Films: Classic Horror - The Silent Era through the 1940s
Annotation:Cary Grant’s plans to get hitched are interrupted when he learns his sweet old aunts have been poisoning gentlemen callers. Directed by Frank Capra and co-starring Raymond Massey and the inimitable Peter Lorre.
Place a Hold
Annotation:One of the great horror comedies finds Bud and Lou running into not only the Frankenstein Monster, but Dracula (Bela Lugosi, playing the Count onscreen for only the second and last time) and Larry Talbot, the Wolf Man (Lon Chaney Jr.).
Annotation:This German expressionist classic introduced several horror movie tropes, including the mad scientist, the sympathetic monster, and even the first slasher killer. Found in our German language section.
Annotation:A woman fears that romantic ardor will transform her into a killer panther. On the same disc is the largely discounted ‘sequel,’ The Curse of the Cat People, a far gentler fantasy tale. One of the classic films overseen by the famous horror producer Val Lewton.
Annotation:Bela Lugosi stars as the undead Count Dracula, who moves to England and annoys his new neighbors.
Annotation:Arguably the greatest adaptation of the tale of a high-minded scientist who manages to chemically manifest his evil side. Fredric March won Best Actor for the dual role.
Annotation:A scientist dares meddle in God’s domain. Directed by James Whale and starring Boris Karloff as The Monster and Colin Clive as Frankenstein. The Library offers the entire Frankenstein Legacy Collection, featuring in one set Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein, The Son of Frankenstein, The Ghost of Frankenstein and The House of Frankenstein.
Annotation:A concert pianist loses his hands, but receives new ones via surgery. The only hitch: the donor was an executed murderer, and the hands seem to have a mind of their own. Stars Conrad Veidt of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Casablanca. Found in our German language section.
Annotation:Scientist Claude Rains invents an invisibility serum. The problem is that he can’t find a counter-agent, and, oh yeah, it’s driving him insane. Directed by James Whale.
Annotation:A serial killer of children is sought by both the police and the criminal underworld, in this brilliant film directed by Fritz Lang and starring Peter Lorre. Found in our German language section.
Annotation:An ancient Egyptian sorcerer rises from his tomb to seek vengeance and reclaim his old girlfriend. Boris Karloff plays the malign Imhotep, although he appears in bandages only in one brief (yet amazing) scene.
Annotation:An unauthorized version of Dracula, the film was ordered destroyed. Luckily, this masterpiece of supernatural horror survived. Found in our German language section.
Annotation:Travelers seek shelter from a storm in a remote country home, with predictably dire results. A puckish strain of black humor runs through this film as it pokes fun at what were creaky clichés even back in 1932. Directed by James Whale and starring Charles Laughton and Boris Karloff.
Annotation:Horror cinema’s first great star, Lon Chaney, plays a madman stalking a Parisian opera house.
Annotation:A young scholar learns the rural town he is visiting is threatened by vampires in this expressionistic classic directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer. Found in our German language section.
Annotation:Innocent everyman Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.) is cursed to become a murderous beast with the rise of the full moon. Co-stars Claude Rains, Maria Ouspenskaya and, in a small but pivotal role, Bela Lugosi. The script by Carl Siodmak pretty much invented all the werewolf folklore we know today out of whole cloth. The Library owns The Wolf Man Legacy Collection, featuring also Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, The She-Wolf of London and The Werewolf of London.
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Care to catch up on the early days of cinema horror? The Library can help! Check out the following films, which we own on DVD.
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