The Washington Times
  • Subscribe
  • Times News Services
  • RSS
  • Mobile Headlines
  • e-edition
  • E-MAIL ALERTS
  • REGISTER
  • LOG IN
  • E-MAIL ALERTS
  • WELCOME
  • Your Profile
  • Log Out
  • Front Page Image
  • Classifieds
  • Autos
  • Real Estate
  • Jobs
  • Special Sections
  • Customer Service
  • Home
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Sports
    • NFL
    • NBA/WNBA
    • MLB
    • NHL
    • Tennis
    • Golf
    • Motorsports
    • Soccer
    • NCAA
    • Olympics
    • Outdoors
    • Other
  • Culture
    • Home & Living
    • Family & Kids
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Travel
    • Health
    • Washington Visitors
    • Books
    • Military History
    • Life
    • Auto
    • TV Listings
    • Movie Listings
    • Death Notices
    • Entertainment
  • Themes
  • Communities
  • Marketplace
    • Autos
    • Jobs
    • Real Estate
    • Classifieds
    • Shopping
    • Dining Out
    • Education
    • TWT Store
  • Videos
    • Two Guys
    • Birnbaum on Washington
    • Liz Glover
    • Amanda Carpenter
    • Morning Briefing
    • Documentaries
    • Joe Giganti
    • Video Game Minute
  • Podcasts
    • About Headlines
    • Audio and Radio
    • America's Morning News
  • Sports

    Defensemen carry offense in Caps' win

  • Commentary

    Pelosi's new payroll tax

  • World

    Militants bomb Pakistan intelligence hub

  • National

    Pastor gets 175-year sentence for sex crimes

  • National

    Moon strikes reveal significant water

  • Business

    September trade gap widened 18.2%

  • National

    Five 9/11 suspects to be tried in NYC

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Lorre, Karloff, Lugosi return from the grave

Rate this story

Average 0.00
after 0 votes
Login or register to rate this story

  • Font Size -+
  • Print
  • Email
  • Comment
  • Tweet this!
  • Share
  • Article
  • Comments ()
  • Click-2-Listen
  • Videos

More Stories

  • Review: Palin book repeats familiar claims
  • Moon strikes reveal significant water
  • Militants bomb Pakistan intelligence hub
  • Jefferson sentenced to 13 years in freezer cash case

By

We can think of no better way to spend an old-school Halloween weekend than by settling down with the choice 1930s chillers assembled in the Hollywood Legends of Horror Collection (six-disc, $39.98), new from Warner Home Video. It's our ...

DVD pick of the week Our fave among the horrific half-dozen is director Karl Freund's brilliant 1935 Peter Lorre showcase Mad Love, based on Maurice Bernard's oft-filmed "The Hands of Orlac." Mr. Lorre gives a bravura turn as Dr. Gogol, an alternately abject and arrogant surgical genius whose unrequited love for stage actress Frances Drake leads to terror and tragedy in a streamlined 68-minute masterpiece tinged with surreal touches and eerie makeup effects.

Boris Karloff likewise commands audience attention as the eponymous archvillain in Charles Brabin's 1932 The Mask of Fu Manchu, drawn from "Yellow Peril" specialist Sax Rohmer's pulp novels. Highlights include Myrna Loy's lusty pre-Code performance as Fu's diabolical daughter, the infamous "Torture of the Bells" sequence and an utterly over-the-top climax.

Also onboard are Michael Curtiz's inventive 1932 two-strip Technicolor sci-fi-horror hybrid Doctor X, with a sinister Lionel Atwill, a screaming Fay Wray, ultraelaborate laboratory sets, and the long-elusive 1939 sequel-in-name-only B movie The Return of Dr. X. The latter features the extremely odd casting of Humphrey Bogart as pasty-faced modern medical vampire Dr. Xavier.

Two Tod Browning titles complete the set. Mark of the Vampire from 1935 finds Bela Lugosi in fine form as a faux vampire, while the authentically bizarre Lionel Barrymore vehicle The Devil-Doll (1936) casts the noted thesp as the vengeful creator of a crew of criminal dolls.

All except the last-mentioned come equipped with film-historian audio commentaries to further enhance the home-horror marathon experience.

Tele-video

Comedies top a busy TV-on-DVD week. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment leads the way with a pair of vintage sitcom collections, Bewitched: The Complete Fourth Season (four-disc, $39.95) and The Facts of Life: Third Season (three-disc, $29.95), while MGM Home Entertainment celebrates the scare season with the original The Addams Family: Volume One (two-disc, $29.98), and Paramount Home Entertainment revisits the more recent cathode comedy past with Wings: The Complete Third Season (four-disc, $42.99).

Parody rules in two additional assemblages, Shout! Factory's Greg the Bunny: Best of the Film Parodies (two-disc, $24.98) and Universal Studios' The Best of Saturday Night Live: Saturday TV Funhouse ($19.98).

Warner Home Video puts the emphasis on teen satire in the sly The OC: The Complete Third Season (seven-disc, $69.98), with select commentaries, featurettes and gag reel.

12Next »

Post a comment

There are comments on this article, submit your opinion!

Commenting is disabled for this entry.
If you feel there is still something worth mentioning about this entry please contact the author or the site admin.

Ask a Question

You Report

Do you have another point of view, photos, audio, video or more information about a story?

Top Stories

Most Read

  1. Bush warns of threats to freedom, economic growth
  2. KELLNER: New Apple mouse really is 'Magic'
  3. Houston sheriffs round up thousands of illegals
  4. EXCLUSIVE: Fort Hood suspect contacted Muslim extremists
  5. EXCLUSIVE: Iran advocacy group said to skirt lobby rules
More Top Stories »
  1. Tax penalties and prison
  2. Airport rules changed after Ron Paul aide detained
  3. Former clinic director: Church chilly to my pro-life turn
  4. PRUDEN: On vacation with Mr. Dithers
  5. Ida's downpours swamp Mid-Atlantic coast

Most Shared

  1. Bush warns of threats to freedom, economic growth
  2. Former clinic director: Church chilly to my pro-life turn
  3. PRUDEN: On vacation with Mr. Dithers
  4. KELLNER: New Apple mouse really is 'Magic'
  5. Immigration bill is promoted for 2010
More Top Stories »
  1. EXCLUSIVE: Iran advocacy group said to skirt lobby rules
  2. EDITORIAL: End Clinton-era military base gun ban
  3. Reluctant White House welcome
  4. Las Vegas on winning streak as market rebounds
  5. Bush warns of too much government

Most Commented

  1. Bush warns of threats to freedom, economic growth
  2. Houston sheriffs round up thousands of illegals
  3. EXCLUSIVE: Iran advocacy group said to skirt lobby rules
  4. Former clinic director: Church chilly to my pro-life turn
  5. Bush warns of too much government
More Top Stories »
  1. PRUDEN: On vacation with Mr. Dithers
  2. EDITORIAL: Running away from terrorism
  3. EXCLUSIVE: Fort Hood suspect contacted Muslim extremists
  4. ACORN sues government over funding
  5. Immigration bill is promoted for 2010

Listen to Washington Times Radio

  • America's Morning News

    with John McCaslin and Melanie Morgan

Blogs & Columns

  • POTUS Notes

    Anita Dunn: MSNBC 'different' from Fox News

  • The Back Story

    12 arrested at Pelosi's office

  • Belief Blog

    New Vatican constitution released

  • Out of Context

    Foods that might kill libido

  • Technology

    Facebook wins round against phishing spammer

  • On the Fly

    United lifts some 'award' blocking

  • Redskins 360

    Smith, Betts, Heyer should play

  • Tara's Two Cents

    On their way to summer vacation..

  • SNOBlog

    Beyond 'Woody'

Videos

Advertising Links
TWT Store
  • e-edition
  • Print Edition
  • Weekly Washington Times
TWT Affiliates
  • Middle East Times
  • Golf
  • UPI
  • Arbor Ballroom
  • Washington Times Global
  • About TWT
  • Press Room
  • F.A.Q.
  • Work for TWT
  • Advertise
  • Sponsors
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Site Map

All site contents © Copyright 2009 The Washington Times, LLC.