Talkin' Movies

042 - House on Haunted Hill

Episode 042 - House on Haunted Hill (1959)

 

Outro Music: Main Titles from House on Haunted Hill by Von Dexter

041 - Needful Things

Episode 041 - Needful Things (1993)

 

Intro Music: The Arrival by Patrick Doyle

Outro Music: End Titles by Patrick Doyle

040 - The Funhouse

Episode 040 - The Funhouse (1981)

 

Intro Music: The Funhouse Main Title by John Beal

Outro Music: Carnival Skyline by John Beal

039 - Rondo Hatton: The Pearl of Death / House of Horrors / The Brute Man

Episode 039 - Rondo Hatton: The Pearl of Death (1944) / House of Horrors (1946) / The Brute Man (1946)

 

 

NOTES, SOURCES, & FURTHER READING

For an overview of Universal Horror in general, the bible remains Tom Weaver, Michael Brunas, and John Brunas’ Universal Horrors: The Studio’s Classic Films, 1931-1946 (second edition, McFarland & Company, Inc., 2007)

For more on the workings of Universal during the Classical Hollywood era, we recommend chapters 1, 6, 13, 18, and 23 of Thomas Schatz’s The Genius of the System: Hollywood Filmmaking in the Studio Era (1988)

Very few scholars have devoted much ink to Rondo Hatton over the years.  Aside from the Weaver/Brunas/Brunas tome, our main source of information on the reluctant thespian has been Cory Legassic’s ‘“The Perfect Neanderthal Man”: Rondo Hatton as The Creeper and the Cultural Economy of 1940s B-Films’ in Recovering 1940s Horror Cinema: Traces of a Lost Decade (Lexington Books, 2015).

For more on Martin Kosleck, consult Harry M. Benshoff’s Monsters in the Closet: Homosexuality and the horror film (Manchester University Press, 1997).  There’s not much there, but the quality of the information surpasses its brevity.

James O’Neill’s Terror on Tape (Billboard Books, 1994) includes capsule reviews of The Pearl of Death and The Brute Man, but inexplicably omits House of Horrors despite mentioning it in the other reviews.

John Stanley’s Creature Features: The Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Movie Guide (updated edition, Berkley Boulevard, 2000) includes capsule reviews of all three Creeper films discussed in this episode.

 

Intro Music: The Pearl of Death Main Titles by Paul Sawtell

Outro Music: The Bute Man Main Titles

038 - Mummy Sequels: The Hand, Tomb, Ghost, and Curse of Kharis

Episode 038 - Mummy Sequels: The Hand, Tomb, Ghost, and Curse of Kharis [The Mummy's Hand (1940) / The Mummy's Tomb (1942) / The Mummy's Ghost (1944) / The Mummy's Curse (1944)]

 

 

NOTES, SOURCES, & FURTHER READING

For an overview of Universal Horror in general, the bible remains Tom Weaver, Michael Brunas, and John Brunas’ Universal Horrors: The Studio’s Classic Films, 1931-1946 (second edition, McFarland & Company, Inc., 2007)

 For more on the workings of Universal during the Classical Hollywood era, we recommend chapters 1, 6, 13, 18, and 23 of Thomas Schatz’s The Genius of the System: Hollywood Filmmaking in the Studio Era (1988)

For more on the life and career of George Zucco, consult Gregory William Mank’s Hollywood’s Maddest Doctors: A Biography of Lionel Atwill, Colin Clive, and George Zucco (Midnight Marquee Press, Inc., 1998)

 A review of MCA’s VHS release of The Mummy’s Curse appears in the column “The Video Eye of Dr. Cyclops” in Fangoria #134 (July 1994)

For the history of horror cinema in general we recommend Carlos Clarens’ An Illustrated History of  Horror and Science-Fiction Films: The Classic Era, 1895-1967 (1967), William K. Everson’s Classics of the Horror Film (1974) and More Classics of the Horror Film (1986), and David J. Skal’s The Monster Show: A Cultural History of Horror (1993).  Like many of the films they discuss, these books have their flaws but have become too influential to ignore.  They remain insightful, informative, and entertaining.

Intro music: "The Mummy's Hand" Main Titles by Hans J. Salter & Frank Skinner

Outro music: "The Mummy's Curse" Main Titles by William Lava & Paul Sawtell

037 - The Black Cat

Talkin' Movies episode 037 - The Black Cat (1934) & The Black Cat (1941)

 

 

NOTES, SOURCES, & FURTHER READING

For an overview of Universal Horror in general, the bible remains Tom Weaver, Michael Brunas, and John Brunas’ Universal Horrors: The Studio’s Classic Films, 1931-1946 (second edition, McFarland & Company, Inc., 2007)

 For more on the workings of Universal during the Classical Hollywood era, we recommend chapters 1, 6, 13, 18, and 23 of Thomas Schatz’s The Genius of the System: Hollywood Filmmaking in the Studio Era (1988)

There is a very long and detailed chapter on The Black Cat (1934) in Gregory William Mank’s Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff: The Expanded Story of a Haunting Collaboration (McFarland & Company, Inc., 2009)

For further reading on the 1934 film The Black Cat, we recommend the chapter “Bauhaus of Horror: Film Architecture and The Black Cat” in Alison Peirse’s After Dracula: The 1930s Horror Film (I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd, 2013) and the film’s brief entry in Danny Peary’s Cult Movies 3: Fifty More of the Classics, the Sleepers, the Weird and the Wonderful (Fireside, 1988)

Lucille Lund’s account of Edgar Ulmer’s sadism can be found in Gregory William Mank’s “When the Black Cat Crossed Her Path” in The Bloody Best of Fangoria volume 12 (1993)

A very brief overview of the Breen Office’s response to The Black Cat (1934) is included in Anthony Slide’s article “Censored Screams!  Horror Films and the Production Code in the 1930s,” which appeared in Filmfax issue 72 (April/May 1999)

Tim’s dislike of David Fucking Manners was partially fuelled by the Gregory Mank article “David Manners Revisited: He Outlived Them All!” which appeared in issue 60 of Midnight Marquee Monsters (Summer/Fall 1999)

For the history of horror cinema in general we recommend Carlos Clarens’ An Illustrated History of  Horror and Science-Fiction Films: The Classic Era, 1895-1967 (1967), William K. Everson’s Classics of the Horror Film (1974) and More Classics of the Horror Film (1986), and David J. Skal’s The Monster Show: A Cultural History of Horror (1993).  Like many of the films they discuss, these books have their flaws but have become too influential to ignore.  They remain insightful, informative, and entertaining.

 

Intro music: "The Black Cat" (1934) Main Titles by Heinz Eric Roemheld

Outro music: "The Black Cat" (1941) Main Titles by Hans J. Salter

036 - Dracula

Talkin' Movies episode 036 - Dracula (1931)

NOTES, SOURCES, & FURTHER READING

For an overview of Universal Horror in general, the bible remains Tom Weaver, Michael Brunas, and John Brunas’ Universal Horrors: The Studio’s Classic Films, 1931-1946 (second edition, McFarland & Company, Inc., 2007)

For more on the workings of Universal during the Classical Hollywood era, we recommend chapters 1, 6, 13, 18, and 23 of Thomas Schatz’s The Genius of the System: Hollywood Filmmaking in the Studio Era (1988)

The Gary Don Rhodes article “The Twelve Biggest Myths of Classic Horror Film History!” is spread out over issues 140, 141, 142, and 143 of Filmfax Plus (Spring 2015-Winter 2016)

Tim’s dislike of David Fucking Manners was partially fuelled by the Gregory Mank article “David Manners Revisited: He Outlived Them All!” which appeared in issue 60 of Midnight Marquee Monsters (Summer/Fall 1999)

For information on the career of Bela Lugosi and his relationship with Universal, read Gregory William Mank’s Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff: The Expanded Story of a Haunting Collaboration (McFarland & Company, Inc., 2009)

For a thorough look into the origins of Dracula, there is David J. Skal’s Hollywood Gothic: The Tangled Web of Dracula from Novel to Stage to Screen (W.W. Norton & Company, 1990)

If you enjoyed our brief exploration of the sexual undertones of Dracula’s relationship with Renfield, you will probably be interested in Harry M. Benshoff’s Monsters in the Closet: Homosexuality and the horror film (Manchester University Press, 1997)

For the history of horror cinema in general we recommend Carlos Clarens’ An Illustrated History of Horror and Science-Fiction Films: The Classic Era, 1895-1967 (1967), William K. Everson’s Classics of the Horror Film (1974) and More Classics of the Horror Film (1986), and David J. Skal’s The Monster Show: A Cultural History of Horror (1993).  Like many of the films they discuss, these books have their flaws but have become too influential to ignore.  They remain insightful, informative, and entertaining.

035 - George A Romero

Talkin' Movies episode 035 - George A Romero (1940-2017)

 

00:00:00 Driveway to the Cemetery by Spencer Moore from "Night of the Living Dead" / 01:34:00 The Gonk by Herbert Chappell from "Dawn of the Dead"

NOTES, SOURCES, & FURTHER READING

For an overview of the first two decades of Romero’s career, check out Paul R. Gagne’s The Zombies That Ate Pittsburgh (Laurel Entertainment,Inc., 1987)

For an interesting look at the American horror renaissance of the seventies, check out Jason Zinoman’s Shock Value (The Penguin Press, 2011)

034 - Magical Mystery Tour & Yellow Submarine

Talkin' Movies episode 034 - Magical Mystery Tour (1967) & Yellow Submarine (1968)

Original air date: 07/27/2017

 

00:00:00 Magical Mystery Tour by John Lennon & Paul McCartney from Magical Mystery Tour / 00:00:42 Intro, The Greatest Films ever made / 00:13:06 Eli Wallach / 00:16:54 Sean Lennon Live in Concert / 00:46:12 Magical Mystery Tour / 01:22:42 Yellow Submarine / 02:07:56 Give My Regards to Broad Street / 02:14:07 All Together Now by John Lennon & Paul McCartney from Yellow Submarine

033 - A Hard Day's Night & Help!

Talkin' Movies episode 033 - A Hard Day's NIght (1964) & Help! (1965)

Original air date: 07/28/2014

 

00:00:00 A Hard Day's Night by John Lennon & Paul McCartney from A Hard Day's Night / 00:00:50 Intro, The Jeffersonian art show 2014 / 00:12:16 The Beatles / 00:40:34 A Hard Day's Night / 01:31:53 Help! / 02:13:29 Next Time: Magical Mystery Tour, Yellow Submarine / 02:14:07 Help! by John Lennon & Paul McCartney from Help!