Fox Horror Classics

[HerrSchreck]

That must've been one of those days where I combed & styled my feet and put my fucking head in my shoes: I meant "Halloween". Thats when the majors start pushing boxes around to get to those dusty prints way in the back to put together their annual horror boxes.

But this is even earlier than that-- good find Lino. I am so there. That friend of mine with the house built of analog tapes is going to hafta change hanky's from weeping tears of $-loss as well as joy-- the original chandu is extremely rare and his Mystery Vhs fed a lot of dvd-r's (and boot vhs's back inna day). It was also one of his favorite horror films.

[Scharphedin2]

With no date committed, you can be sure we'll be seeing this on Thanksgiving.

Nope. A lot sooner. Confirmation here.

Except that announcement lists the set as a 3-film deal (Dragonwyck / Chandu / Dr. Renault) with no Manhunt included.

[domino harvey]

There's like one scene with a ghost in Dragonwyck, and it's not really meant to be taken literally. It's an amazing movie but putting it a horror line is just setting unwitting consumers up for a disappointment.

[Lino]

With no date committed, you can be sure we'll be seeing this on Thanksgiving.

Nope. A lot sooner. Confirmation here.

Except that announcement lists the set as a 3-film deal (Dragonwyck / Chandu / Dr. Renault) with no Manhunt included.

Precisely. Go for the (very good) extras here. Fox strikes again.

[domino harvey]

I'm pretty happy with my Optimum Dragonwyck, but I might Netflix this one to rip the radio program. Or should I be interested in the other two titles? They sound awful but can someone make a strong recommendation?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

With no date committed, you can be sure we'll be seeing this on Thanksgiving.

Nope. A lot sooner. Confirmation here.

Except that announcement lists the set as a 3-film deal (Dragonwyck / Chandu / Dr. Renault) with no Manhunt included.

The announcement posted in this thread about the 4 films to be released does not say it was going to be a set of 4. It merely says the 4 films are going to be released. Manhunt could still come out separately.

[HerrSchreck]

I'm pretty happy with my Optimum Dragonwyck, but I might Netflix this one to rip the radio program. Or should I be interested in the other two titles? They sound awful but can someone make a strong recommendation?

Chandu is not awful at all! It's helmed by WC Menzies, and if you like vintage fantasy films, this thing is a total hoot. It's been a few yrs since I've seen it, but the special effects are really good for the day, and there's some wonderfully creeping, gliding roaming camera scenes, particularly if I remember correct deep inside an egypian tomb.

In this one Lugosi (if you dig Lugosi as much as I do.. and I really do, this films obligatory) is not yet playing Chandu, but the villain himself named Roxor.

If you like vintage 1930's horror/fantasy/precode serials etc (not to mention if you like the Charlie Chans, the Mr Motos etc from the 30's) then you have to see the original Chandu.

[Lino]

Extras

Artwork

[nycmagus]

DRAGONWYCK as horror is more than a bit of a stretch. The horrors the film depicts are the usual Mankiewiczean ones of class and gender manipulation.

But having another Mankiewicz film restored on dvd is more than worth the mislabeling.

[nycmagus]

I have the French dvd version from Carlotta. It is okay, but I am hoping for more from the R1. The great thing about the Carlotta is the Michel Ciment interview with JLM that is included.

Now we just need THE LATE GEORGE APLEY, ESCAPE, 5 FINGERS (in the Carlotta set but not restored), and THE HONEY POT. I am most concerned about THE HONEY POT since I am not sure who has the rights at present. SLEUTH is also a problem since it is oop and the man who owns the rights is difficult to deal with I am told.

[Miguel M Santos]

Now we just need THE LATE GEORGE APLEY, ESCAPE, 5 FINGERS (in the Carlotta set but not restored), and THE HONEY POT. I am most concerned about THE HONEY POT since I am not sure who has the rights at present.

There was a Spanish release of THE HONEY POT a few years ago. Not brilliant, but since I love the film it does the job. It had a recent UA logo at the beginning, so they might hold the rights

[nycmagus]

Miguel: Good to know there are HONEY POT lovers around. I will see if I can get the Spanish dvd.

HONEY POT is one of three JLM independent productions -- the other two are THE BAREFOOT CONTESSSA and THE QUIET AMERICAN. The latter two ended up being owned by UA when he sold Figaro as part of his deal to make CLEOPATRA. But THE HONEY POT comes after CLEOPATRA and was released by United Artists, but produced/owned by a company set up by Charles Feldman. It is all very confusing from the little I have been able to figure out. The prints in circulation are terrible.

[rohmerin]

sadly Honey Pot is OOP in Spain.

5 fingers, you can find it in Spain for 6 euros. I've both burned because I want the original American releases, when they will be released...

http://www.dvdgo.com/product~catgid~776 ... icerón.htm

[nycmagus]

Mais oui, mon cher David, mais oui. But how often is Mankiewicz anything less than terrific?

5 FINGERS is JLM's transition to genre filmmaker which would be the key in which he played [out] the second half of his directing career (though he never rested in one genre for any length of time). It was a smart strategy that allowed him to keep making Mankiewicz films within a rapidly changing Hollywood system.

[dr. calamari]

Well, I just received the Fox Horror Classics Volume 1 today, so we'll be having a July 4th Horrorfest at Chez Calamari tomorrow night. I've been looking forward to the 2 Laird Cregar films for a long time, not so much the "wolfman" movie...but who knows, maybe it will turn out to be better than it looks.

Anyone else have any impressions to add? Opinions? Invective?

[Si Parallel Universe]

Well, I just received the Fox Horror Classics Volume 1 today, so we'll be having a July 4th Horrorfest at Chez Calamari tomorrow night. I've been looking forward to the 2 Laird Cregar films for a long time, not so much the "wolfman" movie...but who knows, maybe it will turn out to be better than it looks.

Anyone else have any impressions to add? Opinions? Invective?

The "wolfman" flick looks like a cheap Hound Of the Baskervilles rip off but the two Laird Cregar titles make up for it by miles. IMHO.

[HerrSchreck]

These films were among my most major discoveries of 2007. John Brahm in these films registers a visual style well tributing his dp's mentor, Joe von Sternberg. These films are absolutely wonderful. See back a page or so for my groans of pleasure upon my first seeing them.

[dr. calamari]

Well, so far I've watched Undying Monster and The Lodger, and I can say that I wish John Brahm had been pushed into making films noir, he was defiinitely a master of setting mood using the camera. He also managed to stay out of Laird Cregar's way in The Lodger...evidently Brahm was as good an "actor's director" as he was a craftsman, and it shows in this picture.

Undying Monster was OK for what it was, and looked about 100% better production value-wise than comparable pictures at Universal. It fell short in the make-up department, though...the monster getup was pretty weak. Not every studio had a Jack Pierce on staff, I guess. Also, the last shot of the monster's face was really weird, optics-wise...it's like it was superimposed over a stuntman's face, or something.

I look forward to watching Hangover Square later this week.

[dr. calamari]

Calamari, surely Brahm IS already in Noir territory with Hangover Square, despite the costume setting. Laird Cregar brings the torments of his personality through his big acting style to every movie he made (even Heaven Can Wait) and this is peak Cregar, very fulsomely served by Brahm.

And of course the Locket is quintessential RKO Noir. Here Brahm has arguably the studio's best DP in Nick Musuraca, just as Fox gave him the sublime Joseph La Shelle for Hangover (and the Lodger.)

I don't doubt that Brahm is in noir territory, I just tend to have a narrower definition of "noir", and consider historical dramas a different kind of animal. Hangover Square looks more like it would belong to whatever genre RKO's The Body Snatcher falls into. Which won't diminish my enjoyment of it, I'm sure... the Brahm films are as much a treat for me as the Val Lewton Collection was a couple of years ago. We really do live in the best of times, at least insofar as all these great films are now available on DVD.

[HerrSchreck]

Do you know The Locket? A total masterpiece! (And the cable prints are terrific.)

Nyet. Unfortunately!

[Haggai]

I don't doubt that Brahm is in noir territory, I just tend to have a narrower definition of "noir", and consider historical dramas a different kind of animal. Hangover Square looks more like it would belong to whatever genre RKO's The Body Snatcher falls into. Which won't diminish my enjoyment of it, I'm sure... the Brahm films are as much a treat for me as the Val Lewton Collection was a couple of years ago. We really do live in the best of times, at least insofar as all these great films are now available on DVD.

Hangover Square is probably more "noir" than The Lodger, as you'll see when you get a chance to watch it. I'd put it somewhere between noir and the type of gothic horror exemplified by The Body Snatcher (which I also love). Storywise, the noir feeling of HS comes in part from the Linda Darnell character, who's definitely a femme fatale type. The way the story handles Laird Cregar's involvement with her could have been a little more noir than it turned out to be, which I'll spoilerize for now because dr. c hasn't seen it yet:

Spoiler

She tempts away from his true calling, symphonic composition, to writing pub/dance hall songs for her, but she's just using him to get ahead, which is a classically noir femme fatale character arc. It could have been more "noir" if that had somehow damaged his composing career and left him penniless, with her sexual temptation exercising a corrupting and damaging influence on his musical identity, but that's not how it plays out. It would have required a somewhat different story construction to make that approach work with the rest of the script.

Amusingly for us modern day audiences, the show he writes for her is called "Gay Love," as seen on the theater posters. Like I said, it would have been more "noir" if that show had flopped and left him in the gutter. But the theatrical posters advertise the fact that "Gay Love" has turned out to be a huge hit!

[souvenir]

And of course the Locket is quintessential RKO Noir. Here Brahm has arguably the studio's best DP in Nick Musuraca, just as Fox gave him the sublime Joseph La Shelle for Hangover (and the Lodger.)

Seconded on The Locket. Is there another film with its structure of flashback upon flashback upon flashback? The TCM print I watched the last time it aired didn't look that great, though, if memory serves. A little soft and dirty.

[HerrSchreck]

Epstein's Glace a trois faces, for sure. The question is bugging me because I just recently watched a film which I commented to my girlfriend that it was filled with so many ellipses-- within ellipses-- that it was like a goddam chinese box. But I cant for the life of me remember what it was.

[otis]

Passage to Marseille?

[zedz]

I think at one point in Pasolini's Arabian Nights - the animal parable -you get down to the fourth or fifth inset narrative layer (somebody telling a story in which somebody tells a story in which somebody tells a story. . .)

Oh, and The Saragossa Manuscript, of course!