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Universal Horror

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Aphrodite
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« on: September 02, 2007, 09:20:26 pm »


Universal Horror is the name given to the distinctive series of horror films made by Universal Studios in California from the 1920s through to the 1950s. With their iconic gallery of monsters, Universal would create a lasting impression on generations of avid moviegoers around the world.


« Last Edit: September 02, 2007, 09:21:20 pm by Aphrodite » Report Spam   Logged

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« Reply #1 on: September 02, 2007, 09:26:29 pm »

How the Horror Movies of the Great Depression Reflected the History of the Time
  By L. Vincent Poupard
Published Jun 01, 2007




Out of all of the types of films, horror films are the greatest reflection of modern culture. The hopes and fears of society are displayed in full motion in the horror films of they day. There is no greater example of this then in the horror films of the 1930s and early 1940's.

In the 1930s, America was dealing with the Great Depression. There was a large separation of thought as to the future of America. Many immigrants that came to this country during the period worries that maybe they had not made the right decision about coming to America.

On the other side of the coin, many of those who were in the United States already believed that many of the issues of the time had been brought on by the immigrants that had come to this country. They believed that issues that the country was facing had a direct link to the influx of people from, "The Old Country."

During the 1930s, Universal Studios embarked on a mission to produce horror films that people would want to watch. The production company knew that with all of the fears that people had, horror films would be a great way to release their inner fears.

Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), The Mummy (1932), The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Dracula's Daughter (1936), Son of Frankenstein (1939), and The Wolf Man (1941) all had common threads that spoke volumes about what was going on at the time in the United States. An investigation into the themes of these movies will display more about the thoughts, hopes, dreams, and fears of Americans then any history book ever written.

All of the creatures from these horror movies have links to, "The Old Country." For those people that argued that the perils of the day came from the immigrants, they had an argument that was displayed in front of them on the screen. The creatures that these films portrayed reinforced the fears that these Americans had.

Dracula immigrated to America from Western Europe. The Wolf Man had a curse that was believed to be common in Western Europe. The Mummy was a curse that was born in Northern Africa. Frankenstein was a monster that was created from a madness that was in central Europe.

The immigrants who had come to this country were able to relate to these horror movies since they were based on old beliefs and superstitions that they had grown up with. These films gave them a reminder of where it was that they had come from, and where many of them longed to return.

For some, this reminder of the fears and superstitions that had been left behind made them realize that it was good that they had come to America. These horror films made them understand why they had left Europe in the first place, and come to a land that was more realistic and reasonable.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/262433/how_the_horror_movies_of_the_great.html
     
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« Reply #2 on: September 02, 2007, 09:28:51 pm »

For some people in the United States, these horror films brought another message. Many people fear that one day they will come to the realization that their parents were right about something. Finding out that the old superstitions that were held by their parents could be a major wakeup call for many people. These horror movies reinforced this fear.

When Universal Studios first created these movies, they had no idea how many levels of messages were encased in these movies. They wanted to make horror films that were a distraction for people from the real life horrors of the day. They never realized that they were sending different messages to different people.

That, though, is what many horror movies do. They speak to what is going on in the world at the time. By relating to what people fear, horror films also relate to their dreams and hopes. These relations are what can tell us a lot about the people that are watching these horror films at the time. These relations explain history in a completely different capacity then we are used to.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/262433/how_the_horror_movies_of_the_great.html?page=2


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« Reply #3 on: September 02, 2007, 09:33:49 pm »

   
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« Reply #4 on: September 02, 2007, 09:36:52 pm »

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« Reply #5 on: September 02, 2007, 09:37:32 pm »

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« Reply #6 on: September 02, 2007, 09:41:25 pm »

1920s (Silent Era)

Universal's earliest success in the horror genre was Lon Chaney's The Phantom of the Opera in 1925, for which the actor famously designed and endured a torturous make-up. The interior of the Paris Opera House was recreated on an epic scale for the film, and remains the longest-standing film-set to this day. It was used for the 1943 remake with Claude Rains, as well as numerous non-horror pictures. The set is contained on Stage 28 at Universal, which was constructed specifically for the film and dubbed "The Phantom Stage."

Having already starred in The Hunchback of Notre Dame in 1923, Chaney continued to be the studio's most bankable horror star until his premature death from cancer in 1930





A promotional lobby card for "The Hunchback of Notre Dame."

The 1925 silent film version of The Phantom of the Opera, directed by Rupert Julian, is a classic adaptation of Gaston Leroux's novel The Phantom of the Opera, starring Lon Chaney in the title role as the masked and facially disfigured 'Phantom' who haunts the Paris Opera House, causing murder and mayhem in an attempt to force the management to make the woman he loves a star. It is most famous for Lon Chaney's intentionally horrific, self-applied makeup, which was kept a studio secret until the film's premier.


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« Reply #7 on: September 02, 2007, 09:44:09 pm »

 

The 1925 silent film version of The Phantom of the Opera, directed by Rupert Julian, is a classic adaptation of Gaston Leroux's novel The Phantom of the Opera, starring Lon Chaney in the title role as the masked and facially disfigured 'Phantom' who haunts the Paris Opera House, causing murder and mayhem in an attempt to force the management to make the woman he loves a star. It is most famous for Lon Chaney's intentionally horrific, self-applied makeup, which was kept a studio secret until the film's premier.

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« Reply #8 on: September 02, 2007, 09:47:23 pm »


The Cat and the Canary is a 1927 American silent horror film adaptation of John Willard's 1922 black comedy play of the same name. Directed by German expressionist filmmaker Paul Leni, the film stars Laura La Plante as Annabelle West, Forrest Stanley as Charles "Charlie" Wilder, and Creighton Hale as Paul Jones. The plot revolves around the death of Annabelle, Charlie, and Paul's insane uncle and the reading of his will 20 years later. Annabelle inherits her uncle's fortune, but when she and her family spend the night in his haunted mansion they are stalked by a mysterious figure. Meanwhile, a lunatic known as "the Cat" escapes from an asylum and hides in the mansion.
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« Reply #9 on: September 02, 2007, 09:53:39 pm »



The Man Who Laughs is a 1928 American silent film directed by the German expressionist filmmaker Paul Leni. The film is an adaptation of Victor Hugo's novel of the same name and stars Conrad Veidt as Gwynplaine and Mary Philbin as the blind Dea. The film is known for the grim Carnival freak like grin on the character Gwynplaine's face which often leads the film to be credited to the horror film genre.


The Last Warning is a 1929 mystery film directed by Paul Leni. It is a companion piece to Universal Pictures 1927 production of The Cat and the Canary. This was the last film directed by Leni before his untimely death from blood poisoning in Los Angeles on 2 September 1929.
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« Reply #10 on: September 02, 2007, 10:00:00 pm »


The Cat Creeps is a 1930 crime/mystery film, and a sound remake of The Cat and the Canary (1927). It is one of the many lost films of the early talkie film era. A Spanish-language version titled La Voluntad del Muerto starring Lupita Tovar was filmed by Universal Pictures at night on the same sets used to film The Cat Creeps during the day.


1930s (Golden Age)

In spite of the depression, executive Carl Laemmle Jr produced massive successes for the studio with Dracula (directed by Tod Browning) and Frankenstein (directed by James Whale), both in 1931.

The success of these two movies not only launched the careers of Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff respectively, but also ushered in a whole new genre of American cinema. With Universal at the forefront, they would continue to build on their box office returns with an entire series of monster movies. These films would also provide steady work for a number of other genre actors including Lionel Atwill, Dwight Frye, Edward Van Sloan, and John Carradine. Other regular talents involved were make-up artists Jack Pierce and Bud Westmore, and composers Hans J. Salter and Frank Skinner. Many of the horror genre's most well-known conventions -- the creaking staircase, the cobwebs, the swirling mist and the mobs of peasants pursuing monsters with torches -- originated from these films and those that followed.

Next up was The Mummy (1932), followed by a trilogy of films based on the tales of Edgar Allan Poe: Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932), The Black Cat (1934) and The Raven (1935), the latter two of which teamed up Lugosi with Karloff. Also released was The Invisible Man (1933) which proved to be another phenominal hit and would spawn several sequels. However, of all the Universal monsters, the most successful and sequelized was undoubtedly the Frankenstein series, which continued with Bride of Frankenstein (1935). Dracula too had its share of sequels, beginning with Dracula's Daughter in 1936, although none would feature its original leading man, Bela Lugosi.

1936 also marked the end of Universal’s first run of horror films as the Laemmle’s were forced out of the studio after financial difficulties and a series of box office flops. The monsters were dropped from the production schedule altogether and wouldn’t re-emerge for another three years. In the meantime the original movies were re-released to surprising success, forcing the new executives to green light Son of Frankenstein (1939) starring Basil Rathbone as heir to the Frankenstein legacy.

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« Reply #11 on: October 08, 2007, 11:38:04 pm »

Universal did some truly ground braking work in horror, it is a shame none of these classic movies ever won an oscar, for best picture or actor.
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« Reply #12 on: October 09, 2007, 12:21:33 am »

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« Reply #13 on: October 09, 2007, 12:30:32 am »

My cousin used to have a subscription to Famous Monster's magazine I loved it, Ackerman was cool, it is really a shame they stopped publishing it.
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« Reply #14 on: October 09, 2007, 01:43:09 am »

Nice covers they had! My next thread was going to be about Lon Chaney:

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