- Joined
- Feb 8, 1999
- Messages
- 18,425
- Real Name
- Robert Harris
John Brahm was an interesting filmmaker with a 35 year career.
Born in Germany, and with a brief stop working in England, he came to the U.S. as a director first at Columbia, and then moving to Fox in 1941.
His work, especially The Lodger must have some roots in German expressionism.
Some of his best work is included in this small, but important boxed set from Fox Home Video strangely titled Fox Horror Classics.
Of the three films included, only one would fall under the "horror" category, while the other two, both starring the brilliant, but ill-fated Laird Cregar, are psychological dramas.
And they are brilliant filmmaking of the period.
The Lodger, based on the book by Marie Belloc Lowndes about Jack the Ripper, (also the basis of the 1927 Hitchcock classic) is a short, elegant film that looks acceptable on video, considering that by legend the Fox nitrate negatives no longer survive.
This means that whatever is still in the vaults, and how well it lends itself to being digitally cleaned, is what we have. Fox has recently done a wonderful job of getting more than acceptable images from these dupes.
The Lodger looks rather good, and with the exception of an occasional washed out dupe, is quite acceptable. One cannot help but wonder, as even in it's current state the cinematography of Lucien Ballard (The Wild Bunch, True Grit, Ride the High Country) is so extraordinary, what it might have looked like in a nitrate print derived from the original negative.
The most interesting of the film, and possible both Brahm and Cregar's best work is Hangover Square, the tale of psychologically challenged composer and his rather split personality.
Hangover Square was Mr. Cregar's final film. He died before it's release at the age of 28.
The best film of the three, Hangover appears to have an over-processed look, which makes bright, and sometimes higher contrast items tend to break up and "swim" as pieces within themselves, looking quite like parts of a puzzle that fit together and then break apart. The processing has seemingly removed high frequency information. Not knowing the state of the elements, this may have been the only way to achieve a reasonably good looking image on video.
The film itself totally outweighs any digital downside however.
The last of the three, the "horror" item, is The Undying Monster, an elegant little 63 minute film, which may have been Fox's attempt to cash in on what is now considered to be Universal's Lon Chaney, Jr. classic, The Wolf Man.
I've personally been waiting for decades for the two Cregar films to finally arrive in decent condition and in a home video format of better quality than VHS.
Any technical issues aside, I'm thrilled that Fox has released their "Horror" boxed set, which comes Highly Recommended.
All three discs, which come in slim cases, are inclusive of commentary tracks, and other extras, inclusive of a well put together 20 minute profile on Mr. Cregar. Of the dozen films he made for Fox, 8 are now available on DVD. All are worthy of your attention, especially at a street price which works out to about $7 per title. This is a bargain of incredible proportions.
RAH
Born in Germany, and with a brief stop working in England, he came to the U.S. as a director first at Columbia, and then moving to Fox in 1941.
His work, especially The Lodger must have some roots in German expressionism.
Some of his best work is included in this small, but important boxed set from Fox Home Video strangely titled Fox Horror Classics.
Of the three films included, only one would fall under the "horror" category, while the other two, both starring the brilliant, but ill-fated Laird Cregar, are psychological dramas.
And they are brilliant filmmaking of the period.
The Lodger, based on the book by Marie Belloc Lowndes about Jack the Ripper, (also the basis of the 1927 Hitchcock classic) is a short, elegant film that looks acceptable on video, considering that by legend the Fox nitrate negatives no longer survive.
This means that whatever is still in the vaults, and how well it lends itself to being digitally cleaned, is what we have. Fox has recently done a wonderful job of getting more than acceptable images from these dupes.
The Lodger looks rather good, and with the exception of an occasional washed out dupe, is quite acceptable. One cannot help but wonder, as even in it's current state the cinematography of Lucien Ballard (The Wild Bunch, True Grit, Ride the High Country) is so extraordinary, what it might have looked like in a nitrate print derived from the original negative.
The most interesting of the film, and possible both Brahm and Cregar's best work is Hangover Square, the tale of psychologically challenged composer and his rather split personality.
Hangover Square was Mr. Cregar's final film. He died before it's release at the age of 28.
The best film of the three, Hangover appears to have an over-processed look, which makes bright, and sometimes higher contrast items tend to break up and "swim" as pieces within themselves, looking quite like parts of a puzzle that fit together and then break apart. The processing has seemingly removed high frequency information. Not knowing the state of the elements, this may have been the only way to achieve a reasonably good looking image on video.
The film itself totally outweighs any digital downside however.
The last of the three, the "horror" item, is The Undying Monster, an elegant little 63 minute film, which may have been Fox's attempt to cash in on what is now considered to be Universal's Lon Chaney, Jr. classic, The Wolf Man.
I've personally been waiting for decades for the two Cregar films to finally arrive in decent condition and in a home video format of better quality than VHS.
Any technical issues aside, I'm thrilled that Fox has released their "Horror" boxed set, which comes Highly Recommended.
All three discs, which come in slim cases, are inclusive of commentary tracks, and other extras, inclusive of a well put together 20 minute profile on Mr. Cregar. Of the dozen films he made for Fox, 8 are now available on DVD. All are worthy of your attention, especially at a street price which works out to about $7 per title. This is a bargain of incredible proportions.
RAH
