Here you will find the trailers and clips of Universal Studio's Classic
Horror Movies. Enjoy!
Dracula (1931)
"I am Dracula....I bid you, welcome".
The story begins as Dracula (Bela Lugosi) is preparing to embark
for London and his new home, Carfax Abbey. A young real estate agent, Mr. Renfield (Dwight Frye), has been sent to have
Dracula sign the closing paper and help with the move. Unfortunately for Renfield, Dracula has decided to enslave him, making
him into a ghoul. Dracula than charters a boat and off they sail to London. Upon the ships arrival, all the crew is discovered
dead and a lone raving lunatic (Mr. Renfield) found on board is taken to a near by sanitarium.
Next, Dracula
begins his pursue of human victims on the streets of London. It seem that his neighbors have caught his eye and he entrances
young Lucy with his devilish stare, but his ultimate goal is to seduce Mina (Helen Chandler) into his world of darkness.
This battle with evil calls for famed vampire hunter, Dr. Van Helsing (Edward van Sloan), to come and save the day.
He quickly determines Dracula's true desires and sets out to destroy this creature of the night.
Dwight
Frye gives an excellent performance as Renfield, a man enslaved by Dracula. At the end, he has just enough of his mortal soul
left to reveal the truth about his master and his hiding place. His betrayal brings his death, but also his freedom. Will
Mina be saved, or does Dracula's blood truly fill her veins?
Based on Bram
Stoker's novel "Dracula" which is celebrating the 100th anniversary of its publication this year. The first screen version of Dracula came with
the 1922 German silent film, "Nosferatu: A Symphony of Terror." With Universal's Dracula, Bela Lugosi established
himself as the definitive screen vampire setting the standards for all followed. Tod Browning directed this classic
and would later go onto direct the controversial movie, "Freaks" the following year. Jack Pierce
provided the make-up and than went to make his mark on"Frankenstein". Although
not as true to Stoker's version as the more recent "Bram Stoker's Dracula", this version
was a well-crafted classic that help to aid the foundation for horror.
Egypt 1921.
A British archeological expenditure lead by Sir Joseph Whemple (Arthur Bryon) has unearthed the remain of Im-Ho-Tep, high
priest of Egypt. He had been condemned and buried alive for sacrilege against the gods. Also found in the tomb is the
"Scroll of Thoth", which carries with it a deadly curse. When a young archeologist reads aloud from the scroll, he
inadvertently brings the MUMMY back to life.
Egypt 1932. Ten years after
his father's failed expedition, young Frank Whemple (David Manners) has returned to conduct his own dig. Along the way,
he meets the eccentric and mysterious Ardeth Bey (Boris Karloff), who helps direct him to the final resting place of Princess
Anck-es-an-Amon.
As the scene flashes back to modern Cario, we meet the very beautiful Helen Grosvenor (Zita Johann),
who is the living incarnate of the Princess. She instantly catches the eye of both Frank and Ardeth. While using his dark
powers, Bey tries to lure her into an eternal union of living death. Only with the help fame occultist Dr. Miller (Edward
Van Sloan), can Frank have any hope of saving Helen and stopping the MUMMY.
Fueled by the
public's interest in ancient Egypt (ala discovery of King Tut (aka TUTANKHATEN) in 1922) and following the birth
of two highly successful horror franchises with "Dracula" (1931) and "Frankenstein" (1931), Universal decided to bring "The Mummy" to the silver screen. First-time director Karl
Freund ("Metropolis", "Dracula") built upon his strengths in cinematography in bringing to life "The Mummy". Karloff,
just as he had done in "Frankenstein", crafted a villainous character that even the audience could feel sorry as his searches for lost love. This
film should be celebrated as another masterpiece in horror movie history. The first and still the best mummy movie!!!!
Based on the classic Mary Shelley's
novel "Frankenstein" . This film along with "Dracula", which were released the same year, helped to establish horror as a legitimate
genre. The film opens with a man in a tuxedo (Edward van Sloan) delivering a warning to all.....
"How do you do? Mr. Carl Laemmle [the producer] feels
it would be a little unkind to present this picture without just a word of friendly warning. We are about to unfold the story
of Frankenstein, a man of science who sought to create a man after his own image without reckoning upon God. It is one of
the strangest tales ever told. It deals with the two great mysteries of creation - life and death. I think it will thrill
you. It may shock you. It might even horrify you. So if any of you feel that you do not care to subject your nerves to such
a strain, now's your chance to -uh, well, we warned you."
This helped
to prepare the audience for what lied ahead and was a tremendous marketing ploy. A classic example of man trying to play God
with the usual deadly results. Dr. Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) experiments with creating artificial life. His parts came
grave robbing. "It's alive, alive" he yells.....yes, but it is more monster than man. Frankenstein (Boris Karloff)
is a startling, grotesque, and gruesome figure, about seven feet tall with broad shoulders. Jack Pierce did a wonderful job
creating the make-up for the Monster. He made the look of Frankenstein as American as apple pie.
Unfortunately the Monster never asked for life
and reacts violent towards it. Escaping the lab, the Monster ventures out into the country site. This lead to one of Frankenstein's
most controversial scenes which only until recently has been restored. The Monster attempts to make friends with a little
peasant girl named Maria, playing by the bank of a lake. She is not repelled by his appearance or fearful of him and invites
him to play. She takes his hand and leads him to the side of the lakewhere they kneel. One by one, they toss flower petals onto the surface
of the lake, watching them float.
When the Monster's few flower blossoms
are gone, he innocently and ignorantly picks up Maria and throws her in the water - expecting that she, too, will float like
the flower petals. She flounders and splashes in the water and quickly drowns. Ashe staggers away from the
lake, the monster seems to express some confusion, shaking and wringing his hands and possibly perceiving the horrible thing
he has done. I think this was a very telling scene. It gave the Monster depth and truly allowed the audience to feel the pain
of his sorrow. He was no longer a monster to us, but a man who was a victim of his environment.
After the girl
is found dead, the villagers head out in search of the Monster lead by Henry. The end comes with the destruction of the Monster,
well not really. He was soon to return in the spectacular sequel "Bride of Frankenstein". If you watch carefully,
Karloff didn't receive a credit in the film. When the credits for the Monster roll up, there is only a question mark(?) where
the actor's name would be.
This first sound version of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic
morality tale starred Fredric March as the kindly, philanthropic Dr. Jekyll, who makes the fatal mistake of delving into secrets that Man Should Never Know.
Fascinated with the notion that within each man lurk impulses for both Good and Evil, Jekyll develops a drug to release the
wickedness in himself. The result: the lecherous, lycanthropic Mr. Hyde (one has to keep reminding oneself that the handsome,
soft-spoken March plays both roles; small wonder that he won the Academy Award).
Jekyll is the honorable suitor of the virtuous Muriel Carew (Rose Hobart), while Hyde is the brutish pursuer of the sluttish "Champagne Ivy" Pearson (Miriam Hopkins, as sexy as she'd ever be in films). It isn't long before the kindly Jekyll is unable to control the wicked Hyde, with tragic
results. Director Rouben Mamoulian could often seem like the Brian De Palma of his time, showing off like a first-year film student instead of telling a story. But Mamoulian's excesses work beautifully
in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, notably the dizzying first transformation scene (that heartbeat you hear on the soundtrack belongs to Mamoulian himself). Withdrawn from circulation when MGM refilmed the Stevenson novel in 1941, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde resurfaced in the early 1970s, albeit only in the heavily censored version prepared for the 1938 reissue. The current video
version restores most of the missing scenes—including the famous opening reel, photographed
from Jekyll's point of view with a subjective camera.
Upon his brother's death,
Lawrence Talbot (Lon Chaney, Jr.) returns to his home in Wales after spending many years studying in America. He has come to help his father
(Claude Rains) with the family estate. A young girl (Everlyn Ankers) catches Larry's eye and he invites her out to see a band
of gypsy who just arrived in town. The two are join by Jenny and off they go to get their fortune told. Bela (Bela Lugosi)
is the gypsy who isn't quite himself with the wolfbane blooms and autumn moon is bright. Larry while trying to save Jenny
is biting by a wolf, which he eventually kills with his new cane. Oh no, you know what that means. Click here to hear what Gypsy Malvera (Maria Ouspenskaye) has to say.
"Even a man who is pure
in heart and says his prayers by night, may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms. And the autumn moon is bright."
Poor Larry... he just another misunderstood lycanthrope.
He even tries to tell everyone its him and he's a werewolf. The end comes quickly at the hands of some one who loves
him, but the legend of the "wolf man" will live on forever!!!!!
Next to zombies, werewolves are my second favorite
monsters. Unfortunately, there have been very few good ones to talk about. "The Wolf Man" is truly one of the greatest
classic horror films of all-time and when Universal saw the success of Dracula and Frankenstein the next logical
monster was the werewolf. Lon Chaney Jr. was selected on part due mainly to his namesake Lon, Sr. He took the role and established himself
as a horror icon. Lon went on to play Larry Talbot five times. He is also the only one of the big three ( with Lugosi and
Karloff) to play Frankenstein, Dracula, the Mummy, and the Wolf Man. Jack Pierce's make-up transformation for the creature
was totally amazing then and is still today. Stories of the first test application of the make-up took 18 hours, by
the completion of the film they had gotten it down to 6 hours.
