Universal Cult Horror Collection is a 5 movie pack of 1930s and 1940s horror films. They're from TCM and Universal Home Entertainment. Each movie gets a separate single layer DVDr. The files on the first two movies are just under 3 GB each. They could easily have had the set reduced to 3 double layer discs but that might have meant they couldn't charge the nearly 50 smackaroonies the set cost. They're short movies, ranging between 61 and 66 minutes, and they look alright. There isn't anything special by way of extras, some behind-the-scenes stills, posters and lobbycards, TCM Database info, that sort of thing. I didn't really care enough to look at the extras. You can't find these movies anywhere else but Turner Classic Movies on cable. I don't have cable so there you go. My only real complaint is the cover to the DVD case is really poor and uninteresting. The back cover has mostly yellow text on black, the letter's are really small and hard to read. Reminds me that many product designers are below average.
House Of Horrors 1946 Dwight V Babcock wrote the original story, George Bricker wrote the screenplay, Jean Yarbrough did the directing. Dwight wrote the original stories and screenplays to several horror films: The Mummy's Curse, House Of Dracula, She-Wolf Of London, The Devil's Mask and The Brute Man. I've seen a few of the films that George penned: Sh! The Octopus, Mr Moto In Danger Island, The Devil Bat, House OF Dracula, She-Wolf Of London and The Brute Man. Jean started directing shorts in 1936, his first feature was Sauce For The Gander in 1940. He followed that with over 60 films. I've seen a few of them: The Devil Bat, King Of The Zombies, The Gang's All Here, She-Wolf Of London, The Brute Man, The Creeper, Jack And The Beanstalk and Lost In Alaska. You can see they worked together on a few films. That was common under the old studio system. I have a fondness for these old horror films, they're often more entertaining than their modern counterparts.
Martin Kosleck is a sculpture who's belittled by art critic Alan Napier. He looses a much needed sale. Martin finds Rondo Hatton struggling out of the river and brings him to his home.
Rondo is really The Creeper, a big man with a deformed face, who murdered some people, then ran away. He was thought to have died in the river. Martin doesn't realize who Rondo is at first, he just wants to have a grotesque model for his next big, important sculpture. Rondo played The Creeper in two other films, The Pearl Of Death in 1944 and The Brute Man in 1946. The character has nothing to do with the film The Creeper, that's a totally different monster.
Rondo sneaks out one night and kills Alan. Martin doesn't realize it was Rondo at first but once he does, he suggests another critic who needs killing in his eyes. Soon the power goes to Martin's head and that's his downfall.
There's the usual bit of romance between Robert Lowery and Virginia Grey. Bill Goodman plays the cop on the look out for The Creeper. It's a good solid film with a nice quick pace and a good sense of humor. Well worth the look for me.
Murders In The Zoo 1933 Philip Wylie and Seton I Miller wrote the screenplay and A Edward Sutherland was the director. Philip might be best known for his novels When Worlds Collide and After World Collide. I've read them and seen the movie several times. Seton wrote quite a number of films, some stand out a bit, The Sea Hawk, The Black Swan and Here Comes Mr Jordan. Eddie started in the silent era and directed about 50 movies. You might been familiar with Fireman, Save My Child or Tillie's Punctured Romance. I know I've seen The Flying Deuces with Laurel and Hardy, Beyond Tomorrow with C Aubrey Smith, The Invisible Woman with Virginia Bruce, and Having Wonderful Crime with Pat O'Brien, George Murphy and Carole Landis. The later film is based on a Craig Rice novel with her lawyer detective John J Malone. He's renamed Mike J Malone here. Who knows why.
Lionel Atwill is an animal hunter and scientist. He's very jealous of his wife, Kathleen Burke, as the movie opens he's sewn a man's lips together for kissing her. The man is abandoned in the jungle with no weapons or food. Lionel is collecting animals for a zoo, he brings a bunch back for private zoo.
Charles Ruggles is the zoo's new press agent, he's a nervous Nellie of a guy. That's him on the right, the others are Kathleen Scott and John Lodge. Lionel discovers his wife is having an affair with John and kills him with snake venom. Kathleen has the proof but Lionel catches her at the zoo and tosses her in to the alligators. That closes down the zoo and attracts the police.
Randolph Scott plays the zoo's animal doctor and Gail Patrick plays his assistant' They team up and solve the mystery and save the zoo from closing down permanently. The baddie gets his and things end as well as they could.
Pretty entertaining, they pack a lot of story in a 66 minute movie. Lionel is as creepy as he can be and Randolph is young and handsome. There are some laughs and some thrills. I thought it was worth seeing. Some nice posters too.
The Mad Doctor Of Market Street 1942 Al Martin wrote the screenplay and Joseph H Lewis directed. Joseph directed a good bit of TV at the end of his career, before that he directed 40 other films. I'd seen a few, The Big Combo, Gun Crazy, The Falcon In San Francisco, Pride Of The Bowery, That Gang Of Mine, Boys Of The City, and The Invisible Ghost.
Lionel Atwill is a mad scientist, he kills a test subject with his new suspended animation formula, now he's on the run. He sets sail on a ship that sinks and leaves him and a handful of survivors on an island inhabited by some natives.
Lionel saves a tribal matriarch and takes over the tribe. He fails to live up to their expectations by being much too clever. It wasn't as good as the previous two films, more about average. It was nice to see Lionel get his in the end. He was a real dick. I'd watch that again.
The Mad Ghoul 1943 James P Hogan directed this film, Hanns Kräly wrote the original story, Brenda Weisberg and Paul Gangelin wrote the screenplay.
This time George Zucco is the mad scientist. He's cooked up an ancient Mayan formula that will turn men into easily to control zombies. George works at the local university where David Bruce is a medical student. David's pretty girlfriend is Evelyn Ankers, George has his eye on her for his own. He uses his formula on David and controls him while Evelyn is on a musical concert tour.
George has David kill people, the formula needs human hearts to make it, and that sure attracts the attention of the police. Things look pretty bleak for Evelyn but she gets a hand and it all works out as best it can. A little better than the previous film. I'd watch it again.
The Strange Case Of Doctor Rx 1942 William Nigh is the director and Clarence Upton Young wrote the screenplay. I've seen a handful of William's 120 films, The Ghost And The Guest, The Ape, Mr Wong In Chinatown, The Mystery Of Mr Wong and The Fatal Hour. He started directing in 1914 and hung up his monocle in 1948.
Dr Rx is a murderer, he's been killing criminals that escaped justice. He's got a gorilla. Edmund MacDonald and Shemp Howard are the cops who ask their PI pal Patric Knowles to lend a hand. Mantan Moreland is Patric's butler and assistant. I always think a movie is made better by Mantan's presence. They get on the case and track down the murderous Dr Rx. It was fun and I had a laugh or two. Worth the watch to me, as I thought the whole set was, it's just too pricey at nearly 10 smackaroonies a movie. Too bad more people aren't into classic movies, the DVDs might be cheaper and more common.