Matinee Memories

Often considered the dawn of science fiction in Hollywood, the early 1950s saw that although the classic horror films of the '30s and '40s -- especially those released by Universal Pictures -- were no longer in production, there was still a lingering appreciation of them by audiences. Universal, which became Universal-International in 1946, backed away from the profitable if assembly-line thrillers of recent vintage by shutting down its second feature and serial units to concentrate on bigger movies. However, response to its pairing of moneymaking comics Bud Abbott and Lou Costello with the studio's most famous monsters in ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (1948) was such that executives took notice, and rightfully so. A&C MEET FRANKENSTEIN generated as many chills as laughs and offered some heightened production value to patrons, prompting some speculation that a revival of movies featuring the Frankenstein Monster, Count Dracula and the Wolf Man was in the ...

Universal Pictures' decision to launch a series of second features featuring Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's great detective, Sherlock Holmes, came as the world conflict between democracy and dictatorship deepened. America was now in the war after helping the United Kingdom survive alone against the German juggernaut, and Hollywood was doing its part to lift morale with a heavy injection of propaganda into its product, with everyone pitching in to defeat the Axis. It was only logical that the Holmes films Universal put into production made Sherlock an agent in the war effort, employing his talent for deductive reasoning in solving crime to the larger problems the British Empire faced through espionage, sabotage and treason from its enemies. The first three movies in the series that commenced with the Sept. 18, 1942, release of SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE VOICE OF TERROR have been taken to task by fans for presenting a jarring update of Holmes from the comfortable Victorian period ...