Is that your girlfriend, Willco? What an elegant looking young lady.
Anyway,
HIGHLY RECOMMENDEDThe Movies (text copied from Amazon):
THE MASK OF FU MANCHU (MGM, 1932) - Boris Karloff is wonderfully creepy as Sax Rohmer's evil genius, Dr. Fu Manchu. It would not be the last time Karloff played a Chinese, as he later starred as Mr. Wong in Monogram's low budget detective series later in the decade. The plot concerns a race between good guy Lewis Stone and Fu Manchu to find the tomb of Ghengis Khan. If Fu Manchu gets there first he will possess the magical relics placed there which, in turn, will allow him to enslave the world. Look for a young Myrna Loy in a delightful turn as Fu's diabolical, and scantily-clad, daughter.
DOCTOR X (WB, 1932) - A good early effort by Michael Curtiz concerning the "Moon Killer" murders in which the victims are strangled, cannibalized and surgically dissected under the light of the full moon. Wise-cracking reporter Lee Tracy traces the clues to a spooky seaside mansion, where Dr. Xavier (Lionel Atwill) and his colleagues are conducting strange experiments. Made in early two-strip Technicolor, the film is wonderfully atmospheric, and the sets themselves will linger in your mind. Aside from the irritating Lee Tracy as reporter Lee Taylor, the acting is crisp and to the point. Atwill in particular is eerie. Fay Wray is good as Xavier's daughter. I won't give any more of the plot away, but just remember the phrase "synthetic flash." Once heard, it will linger in the mind always.
MARK OF THE VAMPIRE (MGM, 1935) - Tod Browning's remake of his "London After Midnight" with Bela Lugosi as the vampire, Count Mora, and Lionel Atwill as Inspector Newman. In the original, both roles were played by Lon Chaney. The plot concerns the death of Sir Karell Borotyn, who appears to have been killed by vampire Count Mora. Fearing that the vampire's next victim will be Borotyn's daughter, Irena (Elizabeth Allan), vampire expert Professor Zelen (Lionel Barrymore) is called I to protect her and shed some light on the goings-on. Look for Carroll Borland as the Count's daughter (a role played by Edna Tichenor in the original).
MAD LOVE (MGM, 1935) - One of the great plots in horror film history, and one that has been repeated many times. Colin Clive plays the brilliant concert pianist Stephen Orlac, whose hands are crushed in a train accident. His wife, Yvonne, is a noted stage actress whose ardent admirer is Dr. Gogol (Peter Lorre). Although she rejected Gogol previously, she is forced to seek his help in restoring her husband's hands. Gogol replaces Orlac's hands with those of executed knife thrower Rollo, and the fun begins. Clive is his usual tortured, neurotic self and Lorre is brilliant as the oily monomaniacal Gogol. Pauline Keal, in her book on Citizen Kane, stated that Welles copied Lorre's look for the older Kane.
THE DEVIL DOLL (MGM, 1936) - Tod Browning's last great film is about as respected Parisian banker (Lionel Barrymore), who is framed for robbery and murder and sent to Devil's Island. Years later he escapes in the company of a scientist who has discovered a way to shrink living things to one-sixth their original size. Barrymore finds a new use for the scientist's discovery as a means of revenge on those who had framed him.
THE RETURN OF DOCTOR X (WB, 1939) - The famous Humphrey Bogart punishment picture! After years of complaining about his one-dimensional gangster roles, it was said that Jack Warner decided to teach Bogie a lesson and put him in the role of a vampiric lab assistant who needs freshly drained blood in order to stay alive. Bogart is a hoot in pasty-faced white makeup and a grey streak through his hair. Wayne Morris play the wise-cracking reporter who exposes Bogie as the killer. (Tough job considering the makeup). Look for Olin Howard (Jensen the drunk in Them! and the Blob's first victim) as the undertaker. This film has never before been released on either VHS or DVD, so it is a welcome find for horror fans and Bogart fans as well
ME: If you like weird-ass old horror movies, and you have $30, you just can't go wrong here. I saw Doctor X on TCM a while back, and it's genuinely creepy. A lot of these films were made before the "Hayes Code" was strictly enforced, so they were able to get away with a lot - like a half-naked Myrna Loy in Fu Manchu.
