Gothic light: 'The Strange Door'/'The Black Castle'
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 offing. Yet U-I's regime saw fit to limit appearances by these creatures to successive A&C comedies, and only sparingly, as seen with ...MEET THE INVISIBLE MAN (1951), ...MEET DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1953) and ...MEET THE MUMMY (1955). Indeed, U-I's reluctance to return to the company's horrific roots was primarily economic, as pointed out by scholars Gary Don Rhodes and Bill Kaffenberger.The studio was still interested in higher-echelon releases, but didn't care to spend on horror movies because, Rhodes and Kaffenberger have maintained, reissues of Universal's classics, in addition to the B movies made by Bela Lugosi for Monogram and Producers Releasing Corp. earlier in the decade, had fed the lingering appetite for horror since 1947. That's when U-I allowed its genre titles from the Universal days to be redistributed by Jack Broder's Realart Pictures. Those films included such pairings of Lugosi and Boris Karloff as THE BLACK CAT (1934, issued by Realart as THE VANISHING BODY to prevent confusion with the 1941 THE BLACK CAT) and BLACK FRIDAY (1940), among others.
"The back catalogs of studios like Universal and Monogram saturated theaters with horror and Lugosi to the extent that they generally satisfied whatever demand existed for them, cheaply and efficiently," Rhodes and Kaffenberger concluded. "Why hire Lugosi and produce a new film when an old one would fit the bill?"* Additionally, by 1950 Monogram had sold packages of its older releases, including films with Lugosi and Karloff, to the then-dreaded competitor television, keeping both horror icons front and center with fans of their films.
With a move toward more escapist entertainment as westerns and comedies, U-I looked to combine old-fashioned scare trappings with swashbuckling action in two productions, THE STRANGE DOOR (released Dec. 8, 1951) and THE BLACK CASTLE (Dec. 15, 1952), both featuring Karloff as part of a three-picture deal that brought the respected portrayor of the Frankenstein Monster back to Hollywood soundstages from New York, where he had successfully tackled Broadway, radio and TV. Indeed, Karloff's last screen role at that point had been in ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET THE KILLER, BORIS KARLOFF (1949), which U-I issued in the wake of A&C MEET FRANKENSTEIN to lesser acclaim.
However, THE STRANGE DOOR and THE BLACK CASTLE were not star vehicles for Karloff, who instead had roles supporting both films' lead actors. In fact, THE STRANGE DOOR is dominated by Charles Laughton's performance as its chief malefactor, while THE BLACK CASTLE found Karloff nearly submerged by a stronger-than-usual cast. In both, the actor is more heroic than sinister, but makes his scenes within both of the Jerry Sackheim-scripted movies count through years of experience and theatrical skill. In her thoughtful analysis of THE STRANGE DOOR, Nathalie Yafet observed that Karloff's "expressive body language and facial expression more than compensate for his limited lines as we see his silent-film training put to good use."*
De Maletroit, already showing signs of insanity, hopes to chain Blanche for life to a good-for-nothing to avenge her mother's leaving the nobleman for his gentler brother Edmond (Paul Cavanaugh), who's locked in the dungeon below, acting crazy himself to keep de Maletroit from disposing of him. Edmond is tended by loyal servant Voltan (Karloff), who like everyone else in the house, has suffered from de Maletroit's cruelty. Denis and Blanche don't hit it off at first, as de Maletroit hopes, but soon fall for each other and conspire to escape together, particularly when Denis finds the "victim" of the inn shooting is alive, well and one of the sire's corps of bad men. Denis and Blanche's attempt to flee with the help of Denis' family friend Count Grassin (Alan Napier) fails, prompting the now fully bonkers de Maletroit to imprison them with Edmond, whose cell walls begin contracting toward them when de Maletroit activates a fiendish torture device.
Wounded by de Maletroit's flunkies while trying to help Denis and Blanche, Voltan summons every bit of strength to dispatch the last of the henchmen, send de Maletroit to his doom, get the keys to the cell and free the prisoners. Director Joseph Pevney milks every last bit of tension as the seemingly indestructible Voltan struggles to rescue his friends from their trap, which arouses memories of a similar shrinking room in the Karloff-Lugosi vehicle THE RAVEN (1935). While it seems inconceivable that Voltan can still function after being shot, stabbed and falling down stone stairs, he still does so in grand melodramatic fashion to allow Blanche, Edmond and a now-reformed Denis to live.
Pevney, a former actor known for his roles in such noirish efforts as NOCTURNE (1946), BODY AND SOUL (1947) and THE STREET WITH NO NAME (1948), switched to directing and made his debut in that capacity with U-I's SHAKEDOWN (1950) starring Howard Duff and Peggy Dow. THE STRANGE DOOR was his sixth assignment for the studio, which later handed him such memorable exercises as SIX BRIDGES TO CROSS (1955, starring Tony Curtis and Julie Adams), FEMALE ON THE BEACH (1955, Joan Crawford and Jeff Chandler), TAMMY AND THE BACHELOR (1957, Debbie Reynolds and Leslie Nielsen) and significantly, the biography of Lon Chaney Sr., MAN OF A THOUSAND FACES (1957) with James Cagney in the title role. Alternating between features and the growing TV market, Pevney was a regular director during the second season (1967-1968) of the original STAR TREK, and continued working in the medium until his retirement in the 1980s. Pevney was 96 at the time of his 2008 passing.
THE STRANGE DOOR reflects Pevney's confidence as a filmmaker, even if Yafet took him to task for allowing Laughton -- and subsequently the film -- to get away from him. Instead, Pevney imbues THE STRANGE DOOR with a proper atmosphere rife with shadow and peril with numerous reminders of Universal's past. The inn where the opening action occurs, and a subsequent chase scene, were part of the famed European village set at Universal City where the horror entries of the '30s and '40s were filmed. Musical director Joseph Gershenson repurposed the incidental themes from the '40s cycle of thrillers to good effect, although as Yafet points out, imprudent use of a comic cue from A&C MEET FRANKENSTEIN negates the suspenseful mood of Denis and Blanche's escape attempt.
Karloff, a link to those classics that no doubt helped box office, takes the underwritten role of Voltan and offers some subtleties and occasional ambiguity to keep viewers guessing about his motives until he reveals his true heroic colors. His performance comes off as a model of restraint when compared to co-star Laughton, who does offer some terrific line readings to conterbalance his excesses as de Maletroit. But given THE STRANGE DOOR's heritage of blood-and-thunder thrillers from another era, the actor's approach may not have been too far out when contrasted with the underplaying of supporting players William Cottrell and Michael Pate as de Maletroit's chief accomplices. Pate especially uses his impressive voice and smirking features to elicit a more subtly sinister intent on the part of his character, qualities the Australian actor used brilliantly in his subsequent Hollywood career. Laughton, who enjoyed playing powerful men, very likely saw Alan de Maletroit in that light and proceeded to portray him as such for all of its dramatic effect.
As Denis, Stapley is more than adequate in his fourth screen role since making his debut in the Bulldog Drummond caper THE CHALLENGE (1948) that starred Tom Conway. Stapley's dark and somewhat dissipated look help quickly establish Denis as a rogue, although his essential likeability shines through. A writer and businessman on the side, Stapley worked occasionally in the film capitol until returning to his native England to star in a syndicated TV series, THE MAN FROM INTERPOL, in 1960-1961 under the professional name of Richard Wyler. He divided his time between acting and other activities until his death in 2010 at 86.
Sally Forrest is a refreshing presence as Blanche, more assertive than expected and far from the "toothless hag" Denis dreads before their initial meeting. At the time, Forrest was under contract to M-G-M and was loaned to U-I for THE STRANGE DOOR. She came to the project with some impressive dramatic skills gleaned from her association with actress Ida Lupino, then establishing herself as a director with range and feeling. Forrest had been working unbilled as a dancer in Metro musicals when Lupino tapped her for the lead in NOT WANTED (1949), an intense study of a single woman facing an unexpected pregnancy and the trials she endures because of the situation. Lupino was producer of the film and is widely acknowledged to have completed NOT WANTED when its credited director, Elmer Clifton, fell ill during production.
The sensitivity supplied by Forrest to what became her big break led to her starring in two more Lupino-directed features, NEVER FEAR (a.k.a. THE YOUNG LOVERS, 1950) as a dancer battling her way back from polio and HARD, FAST AND BEAUTIFUL (1951), in which she was a conflicted tennis champion before Metro offered her a contract. She continued working into the '60s and was also 86 at the time of her death in 2015.
"The Sire de Maletroit's Door," the Stevenson story on which THE STRANGE DOOR was based (the title card reads "Robert Louis Stevenson's THE STRANGE DOOR") was apparently published several years after the author of TREASURE ISLAND and THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE had prematurely died at 44 in 1894. Scholars have found the tale did focus on Denis de Beaulieu's sham marriage to Blanche de Maletroit sight unseen and their subsequent falling in love, but the remainder of what went into the screen version was purely scenarist Sackheim's invention. Stevenson's works were then popular fodder for Hollywood due to the success of the Walt Disney production of TREASURE ISLAND from 1950, and Columbia had issued SON OF DR. JEKYLL with Louis Hayward in the title role earlier in 1951.
U-I was then on a minor Stevenson kick with THE STRANGE DOOR, followed by the March 1, 1952, release of Ted Tetzlaff's TREASURE OF LOST CANYON, an American West version of the 1883 story "Treasure of Franchard" that starred William Powell and Julie (then Julia) Adams. The fascination may have played itself out by the time the studio premiered ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE on Aug. 1, 1953, also the last film Karloff made under the arrangement that cast him in THE STRANGE DOOR and THE BLACK CASTLE. Although considered by some as the worst of Abbott & Costello's meet-the-monsters extravanganzas, ...MEET DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE gave Karloff a stronger role as Jekyll than in the other two films. It's mostly understood the then 64-year-old actor was doubled by a stuntman in the scenes involving the bestial-looking (and rather athletic) Hyde.
THE BLACK CASTLE, in the estimation of horror historian Calvin Thomas Beck, is "spirited and vigorous but hampered by a formula-ridden script."*** An original screenplay by THE STRANGE DOOR's Sackheim, it is livelier, somewhat more elaborate in production and possessing moments of real suspense. THE BLACK CASTLE also offers not only Karloff in a subdued but vital part as an 18th Century physician to an evil German nobleman (Stephen McNally) but Lon Chaney Jr. as a mute henchman. The old Universal experience is reinforced in the title credit sequence, played out against a benighted castle that resembles the Frankenstein residence destroyed by villagers at the beginning of GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN (1942), in which Chaney took his turn at portraying the Monster. Gershenson again revived some incidental music from the period that originated with 1939's SON OF FRANKENSTEIN.
We soon learn in the beginning of THE BLACK CASTLE thar Sir Ronald Burton (Richard Greene) believes two of his best friends have been murdered by Count Carl Von Bruno (McNally) in retaliation for their routing Von Bruno's ivory poaching scheme in Africa. A native uprising against Von Bruno left him blind in his right eye, which he covers with a patch. No shrinking violet, Burton receives official permission to investigate on his own, using the identity of Richard Beckett, a British national looking to sample Von Bruno's hunting opportunities on his Black Forest estate.
Upon arrival, Burton encounters the sadistic Von Bruno, along with his innocent wife Elga (Paula Corday), low-key Dr. Meissen (Karloff), brutal Gargon (Chaney) and a watery pit filled with alligators. Von Bruno is suspicious of Burton and almost succeeds in dispatching him during a hunt for a panther. Burton falls for the countess, uncovers evidence that Von Bruno had his companions killed and tries to flee with Elga, only to be captured. Given a drug that simulates death by Meissen in order to save Burton and Elga, the scheme backfires and Von Bruno plans to bury them alive. But Von Bruno' crazed intent is foiled when Burton awakens at the critical moment and plugs Von Bruno with bullets from a pair of dueling pistols Meissen had secreted within Burton's coffin.THE BLACK CASTLE was the directorial debut of Nathan H. Juran, who shared an Academy Award for art direction for HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY (1941) and who had recently been practicing the same skills at U-I, most recently with 1950's HARVEY. For an initial effort in the director's chair, Juran acquitted himself nicely in creating the appropriate environment for the thrills and incident in Sackheim's scenario. In particular, Burton's encounter with the panther is played out engagingly against a foggy background. Juran handled a few more films of varied content -- mostly westerns -- until he began his career as a specialist in science fiction with U-I's THE DEADLY MANTIS and the Columbia release TWENTY MILLION MILES TO EARTH (both 1957).
As Nathan Hertz (his middle name), Juran lent his talents to lower-budgeted entries such as the notorious ATTACK OF THE 50-FOOT WOMAN and the lesser-known BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS (both 1958), continuing in the field of fantastic films with FLIGHT OF THE LOST BALLOON (1961), JACK THE GIANT KILLER (1962) and FIRST MEN IN THE MOON (1964), the last for TWENTY MILLION MILES TO EARTH's producer Charles H. Schneer. Juran's final theatrical assignment, THE BOY WHO CRIFE WEREWOLF (1973) reunited him with Kerwin Mathews, star of one of the director's triumphs, THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD (1958). Romanian-born Juran was 95 at the time of his passing in 2002.
Just as Juran had sci-fi and fantasy films to look forward to, THE BLACK CASTLE was produced by William Alland (THE STRANGE DOOR had been overseen by the veteran moviemaker Ted Richmond). Alland, another former actor, member of Orson Welles' Mercury Theater ensemble and the inquiring newsreel reporter of Welles' CITIZEN KANE (1941), was to become the name fans and critics would associate with the genre productions for which U-I became known. These commenced with 1953's IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE, the successful Creature from the Black Lagoon series and the Juran-directed THE DEADLY MANTIS, among others. Alland had joined U-I as an associate producer on CAVE OF OUTLAWS (1951) with Macdonald Carey, fulfilled the same duties on the previously-mentioned TREASURE OF LOST CANYON and was promoted to producer on THE RAIDERS (1952) starring THE BLACK CASTLE's McNally.
The busy Alland was also put to work on other movies during his tenure at U-I, but it was in science fiction his career reached its zenith, particularly with the adult-oriented space drama THIS ISLAND EARTH (1955). Alland also produced content for Allied Artists, Columbia and Paramount over the course of his career, signing his last theatrical feature, THE LIVELY SET, in 1964. He died in 1997 at 81.
Neither Alland or Juran had anything to be ashamed of with THE BLACK CASTLE, which historian Clive Hirschhorn found to be "an enjoyable programmer reminiscent of the studio's horror flicks of a decade earlier."@ But the gothic-themed thriller took a back seat to wonders from other planets, mysterious lagoons and prehistoric creatures until the latter '50s when England's Hammer Films once more made Dracula and Frankenstein's Monster popular again -- only this time in color and what was then considered gratuitous gore.
Karloff again takes a small part that is key to the plot and makes more of it despite his restrained performance. Like Voltan in THE STRANGE DOOR, Dr. Meissen's actions in THE BLACK CASTLE allow for the hero to vanquish Von Bruno and his coterie of like-minded villains. Chaney is given less to do dramatically as the threatening Gargon, but had the skill to make a presence in the few scenes he was afforded before Burton makes him the alligators' next meal. Chaney was in a busy period of his career that was in part reactivated due to his appearance in A&C MEET FRANKENSTEIN, while Karloff, after completing his duties on A&C MEET DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE, found offers to work in his native England and in Italy more attractive than what he was getting in Hollywood at the time.
British-born Greene, who entered films at 20 in John Ford's FOUR MEN AND A PRAYER (1938) for Twentieth Century-Fox, was already identified with swashbuckling, adventuresome roles when he took the lead in THE BLACK CASTLE and lent his basic likeability and athleticism to the part as the avenging interloper into the world of Von Bruno, a role McNally seemed to relish playing. After alternating between Hollywood projects and films in his homeland, Greene went on to star in the UK-based TV series THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (1955-1960), where he gained his more lasting fame. His last theatrical film appearance was in the horror hit TALES FROM THE CRYPT (1972); he was 66 when he passed in 1985.
McNally, an attorney-turned-actor, entered movies in the early '40s under his real name, Horace McNally, at M-G-M. After a convincing portrayal of the heavy in JOHNNY BELINDA (1948), the Warner Bros. drama that earned Jane Wyman the year's Best Actress Oscar, McNally signed with U-I and took Stephen (the name of his young son) as his new professional monicker. The studio kept McNally occupied in all manner of films, from crime melodramas to westerns as both hero and bad guy (most effectively as the latter in Anthony Mann's WINCHESTER '73, 1950). As one noted film historian observed during the actor's lifetime, "... McNally has always been most effective on the wrong side of the law."@@
Despite his snarling, glowering performance adding to the enjoyment of THE BLACK CASTLE, the film was his next-to-last contracted assignment for U-I. His career, however, continued unabated as a freelancer until the late '70s, where he was seen in an episode of THE HARDY BOYS/NANCY DREW MYSTERIES ("Nancy Drew's Love Match") made by Universal TV. McNally was 82 when he died of a heart attack in 1994.
One must also mention female lead Paula Corday for hitting all the right notes as endangered heroine Elga. Born in Tahiti to a Swiss diplomat and his wife, she was signed by RKO in October 1942 and saw her first screen role under the name Rita Corday in the heavily-promoted HITLER'S CHILDREN (1943). She worked with Karloff in Robert Wise's THE BODY SNATCHER (1945) and found her name more closely associated with The Falcon films, being cast in five entries of the detective series headlined by Tom Conway.
Also known as Paule Croset, Corday left acting behind after her 1947 marriage to producer Harold Nebenzal. However, THE BLACK CASTLE was her fifth screen appearance after re-entering movies in 1951 as Paula Corday. But it was also her next-to-last job on the screen, although she continued working in TV until 1955. Corday was 72 when she died of complications from diabetes in 1992.
Finding the mixture of horror, adventure and derring-do that went into THE STRANGE DOOR and THE BLACK CASTLE adequate but not productive when it came to current audience trends, U-I wisely decided to pursue interest in science fiction for more desired results. The move gave U-I an identity in the field, particularly with the previously-mentioned THIS ISLAND EARTH and Jack Arnold's THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN that ranked along with the studio's onetime reputation for gothic horror.
THE STRANGE DOOR and THE BLACK CASTLE tend to be dismissed as poor imitations of the Universal formula, with the presence of such luminaries as Karloff and Chaney wasted as marquee lures, but both productions have strengths to balance out the weaknesses, and remain entertaining movies issued in U-I's transition of the fantastic film from straight horror to visions of the future.
If you encounter THE STRANGE DOOR or THE BLACK CASTLE in your viewing experience (the titles were included the Universal/MCA Karloff DVD collection of 2005), give them a look and a chance. For gothic light, if you will, they're both worth your time.
* Rhodes and Kaffenberger, NO TRAVELER RETURNS: THE LOST YEARS OF BELA LUGOSI, Albany, Ga.: Bear Manor Media, 2012, p. 109.
** Yafet, "The Strange Door," in Gary J. Svehla and Susan Svehla, eds., SON OF GUILTY PLEASURES OF THE HORROR FILM, Baltimore, Md.: Midnight Marquee Press, 1998, p. 195.
*** Beck, HEROES OF THE HORRORS, New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1975, p. 162.
@ Hirschhorn, THE UNIVERSAL STORY, New York: Crown Publishers, 1983, p. 202.
@@ William K. Everson, THE BAD GUYS: A PICTORIAL HISTORY OF THE MOVIE VILLAIN, Secaucus, N.J.: Citadel Press, 1964, p. 82.
Comments
Post a Comment