Swamp Women (1956)

Starring Marie Windsor, Carole Mathews, Beverly Garland, Touch Connors, Susan Cummings
Directed by Roger Corman
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A policewoman poses as an inmate in a women's prison in order to stage a jailbreak, so her new cellmates can lead her to the location of a cache of stolen diamonds, hidden in a Louisiana swamp.

This is by no means a great film, but it is very watchable, and the female stars make it believable and interesting, even if their characters are somewhat broadly drawn.  It's a shame that the only way to see it is in murky public domain prints that don't showcase the Louisiana scenery very well.  Another of Roger Corman's many low-budget productions, and one without a sci-fi premise or horrific monster to pull in much of an audience, it nevertheless worked for me, although the female gang trusts Mathews a bit too easily without ever really suspecting her police trap.  Despite that, the action is pretty well staged, the screenplay isn't bad, (written by David Stern, better known for creating the character of Francis The Talking Mule), and the ladies entertain.

The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (1923)

Starring Lon Chaney, Patsy Ruth Miller, Norman Kerry, Kate Lester, Winifred Bryson
Directed by Wallace Worsley
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

The deformed hunchback and bell-ringer of Notre Dame Cathedral, Quasimodo, falls for the beautiful young gypsy, Esmeralda, when she shows him kindness, but other men also desire her. 

Another of Lon Chaney's great performances and makeups is showcased in this lively adaptation of Victor Hugo's novel, with plenty of spectacle and large crowd scenes also on display.  As the hunchback, though he does engender pathos in his scenes with Miller, the actor plays a particularly vengeful creature, suiting his bestial makeup, jagged teeth, and scowling one-eyed face.  I don't think there've been many faithful adaptations of Hugo's novel, and this has a number of departures, replacing Arch-Deacon Frollo with his brother as the story's primary villain, and conjuring a happy ending for the film, replacing the story's downbeat and tragic coda.  Nonetheless, it recaptures many key sequences from the novel, and Chaney's energetic performance is one for the ages.

Indestructible Man (1956)

Starring Lon Chaney Jr., Casey Adams, Marian Carr, Ross Elliott, Stuart Randall
Directed by Jack Pollexfen
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A condemned convict dies in the gas chamber, but after being restored to life by a scientist, and given great strength and invulnerability, sets out for revenge against the men who betrayed him.

This is far from a good film, but fans of Chaney's monster movies of the 1940s may find some enjoyment in it, as I did, seeing the favored actor again playing a monstrous character, and given more screen time than in most of his other 1950s roles.  Chaney becomes mute after scientist Robert Shayne "burns out his vocal chords" in resuscitating him with electricity, but given Chaney's other mute roles during the decade, it's likely his alcoholism played some part in that plot detail.  However, an early jailhouse scene comes off well for the actor, and a shot of simmering hatred in his eyes is well utilized.  The film is narrated by actor Casey Adams, also known as Max Showalter, playing a police detective who gets chummy with Chaney's girl, and has a surprise for her at film's end that wouldn't play well in any era but the 1950s.  Jack Pollexfen directs, and I've been fond of other pictures he's written and produced, but his direction is a bit too pedestrian here, not taking advantage of opportunities to heighten Chaney's menace and build suspense.

The Phantom Of The Opera (1925)

Starring Lon Chaney, Mary Philbin, Norman Kerry, Arthur Edmund Carewe, Gibson Gowland
Directed by Rupert Julian
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

The Paris Opera House is haunted by the mysterious phantom, who promises dire consequences if his protege is not allowed to star in the opera.

This silent classic features one of Chaney's best performances in my opinion, highlighted by an incredible makeup, the revelation of which is one of the great moments in cinema.  The other filmed versions of Gaston Leroux's story featured scarred and increasingly gory makeups but they don't compare to this one, which is still truly frightening almost a century later, a tribute to Chaney's craft as an actor and the tortuous contortions he put his body through to make him the "man of a thousand faces."  Unlike the other Phantoms, Chaney also hides his face for most of the film behind a full expressionless mask, making the pantomime of his gestures and other movements paramount in selling the character to the audience.  The film's famous color sequence, in which Chaney dons an impressive bleached skull mask or makeup is also effective in displaying his menace.  I'd have to say the rest of the cast is not in the same league as Chaney, but the sets are elaborate and fantastic, with the shadowy catacombs beneath the opera house, with their dark corners, hidden trap doors, and lavish dressings making a marvelous background for the Phantom's villainy.    

Doomed To Die (1940)

Starring Boris Karloff, Marjorie Reynolds, Grant Withers, William Stelling, Catherine Craig
Directed by William Nigh
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

When her friend's fiancee is accused of the murder of a shipping magnate, reporter Bobbie Logan calls in Mr. Wong to try and clear the young man. 

This was Boris Karloff's last go-round as Hugh Wiley's Oriental detective, and I found the script of the mystery, with a wealth of suspects and a few clever ideas, somewhat engaging before a hasty conclusion wraps things up without really spelling out the murderer's motive.  Static camerawork and too-dark scenery doesn't help matters, but there are some notable character actors in the cast, including Angelo Rossitto of Freaks in a brief appearance as a midget newsboy.  I found the film to fare no better or worse than Karloff's other Wong films, although the actor doesn't have much to do here, so overall I would rank this near the bottom of his filmography.  

Bluebeard (1944)

Starring John Carradine, Jean Parker, Nils Asther, Ludwig Stossel, George Pembroke
Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

In 19th century France, a dressmaker is charmed by the intelligent puppeteer who stages operatic dramas with his marionettes, but never suspects he is a serial killer targeting young women.

Another low budget production from Poverty Row studio PRC, the picture is boosted by talented director Edgar G. Ulmer, and John Carradine in a role perfectly suited to his rich voice and screen presence.  It's hard to imagine PRC pulling off a period costume drama, but Ulmer and his crew make it look authentic, although there's nary a French accent spoken among the cast.  In my opinion, this is probably Carradine's best performance for a low budget film, and although his tall and wiry frame was used by other filmmakers for effective boogeymen, he's handsome and debonair enough here to make one wonder why he's wasn't more utilized as a leading man.  Parker is charming as well, as perhaps the only local woman not fearful of the bluebeard on the loose, and Stossel is also welcome as a shady art dealer blackmailing Carradine's character.

Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde (1920)

Starring John Barrymore, Brandon Hurst, Martha Mansfield, Charles Lane, Cecil Clovelly
Directed by John S. Robertson
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

Dr. Henry Jekyll, frightened of succumbing to his baser impulses, develops a formula to unleash his darker half, but soon becomes dominated by the persona he calls Edward Hyde.

This early silent adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's novella is at the very least intriguing, differing quite a bit from later filmings of the story.  I didn't find it to be particularly well-directed, but Barrymore is outstanding as Hyde, in a less bestial but still grim makeup, with long hair, menacing teeth, and bony fingers.  Hunching over, and exposing a pointed-looking cranium, the actor offers quite the contrast to his more reserved portrayal of Jekyll.  That image is showcased in a very memorable sequence where we see a ghostly apparition of Hyde, with Barrymore's head superimposed on a giant spider that creeps onto Jekyll's bed.  Another item of interest is the casting of Hurst as the father of Jekyll's sweetheart, and the script's defining of him as a rogue who encourages Jekyll to yield to temptation, very opposed to the prim and proper stuffed shirt portrayed in the Paramount and MGM adaptations decades later.

King Of The Zombies (1941)

Starring Dick Purcell, Joan Woodbury, Mantan Moreland, Henry Victor, John Archer
Directed by Jean Yarbrough
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A government agent, his faithful valet, and their pilot crash land on an island where a mysterious doctor resides and frightening zombies roam the grounds.

Poverty Row studio Monogram Pictures delivers a number of horror elements, from the zombies to a graveyard, to Victor's cultured villain with something to hide, but the whole movie's really a comedy vehicle for the always wide-eyed Mantan Moreland.  Although Moreland throughout his career played mainly stereotypical roles which would definitely be looked down upon and criticized today, he had an indisputable comic timing, and talent for delivering rapid-fire jokes, which kept him employed as comic relief on a great number of pictures.  He might have his funniest material in this script, bouncing off the other actors playing their roles as straight as can be, and excelling when hypnotized into becoming a zombie, but definitely not a silent one.  That helps the film flow pretty well, despite Victor's less than compelling villain- Bela Lugosi or John Carradine would have done more with the role.  Despite Monogram's status on Poverty Row, somehow this film earned an Oscar nomination for composer Edward Kay.

The Killer Shrews (1959)

Starring James Best, Ingrid Goude, Ken Curtis, Gordon McLendon, Baruch Lumet
Directed by Ray Kellogg
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A ship captain becomes stranded on an island where a scientist has transformed tiny shrews into giant ravenous creatures whose bite causes instant death.

One of a pair of low budget horror films produced by Gordon McLendon and his father for the chain of theaters they owned, the other being The Giant Gila Monster, the movie is often ridiculed but I've always found it very enjoyable.  Dogs in costume pass for the shrews, but some very creepy puppet heads with menacing teeth are used effectively in closeups, and the sound effects that accompany their attacks are definitely unnerving.  Best, later to attain greater fame for playing Sheriff Rosco Coltrane on The Dukes Of Hazzard, is fine in the lead, and the supporting cast isn't bad either, with Gunsmoke's Ken Curtis playing a drunk coward, Sidney Lumet's father Baruch playing the cultured scientist, and McLendon more than serviceable as one of his excitable assistants.  Goude, a Swedish model turned actress, whose accent is mentioned but never explained, is capable, but saddled in the script with an odd engagement to Curtis' reprobate that doesn't really make sense.  This is definitely low-budget movie movie making, so the sets are limited, and the threat of an oncoming hurricane is beyond the filmmakers' abilities to depict convincingly.  It's also unfortunate that Judge Henry Dupree's character isn't much more than a stereotype and dispatched so early in the film.  However, I'm still fond of the picture, and would judge it as a more than diverting piece of entertainment.

The Monster Maker (1944)

Starring J. Carrol Naish, Ralph Morgan, Tala Birell, Wanda McKay, Terry Frost
Directed by Sam Newfield
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A criminal scientist, on discovering the daughter of a concert pianist resembles his dead wife, becomes obsessed with attaining her, and to that end infects her father with a terrible disease.

This low budget chiller from the PRC studio has its share of effective moments, and features one of their best casts, with Naish and Morgan the standouts.  Naish is creepy, speaking his dialogue in a suave but halting delivery, in a role that almost seems as if it might have been written for Bela Lugosi.  The monster makeup on Morgan is well done, and I liked elements of Albert Glasser's music score.  The budget shows however with some limited sets, and the script has some plot holes and weak logic, such as Birell's unwavering dedication as Naish's assistant after he has rejected her romantically.  Film historian Troy Howarth commented to me that he found the film a bit tasteless for exploiting the real disease of acromegaly, and I can definitely agree with that, and wonder if it was coincidental this film was released around the same time real-life acromegaly victim Rondo Hatton was appearing in movies for Universal as a boogeyman.

The Mad Magician (1954)

Starring Vincent Price, Mary Murphy, Eva Gabor, John Emery, Donald Randolph
Directed by John Brahm
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

Gallico, a designer of death trap illusions for magic shows, seeks vengeance when his employer prohibits him from starting his own career as a magician.

One of Vincent Price's lesser known films, and one hard to see until it was recently released on video, for me it's a personal favorite among all his movies.  Following his triumph in House Of Wax, it was Price's lone outing afterward as an out and out horror villain for a number of years, and despite the absence of his trademark mustache, he's well worth watching here.  I really like the behind the scenes magic backdrop of the film, and although Price's impersonations of other characters beneath so-called masks aren't always convincing, the dark villainy he's engaged in is on a par with what we're used to in his more popular efforts.  I liked the supporting cast too, as actor John Emery, who plays a rival magician, is marvelous sneering at Price in a French accent, and Lenita Lane is colorful as a murder mystery author and busybody who grows suspicious of Price.