Universal Horror

All posts tagged Universal Horror

Patricia Morison: B Movies’ Regal Queen

Published March 18, 2013 by biggayhorrorfan

As pink studded buildings collapse and the twisted spirals of despair clutch at his nightmare ridden feet, Big Gay Horror Fan reaches out, desperately, and always the ebony Rapunzel-like hair of stage goddess Patricia Morison comes floating past. Clutching at it, he is once again, pulled from his hideous dreams, waking up to a new morning.

Regal to the point of otherworldliness and always exquisitely beautiful, exotic Patricia Morison gained eternal fame as Cole Porter’s muse for his classic 1948 musical Kiss Me Kate. For many, this artistic opportunity saved her from appearances in a variety of low budget Hollywood programmers. But, for cinematic fetishists in the know, these cheap wonders always highlighted Morison’s eclectic grace.

In 1943’s Calling Dr. Death, Morison radiates with concern as Stella Madden, Dr. Mark Steel’s (Lon Chaney, Jr.) prized assistant. But Morison always allows a tone of mystery to pervade her actions – a grand move as Stella soon appears to know more about the death of Steel’s wife than she is letting on. Indeed, during a nightmarish sequence Morison finds herself running between shadowy, toppling set pieces in a brilliantly conceived dance of guilt. The presence of Chaney and J. Carrol Naish (The Monster Maker, House of Frankenstein) along with the moody direction of Reginald Le Borg (The Mummy’s Ghost, Weird Woman) makes this among Morison’s more fright based efforts. But, the dedicated Morison always gave up the exploitation gold in a number of other genre projects, as well.

As Mrs. Hilda Courtney in the 1946 Sherlock Holmes adventure Dressed to Kill, Morison truly gives distinguished Basil Rathbone (Tales of Terror, Queen of Blood, The Black Cat, The Mad Doctor, Tower of London) a run for his money. She excels at sophisticated villainy here, but she is obviously having the most fun when duplicitously disguised as a homely working class matron. But whether grand or downtrodden, Morison shows all her fabulous colors here making one marvel at the fact that the studio system never figured out a grand scheme for her.

In 1947’s Queen of the Amazons, Morison shows much spunk and zeal as Jean Preston. Determined to find her missing fiancé in the wilds of the jungle, Morison sparks immediately with Robert Lowery as experienced guide, Gary Lambert. The two are destined for romance in the Hepburn-Tracy variety, but only after it is discovered that Preston’s fiancé has fallen in love with the vicious and vengeful Zita, the queen of the jungle. Morison’s gritty elegance here is in direct contrast to the extremely awkward (thus thoroughly enjoyable) performance of Amira Moustafa as Zita.

Be sure to check back often as Big Gay Horror Fan (https://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan ) frequently exposes the wondrous exploitation foibles of the most glorious femmes of entertainment.

Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

Fern Emmett: The Grand, Uncredited Dame of Old School Horror!

Published February 19, 2013 by biggayhorrorfan

Hanging out on the sidelines while everybody else is seemingly having the major fun – this is a situation that Big Gay Horror Fan knows well.

Of course, awesome individuals like veteran character actress Fern Emmett (1896-1946) are able to rise, grandly, above such situations. With over 200 films to her credit, Emmett often made a strong impression in small (and frequently uncredited roles) in the golden age of horror.

Dying far too young from cancer, Emmett provided hysterical back-up to Monty Wooley during the final year of her life in 1946’s big budget exploration of Cole Porter in Night and Day. In an office setting, Wooley references her secretary character every time he sings the word Madame in the song “Ms. Otis Regrets”. Emmett’s arched eye acknowledgements of his gesture secure this sequence’s place as the fictionalized film’s highlight.

But, while she often decorated big budget projects with calculated humor, one of Emmett’s largest roles was in the PRC’s poverty row production of Dead Men Walk in 1943. Featuring horror regulars George Zucco and Dwight Frye, Emmett played Kate, a woman well aware of the undead experimentation occurring in her village. Of course, locals doubt her observations, chalking them up to grief stricken cries for help – until it is too late!

Thirteen years before this film, Emmett appeared in Majestic Pictures’ similar outing The Vampire Bat (1933), starring the elegant Lionel Atwill and the ever humbled Frye. Best known as one of the films that secured lead actress Fay Wray’s title as the original scream queen, Emmett has a couple scenes as Gertrude, the concerned companion of the film’s first female victim, an elderly woman of status.

Smaller roles in the Universal classics came towards the end of her life. In 1942’s fun and atmospheric The Mummy’s Tomb, Emmett plays dressmaker to the beautiful Elyse Knox’s Isobel, the film’s endangered heroine.

In 1943, Emmett achieved grand victimhood by taking one for genre goddess, Evelyn Ankers, whom was portraying Beth in Captive Wild Woman. As Aquanetta, in savage ape form, storms Beth’s room with murder on her mind, Emmett’s neighbor emerges from her room. Soon Emmett’s concerned citizen is meeting her squealing fate at the hairy hands of Aquanetta’s re-focused fury.

But, whether appearing just to enact a frenzied death throes or to offer up some quick comic goodness, Emmett always made a memorable presence – proving, that while her name may not rank up with there with the Garbo’s and Dietrich’s of her era, it certainly should.

Be sure to check back often as Big Gay Horror Fan frequently examines the glorious wonders of women in horror.

Meanwhile, Big Gay Horror Fan is always welcoming friends of the towering femmes of terror at http://www.facebook.com/#!/BigGayHorrorFan, as well!

Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

Anne Gwynne: Classic Horror’s Most Charming Presence!

Published January 24, 2013 by biggayhorrorfan

“You dare to tamper with my attendants, to send this slinking cat Sonja to worm her way into my confidence?!?” – Princess Aura to Ming re: Anne Gwynne’s evil Lady Sonja, Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe

Oh, how Big Gay Horror Fan recalls the many moods of the limbless whores who raised him. One minute they were as benevolent as Jennifer Jones in saint mode, jockeying for an Oscar. The next, they were riding their trembling offspring with passionate insults, draped in their best dominatrix nun garb. Such duality in two 4’10’’ bodies!

That must be why I admire legendary Universal starlet Anne Gwynne (1918-2003) with such passion. Always contagiously beguiling, Gwynne played cowgirls, savage jungle maidens, greedy heirs and evil space conspirators throughout her career. Her charming friendliness often shines above her attempts at deep characterization – though her Lady Sonja in 1940’s Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe is a clipped and believably evil delight – but she is always a joy to watch.

Gracing the screen in un-credited roles in 1939, her first major genre participation occurred in 1940 with the above mentioned Flash Gordon and the Boris Karloff-Bela Lugosi vehicle Black Friday. She is sweet as Karloff’s daughter in Friday, but much more memorable horror turns came with 1941’s Black Cat, Weird Woman and House of Frankenstein (both 1944). Frankenstein found her playing the resourceful ingénue, but she was more morally ambiguous in Cat, playing a greedy relative with an expensive agenda. Taking memorability a step further, as Lon Chaney Jr.’s sensitive bride in Woman, she is a confused young islander raised in the practice of voodoo. Once settled into mainland society, she tries to give up the ways that are natural to her (a circumstance that many Big Gay Horror Fans have flirted with over the years)but the vengeful plotting of her husband’s colleague (played with vicious purpose by Gwynne’s friend and fellow genre vixen Evelyn Ankers)sends her retreating back to her former practices.

Of course, as with many performers, the full-bodied roles died away for Gwynne within a matter of years. As Tess Trueheart in 1947’s Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome, she is given little to do. Still stunningly beautiful, she does command attention in an enjoyable bit with former co-star Karloff.

Gwynne, whose final genre appearance was in 1958’s Teenage Monster, is also notable for a providing an interesting genealogy of cult entertainment. Her daughter Gwynne Gilford acted in such films as 1972’s Beware! The Blob and 1980’s Fade to Black while grandson Chris Pine is best known as James T. Kirk in the J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek films.

More information can be gathered on Gwynne at www.annegwynne.com.

Meanwhile, Big Gay Horror Fan is always welcoming lovers of the Universal Horror Ladies at http://www.facebook.com/#!/BigGayHorrorFan!

Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE – Big Gay Horror Fan!

Carole Lombard is Supernatural!

Published December 18, 2012 by biggayhorrorfan

Oh, the things that Big Gay Horror Fan wishes he never knew: Love in a rectory with the bulbous priests of destruction – The wraith of the Dragon Lady as she paraded, shoeless, through the offices of hell – The call of the self hating id as it wakes him early in the morning and hounds his every waking second! All are things that I wish I could forget! But the discovery that Golden Age screen goddess Carole Lombard appeared in a Universal horror film? That’s a fact that I want to treasure forever!

Best known as the snappy comedienne in such treasured flicks as Twentieth Century, My Man Godfrey and Nothing Sacred, 1933’s Supernatural was Lombard’s only attempt at an occult flavored offering. Directed by Victor Halperin, coming off the grand delights provided by 1932’s White Zombie, Supernatural has all the components of being a runaway success – including a powerful feminist stance provided by Vivienne Osborne’s sadistic murderess, Ruth Rogan. Yet, despite it moments of intense enjoyability, this Supernatural is a bit of a structural mess.

Quite simply, there is too much going on for a solid aura of creepiness to establish itself. 1941’s The Wolf Man had its quaint, gypsy laden countryside with gothic overtones while 1931’s Frankenstein mixed a bit of laboratory madness into that mix. But, Supernatural features a friendly ghost, a mad scientist type, a female serial killer, a murderous charlatan psychic and a possession subplot, and bops from set piece to set piece, ultimately producing a movie that never quite gels.

Still Lombard, whom apparently felt ill-at-ease away from her more comic playing grounds, delights with grisly glee once Roma, her heiress character, is taken over by the recently executed murderess, played in the film’s opening moments, with chilling ease by character actress Osborne.

More enjoyable, though, are the subtle Pre Code touches, including roaches scattering about a cackling landlady’s sink and Lombard’s breast being groped AND one grand, glass enclosed set piece that is introduced in the latter part of the film.

Determined to stop Rogan’s ghostly influence after her death, Carl Houston, a concerned doctor played by H.B. Warner, is experimenting on her corpse in a window coated laboratory, located in a penthouse suite in the heart of the city. Halperin brings all the glorious mood that would have made this movie truly memorable to this sequence. As Lombard and the handsome Randolph Scott discover what Houston is up to, Rogan’s influence is truly felt and one wishes that screenwriter Garnett Weston would have found a way to focus more of the story here.

Still, true fans of women in horror are sure to delight in sassy Lombard’s appearance in a dusty horror flick and the movie (available only on VHS) is definitely worth tracking down if only to gander at all of its (too) plentiful elements of spook.

Be sure to check back as Big Gay Horror Fan often uncovers the femmes of fright. Keep a (well arched) eye on http://www.facebook.com/#!/BigGayHorrorFan, as well.

Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!