions that 1955 seems to be a very crucial point in history, as 2015 Biff’s tampering skewed the timeline to create an alternate 1985, dubbed 1985-A. The idea, then, is that by going back and stopping 1955 Biff from maintaining control over a future copy of Grays Sports Almanac, the timeline created by the events of Part I will be restored. In some ways it feels like it shouldn’t work that way, but you have to be able to gloss over any inconsistencies for the sake of the plot, tying back into how this installment further stretches willing suspension of disbelief.

Despite what I have said already about the quality of the writing, the movie is still well-acted. Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd still have a great onscreen chemistry that sells the friendship between Marty McFly and Doc Brown. If nothing else, you’d want to watch Part II just to see them act. However, I find it a little odd that Marty was suddenly given a trait where he doesn’t like people calling him a coward. It does help to reinforce the message that you shouldn’t let your emotions get the better of you, and Fox incorporated it into the character in a believable way, but it still felt a little out-of-character in comparison to the first movie.

Michael J. Fox (left) and Christopher Lloyd's (right)
interactions are the best part of the movie.

Newcomer Elisabeth Shue also proved herself in the role of Jennifer Parker, playing her with more of an onscreen presence than Claudia Wells. In this way, she seems to be better suited as Jennifer, but it’s unfortunate that she doesn’t really get to do much of anything in the movie to show off her skill. It’s fairly obvious that the writers didn’t know what to do with Jennifer as a result. Thomas F. Wilson had his own challenge as well, having to play multiple versions of the same one-dimensional jerk, Biff Tannen. Though Tannen is still a pretty flat character, Wilson manages to succeed in at least making each version of the character feel a little different, such as having 2015 Biff be noticeably smarter than his younger 1955 self. The other returning actors play their roles in reshot scenes very well and sell the revisit fairly convincingly.

Elisabeth Shue (right) replaces Claudia Wells (left) in the role of Jennifer Parker.

Before I conclude, I would like to take this space to talk about the movie’s vision of 2015, more specifically the way 2015 has turned out in real life versus what’s depicted in the movie, at least at the time of this posting. For the sake of brevity, I won’t mention everything that was depicted, as there’s too much background detail to get into, but I will focus on a select number of items.

For non-technology matters, we first have the idea behind Café ‘80s. We don’t have such a location today for ‘80s nostalgia, but we do have a Café ‘50s, which covers nostalgia for the 1950s. While Café ‘80s in the movie can be seen as a cover for a lack of inventing 2015 culture, it does serve a purpose in suggesting that people would be very nostalgic for the ‘80s by this time. People in fact are, although interestingly some ‘90s nostalgia has been slowly creeping in.

In the background of 2015 Hill Valley, one can see a poster that says “Surf Vietnam.” In real life, it is not as unlikely for people to take a vacation in Vietnam; the inclusion of this in the movie was probably a joke relating to the fact that when it came out, 1989, we had just gotten out of Vietnam. On a different note, the fashion sense displayed in 2015 Hill Valley isn’t exactly the same as it is in real life. Some things are still around, like acid-washed jeans, but the film could not have predicted the various “hipster” trends that have cropped up and we certainly don’t wear hats like the one Marty Jr. wears. Part of the fashion sense in 2015 Hill Valley also included self-adjusting jackets, which we don’t have, and self-tying sneakers with power laces. While Nike did end up making shoes that look like those in the movie, they were a limited run that was auctioned off and they certainly didn’t have power laces.

One thing that certainly didn’t match up is the rate of inflation. Marty is depicted as purchasing a Pepsi Perfect drink at Café ‘80s for $50. While Pepsi has released a limited run of Pepsi Perfect for $20.15 (essentially regular Pepsi but in the Café ‘80s packaging), regular soft drinks can still be bought at a price of ~$1-2. One other particularly notable thing displayed in the movie is the Cubs supposedly winning the 2015 World Series in baseball. While the 2015 World Series has yet to occur at the time of this posting, the Cubs are participating in the 2015 National League Championship and are also the favorite to win the World Series, though they won’t be able to face Miami.

On the subject of technology, there are a number of things I can quickly get out of the way. While hydrators for fast meal prep are used in Marty’s future household, we do not yet have the technology in real life, though scientists have been working on 3D-printed food; Pizza Hut is still around. Cars in real life 2015 still run on fossil fuels and we have yet to create the Mr. Fusion technology; although Mr. Fusions do exist in real life, they are merely prop replicas. 3D movies are rather popular at the moment, being prominently advertised and integrated into newer television models. In that vein, widescreen TVs are pretty much standard and we do have the ability to watch multiple channels at once, but only through channel mixes where you can only hear one source at a time. We also do not have Jaws 19 in the theaters, but we do at least have an official faux trailer.

"The shark still looks fake."

Fax machines, though still used, have been all but phased out at this point, with texting and email taking its place. Landlines are still heavily used, but videophones haven’t really caught on, unless you count video chat through smart devices or other internet services such as Skype. Food kiosks like the ones shown in Café ‘80s are becoming more of a reality, with McDonald’s testing them in the US after finding success in the UK. Lastly, although we are capable of playing video games without a controller with such devices as Sony’s EyeToy and Microsoft’s Kinect, they haven’t really caught on as much as the companies had hoped and controller/mouse and keyboard use is still very predominant. And while we don’t have Doc Brown’s rear-view glasses, we do have Google Glass as well as the Oculus Rift and other such devices.

With those out of the way, I can mention the two biggest technologies shown in the movie, those being flying cars and hoverboards. Flying cars have been around for a while as a concept but at this point there are no consumer models. I found out there is a company called Terrafugia that is working on making one as the wave of the future, but they have yet to create something ready for purchase. I’m also aware of the idea of flying ambulances, but as far as I’m aware they’re also not ready for widespread use. As for hoverboards, which was introduced as a concept in this movie, models are being developed, but are still very much in the prototype stage. Lexus released a video about a fully functional super-conductor model they have created, but it only works within a specially designed skatepark that has magnetic rails built underneath. As such, it may be quite a long time before the public can get their hands on one. Until then, there are replicas of the Mattel hoverboard from the movie, but it could set you back a small fortune.

Back to the Future Part II, while iconic and somewhat enjoyable, isn’t quite as good as Part I. The characters may be well-acted, but the story has a looser plotline and requires more willing suspension of disbelief than before to work out. Often, it is very obvious that Part II wasn’t intended to exist. If you’re watching this unnecessary sequel for pure entertainment and can overlook the logical errors and inconsistencies, you’ll likely enjoy it. For others, the logical flaws could be enough to break the immersion, which is something that a good movie shouldn’t do. It’s fun to see the futuristic vision of 2015 from the perspective of 1989, but you’re otherwise better off sticking to the original film. Of course, the ending of Part II also contains a teaser reel for Part III, so if you watch it, you’re pretty much committed to finishing the trilogy anyway.

Stubs - Mad Love

Mad Love (1935) Starring: Peter Lorre, Frances Drake, Colin Clive, Ted Healy. Directed by Karl Freund. Screenplay by P. J. Wolfson, John L. Balderston. Based on the novel Les Mains d'Orlac by Maurice Renard (Paris, 1920). Produced by John W. Considine Jr. Run time: 68 minutes. US. Black and White. Horror

You hear about films from all different sources. In the case of Mad Love, we were trying to find a film that we heard about at Comic Con of all places at a panel hosted by the Warner Archives, a division of Warner Bros. dedicated to showcasing older and usually obscure films and television shows. What we remembered was the film starred Peter Lorre and had something to do with the hand of a pianist being cut off. (I've later found out they were talking about The Beast With Five Fingers (1946)). When we came across this film (with the elements of Peter Lorre, severed hands and pianist), we thought we had found the one they were hyping. 

Mad Love marked Peter Lorre’s American film debut and Karl Freund’s last directorial effort. Lorre had come to the U.S. after leaving Germany when the Nazis came to power. He had made an international sensation starring in Fritz Lang’s M (1931). The film would typecast Lorre as a villain. After moving to Paris and London, where he appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), Lorre would come to Hollywood under contract to Columbia Pictures. But that studio would have trouble finding the right film for him and lent him out to MGM in an effort to recoup some of their investment.

Freund, who had also come from Germany, had been a sought after cinematographer in Hollywood. He was given an opportunity to direct The Mummy (1931) and directed six more films at Universal, before moving to MGM. There he was teamed with Lorre on what would turn out to be his last directing assignment.

Writer Guy Endore worked with Freund on early drafts of a script based on a recent translation of Maurice Renard’s novel Les Mains d'Orlac (The Hands of Orlac). The book had already been made into a movie about a decade before: Orlac Hnde (1924), an Austrian film directed by Robert Weine and starring Conrad Veidt and Alexandra Sorina.

Producer John W. Considine Jr. assigned P.J. Wolfson and John L. Balderston to do rewrites on Endore’s script. Balderston seems to be a good choice for horror, having worked on the scripts for Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), The Mummy (1932) and The Bride of Frankenstein (1935). Balderston’s rewrites began on April 24, 1935 and were still in progress when the film went into production on May 6th. Filming would be completed on June 8th and the film would be released in the U.S. on July 12^th.

In the film, Doctor Gogol (Peter Lorre) is obsessed with Yvonne Orlac (Francis Drake) the actress starring in at the 'Théâtre des Horreurs' in Paris, France. Gogol goes every night, sitting in the same booth. After the 47^th and final show, Gogol goes back stage to meet his object of fascination.

Dr. Gogol (Peter Lorre) goes backstage to meet Yvonne Orlac (Francis Drake), but finds out she's already married.

He is very disappointed that the show is closing, but even more so when he finds out that Orlac is married to Stephen Orlac (Colin Clive), a rising pianist and composer.

Dr. Gogol (Peter Lorre) admires the wax figure of Yvonnw Orlac in the lobby of the theater.

With the show closing down, a wax figure of Yvonne is about to be sent to be melted down, when Gogol intercepts it and pays three times what it’s worth to have it delivered to his house the next day. Gogol goes home to his clinic where he regularly performs surgeries, with the assistance of Dr. Wong (Keye Luke), that save children’s lives.

Dr. Wong (Keye Luke) prepares for surgery with Dr. Gogol.

Meanwhile, Stephen is on a train heading back to Paris. En route, the train stops to pick up a new passenger, Rollo (Edward Brophy), an American circus knife thrower and convicted murderer. Rollo has an appointment the next day with the guillotine.

Enter American reporter Reagan (Ted Healy), who has been sent to cover the execution of Rollo for his paper. Prefect Rosset (Henry Kolker) is in charge of the execution and cooperates with Reagan. Rosset makes a point of calling Gogol letting him know about the execution, since Gogol never misses one.

Rosset and Reagan go down to the train station to wait and there they run into Yvonne. News comes that there has been a wreck and Reagan and Yvonne take a cab to the site. It is Yvonne going through the wreckage who finds Stephen’s body. Dr. Marbeau (Charles Trowbridge), the first doctor who examines Stephen, tells Yvonne that her husband will live, but that his hands will have to be amputated. Yvonne pleads with the doctor to let her take her husband to Gogol. The doctor is too busy to argue and lets her take her husband to Paris.

Back in Paris, Gogol is there with Reagan to watch Rollo get executed. When Gogol returns to his home, he sees the ambulance leaving and is told that Yvonne came looking for a favor. Gogol immediately agrees to help, but upon examination also determines that Stephen’s hands will have to be amputated. Yvonne is distraught at the news, telling Gogol that she had hoped Gogol could help her.

Rollo (Edward Brophy) is being led to the guillotine.

While preparing for surgery, Gogol gets the idea to use Rollo’s hands and calls Rosset who is already willing to cooperate with Gogol’s experiments.

Unaware of the experiment performed on him, Stephen is told that he will eventually get the feeling back in his hands, but it will take long and expensive treatments for him to be able to use them like he had. The expense practically bankrupts the young couple and try as he might, Stephen can’t seem to recover his old form. He is about to give up, but Yvonne encourages him to keep practicing. When a bill collector comes to get payment for Stephen’s piano, Stephen becomes enraged and hurls his penknife at the man.

Stephen Orlac (Colin Clive) realizes that something is wrong with his hands.

Needing money, Yvonne suggests that Stephen go see his step-father Henry Orlac (Ian Wolfe), a jeweler, but his father refuses to give Stephen money and suggests that Yvonne should go back to acting and do other things to make ends meet. Upset by his father’s insinuation, Stephen, with an employee of his father as a witness, throws a knife at his father, barely missing him.

Gogol, who has set up the wax figure of Yvonne in his front parlor, goes to Yvonne and asks for her love, but she refuses. Stephen goes to Gogol's home and tries to find out about his hands, and why they throw knives. Gogol suggests that Stephen's problem originates from a childhood trauma.

Stephen tries to get answers from Dr. Gogol, but nothing is satisfactory.

Not satisfied with that answer and concerned that his hands seem to act on their own, Stephen goes to see Dr. Marbeau. Marbeau concludes that the hands are not Stephens, since they had been crushed beyond repair.

Soon after his visit, newspapers report that Stephen’s stepfather has been found murdered. Stephen is called to a meeting with a mysterious figure, who reveals himself to be Rollo, claiming Gogol had reattached his head, but had taken his hands and given them to Stephen. Rollo, who is really Gogol in disguise, convinces Stephen that he had murdered his father.

Gogol, disguised as Rollo, convinces Stephen that he's murdered his own father. 

Stephen is arrested and the police are baffled that his fingerprints match those of Rollo’s.

Meanwhile, panic stricken, Yvonne decides to investigate Gogol for herself. Françoise (May Beatty), Gogol's drunken housekeeper, thinks the wax statue has come to life and runs from the house into the arms of two policeman who, thinking she’s crazy, take her away. In Gogol’s parlor, Yvonne sees her statue and takes it place when Gogol returns home in his Rollo disguise.

Gogol removes his Rollo disguise.

He’s so pleased with himself that he pleads his love to Yvonne and sits down to play the organ for her, like he does every night. With his back turned, Yvonne is attacked by Gogol’s pet bird. Seeing her bleed, Gogol thinks his love has brought the wax figure to life. But she refuses him again. Voices in his head convince him to kill her by strangling her with her own hair.

Gogol plays the organ for Yvonne, but thinks she's the wax figure replica.

Yvonne is saved when Reagan, Stephen and the police arrive at Gogol’s house. The door to his parlor is locked and they are only able to open the observation window. But that’s enough for Stephen, who throws a letter opener he swiped from the prefect’s desk at Gogol, hitting him in the back and killing him.

No film made in Hollywood at this time could escape the Hays Office. MGM was warned during pre-production from making a film that was "too brutal or too shocking." They were discouraged from showing the train wreck or the aftermath with dead and dying bodies.

They also wanted them to tone down the creep factor with Gogol’s infatuation with the wax Yvonne by not showing him fondling it or spraying it with perfume. Nevertheless, Mad Love had trouble in other countries. Either banned outright or only allowed to show in a censored form, eliminating one or more scenes of torture, guillotining or strangulation.

Mad Love wouldn’t be the last film to be made, based on Renard’s novel. Filmmakers would return to the book for The Hands of Orlac (1964) a French-British film starring Mel Ferrer and directed by Edmond T. Greville. Before that, Hands of a Strangler (1962), was made, loosely based on the novel. Written and directed by Newt Arnold, the film starred Paul Luthaker and Joan Harvey.

Peter Lorre makes a strong impression in his American film debut. He would go on to appear in a variety of films, including supporting roles in two of my favorite films, The Maltese Falcon (1941) and Casablanca (1942). While he is associated with Humphrey Bogart, Lorre made nine films with Sydney Greenstreet. A versatile actor, Lorre would appear in comedies: Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), war films: Passage to Marseille (1944) and horror: the above mentioned The Beast with Five Fingers.

Peter Lorre getting his head shaved for his role as Dr. Gogol.

After his Warner Bros. contract expired, Lorre’s career in Hollywood took a downturn. In 1950, he returned to Germany, where he co-wrote, directed and starred in Der Verlorene (The Lost One, 1951), a film noir.

He would return to the U.S. in 1952 and played Le Chiffre in the television adaptation of Casino Royale (1954) opposite Barry Nelson as Jimmy Bond. He also would star with Kirk Douglas and Jams Mason in 20,000 Leagues under the Sea (1954). In his later years Lorre would work on television in guest roles and make low budget films with Roger Corman. He would die of a stroke in 1964.

Frances Drake, the actress who played Gogol’s object of fascination, had a short Hollywood career. An American, she lived in Canada and got her start in the U.K. as a nightclub dancer. She appeared in a few films there under her birth name Frances Dean, including Meet My Sister (1933) and The Jewel (1933) before coming to the U.S. under contract to Paramount.

She appeared opposite George Raft in a couple of films, Bolero (1934) and The Trumpet Blows (1934), and followed that with Ladies Should Listen (1934) opposite Cary Grant. During her career she would never be a top-billed actress, but would act in a variety of genres, including more horror: The Invisible Ray (1936); comedy/mystery: The Preview Murder Mystery (1936) and There’s Always a Woman (1938); and romantic comedy: It’s a Wonderful World (1939).

Drake married the Hon. Cecil Howard, second son of Henry Howard, 19th Earl of Suffolk in 1939 and shortly thereafter retired from films.

While Peter Lorre received a lot of critical attention for his performance, the film was not well received. Made on a budget of $408,000, the film only made $364,000 at the box office worldwide. Financially not an auspicious start for Lorre's Hollywood career.

The premise of Mad Love must have seemed like science fiction and probably was back in 1935; hand transplantation is now a real thing. The first transplant, which was rejected, occurred in Ecuador in 1964, but more recent surgeries have been finding long term success. I haven’t read anything about the hands retaining the muscle memory of their previous owner.

I find the story to have a very interesting twist. Rather than letting the killer’s hands continue to kill indiscriminately, as one might expect, the story has Stephen use his new found talent to save his Yvonne, when Gogol tries to strangle her.

While not a great film, Mad Love is nevertheless interesting and entertaining. It is definitely worth watching especially if you’re in the mood for offbeat horror.

Be sure to check out our other Horror film reviews here.

Stubs - Creature From the Black Lagoon

Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954) Starring: Richard Carlson, Julia Adams, Richard Denning, Antonio Moreno, Nester Paiva, Whit Bissell Directed by Jack Arnold. Screenplay by Harry Essex, Arthur Ross. Story by: Maurice Zimm. Produced by William Alland. Run Time: 80 minutes. U.S. Black and White, Science Fiction, Horror, 3-D.

Following the success of It Came From Outer Space (1953), the first 3-D science fiction movie, producer William Alland, director Jack Arnold, screenwriter Harry Essex and star Richard Carlson reassembled the following year to make a film, Creature From the Black Lagoon, what would turn out to be the last great Universal monster, the Gill Man.

But the idea goes back more than a decade, to a dinner producer William Alland, then an actor working on Citizen Kane (1941), attended. There he spoke with Gabrial Figueroa, a Mexican cinematographer, who told him about the legend of a half-fish, half-man creature that lived in the Amazon. Inspired by the legend and the story of Beauty and the Beast, Alland wrote notes called “The Sea Monster” a decade later. In December 1952, Maurice Zimm wrote a story based on Alland’s notes and subsequently, Harry Essex and Arthur Ross were hired to turn the story into a screenplay.

The film begins with narration over images of the Earth coming into existence, cooling and the development of life as we know it on this planet.

Fast forward to an archaeological dig on the upper branch of the Amazon in Brazil. Dr. Carl Maia (Antonio Moreno) and his team, Luis (Rodd Redwing), Zee (Bernie Gozier) and Chico (Henry Escalante), discover the fossil of a webbed claw sticking out from a wall of limestone.

Not knowing what he’s found or its significance, Dr. Maia rushes the claw to the Instituto de Biologia Maritima in the hopes of getting the right crew to excavate the rest of the fossil. He leaves Luis in charge of the camp. But even before Dr. Maia’s left camp though, we see a living version of the claw reach out from the river and scratch at the bank.

Out at sea, Kay (Julia Adams) drives Dr. Maia out to the diving platform to retrieve her boyfriend, Dr. David Reed (Richard Carlson), who is diving. David, an ichthyologist (fish scientist), works at an aquarium in California and has been a guest of the marine biology institute in Brazil for over a month. Dr. Maia shows David a photo of his find and the three head back to the Instituto to see it. Not only are David and Kay amazed at the find, so is their boss, Dr. Mark Williams (Richard Denning), and Dr. Edwin Thompson (Whit Bissell). Dr. Williams agrees to fund the expedition and they all leave the next day to head back to camp. Kay, who works as an assistant to Mark, is invited along as well.

Back at the Institute, the team Dr. David Reed (Richard Carlson), Kay (Julia Adams),
Dr. Mark Williams (Richard Denning) and Dr. Edwin Thompson (Whit Bissell) examine the talon.

But back at camp, the creature (Ben Chapman) has come on land and is wrecking havoc, killing all those left behind.

The scientists hire a tramp steamer, the Rita, captained by a man named Lucas (Nestor Paiva), to take them back to the camp. When they arrive they find everything torn to pieces. Lucas suggests it was done by a  jaguar, but the others are not so sure. The real culprit, the creature, is not far away and, already fascinated by Kay, reaches out for her, missing only because she walks away to join the others.

Over the next eight days, the group digs through the limestone, but finds nothing. Mark, who is interested in the publicity, worries about wasting time and funds. But David comes up with a theory that perhaps the rest of the fossil might have been washed down the river. Lucas confirms that the river dumps into the Black Lagoon, where legend has it a half-man half-fish creature dwells. It is on board the boat that Mark sees Kay kissing David and is obviously jealous.

The Rita arrives in the Black Lagoon.

When they reach the lagoon, Gill Man (Ricou Browning) watches as David and Mark dive down looking for rocks to test. While Dr. Maia is testing the rocks, discovering they have the same make up as the limestone deposit back up river, Kays goes for a swim in the lagoon. Gill Man is fascinated by her and swims close to her (and even though the water is really clear, she does not see him.) Kay does notice when the creature reaches out and touches her foot. But by that time, Lucas has noticed she’s too far away and started the boat up to get closer.

So close. The Gill Man narrowly misses snagging Kay when she goes for a swim.

The Gill Man follows after her and gets caught up in the boat’s net, which is in the water. The creature struggles to free himself, while the men onboard try to raise the net. The hoist breaks and the creature cuts his way out. When they do get the net on deck, they find one of the creature’s talons.

They find one of the Gill Man's talons on the Rita.

Mark, to David’s dismay, wants to hunt and kill the creature. David urges him to preserve the creature and the two go back into the water; Mark armed with a harpoon gun and David with his camera. The Gill Man attacks them and while David tries to get a photo, Mark shoots the creature in the back with a harpoon. Back on ship, David develops his photograph and finds he only has a picture of seaweed. Mark doesn’t think anyone will believe them if they come back with only a story.

While they argue about how to proceed, the Creature, which no one ever hears come out of the water, attacks Chico and drags him over the bed to his death.

The next day, Mark and David use a drug Lucas has onboard that should sedate the fish, but the Gill Man avoids the drugged waters, despite a second dosage of the drug. Later that night, the Gill Man climbs on board in an effort to grab Kay. Her screams scare the creature back into the still drugged waters. David concerned the Gill Man will suffocate goes in after him and follows him into a grotto. The others follow in a row boat. The Gill Man, meanwhile, circles back and tries to make another grab for Kay. Tomas tries to stop it and is killed. But finally the drugs get to him and the Gill Man collapses.

The Gill Man is relentless in his pursuit of Kay.

Rather than killing him, as Mark wants to do, David convinces him to lock the creature in a water tank on the boat, using rope and bamboo to keep the creature imprisoned. Mark wants to leave the lagoon immediately, but once again he and David disagree. David wants to stay and do more research of the grotto and the water.

While Mark and David are off the boat, Dr. Thompson is left to stand guard over the creature. Through the bamboo the creature waits, biding his time. Dr. Thompson naturally falls asleep, but when you’d expect the creature to attack, it waits. Kay comes deckside and talks with Dr. Thompson, who knows about her love for David. While they are talking, they don’t notice or hear the creature try the bamboo and it escapes. The Gill Man slashes Thompson’s face and is only chased back into the water when Kay throws a lantern at the creature and catches him on fire. Dr. Thompson is bandaged and left to recover below deck.

No bamboo prison is going to hold the Creature for long.

David wants to leave now, saying they cannot risk any more attacks. Always the contrarian, Mark insists that they stay and kill the Gill Man. But Lucas sides with David and even pulls a knife on Mark to show who is in charge. But on their way out of the Lagoon, they find that their way has been blocked with a huge log the Gill Man has planted.

When they can’t pull the log out of the water, and the Creature does its best to stop them, David dives under the boat, followed by Mark, who still wants to kill the creature. The creature attacks and Mark shoots it with a harpoon, but only wounds it. Before David can scare the creature away it has already killed Mark.

Back on the boat, David devises a plan to shoot the rest of the drug directly at the creature, hoping to disable it long enough to allow him to clear the log. Diving back into the water, he surrounds the Gill Man with the drug, but the creature climbs on board and grabs Kay before diving back into the water with her.

David follows after them and the still-groggy creature attacks him. Dr. Maia and Lucas, who have followed in the rowboat, arrive in time to shoot the creature several times with bullets. David stops them, letting the creature escape back into the water, where it bleeds to death and sinks out of sight.

David rescues Kay from the Gill Man's grotto.

Shot in 3-D, the film did not receive a nationwide release as we often associate with major Hollywood films. Instead, it was distributed regionally, opening around the country at different times throughout 1954. By this time, 3-D was already falling out of favor. A lot of factors attributed to its decline including cost to project and exhibit, which led to cheap knockoff technologies. Since two projectors were required, there were issues with keeping them synchronized, which would lead to a dissatisfied audience. When Creature was released, it was primarily seen in smaller towns in flat 2D presentation and in 3-D only at the major theaters, which at the time were usually downtown in major cities.

The film, however, was still a financial success, leading to two sequels, Revenge of the Creature (1955) and The Creature Walks Among Us (1956), both produced by William Alland. Revenge of the Creature was shot in 3-D with hopes of reviving the dying format and, having failed, The Creature Walks Among Us was shot in 2D.

The Gill Man, designed by Disney animator Millicent Patrick, was partially based on the Academy Awards’  Oscar statue, though makeup artist Bud Westmore would take sole credit for its design. The character was portrayed by two actors, one when the creature was on land, Ben Chapman, and another when the creature was in the water, Ricou Browning. Ricou would appear as the Creature in the two sequels, again only in the water, while another actor would play the Creature on land.

Ricou Browning played the Gill Man in the water.

While there have been sequels, so far the film has avoided being rebooted, though there has been a lot of talk about doing so. As far back as 1982, John Landis was interested in having Jack Arnold direct a remake and making it in 3-D, but Universal dropped the idea in favor of Jaws 3-D (1983).

In 2001, Gary Ross, the son of screenwriter Arthur Ross, was hired to write and produce the remake. In 2002, Guillermo del Toro was signed to direct, but other commitments caused him to drop out and, for a time, Tedi Sarafian was hired to write the script in 2003.

Ross was still attached to the project and talked in 2007 about changing the Gill Man’s origin story to being the result of pharmaceutical pollution in the Amazon. Since then other directors have been attached including Breck Eisner and Carl Erik Rinsch, but so far nothing has come of the effort. Universal even announced a reboot in 2012 to be released in 2014, but that project, like the others, was cancelled. However a reboot/remake is probably inevitable. Universal has already begun rebooting their classic Monster films, starting with Dracula Untold (2014).

The original film's producer William Alland as mentioned before, began his career as an actor. A part of Orson Welles’ Mercury Playhouse, he appeared on radio in the infamous The War of the Worlds broadcast on October 30, 1938. His first screen appearance was as the investigative reporter Jerry Thompson in Citizen Kane (1941). He would also serve as the voice of “News on the March” in the same movie. He would also appear in Welles’ The Lady From Shanghai (1947), again as a reporter.

In 1953, Alland would produce It Came From Outer Space. In addition to the trilogy of Creature films, he would also produce the sci-fi classic This Island Earth (1955), which would be skewered in Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (1996).

You didn't go to sci-fi films in the 1950s for the acting and Creature does not disappoint in that regard. Ricou Bowning, as the Gill Man, may have done the best work, which isn't saying much, as he only swims and you never quite forget you're watching a guy in a rubber suit. The land-loving male leads, Richard Carlson and Richard Denning, could have switched roles for all they really mattered.

Julia Adams, a former Miss Little Rock (Arkansas), stands out because she's the only woman and was the eye candy that every male in the movie was after, including doctors Reed and Williams and the Creature. She actually appeared on television before she appeared in films, in Your Show Time (1949), the first network dramatic show shot on film rather than aired live or on kinescope. That same year she would also make her first film appearance in Red, Hot and Blue. She would continue to act on both television and on film, making appearances on episodes of everything from Studio One (1956) to The Andy Griffith Show (1962) to The Big Valley (1967) to The Mod Squad (1973) to The Incredible Hulk (1978) to Beverly Hills, 90210 (1993) to Lost (2006) to CSI New York (2010). Her last appearance, which was as a voice only, was in Roman Polanski’s Carnage (2011). But again, her part in Creature could have been played by any sexy starlet of the time.

Julie Adams is the eye candy in the film.

Like Adams, director Jack Arnold worked in both film and television. He learned filmmaking from Robert Flaherty, the documentary filmmaker when he was assigned to the Signal Corps during World War II. He began making documentary shorts like The Valley of Shadow (1947) and The Chicken of Tomorrow (1948). He didn’t direct his first fiction film until Girls in the Night (1953), a crime drama for Universal. He would direct several of the 1950’s best known science fiction films including It Came From Outer Space, This Island Earth and The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957). In 1959, he directed The Mouse That Roared for Columbia Pictures, a British film starring Peter Sellers and Jean Seberg.

After that he would work almost exclusively in television with only the occasional film. He would direct episodes of Peter Gunn (1959-60), Dr. Kildare (1963), Gilligan’s Island (1964-66), It’s About Time (1966), Love, American Style (1971-72), The Brady Bunch (1970-74) and Love Boat (1977-1984).

The 3-D in the film is really well done almost to the point of distraction. While the film does use 3-D to shoot things off the screen, the technique is used effectively to draw the audience inward, adding layers on the screen rather than outside its confines. It is really quite an effective use of the process.

There were moments that were pretty scary in the movie and they do a pretty good job of building tension, though sometimes it seems like the Creature must have been trained as a ninja, since no one on the boat ever hears him. Over all, I liked The Creature In the Black Lagoon enough to recommend it to anyone who likes classic science fiction. For any director looking for a better way to use 3-D, Creature of the Black Lagoon should be required viewing.

Be sure to check out our other Horror film reviews here.