In short, thank you to ALL SCARED SILLY FANS! (And if I’ve left anyone out please know it wasn’t intentional)!
Of course I also have to thank my wife for letting the TV be commandeered by all these movies (some of which were just downright painful for her to sit through), my friend Brent for being a terrific fact-checker and of course everyone’s favorite current-day character actor, carrying the torch for all who’ve gone before, the ubiquitous Daniel Roebuck, who graciously agreed to write the foreword for the book that will (hopefully) ultimately result from this blog!
Thank you also for bearing with my erratic schedule – due to other commitments I can’t always post on a regular basis. As of now I still don’t have my 2010 posting schedule worked out so please hang in there and keep checking back… you’re bound to see a new review every now and then.
Until the next review, here is Vagabond Opera performing “New Year’s Eve in a Haunted House,” composed by avant garde jazz legend Raymond Scott, the man behind many of the melodies heard in Looney Tunes cartoons:
PLOT: Tom (Tom Poston), an American car salesman in London, has an odd living arrangement with his friend Casper (Peter Bull). The pair share a flat, which Casper uses by day and Tom uses by night. When Tom sells Casper a car, Casper requests that Tom bring it to his family’s mansion, where Casper spends his evenings. Tom arrives at the estate to find Casper dead and sharing the home with his very eccentric family. The array of oddballs includes Casper’s twin brother Jasper (also Peter Bull), who loves his orchids; ever-knitting Aunt Agatha (Joyce Grenfell), Petiphar (Mervyn Johns), who has a preoccupation of (literally) biblical proportions; man-crazy vamp Morgana (Fenella Fielding); and Uncle Roderick (Robert Morley), who’s obsessed with guns. Also on hand are Cecily (Janette Scott), a rather normal girl in the midst of the chaos; and Morgan (Danny Green), the mute father of Morgana who disapproves of all her boyfriends. It is soon revealed that the great, great ancestor of the family was Morgan the Pirate, and he left a very peculiar will: If any member of the family refuses to live in the house, they lose their inheritance. If any member of the family gets home after midnight (on any night), they lose their inheritance. Last but not least, the inheritance goes to the house – if the house dies, then the survivors can divide the inheritance. Tom asks why they don’t just burn the house down, but is told “you can’t burn stone.” Tom has one odd encounter after another with the bizarre family, and when they start dying off one-by-one, some try to put the blame on Tom. But Tom is determined to survive at any cost… and he may just find the real culprit in the process!
REVIEW: This is a co-production between American William Castle and England’s Hammer Films. While the focus of this Scared Silly project is to cover American films only, I’ve decided to include this film due to the Castle connection (Castle being the writer-producer-director of several highly entertaining, tongue-in-cheek horror films legendary for the ballyhoo gimmicks he devised to promote them), the inclusion of American comic actor Tom Poston who plays the lead role and of course, the fact that it is based on James Whales’ 1932 Hollywood classic of the same name, one of the “template” films that influenced so many horror-comedies to come.
Having said that, despite the fact that this 1963 film shares the title, some character surnames and of course an old dark house with the original, this isn’t a proper remake, but rather a reimagining filtered through a satirical lens. The original film had its share of humor of course, but the tone was clearly one of eerie suspense and dread, with the laughs coming in the form of black comedy, irony and comic relief at best. With Poston leading the way, the tone of the revamp is decidedly comedic, the same way Hugh Herbert’s presence in “The Black Cat” tipped the scales of that film from the horror film with comedy relief that it could have been to the outright horror comedy it ended up being. Poston is aided in the task by several legendary British performers who excelled at comedy, including Robert Morley, Peter Bull and Fenella Fielding.
Before Poston and the others are even on screen, the viewer is clued in to the firmly comic nature of this film, as the opening credits unfold with spooky music that takes many goofy and silly turns, and a portrait of the Addams Family mansion… drawn by cartoonist/Addams Family creator Chas Addams himself! This bit of whimsy is made more so by the fact that the hand scrawling Addams’ signature is a hairy, monsterly thing indeed. A decade and change later Addams would once again provide cartoons for the opening of another spooky comedy-mystery, Neil Simon’s “Murder By Death.”
Given all that, I can only wonder whether the only person who didn’t get the memo that this was supposed to be a comedy was screenwriter Robert Dillon, because even though the tone is more merry than macabre, the actual laughs are few and far between. And that’s quite a shame, because the cast is really in there pitching. Poston is likeably comic while his English co-stars alternate between broad and droll, but it is all for naught due to the script. In fact, not only isn’t there much comedy in the screenplay; there aren’t many real scares, either. That the performances remain engaging despite the weak script is nothing short of a miracle, and testament to both the actors and director Castle.
The film gets off to a promising start but a few minutes in practically screeches to a halt. When Tom arrives at the mansion, he lifts the door knocker, which sends him down a trap door into the basement, where he sees a row of upright coffins wrapped in packing paper. He is then greeted by his friend Casper’s shotgun-wielding uncle…. who promptly takes him into a room here Casper’s lifeless body lies in a coffin! Then the odd characters are paraded in one by one and the perfunctory plot devices such as the will and its conditions are introduced… followed by the odd characters getting bumped off one by one. It all reads much better on paper than it plays out on screen, alas.
While I think the major problem lies with the script, part of the issue is the fact that the film IS a Hammer co-production, with their elaborate sets and locations, stately pace and vibrant colors. I think this movie would actually have benefitted more from being a typical low-budget, creepy black and white production along the lines of “House on Haunted Hill,” the William Castle film it most echoes. Sure it has its share of thunderstorms, mysterious voices out of nowhere (which turn out to be a reel-to-reel tape planted by the culprit), acid baths, mounted animal heads and rusty suits of armor, but I can’t help but imagine how much creepier these elements would have been without the perfect Technicolor sheen. Give me that dilapidated, shadow-filled black and white grit any day!
Getting back to the script, it seems Robert Dillon really wanted to see how “odd” he could make the script within the parameters of the producers’ expectations for the film. There are so many weird (but not particularly funny) touches in the screenplay that I wonder if he would have been more at home making a truly adult and disturbing black comedy such as Jack Hill’s “Spider Baby.” But this was never supposed to be “Spider Baby” – it was supposed to be a comedic take-off on a horror classic.
Three completely odd sequences stand out. Actually, they can almost be considered a whole, but I’ll break them down into three scenes for the full effect.
First is a scene where a giant hyena ends up in bed with Poston. The only thing scary about it are the bad special effects. The rear of the creature is clearly a sheepdog’s behind, while the close-ups of its face look alternately like a fox and a Jack Russell terrier. And then there are those times where it just looks like a stuffed taxidermist dummy that the best boy is shaking off-camera.
This wacko sequence leads directly into the film’s single most unique character reveal (actually a non-sequiter): Old Petiphar is convinced the world is ending and is building an ark. As Petiphar, Mervyn John’s may be the best performance in the film, one of pure conviction, as he calmly explains his plan to Tom and encourages him to read the bible’s account of the great flood… and then reveals his giant ark in the backyard, loaded to the gills with animals. And while it is wacko, this may also be the most interesting part of the film… but since it involves neither comedy nor horror in the midst of a horror-comedy, that’s a rather dubious endorsement. Actually, there is a tiny bit of comedy in the sequence when Petiphar reveals he’s included a special room for Tom and Morgana on the ark… so they can repopulate the earth!
This in turn leads to a bizarre scene where Poston imagines a seal with the head of Morgana! Finally, something truly (though unintentionally) scary in this film!
One nice touch in the film is that the family members all have eccentric hobbies. Casper is a big gambler, Jasper loves tending to his orchids, Agatha is a master knitter, Petiphar is devoted to building his ark, Morgana is dedicated to chasing men, and Roderick loves his guns. Most (but not all) end up getting killed in a way that somehow relates to their hobbies, a foreshadow of the black comedy elements in Vincent Price’s 1973 “Theater of Blood,” where the critics were bumped off by disgruntled Shakespearean actor Richard Lionheart in recreations of scenes from the plays they panned.
Unfortunately, the thought given to the characters’ hobbies and the interesting development of Petiphar’s character are the fleeting good elements in the film. Too much screen time is wasted with misfired jokes and gags, not to mention boring exposition. Case in point is a scene where Morgan chases Poston through the basement. It is meant to be comical in a slapsticky way but despite Poston making his funniest faces and getting into the physicality of the scene (such as unsuccessfully running over the scattered coals) the scene comes off forced due to the overdone musical accompaniment, a rousing piece falling somewhere between John Philip Sousa and Benny Hill. The script also forces Poston to get awkwardly tangled in ropes as if he’s going to hang, which also scuttles the scene. Alas, this scene is representative of the wrong turns the film too often takes.
The movie’s denouement will surprise some and be obvious for others. I won’t give away the murderer’s identity, although the previous sentence may be enough to do so. Once the killer and their plot is revealed Poston races through the house in an effort to save the day. Just as he succeeds in vanquishing the villain, the rain stops, leading Petiphar to exclaim that “It wasn’t the end of the world after all!” Unfortunately, it’s still not quite the end of the movie, either, as it insists on offering an awkward coda… and then abruptly ends!
Simply put, Tom Poston was one of the most engaging and creative comedic talents ever. Early in his career he became part of the stock company of players on the influential comedy variety show, “The Steve Allen Show,” appearing in many memorable sketches. Throughout his career Poston acted as the perfect second and third banana, adding just the right accent to many a comic scene. He did many guest-shots on episodic TV, with his role as villainous “Dr. Zharko” on “Get Smart” being a standout. His most memorable recurring roles in TV series would have to be playing Franklin Delano Bickley in “Mork & Mindy” and of course his most famous role as George Utley on “Newhart.”
Poston was supported in this film by a cast of British performers who have many memorable credits between them. Like the best of English actors, their resumes include many period pieces (including the requisite adaptations of Shakespeare, Dickens and Austen), children’s fantasies, comedies and horror films. Many of them even appeared in the same films. We don’t have space to mention all their great credits, so we will concentrate just on those that would be of most interest to horror-comedy fans.
Robert Morley could always be counted on to spice up any project with his larger-than-life (and very British) presence. He was often used in comedies and thrillers, playing rogues masquerading as men of regal bearing, pompous authority figures, tongue-in-cheek villains and the like. Notable credits include the Spencer Tracy/Katherine Hepburn classic "The African Queen," a bit in the Hope & Crosby “Road to Hong Kong,” a part in Jerry Lewis’ “Way Way Out,” the aforementioned “Theater of Blood” and the mystery-comedy, “Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?” Perhaps his most celebrated film is the cult black comedy “The Loved One.”
Fenella Fielding had an unusual face and a smoky voice and when combined with her curves the result was one of England’s most sought-after comediennes. She played vamps and vixens in several movies and TV shows including a couple of entries in the famed “Carry On" movie series (including the horror comedy “Carry On Screaming”) as well as appearing as the villain in multiple seasons of the comedic British children’s series “Uncle Jack” (each season had its own title, such as “Uncle Jack and the Loch Ness Monster” and “Uncle Jack and Cleopatra’s Mummy”). She also was the voice coming out of the loudspeaker in several episodes of the cult classic TV show, “The Prisoner.”
Mervyn Johns often played reverends and priests. He appeared in “Scrooge” as Bob Cratchit as well as in the classic, “Moby Dick.” He also appeared in “The Magic Box,” a bio-pic of inventor/filmmaking pioneer William Friese-Greene, as well as the fantasy “The Oracle” and the revolutionary war comedy “The Devil’s Disciple,” the latter alongside Burt Lancaster, Laurence Olivier and Kirk Douglas. His biggest horror credit would have to be “The Day of the Triffids.”
Like Johns, Janette Scott also appeared in “The Magic Box,” “The Devil’s Disciple” and “The Day of the Triffids.” She played Cassandra in Robert Wise’s retelling of the Trojan war story from Homer’s Illiad, “Helen of Troy;” and her credits also include another go-round with a murderous family in the horrific suspense film “Paranoiac,” a tussle with Terry Thomas in the comedy "School for Scoundrels" and the role of a doctor in the apocalyptic sci-fi thriller “Crack in the World.”
Another alumni of “The Magic Box” was Joyce Grenfell. She appeared in Hitchcock’s crime drama “Stage Fright,” had a recurring role as policewoman Sergeant Ruby Gates in the “St. Trinian’s” comedy film series about a girls' boarding school and played the Storyteller in “Jackanory,” a TV series which presented Beatrix Potter tales.
All told, this really is a one star film; I'm being generous awarding an extra 3/4 star due to the talent involved. It’s a real shame this film falls flat as it presented a rare opportunity for the enormously talented and funny Poston to carry a project as the main protagonist, something he did previously in Castle’s “Zotz!” but not much if at all after “Old Dark House” (at least he got a nice trip to England for his troubles). In fact, this film is really a detour in the careers of all involved.
Perhaps the most accurate critical appraisal of this film came from director Castle himself. Not only didn’t he use any gimmicks in the film (perhaps that was the gimmick at that point of his career?), but he didn’t even mention it in his autobiography. And anyone familiar with Castle knows he was nothing if not a shameless carnival barker, especially when it came to blowing his own horn about his films.
BEST DIALOGUE EXCHANGES:
AUNT AGATHA (at dinner, describing the meal): It was Casper’s favorite! He’s not like the other one – the other one only eats raw things.
POSTON (when Cecily tells him to try to get some sleep): I’ll count corpses!
BEST GAGS: I’m afraid it doesn’t get much better than the trap door Poston falls through early in the film. And the film knows it because at the midway point he falls through it again. And then the very last sight gag of the film is… you guessed it, Tom Poston falling through the trap door AGAIN! The only variation is the second instance, when Poston falls through the trap door then tries to get to his feet, grabbing the handle on the furnace and releasing coals upon his head.
Another okay gag sequence has Poston carrying on a conversation with Jasper, not realizing he is dead… until the tape recording answers him.
SPOTTED IN THE CAST: John Harvey plays what amounts to a cameo as the receptionist at the casino in “Old Dark House,” but has quite the resume of comedy, horror, sci-fi and suspense credits, having also appeared in Hitchcock’s “Stage Fright” and Ralph Thomas' remake of “The 39 Steps,” six episodes of the “Doctor Who” TV show, the Peter Sellers crime comedy “The Wrong Arm of the Law,” plus many more including “X: the Unknown,” “Horrors of the Black Museum,” “RollerBall” and the legendary “Night of the Demon.”
BUY THE FILM: This film is part of a recently released box set called “William Castle Film Collection” DVD box set. It features eight movies directed by William Castle, including the famous films “13 Ghosts” and “Mr. Sardonicus,” the classic Vincent Price “Tingler,” the infamous “Homicidal” and the Joan Crawford starrer “Straight-jacket.” The must-see’s of the set are “The Tingler” and the documentary, “Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story,” which offers an affectionate overview of Castle’s career and a detailed analysis of the gimmicks he employed to promote those films. Unfortunately, the “must-miss” films are the two Poston starrers, “Zotz!” and “Old Dark House.” You can buy this box set here:
I was only able to find a black and white copy of this film’s trailer, which only proves my point that the color really detracted from this film. It features Castle’s penchant to cast himself in his trailers a la his idol, Alfred Hitchcock. Watch the trailer here:
BE SURE TO RETURN TOMORROW FOR A SPECIAL NEW YEAR’S EVE MESSAGE TO ALL SCARED SILLY FANS!
Christmas is almost here, and I wanted to share some of the foremost holiday monsters with you. Only I didn’t want to do so on Christmas itself, as I take the holiday seriously from a spiritual standpoint (which is one of the reasons I’m taking a break from posting until December 30th).
Anyway, in the fictional legends that have sprung up over the years around the holiday, ghosts and monsters have played a major role. Just think of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” for starters. A pure ghost story… with one seriously scary Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come!
So in the world of holiday fantasies, a few monsters stand out, and we’ll take a look at them now (with one caveat that should be noted: I know the following are not technically "horror-comedies" but since all contain some humor and give folks warm, fuzzy feelings of nostalgia, I'm being a bit generous in this post).
We have to begin of course with the Bogeymen from Laurel & Hardy’s 1934 classic “Babes in Toyland” (aka “March of the Wooden Soldiers”). These creatures from Bogeyland live in the bowels of the earth, in a horrible, frightening place that is the polar opposite of bright, happy Toyland, where Santa and his workers make the toys for the world’s children. And while their leader, the evil Silas Barnaby would like nothing more than to use his monster army to take over Toyland, he’s no match for toymakers Stannie Dumm and Ollie Dee… and 100 wooden soldiers each 6 feet high! As Ollie describes the Bogeymen, “they’re terrible looking things – they’re half man and half animal… with great big ears, and great big mouths, and long claws that they catch you with!” You can catch a glimpse of the Bogeymen toward the end of this trailer:
Next up is The Bumble (pictured at top) from the classic 1964 TV special “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” This was produced by Rankin-Bass, the studio behind the classic horror-comedy “Mad Monster Party.” Utilizing their signature stop-motion animated puppet style (which they dubbed “Ani-Magic”), the special built upon the elements from the original 1939 story by Robert L. May, the famous song written by May’s brother-in-law Johnny Marks (which became a huge hit for Gene Autry) and the 1944 animated theatrical short from Max Fleischer. Rudolph was given much more backstory in the Rankin-Bass special, and a larger supporting cast, including the Abominable Snow Creature known as “The Bumble.” The fearsome creature menaces Rudolph and his friends but as anyone who has seen this classic knows (and who hasn’t seen it?) there’s a very good reason for the Bumble’s agitation… and a happy ending for all!
The most recent spooky holiday star is "The Nightmare Before Christmas"'s Jack Skellington and all his friends from Halloweentown. Jack is simply enchanted by the magic in neighboring Christmastown and wants to bring some home for himself. And that’s where the trouble starts! This clash of the holidays originated as a poem from the limitlessly creative imagination of animator-director-producer Tim Burton. Director Henry Selick brought Burton’s concepts and designs to life in dynamic fashion in a mixed-media production that is equal parts stop-motion puppetry (a la one of Burton’s favorite films, “Mad Monster Party”) combined with cut-out designs and other special animated effects. Check out the trailer here.
While Jack Skellington wanted to abscond Christmas to share with his friends (a tinsel-clad Robin Hood) there is one nasty holiday horror who hated Christmas and didn’t want anyone to enjoy it: Dr. Seuss’s immortal Grinch! The famous book “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” by writer-cartoonist Seuss (real name Ted Geisel, who once contributed to some classic Warner Brothers theatrical cartoons including adaptations of his children's books as well as the classic Snafu shorts made for the war department) detailed how this foul fiend with a heart two sizes too small tried to hijack the holiday. Of course, the operative word is “try,” as we all know the Christmas spirit will triumph in the end! Interestingly enough, the Grinch shares more in common with Jack Skellington than merely pilfering Christmas - the Grinch got himself all tangled up in Halloween, too in the 1977 special "Halloween is Grinch Night." As for "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," most are familiar with the classic 1966 animated TV special directed by animation legend Chuck Jones... and I’ll leave it at that, as I prefer to think the live-action fiasco of a few years back never happened!
So here’s wishing all Scared Silly fans the happiest and safest of holidays, and every blessing for the New Year!
BE SURE TO JOIN US ON WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30th WHEN WE REVIEW WILLIAM CASTLE’S 1963 REMAKE OF “THE OLD DARK HOUSE” STARRING BOB NEWHART’S PAL TOM POSTON!
DISCLAIMER: Let’s just get this out of the way immediately: there is ANOTHER film called “The Black Cat” from 1934 that also co-stars Bela Lugosi. Not only is this 1941 release a different film entirely, but there’s nothing even remotely funny in the 1934 film (which is a horrifically intense classic in its own right). So if you’re looking for laughs, be sure you pick up the right “Cat” from your local video store or Netflix!
PLOT: Henrietta Winslow (Cecelia Loftus) is an elderly cat fancier near death. Her stately home is filled with felines and antique furniture. The matriarch has gathered her children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews together to read them her will. But she leaves one key piece of information unspoken: no one inherits a penny until housekeeper Abigail (Gale Sondergard) and the cats are dead. She reveals this to real estate agent Gil Smith (Broderick Crawford), who is anxious for Henrietta to sell the home to his client. Also on hand are antiques dealer Mr. Penny (Hugh Herbert), looking to make a mint on the “musterpieces” within; and the mysterious groundskeeper Eduardo (Bela Lugosi). As expected in a film like this, it isn’t long before murder rears its head. Henrietta is first to be killed, which provides Abigail an opportunity to reveal the conditions of the will to the family. Of course, this doesn’t go over too well. Henrietta’s niece’s husband Montague (Basil Rathbone) vows to have his attorney null the will based on the notion that Henrietta was insane. From there, no one in the family is safe and everyone treads lightly, wondering if they will be next (some of them may be). Meanwhile, Mr. Penny investigates every piece of furniture, art and knick-knack in the place, breaking many of them as well as discovering some secrets (like hidden passageways) inside the estate. Will he uncover the murderer in the process?
REVIEW: This is one of the “borderline” entries in this project. Many legitimate horror films of the 1930s and ‘40s featured comic relief, but were ostensibly still horror films. A good example is “King of the Zombies,” which features a wonderfully comic performance by Mantan Moreland. But despite his many funny scenes, the overall tone of the film is still serious, and it is not inconceivable that a character like Moreland could be part of such a story, sharing the adventure alongside the straight characters. In “The Black Cat,” Hugh Herbert as Mr. Penny decidedly tips the scales on the side of comedy. The bumbling Herbert is such an improbable presence that the whole proceedings can’t help but take on an air of amiable charm and lighthearted comedy amidst the macabre setting of murder and mayhem. And Broderick Crawford’s bright and breezy manner helps to maintain that tone. Indeed, even some discourses between the serious characters are delivered in a jokey vein here.
The film starts out suitably creepy with a shot of a black cat walking down a tree branch with a spooky old moss-covered house in the background, framed by gnarly looking trees. This is just a couple years into the second cycle of Universal talkie horror films, ushered in by “Son of Frankenstein” in 1938 and it’s obvious the set designers and cinematographers have more than settled back into a spooky groove. This film reeks of Universal Horror atmosphere, and is all the better for it.
In fact, it reeks of Universal’s classic “The Old Dark House,” one of the major templates for the horror-comedy genre, released nine years before “The Black Cat.” Which is to say it has all the requisite trappings: the reading of a will, hidden passages, a musty old house filled with scary relics and dark shadows, a creepy crypt, and supremely spooky servants. And Broderick Crawford delivering this admonition to Hugh Herbert: “You talk as if the house was haunted!”
Oh yeah – it has a black cat, too! That black cat is uninvited – the matriarch of the mansion thinks they are harbingers of death and forbids them on the property, although one has somehow managed to sneak in and insinuate itself among the other cats. And the final creepy touch: a crematorium for the cats… that’s big enough to fit humans!
As the prospective heirs gather for the reading of the will, one of them plays discordant music on a piano (described as sounding like a funeral dirge). Par for the course in this type of film, the heirs are mostly selfish, disreputable types who the dying woman takes great pleasure in deriding as she rattles off the details of their inheritance. Of course, this also serves the plot, making everyone a suspect except Gil and Penny, who may be out for big paydays, too but never show any signs of hoping to do so through illegal means.
The mystery here gets slightly long-winded and confusing in the telling, but the ultimate denouement is reasonable enough. Given the abundance of suspects the final culprit who is revealed is as logical a choice as any other the authors could have pinned the crime on. At least it’s fun and exciting getting to the conclusion, as Gil and Penny start discovering both secret passageways and secret motives.
Unlike its 1934 predecessor, this “Black Cat” is often discredited as fluff, and while it admittedly has no pretensions beyond being a crowd-pleasing time passer, it is better than its detractors would have you believe. There is some care in the script (at least in the story’s set-up) as well as in the previously-mentioned eerie cinematography. The film moves fast, almost as fast as Broderick Crawford delivers his lines, but unlike “Abbott & Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde,” this film’s fleetness can be attributed to a full yet well-paced script, not a lack thereof. It also benefits tremendously from the variety of performers involved.
Broderick Crawford is just four years into his film career here and hasn’t yet become the tough guy character actor he would later be known as in such films as “Larceny Inc.” and “All the King’s Men;” and in dozens of TV guest-spots and starring roles in TV series, including Chief Dan Matthews in “Highway Patrol.” Instead, he plays an amiable role akin to the good-natured lead of a romantic comedy. He does it well, imbuing his character with a light and breezy charm and a basic decency. He proves adept at delivering a funny line, and when on screen with Hugh Herbert, the pair come off as a defacto comedy team.
Basil Rathbone is here, and his acting muscle in particular helps ground the film’s plot. At this point Rathbone had done several period pieces, at least one horror film (“Tower of London”) and had two outings in his most famous role as legendary Baker Street detective Sherlock Holmes. His sleuthing alter-ego figures in the film’s most surprising quip, and his experience with mysteries makes for an interesting juxtaposition now that he is playing a suspect as opposed to the investigator trying to crack the case. Basil would later give one of the most acclaimed performances ever in a horror-comedy, as the landlord who just can’t be killed in “The Comedy of Terrors.”
British actress Gladys Cooper plays Rathbone’s wife. She had an interesting career – she began in silent movies and was a World War I pin-up girl. She went from glamour gal to often cold character parts as she grew older, and ultimately was awarded three Oscar nominations and the title of Dame by the British Empire. Her more notable movies include “Rebecca,” “Now, Voyager” and “The Song of Bernadette.” The Movie Morlocks column on the Turner Classic Movies recently featured an excellent article on Dame Cooper that you can read here.
The film scores major horror cred in its choice of actors for the housekeeper (Gale Sondergaard) and groundskeeper (Bela Lugosi) roles. These are the type of roles that would be spoofed for years to come, in both movies and in cartoons, most notably in Tex Avery’s “Who Killed Who,” Mel Brooks’ “Young Frankenstein” and Neil Simon’s “Murder by Death.”
Gale Sondergaard had an icy gaze that could bore a hole through the hardest steel. As a result, she appeared in an array of femme fatale and sinister villainess parts. Among her most famous films are the Bob Hope horror-comedy “The Cat & the Canary,” the Sherlock Holmes entry “The Spider Woman,” the horror sequel “The Invisible Man’s Revenge,” and the Abbott & Costello ghost-fantasy, “The Time of Their Lives.”
…and then there’s Bela, who needs no introduction. One of the criticisms leveled at Lugosi’s horror-comedies over the years is that his parts could have been played by anyone. I consider that patently untrue. While it is true that he was hired to appear in these films because of his boogeyman status, I believe Bela always brought an extra level to his roles, no matter how underwritten. But when it comes to this film, I’m afraid Lugosi’s critics are right. He is essentially wasted with little to do but trade on the sinister implications his name brings (based on his past roles, especially Dracula). The screenwriters wear their reliance on Bela’s past on their sleeves. He is asked to recite non-threatening dialogue in a threatening way, and we even get a close-up of “that Dracula man’s” hypnotic eyes, which dissolves nicely into the headlights of our heroes’ car. Beyond that, nothing, nada, zilch for Bela to do but simmer in (red herring) sauce.
Whether you’re a fan of mysteries, horror films (particularly the spooky house variety) or screwball comedies, “The Black Cat” offers a little something for everyone. For the horror-comedy fan, all the trappings are here, and the Crawford-Herbert teaming compares favorably to the Bob Hope-Paulette Goddard teamings in “The Cat & the Canary” and “Ghost Breakers,” Cary Grant and Priscilla Lane in “Arsenic & Old Lace” and the great comedy teams like Laurel & Hardy and Abbott & Costello. But I must emphasize once more that that the majority of comedy in “The Black Cat” is handled by Hugh Herbert. Hugh is the main show here, so if you don’t like Hugh, you’d best be a no-show.
SPOTTED IN THE CAST: Well, this film is a little different than others we’ve covered – there are no cab drivers or bartenders making 2 minute cameos here. But there is an actor who was about 9 years into his career and finally getting some bigger roles. Namely Alan Ladd. Originally billed 11th, he’d be bumped up to 4th upon the film’s re-release to capitalize on his post-“This Gun For Hire” popularity. Ladd’s career would prove to have a similar trajectory to Dick Powell’s. Both would start out with small roles playing soldiers, sailors, college students, etc., then appear in service comedies alongside famous comedy teams (Ladd with Laurel & Hardy in “Great Guns” and Powell with Abbott & Costello in “In the Navy”), and finally find their breakout roles in classic film noir flicks (Ladd in “This Gun For Hire” and Powell in “Murder My Sweet”).
I have to note the screenwriters here. This is the first full-fledged horror-comedy from the team of Robert Lees and Frederic I. Rinaldo (their prior film, “The Invisible Woman” was a dry run, being a romantic comedy with sci-fi and fantasy overtones). Their experience here was put to use the same year when they wrote Abbott & Costello’s first horror-comedy, “Hold That Ghost,” and their reputation as horror-comedy writers was cemented when they wrote the all-time classic of the genre, “Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein.”
BEST GAGS:
Penny explains how he’ll fix an antique by first having to use several tools to fix other tools.
When Mr. Penny pushes a suit of armor from behind, Gil thinks it’s the killer and tackles it.
Mr. Penny flies out the door when Abigail offers him spiked tea.
Mr. Penny berates a moving man for handling a chair too delicately, then smashes it into pieces, telling the moving man you can get a fine antique by putting it back together.
BEST DIALOGUE EXCHANGES:
This movie feels very much like a play and is very dialogue-driven, so there’s a wealth of great lines. Let’s start with a random sampling of one-liners from Hugh Herbert:
“Looks like it’s been raining cats and cats around here!”
“ I hope they scratched up all the furniture – I’ll make a fortune if they did!”
(About Abigail): “What a puss! Like a lemon rinse!”
There’s also a tongue-twisting scene where Mr. Penny explains how he’ll fix an antique by first having to use several tools to fix other tools.
CRAWFORD: (while driving down a seriously bumpy road): As an antiques dealer Mr. Penny what do you think of this road?
HERBERT: I’d hate to meet the worms who made these holes!
Then there is this exchange between Broderick Crawford and Hugh Herbert. When Crawford goes to show Hugh Herbert the crematorium for the cats, Hugh is in much disbelief, to which Crawford replies, “Sure, everything around here is for the cats – that’s why the place has gone to the dogs!” It’s a line that seems like it should be coming from comedian Herbert, and as if to downplay it, Herbert retorts “I’m glad I didn’t say that” in what very well could have been an ad-lib.
But there’s no question as to the two funniest lines:
First, when Basil Rathbone makes a pronouncement that the evidence points to Abigail, Broderick Crawford mutters under his breath, “He thinks he’s Sherlock Holmes!”
Then there’s perhaps the funniest line of all, which actually appears in the credits: “Suggested by the story by EDGAR ALLAN POE”
BUY THE FILM: This film is available on DVD as part of a 5-movie collection called the Universal Horror Classic Movie Archive paired with straight-laced horror films including “Man Made Monster,” “Horror Island,” “Night Monster” and “Captive Wild Women,” which you can buy here:
WATCH THE FILM ON YOUR COMPUTER: If you have a Netflix account, "The Black Cat" is currently available as an "instant view" selection.
FURTHER READING: There are several reviews on the internet worth reading, including this one at Eccentric Cinema, this review on the Universal Horror Archive blog and Movie Magg’s review.
Watch this trailer here:
COME BACK ON MONDAY, DECEMBER 21st FOR SEASON’S SCREAMINGS AS WE TAKE A LOOK AT SOME CHRISTMAS CREEPS!
In anticipation of Friday's review of the Hugh Herbert/Broderick Crawford horror-comedy "The Black Cat" (co-starring Basil Rathbone and Bela Lugosi), here's a public domain cartoon from the silent era starring that world-famous black (and partially white) feline, Felix the Cat. It's sure to make your whiskers quiver!
This blog is a companion piece to Paul Castiglia's forthcoming book of the same name, all about horror-comedy films like the classic features "Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein," the Bowery Boys’ “Master Minds” and Bob Hope's "The Ghost Breakers;" plus short subject spook-spoofs by comedy legends including Laurel & Hardy, the Little Rascals and the 3 Stooges; and such low-budget gems as "Zombies on Broadway" and "Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla."
Paul Castiglia is a veteran comic book creator, having written and edited several comic books as well as compiling trade paperback collections. He has also written pop culture articles and essays for magazine and book publications, and done research for special projects related to vintage entertainment.
His past forays into horror-comedy include providing a chapter to the book MIDNIGHT MARQUEE ACTOR SERIES: VINCENT PRICE about the comedic horror films that Mr. Price co-starred in with Peter Lorre, and writing the comic book series ARCHIE'S WEIRD MYSTERIES for several years (based on the animated cartoon show of the same name and recently collected in paperback form).
Oh yeah, Paul's dad is the godfather of The Misfits' Jerry Only, further cementing his "horror business" credentials. :)
