Instead of watching twenty-five films and reviewing them for Christmas this year like I did for Halloween, I’ve decided to focus on just a few specific holiday favorites. I’m going to provide a brief review of each film and then offer up a few tidbits about the film, its cast or crew, or other interesting bits of information related to the film.
I’ll list four of the films that I plan on reviewing, but you’ll have to wait and see what the rest of them will be whenever I post them. I’ll review one film during the week (probably on Thursday), and one film on each Saturday until Christmas.
The first film that I’ll be reviewing is 1990’s Home Alone. Saturday’s film will be a surprise. Next week I’ll review 1989’s Christmas Vacation. I’ll follow that up with another surprise film over the weekend. Then I’ll review Krampus from 2015. During the week of Christmas, I’ll review 1947’s beloved classic, It’s A Wonderful Life.
Who knows? I might throw in a few other holiday classics or even take a look at a few Christmas songs or albums before the big day arrives. I hope you join me for these reviews and I also hope that you and your family have a great Christmas!
Thanks for reading. Keep your eyes peeled for my first review later this week!
I grew up in the 80’s watching Mid-South Wrestling. Mid-South was just one of the many territorial professional wrestling promotions organized under the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) banner. The NWA experienced multiple highs and lows over its existence and until the late 1980’s, it was the top promotion in North America. Without going too deep into the NWA’s history, many of its member promotions succumbed to the popularity of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) and it was eventually purchased by Billy Corgan (yes, of the Smashing Pumpkins) in 2017.
NWA owner Billy Corgan.
Corgan has steadily expanded the NWA brand, bringing in a mixture of established talent and young, hungry newcomers. He cross promoted with Ring of Honor, Championship Wrestling of Hollywood, and other promotions and continued to grow the brand. Beginning in October of 2019, the promotion began showing NWA Powerrr on YouTube and FITE TV.
David Marquez, Nick Aldis, and Kamille.
The series is a throwback to classic NWA television programming. It features matches recorded before a live studio audience and includes interviews, comedic segments during commercial breaks, and has featured tweets from the general public and popular wrestlers such as Adam Copeland (Edge) and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
Thunder Rosa, Melina, and Marti Belle.
The program usually features four or five matches including the occasional championship defense. Commentary is handled by Joe Galli and, at least until last week, Jim Cornette. Cornette resigned after fans complained about remarks that he made during the 11/19 episode. The remarks have since been edited out of the episode. David Marquez is the announcer and an interviewer as well.
Marquez, Mr. Anderson, and Eli Drake.
There is a lot of banter between the audience and the wrestlers. The constant back-and-forth between the crowd and the stars is reminiscent of the loud and raucous episodes of Mid-South and other old promotions prior to the breaking of kayfabe. Kayfabe has lost a lot of its magic thanks to the internet, but NWA somehow manages to maintain some of that old school feel where everything was real and not staged. (Not sure what “kayfabe” is? Check out a detailed description here.)
Kamille and Nick Aldis.
NWA Powerrr has brought fun back to mainstream professional wrestling. It’s something that has been sorely missed in my opinion. I actually laugh out loud multiple times during the show. That, at least to me, shows just how excellent the roster is for NWA. All of the wrestlers can work the mic and work in the ring. Even though I’ve seen many of these wrestlers live at independent events and on television and have talked on numerous occasions to some of them in person, I buy into their characters while I’m watching the show.
Allysin Kay.
Specifically, I’ve had conversations at events with Ricky Starks and Thunder Rosa. Starks might be a cocky and brash wrestler with some of the best mic skills that I’ve ever seen in my forty-plus years, but in person, he’s one of the friendliest guys you could ever meet. Thunder Rosa is straight up sinister on NWA Powerrr, but I’ve rarely found a wrestler that is as loyal to their fans as she is to her followers. I’ve also seen Trevor Murdoch, Mr. Anderson, the Rock N’ Roll Express, James Storm, and Homicide in live action, and all of these guys have what it takes to keep NWA going for a long time.
Ricky Starks.
The rest of the roster is simply amazing. Nick Aldis, who is almost always seen with Kamille by his side, looks like a throwback NWA champion. While I won’t say that he’s Ric Flair, I will say that he has the same chiseled physique that Flair had in his NWA prime. The Wildcards (Royce Isaacs and Thomas Latimer) draw major heat from the crowd. The only other tag team in NWA’s lineup that might draw more heat, heel heat, would be the Dawsons (Dave and Zane). Much like Aldis, the Dawsons have a classic look to them that reminds me of some of the old school tag teams. Tim Storm, who had a legendary 400-plus day reign as the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion, serves as a bridge between the classic NWA and the new look NWA. Storm is big and strong, and knows how to work extremely well.
Tim Storm.
The Women’s division is headed up by the capable Allysin Kay, the current NWA World Women’s Champion. She’s met a massively popular foe in Thunder Rosa. Despite having watched Thunder Rosa for a few years now, I don’t believe I’ve ever seen be as mean as she is in NWA. With Thunder Rosa is Marti Belle. Belle used to be Kay’s friend, but she quickly turned heel whenever Thunder Rosa arrived on the scene. I look forward to the feud between Thunder Rosa, Belle, and Kay, who appears to have formed a friendship with Ashley Vox, a scrappy wrestler that I remember as being a part of the Sea Stars tag team.
Ashley Vox.
Other stars on the roster include Eli Drake, Jocephus, Colt Cabana, Crystal Rose, the legendary Rock N’ Roll Express, Eddie Kingston, the Question Mark, Melina, and more.
Colt Cabana, Joe Galli, and Mr. Anderson.
If you haven’t checked out NWA Powerrr yet, do so. You won’t regret it. I actually prefer NWA Powerrr over all of the WWE, AEW, and ROH shows. It’s fun, action-packed, and brings me back to Sunday afternoons watching the Rock N’ Roll Express whip up on the Midnight Express.
As always, thanks for reading. Here’s a list of the current NWA champions as of 11/26/19 and prior to the release of the newest episode of NWA Powerrr:
My regular readers know that I spent the entire month of October blogging daily about classic Universal horror films. Doing so left me little time to blog about anything else and aside from my post about the Texas Renaissance Festival, I’ve pretty much been MIA over the last few days. This post will cover a couple of things that I’ve done recently that deserve recognition.
Early in October I attended the Lake Charles Film Festival. I’ve attended this event regularly for a few years now. I ended up helping out with the event in an unofficial capacity and got to check out some great independent films and had the pleasure of meeting John Davey and Michael Gray from the classic 70’s children’s show Shazam! They were extremely nice gentlemen and I even got to talk about boxing with Mr. Davey, a former boxer himself.
I also got to attend the awards ceremony on Saturday, October 5th, and got to photograph the winners as they were given awards by the festival’s founder, Patrick Bennett. The ceremony was held at MacFarlane’s Celtic Pub in downtown Lake Charles. Check out the festival’s Facebook page for information on next year’s event.
Also at the beginning of October, I received my copy of the Cybertronic Spree‘s album Transformers 1986. The album covers tracks from the soundtrack for the classic Transformers film from 1986. I missed an opportunity earlier this year to see the band perform live in the Austin, TX area at Greater Austin Comic Con, but hopefully they’ll be coming to a city closer to me real soon. If you’ve never checked this band out, follow the link above to their Facebook page and prepare to be amazed!
Over the weekend I attended the first ever Beaumont Comic Con. I’ll be completely honest and admit that I had my doubts about this event. I heard absolutely nothing about this convention on television or radio until the Friday before the event. I happened to stumble upon a KBMT Channel 12 live report for the event and watched it. The report gave very little information about the event. On social media, it was hard to find out anything about the event as well until the last couple of days prior to the convention. Most of the posts that I saw were from individuals and groups that were attending the convention or hosting panels. A few individuals even posted negative comments about the event on the event Facebook page. Despite this, I decided to drive across the state line to Texas to check out the convention.
Thankfully the event was pretty good. In fact, it was probably the best-attended first year event in a city the size of Beaumont that I’ve ever been to since I started attending conventions. According to their Facebook page, over 4300 people attended the convention (not including children that were allowed in for free). This is a solid number for an event of this size.
I personally didn’t take that many photographs at the convention. It’s not that there weren’t any cool costumes or things to check out, it’s just that I’ve become one of those people that attend conventions to catch up with old friends and attend panels.
The layout for the convention was deceptive (but in a good way). When walking into the Ford Park convention hall, it looked as if there were tons of activities to do. In actuality, though, the north side of the hall featured four or five rows of vendors, cosplayers, artists, and guests mixed together and the south side was open up with a few more vendors and guests and a large stage for the cosplay contests. There were also some pretty cool customized vehicles as well.
One panel room was located in a separate room in the hall as was a gaming room for those interested in playing RPGs and other board games. The panel selection was slim, but it was full of interesting topics. I attended an 80’s toy panel that was essentially an open discussion about classic 80’s cartoons and the toys that were produced along with them. I won a G.I. Joe Firefly figure by answering a trivia question and having a Rock/Paper/Scissors battle with a gentleman cosplaying as Peter B. Parker from Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse. The panel was hosted by another upcoming Texas convention, Nerd Con.
Sadly I was unable to attend the convention on Sunday, but photos from friends and others on social media showed me that the convention had another successful day. I have to say that I was amazed at the size of the crowd based upon the lack of publicity for the event. Word of mouth and the fact that this was the first event of its kind in Beaumont are probably the most logical reasons for the size of the crowd. Thankfully the event seems to have been a success and I hope to return to the convention next year.
One final note: I watched Joker during its opening week in October. This film was amazing. It is not a happy film, nor is it an action movie. It’s a brutal, unapologetic look into the life of a man suffering from abuse on multiple levels, the failure of society to help him, and his ultimate breakdown that causes him to stir a revolution in Gotham City. It’s the first film that I’ve ever witnessed in a theater where the entire audience walked out speechless. It’s a movie that stays with you for days long after the credits have rolled.
I’ve decided to review the film with spoilers once it is released on Blu-ray. It deserves more attention than a brief note at the end of a blog post that is a mixture of things that I was unable to cover properly. Look for that review soon.
In the meantime, I’ll be posting more reviews and my thoughts on the pop culture world around me. I’ve got a few things to say about DC Universe, Titans, and a few other shows and films I’ve watched on various streaming services. I also plan to eventually cover Universal Monsters collectables and games as promised in October.
As always, thank you for reading my post. Talk to all of you real soon!
I’ve been attending the Texas Renaissance Festival (TRF) faithfully for ten years. I only missed one year due to circumstances beyond my control. I love TRF more than pretty much every other event that I attend on a regular basis. It has something for everyone.
I start the festival each year by doing one of two things: 1) If I arrive early enough for the opening cannon, I watch Clan Tynker perform or 2) if I arrive later in the morning, I head to the Magic Garden, stroll around for a bit, and take a photo with the lovely lady behind me in the photo above. I jokingly refer to her as “a topless chick in Texas” and have taken a photo with her every time I visit TRF.
The Magic Garden is my favorite spot at the festival. It’s the quietest place on the grounds and you never know when you might run into a fairie while walking along the path. One of my fondest memories of TRF is the time that my daughter and I found a fairie peaking at us through the bushes. My daughter sat among the lush flora with the fairie and took a photo with her. The fairie was so kind and sweet to my daughter and put a smile on her face. As we strolled along, we found more fairies in the trees, along the path, and playing by the fairie throne (which was replaced this year).
After enjoying a few moments in the garden, I returned to the bustling festival grounds and ate some Irish nachos (cheese fries) for lunch. Then I caught my favorite show, Clan Tynker. I love Clan Tynker to death. They are my favorite performers at TRF and always will be. They are funny, family-friendly, and genuinely appear to love performing for the crowd. They always amaze me with their juggling, music, comedy, and magic. I recently started taking selfies with the individual members of the group. So far I have a photo with Serendipity and Santiago. This year I added Rebekah to my collection! I’ll add Sam and Elijah very soon.
I attended more shows throughout the day including the Fire Whip Show, Birds of Prey, Tartanic, and Ded Bob. I then made my way to the Agora to see two more of my favorite shows: Cirque Olympus and Gypsy Dance Theatre. If you’ve never checked out Cirque Olympus, do yourself a favor and add them to your itinerary for your next trip to TRF. I only discovered them last year. They perform excellent aerial acts, gymnastics, and juggling sets. They are also very funny and interact heavily with the crowd.
On the surface, Gypsy Dance Theatre looks like nothing more than a bunch of lovely ladies belly dancing for the crowd. While they definitely belly dance, they also engage the crowd with laugh-out-loud humor and silly antics. Oh, and their band is awesome! I own a couple of their CDs and highly recommend that you check their work out. Also, if you attend their live show, be sure to check out their yupkas! They encourage you to look at them!
As the day started to wind down, I made my way to the front gates. TRF is always fun. I love attending this festival. In fact, I love it so much that I’m considering moving to the area when I retire so that I can attend all of the festival weekends. Check out a few more photos that I took at the festival this year and let me know if you’ve ever been to TRF in the comments!
As always, thanks for reading. Feel free to share this post with other folks interested in attending this or any other Renaissance festival.
“All astronomers are amateurs. When it comes to the heavens, there’s only one professional”
What can I say about 1941’s The Wolf Man that I haven’t said before. I love this film. It’s my favorite horror movie, favorite werewolf movie, and one of my top five favorite films of all time. Lon Chaney, Jr. nailed the character of Lawrence Talbot and owned the werewolf for every other classic Universal Horror film that he appeared in as a part of the cast. The film also features Claude Rains, Evelyn Ankers, and Bela Lugosi, three legendary actors in their own right.
The film’s plot is very simple on the surface. Lawrence Talbot, often called Larry, returns home to mourn the loss of his brother with his father, Sir John Talbot (Claude Rains), falls for a lovely local named Gwen (Evelyn Ankers), gets bitten by a werewolf (Bela Lugosi) while attempting to save Gwen’s friend, Jenny (Fay Helm), becomes a werewolf, and is then hunted down by the locals. That sounds pretty basic, right? Well, the story is much deeper than that.
Larry’s relationship with his father is tense, making for some friction between them. Larry spies on Gwen before talking to her and does his best to wedge himself between her and her fiancee, Frank Andrews (Patric Knowles). After being bitten, Larry is offered help from an old gypsy woman named Maleva (Maria Ouspenskaya), but he initially blows her off. This action allows him to become the Wolf Man and ends in murder. Larry then realizes that he truly is a werewolf and he spirals into misery, begging for help.
Larry Talbot is, in my opinion, one of the most complex characters in all of Universal’s classic horror films. Larry isn’t necessarily a likeable character, but Chaney does such a great job of showing us just how miserable the character is that the audience wants him to be saved and feels sorry for him.
I also believe that Claude Rains’ performance never gets the attention that it deserves. He almost steals the movie from Chaney with his performance in my opinion. Evelyn Ankers, who appeared in multiple films with Chaney, also shines in this movie, making Gwen an enjoyable character that deserves almost as much pity as Larry. Her chemistry with Chaney is amazing. Maria Ouspenskaya also deserves some praise for her role as Maleva. The rest of the cast, especially Bela Lugosi and Fay Helm in their limited roles, do a great job of winning over the audience.
The film’s cinematography is excellent. It works as an additional character in the film in my opinion. It’s atmospheric, spooky, and uses shadows to play with the audience’s mind. Director George Waggner uses interesting angles to show us action without actually showing it to us and this only adds to the atmospheric elements at work in the film.
I love this film. I could talk about it and why I love it until I die. Of all of the Universal Monsters, the Wolf Man is my favorite. If you haven’t seen this film, I highly recommend viewing it. I’ll come over and watch it with you if you’d like. It’s absolutely wonderful.
Well, that’s it. Thirty-one days of classic Universal horror. I hope that you’ve enjoyed reading my posts about these films as much as I’ve enjoyed writing them. I still plan on reviewing games and collector items featuring these classic monsters, so be on the lookout for those posts in the near future.
Thanks for taking this month-long ride with me. Happy Halloween!
Abbott and Costello Meet The Invisible Man finds the popular comedic duo facing off with a man on the run for a murder that he didn’t commit. Released in 1951, the film is my personal favorite of all of the Abbott and Costello Meet…. films released by Universal.
The film stars Bud Abbott and Lou Costello as two recent graduates of detective school that take on a case to find Tommy Nelson, a boxer wanted for the murder of his manager. Luckily for them, Nelson walks into their office and demands their assistance. Costello reluctantly agrees to help him and Abbott tries unsuccessfully to turn Nelson in to the police. Abbott would repeatedly do this throughout the film.
With the help of his fiancee Helen Gray (Nancy Guild) and her uncle, Dr. Philip Gray (Gavin Muir), Nelson is made invisible in order to avoid the police until he can prove his innocence. In a direct reference to the first The Invisible Man film, a photo of Claude Rains as Dr. John Griffin is shown in Gray’s office. The film also brings back the potential for going mad if one stays invisible for too long.
Abbott and Costello help Nelson find the true murderers and set up a scheme to catch them in the act. Costello poses as a boxer while Tommy Nelson actually does the fighting in the ring. To stop them, promoter Morgan (Sheldon Leonard), sends in Boots Marsden (Adele Jergens) to convince Costello to lose the fight.
The film comes to a head whenever Costello battles Rocky Hanlon (John Daheim). Does Lou win the fight? Does Abbott survive posing as the manager in the scheme? You’ll have to watch Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man to find out!
The film features a number of classic Abbott and Costello gags. At one point in the film, the duo are paid $500 to throw the fight. Abbott goes to put the cash in his pocket, but Lou tricks him into putting it into his pocket. The pair go back and forth swapping the money as Costello breaks the fourth wall with a dozen smirks and eye rolls. Costello breaks the fourth wall multiple times in the film. The film also uses invisibility in a number of the gags as well.
Of all of the Abbott and Costello Meets… films, this one seems to have the best balance of plot, comedy, and action. It’s a very fun film that had me laughing out loud at times. There’s no real horror element to the movie despite Nelson exhibiting a few manic attributes as he stays invisible. The plot is also very similar to The Invisible Man Returns (1940) featuring Vincent Price, who portrays a character that is framed for murder as well.
Thanks for reading my post. I have ONE MORE POST left for my Thirty-One Days O’Horror marathon. See you tomorrow!
1943’s Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man gave us the first team up of Universal Monsters. 1944’s The House of Frankenstein added Dracula to the fray (at least temporarily) and would continue these team ups in later films starting with House of Dracula (1945).
Boris Karloff stars not as Frankenstein’s monster (that would be Glenn Strange, making his debut in the role), but as Dr. Niemann, a mad scientist imprisoned for his cruel and unethical work similar to that of Dr. Frankenstein, who escapes from prison with his new friend, a timid hunchback named Daniel (J. Carrol Naish). Promising to give Daniel a better body, the duo ambush a traveling horror show run by Professor Lampini (George Zucco). They murder Lampini and his assistant, and take over identities. Lampini had the bones of Dracula (John Carradine) in his show, and Neimann frees the vampire from his coffin and uses him to murder one of the men, Burgermeister Hussman (Sig Ruman), that had him imprisoned fifteen years before. Dracula also attempts to take the Burgermeister’s granddaughter (Anne Gwynne) as his eternal love interest but fails. In the crazy chase that happens as a result of Dracula’s attempt, the vampire is trapped in the sunlight just outside of his coffin and dies.
Neimann and Daniel make a run for it as well and head to Frankenstein’s destroyed laboratory. They unearth Frankenstein’s monster and the Wolf Man, Lawrence Talbot (Lon Chaney, Jr.), while looking for Dr. Frankenstein’s notes and Neimann decides to use the monster to kill even more people. He tells Larry Talbot that he can save him as well, but wants to use his brain for revenge in reality.
Along the way, Daniel saves a beautiful gypsy woman, Ilonka (Elena Verdugo), who ends up falling in love with Larry Talbot. This makes Daniel jealous of Larry and he demands that Neimiann give him a better body. Neimann lies to Daniel to buy himself sometime to revive the monster.
Neimann’s plans start to unravel as Larry transforms into the Wolf Man, and murders Ilonka, who manages to kill the Wolf Man with a silver bullet just before she dies. Enraged, Daniel attacks Neimann, blaming him for wasting too much time on the monster instead of helping him and the Wolf Man. The monster awakens and fights off Daniel, killing him in the process.
A good ol’ fashioned Universal mob forms and raids Neimann’s laboratory. Fearing for their lives, the monster grabs Neimann and runs out into the night. Unsure of where he is going, the monster blindly runs into quicksand, ignoring Neimann’s pleas to stop. He and Neimann are taken under by the quicksand and the film ends.
This was definitely an interesting movie, but it felt rushed and a tad disjointed as most team up flicks do. It’s as if Universal wanted to cram as much monster madness into a film as they could, but ultimately they just wasted Dracula and Frankenstein and continued poor Larry Talbot’s quest for death. It’s a shame, too, as Carradine did a much better job as the count in this film than he would end up doing in House of Dracula.
The film was successful enough that Universal would milk the trio of monsters again in House of Dracula and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. None of these ensemble films are exceptionally great. I prefer to watch the monsters in their individual films instead.
Give The House of Frankenstein a shot if for no other reason than to see the first film to feature Dracula, the Wolf Man, and Frankenstein’s monster all in one film.
Thanks for reading. I’ve only got two films left to watch and review for the month!
In the second to last film that they would make together, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello dig up some laughs in 1955’s Abbott And Costello Meet The Mummy. The movie isn’t as funny as some of their other films, but it’s still a pretty serviceable comedy.
Trying to get out of Egypt, Abbott and Costello attempt to hitch a ride with a mummy back to the United States. Instead, they walk into a murder, recover a medallion that leads to hidden treasure in the tomb of Princess Ara, and become caught in the crossfire between two groups after the medallion.
The duo bumble their way through Cairo and the tomb of the princess, dodging a greedy woman named Madame Rontru (Marie Windsor) and her thugs, the leader of the cult of Klaris (the mummified protector of Ara) named Semu (Richard Deacon), and the revived mummy of Klaris (Eddie Parker).
Abbott and Costello cycle through a number of routines in the film including one in which they attempt to slip each other the medallion once they learn that it is cursed. They also revisit one of their most famous routines (Who’s On First?) while fighting over a shovel and a pick. At numerous times in the movie, Costello breaks the fourth wall by staring directly at the audience in disbelief.
One running gag throughout the film is Costello playing a flute and charming a snake. Eventually Abbott gets a chance to charm a snake and, instead, charms a lady. Costello, jealous, attempts to charm a lady for himself. The result is quite funny.
Klaris really doesn’t have much of a role in this film. He shuffles about and almost catches a few people, but he’s mainly window dressing for the comedy bits of Abbott and Costello. Windsor vamps things up and Deacon plays a pretty good foil to her plans, but ultimately this is sort of a bland film. The gags are funny but forgettable and while I didn’t feel as if I wasted my time watching this movie, I have no desire to watch it again any time soon.
Abbott And Costello Meet The Mummy was okay. The comedic pair definitely have better films under their belts, but this one is at least worth checking out once. It neither adds nor takes away from the Mummy franchise nor does it really add anything to Universal’s Monster Legacy. It’s simply a decent movie with decent laughs.
I’ve got three more days left in my Thirty-One Days O’Horror event. I’ve really enjoyed watching these movies over the month of October. I viewed some of them for the very first time. I viewed others so many times before that I’ve lost count. Watching these films has given me ideas about more posts in the future. I won’t reveal those ideas now, but be on the lookout in the coming months for posts focusing on other aspects of these films.
As always, thanks for reading my post. Three…..more….days!
After three relatively unrelated sequels that bore little resemblance to the first The Invisible Man film, 1944’s The Invisible Man’s Revenge brings murder and power-hungry insanity back into the story. Jon Hall, who starred in The Invisible Agent two years prior, returns as a new character, Robert Griffin, who isn’t related to any of the Griffins that appeared in the first two films. Instead, he’s a murderous man intent on forcing a family to give him all of their wealth and their daughter’s hand in marriage.
Griffin becomes invisible by tricking a scientist, Dr. Drury (John Carradine), into believing that he will help the doctor in his invisibility research. In reality, Griffin plans on using the invisibility to force the Herricks, Sir Jasper and Lady Irene (Lester Matthews and Gale Sondergaard), to give over a part of their estate and their daughter, Julie (Evelyn Ankers), in marriage. Now, the Herricks are far from innocent in this affair (you’ll have to watch the film to find out more about them), and their own deception drives Griffin even more insane.
Helping Griffin and adding some much needed humor to the story is Leon Errol as Herbert Higgins, an opportunistic cobbler who is low on money and sees his partnership with Griffin as a way to increase his cash flow. There is a hilarious sequence in the film where Griffin helps Higgins win a dart game in order to make rent for the month.
Griffin learns from Dr. Drury that he can become visible with a blood transfusion. The only problem with that is that the donor has to die because they must be drained of their blood. Drury proves this with a transfusion that he gives to his loyal dog, Brutus, who plays a key role later in the film.
In Griffin’s way stands a reporter named Mark Foster (Alan Curtis), who happens to be engaged to Julie. He quickly figures out who Griffin is and what he’s really up to, and the duo battle one another as Griffin attempts to take Foster’s blood in order to become visible once again.
It was refreshing to see a return to horror with The Invisible Man’s Revenge. Jon Hall, John Carradine, and the rest of the cast did excellent jobs. Despite Griffin being a clear cut villain in the film, the Herrick family wasn’t necessarily as pure as the driven snow, either. Dr. Drury appeared to mean well, but he gets caught up into Griffin’s terrible plan and may or may not pay a severe price.
I really liked this film. It is often seen as Universal’s last major attempt to bleed out a little more money from the The Invisible Man franchise, but it’s still a very good film in my opinion. Give the film a chance. You just might like it.
Thanks for reading. I’ll have something a little lighter for you all to check out in tomorrow’s Thirty-One Days O’Horror entry!
I have something special for my readers today. As I’ve been charging through the month of October by watching Universal Monster classic films and reviewing them, I noticed that a thirty-second film deserved a little bit of the spotlight as well. That film is 1931’s Spanish version of Dracula. Not wanting to ignore this film, I’ve decided to place it into a double feature with 1932’s The Mummy. Let’s go!
The Mummy (1932)
Having already established himself as an icon of horror with Frankenstein (1931), Boris Karloff was an easy choice to portray Imhotep in The Mummy. His slow pace, both physically on the screen and in line delivery, gave his performance an added touch of wickedness.
The film also starred the strikingly beautiful Zita Johann as Helen, a lady that Imhotep believes is the reincarnated form of his beloved Ankh-es-en-amon. Other members of the cast included Arthur Byron as Sir Joseph Whemple, David Manners as Frank Whemple, Helen’s suitor, and Bramwell Fletcher in the brief role of Ralph Norton, a man driven insane when he witnesses the rise of Imhotep from his sarcophagus.
In the film, Imhotep’s mummified body is discovered by Sir Joseph Whimple’s expedition. They also discover the Scroll of Thoth, a scroll that is believed to contain the secret to eternal life. After Norton reads the scroll, he unwittingly releases Imhotep from his mummified prison. Imhotep’s eyes opening has become one of the most iconic moments in film history.
Later, Imhotep has taken on the alias of Ardath Bey and shows Frank Whemple where he can find the tomb of Ankh-es-en-amon. He then sets out to murder Helen, mummify her, and then resurrect her with the Scroll of Thoth so that they can be together for eternity.
Helen proves to be stronger than Imhotep believed and she ends up saving herself by praying to Isis for help. This was a great rarity in all early Hollywood films. In most cases, the “damsel-in-distress” is saved by the male hero, but in The Mummy, Helen does most of the work herself.
The film featured elaborate sets and wonderful visuals. Of all of the Universal Monster films, The Mummy was definitely one of the most beautiful to watch on the screen. As excellent as the film was, however, there was apparently a lot of turmoil behind the scenes between Zita Johann and the director, Karl Freund. The pair locked horns often, with Freund regularly attempting to have Johann removed from the film. One of his most famous attempts to have her leave the film was that he told her that she would have to perform the sacrifice scene nude from the waist up. He believed that she would balk at this and quit the film. Instead, she agreed to it, but only if Freund could get the scene okayed by the censors.
Jack Pierce handled the makeup on the film and, in true Pierce fashion, he did a great job. Karloff spent many hours in the makeup chair for the film. His most famous moment in the makeup, however, only lasted for a few minutes. He spends most of the film in a “living” form as Ardath Bey.
The Mummy is an excellent film. It’s beautiful, features solid acting, and is a real treat to watch. Karloff and Johann own the screen and it’s fun to see them perform.
Dracula (1931, Spanish Version)
Filmed on the same sets as the better known Dracula featuring Bela Lugosi, 1931’s Spanish version of Dracula is just as worthy of viewing. The film features Carlos Villarias as Conde Dracula, Lupita Tovar as Eva Seward (Mina Seward in the English version), Barry Norton as Juan Harker, Eduardo Arozamena as Professor Van Helsing, and Pablo Alvarez Rubio as Renfield. It was directed by George Melford.
The film’s plot is exactly the same as the Lugosi version directed by Tod Browning with help from Freund, who was the English version’s cinematographer. The differences are found in the acting, cinematography, and overall atmosphere of the film.
Villarias’ Count was more animalistic than Lugosi’s smooth predator. Like Lugosi, Villarias’ eyes were heavily focused on throughout the film. While Lugosi seemed to be a constant gentleman, Villarias’ eyes led one to believe that he was a dignified man that could quickly turn into a beast. Villarias was quicker with his line delivery as well, which gave his Conde a different look and feel.
Tovar’s Eva Seward was much warmer than Helen Chandler’s Mina Seward in the English version of the film. She showed more emotion and, much like Villarias, was more animalistic and even seductive as Eva after she was attacked by Dracula. Tovar was dressed more scantily as well, pushing censorship limits for the time.
Norton’s Juan Harker was a tad bit cardboard at times. Though, to be honest, he and David Manners (Jonathan Harker in the English version), weren’t given a whole lot to do with their roles.
Rubio tore through his role as the psychotic Renfield. He proved to be just as effective as Dwight Frye in the English version. Frye is one of my favorite actors in all of Universal’s Monster films, but Rubio gave a more savage performance as Renfield. He appeared wilder, more aggressive, and, ultimately, more sympathetic. The rest of the cast was strong, but Arozamena wasn’t as solid as Edward Van Sloan was as Van Helsing.
Melford’s touch could be seen all over the film. It was a brighter film overall compared to the English version and Melford’s use of different angles, pans, and zooms gave the movie an entirely different feel compared to the English version. It’s as if Melford was allowed to take more risks and push more limits. This makes the film one of Universal’s best movies visually.
While it may never be remembered as fondly or as with as much admiration as the English Dracula, Melford’s Dracula is definitely just as amazing. The wilder nature of Dracula and Eva, the wonderful cinematography, and the added touches of atmosphere such as a few longer screams (specifically in the death of Dracula) and the smoke rising from the coffin with Dracula at the beginning of the film, give audiences plenty of reasons to watch the Spanish version of Dracula and its better known English counterpart.
Thanks for checking out my double feature! Another review is coming your way tomorrow. Also be on the lookout for a couple of reviews of items related to the Universal Monsters in the next couple of days!
Ken's Alternate Universe! 