Hollywood's Legends of Horror Collection (10/10/06) (1 Viewer)

[Colton]

Includes:

Mark of the Vampire
Stars Lionel Barrymore, Elizabeth Allan, Bela Lugosi, Lionel Atwill, Jean Hersholt
Directors: Tod Browning
Theatrical Release Date: April 26, 1935
Rating
Genres: Horror, Mystery
Synopsis Sir Karell Borotyn appears to have been killed by Count Mora, a vampire believed to haunt the local village. Now his daughter Irena is the count's next target. Enter Professor Zelen, an expert on vampires who's sent in to prevent her death. At the same time, secrets are revealed surrounding the circumstances of Sir Karell's death.

The Mask of Fu Manchu
Stars Boris Karloff, Lewis Stone, Karen Morley, Charles Starrett, Myrna Loy
Directors: Charles Brabin
Theatrical Release Date: November 5, 1932
Rating
Genres: Adventure, Horror, Sci-Fi
Synopsis Englishmen race to find the tomb of Ghengis Khan. They have to get there fast, as the evil genius Dr. Fu Manchu is also searching, and if he gets the mysteriously powerful relics, he and his diabolical daughter will enslave the world!

Doctor X
Stars Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, Lee Tracy, Preston Foster, John Wray
Directors: Michael Curtiz
Theatrical Release Date: August 27, 1932
Rating
Genres: Horror, Thriller
Synopsis A monster lurks as New York newspaperman Lee Taylor investigates one of the "Moon Killer" murders, in which the victims are strangled, cannibalized and surgically incised under the light of the full moon. The trail leads to the cliffside mansion of Dr. Xavier, where the doctor and his colleagues conduct a strange experiment.

Mad Love
Stars Peter Lorre, Frances Drake, Colin Clive, Ted Healy, Sara Haden
Directors: Karl Freund
Theatrical Release Date: July 12, 1935
Rating
Genres: Romance, Horror
Synopsis In Paris, the great surgeon Dr. Gogol falls madly in love with stage actress Yvonne Orlac, and his ardor disturbs her quite a bit when he discovers to his horror that she is married to concert pianist Stephen Orlac. Shortly thereafter, Stephen's hands are badly crushed in a train accident- beyond the power of standard medicine. Knowing that his hands are his life, Yvonne overcomes her fear and goes to Dr. Gogol, to beg him to help. Gogol decides to surgically graft the hands of executed murderer Rollo onto Stephen Orlac, the surgery is successful but has terrible side-effects...

The Devil-Doll
Stars Lionel Barrymore, Maureen O'Sullivan, Frank Lawton, Rafaela Ottiano, Robert Greig
Directors: Tod Browning
Theatrical Release Date: July 10, 1936
Rating
Genres: Sci-Fi, Horror
Synopsis Paul Lavond was a respected banker in Paris when he was framed for robbery and murder by crooked associates and sent to Devil's Island. Years later, he escapes with a friend, a scientist who was working on a method to reduce humans to a height of mere inches (all for the good of humanity, of course). Lavond however is consumed with hatred for the men who betrayed him, and takes the scientist's methods back to Paris to exact painful revenge.

The Return of Doctor X
Stars Wayne Morris, Rosemary Lane, Humphrey Bogart, Dennis Morgan, John Litel
Directors: Vincent Sherman
Theatrical Release Date: December 2, 1939
Rating
Genres: Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Synopsis New York newspaper reporter Walter Barnett finds himself out of a job after he claims to have found actress Angela Merrova dead in her apartment - only the next day she showed up alive and threatened to sue the paper. Determined to investigate he discovers her involvement with a strange doctor who is an expert on human blood. Barnett then finds a connection to a series of gruesome murders where the victims were all found drained of blood.

FINALLY! I'm grabbing this one!

- Colton

 

[Jim Peavy]

Yep, really looking forward to this. I've heard they they found the original negatives for both Mask of Fu Manchu and Mark of the Vampire and utilized 'em for their transfers. No more switching to a mucked-up PQ when cutting to Mask's long-edited scenes! (And God knows Mark of the Vampire can use all the help it can get).

Tom Weaver said they originally approached him to do a commentary for Mark of the Vampire, but when it came time for him to actually record it, signals had gotten crossed somehow and they wanted him to do Dr. X instead. Having done research for Mark only, and the only info he had on Dr. X being from a lengthy article by Scott MacQueen, he suggested Mr. MacQueen himself. This is all from Tom himself over at the Classic Horror Film boards.

Still kinda' strange that, out of all of 'em, Devil Doll is the only one without a commentary. David Skal would have been perfect, having done a Tod Browning biography.