The Bela Lugosi Collection (Murders in the Rue Morgue / The Black Cat / The Raven / The Invisible Ray / Black Friday) DVD
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Rating:  -
Anyone interested in the Universal Horror cycle of the 1930s outside of DRACULA and FRANKENSTEIN or in the career of Bela Lugosi needs to have or at least rent this set which rates a full 5 stars thanks to beautiful transfers. It contains one bona fide classic (THE BLACK CAT - 1934), 2 very good films (THE RAVEN - 1935, THE INVISIBLE RAY - 1936), one ho-hum effort from late in the game (BLACK FRIDAY - 1940), and one fascinating misfire (MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE - 1932). It is this last film that I'm primarily interested in as it is the least known of the set and a classic case of studio interference ruining a potential masterpiece.
After preparing the original FRANKENSTEIN project only to have it handed to James Whale (who retained the idea of the stolen criminal brain), original director Robert Florey and star Bela Lugosi (who rejected the part of the Monster because it had no dialogue) were given this film as a consolation prize. Florey wanted to create an American CABINET OF DR CALIGARI. He had the great cameraman Karl Freund and together they created a bizarre shadowy Paris that is almost overbearingly atmospheric. Lugosi threw himself into the role of Dr Mirakle with remarkable intensity and what should have emerged from all this was an American expressionist classic. It wasn't and the book UNIVERSAL HORRORS explains what happened.
The finished film was shown to the Universal top brass and they didn't like it. Too humorless and too arty. So they had comic relief scenes with dialogue by a young John Huston added, close-ups of a chimpanzee inserted (the story is about a gorilla) and then rearranged Florey's existing order of scenes. The film was then cut from 72 to 61 minutes removing footage considered too disturbing. The end result was a terrible mess that barely resembles what Florey envisioned. However there are several moments which still make the film worthwhile. Lugosi's performance, Karl Freund's camerawork, and a surprisingly effective performance from Arlene Francis of WHAT'S MY LINE fame. It's a pity that we will never see what Robert Florey intended but what is left is still fascinating in spite of everything that happened.
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These five titles are good examples of Universal horror films both before and after the code. However, there is a little matter of truth in advertising to discuss. This is really more of a Lugosi/Karloff collection than a Lugosi collection. In fact, only one film does not feature both actors - "Murders in the Rue Morgue". Of the other four, two have Karloff and Lugosi on a fairly equal footing - "The Raven" and "The Black Cat", which are the best of the films. The other two - "The Invisible Ray" and "Black Friday" are really Karloff films. "Black Friday" really only has Lugosi as a bit player - Karloff is the star of that film.
All five feature the atmosphere and pacing that are unique to the Universal horror films of the time. I would say I found 1932's "Murders in the Rue Morgue" to be the least satisfactory of the films. The atmosphere is great, and Lugosi does one of the things he does best - play a sophistocated and charming madman. Lugosi has somehow managed to mix up ideas of evolution (man and ape being related) with religious ideals of pure blood only coming from virgins - thus his obsession with Camille, a girl he sees at the carnival where he exhibits his ape and speaks of his beliefs. The distracting part of the film consists of the love scenes between Camille and Pierre (Leon Ames). Later in his career Ames excelled at playing a sophistocated cad in the Warren William tradition, but here he just annoys me.
1934's "The Black Cat" changes things a bit and has Lugosi playing the hero for a change. Karloff plays a devil-worshiping priest who has a habit of preserving and displaying the bodies of his late wives in the basement of his castle. He has had Vitus Werdegast (Lugosi) imprisoned and stolen his wife. When Lugosi escapes fifteen years later, he returns for revenge and to retrieve the wife and infant daughter he left behind. Throw into the mix a honeymooning couple that is stranded at Karloff's castle and you have not so much a mystery but a chance for some really great moments between Lugosi and Karloff as they face off.
1935's "The Raven" has Lugosi again playing the charming madman. However here he is a legitimate man of science - brilliant surgeon, Dr. Villon. He saves the life of a young girl by performing emergency surgery on her and falls in love with her. Her father, Judge Thatcher, comes to Villon and tries to convince him that the relationship will never work. Angered that he is good enough to save his daughter's life but not to marry her, he plots a creative Poe-like revenge.
In 1936's "The Invisible Ray", Lugosi is again the good guy. He plays Dr. Felix Benet, who invites Dr. Janos Rukh (Karloff) on a scientific expedition to Africa. There Rukh discovers a powerful substance that has the power both to cure and destroy. When Rukh becomes infected with the substance he discovers he becomes mad with his own power to destroy, especially when he feels that he's been robbed by the expedition of both his wife and his discovery.
1940's "Black Friday" doesn't really fit with the other four, but it is still a very good film. It really is a noir more than it is a horror film. Karloff stars as brain surgeon Ernest Sovac. His good friend is run down by a gangster's car after that gangster is shot by his own mob. The gangster has a broken body as a result of the accident. Sovac's friend's brain is damaged to the point that he is dying. Sovac performs brain surgery and transplants part of the gangster's brain into his friend. He does this partly to save his friend and partly in hope of getting his hands on the money that the gangster has hidden from his mob. Lugosi plays a member of that mob and is not onscreen for very long.
This DVD is highly recommended to fans of Karloff, Lugosi, and Universal horror. The downside is that the films are on one dual-sided disc and there are absolutely no extras. However, the video and audio quality are excellent on all of the films.
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I've wanted a copy of the The Black Cat for years and years because of some of the background music that it possibly contained.
I was not born yet when The Black Cat first came out, but saw it once, at a very young age in the late 1960's or 1970's, on the old Thriller Theater, I think, hosted by a local celeb Count Gregore in Oklahoma city years after the movie came out on a late night horror movie offering. It had a song in it that sounded familiar to me.
The background song I was searching for was an old contest song I sang all the way back in junior high school. The title may be something like Roses At Night and sure enough there it was in instrumental version in the first scene where Boris Karloff in off to nighty-night with Bela's former wife.
I had always heard that this was the one movie that Lugosi did not play "the heavy" in and was glad I got to see two of my heroes in one movie.
I would suggest this collection as a primer for anyone who doesn't have much experience with the classics in horror by Lugosi, Karloff or Price. It is also great for those of us who still are enchanted by the old black and white anthems of good verses evil.
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This is the one with the right films. THE BLACK CAT would likely still bother the censors and is a great remake of the OLD DARK HOUSE but more stylish and satanic than the studio hoped for and a wonderful film to see on Halloween or a full moon. There is also THE INVISIBLE RAY a SciFi'ish horror film with special effects that cut to today. The rest of the set is great and are others faves. I would pay 5 times the price for this set. It's not just Bela; it's great Universal Horror that I waited for.
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This is an excellent collection for Bela Lugosi's fans. We see our famous Holywood's Dracula, a very professional actor, in different roles but always involved in mystery, murders ans suspense. I recommend and enjoy so much this five films, in particular "The invisible ray", based on the spectacular properties of the radioactive chemical element the "radium", so interesting but only as a science-fiction proposal. The Raven and the Black Cat are also magnificent. The participation of Mr. Boris Karloff gives a special touch to these horror series.
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