Oldies

This page is dedicated to a few good old black and white pre 50s films. I like old films because they're different, the style and content is nothing like what you see in modern day films, plus by watching old films you get a good indication and view of what the ideology and thought was like at that time. Unfortunately I own very few classic black and white films, their never in the sales. But the joy that is the BBC has a tendency to show the occasional black and white horror when they have a spare hour or so to fill, mostly at about 2 in the morning, but thats the best time to watch them. Anyways here a few which i especially like:

The Black Cat/The House of Doom (1934)

One thing you have to love about old films is that their alot shorter in comparison to modern day films, no numb arses after having to endure 3 hours of Leonardo Di Caprios suppossed acting here. This is 65 minutes of brilliance from the masters of early horror movies Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi (who i think is just a God!) The film also stars David Manners and Jacqueline Wells, was written for the screen by Peter Ruric (although quite abit of the storyline is based around Edgar Allen Poes works) and was directed by Edgar.G.Ulmer
A young couple are on their honeymoon in Austria (i think), when they meet up with this man (Lugosi) whos been released from this Prisoner Of War camp thingy and is on his way to visit an 'old friend'. When their bus crashes all are forced to stay at this 'old friends' house and various wierd truths are revealed about Lugosi and his old friends past.
A good indicator of great screenwriting and directing is being able to get round obstacles, like not being able to show gory scenes. Due to the fact that these films were made during a time where showing gutting etc. was rather unexceptable they still mange to shock you. With the use of shadows and giving you enough detail to let your imagination run wild, these films will still scare the pants off you. As its often said, 'your imagination is always gonna produce something worse than the reality'.

The Raven (1935)

Another Karloff and Lugosi film, (have i already mentioned how much i love Bela Lugosi?) Also stars Samuel.S.Hinds, Irene Ware and Lester Matthews. Written by David Boehm and directed by Lew Landers, this film is based on many of the writting of Edgar Allen Poe and is 61 mins long.
Anyways the storyline is roughly that Lugosi is a surgeon who happens to be quite quite obsessed with Poe and has built a number of the tortue machines mentioned in Poes works, as a hobby (like you do). He's called in to help a young woman who's been in a car accident and he falls madly in love with her, but when her father objects, well things get rather nasty. Especially when Lugosi decides to introduce them to Poes machines.
One of the things you have to love about this film is the torture machines, they are brilliant! You never see anything like this in modern films its all stabbing and shooting, all very quick, the torture machines help bring suspense and get your imagination working.
This film also has an interesting bit of philosophy in it coming from Karloff who says:
'maybe if a man is ugly looking he does ugly things'
its a thought provoking suggestion, and once you've seen the film and thought about this has a interesting twist, but i won't ruin it by telling you everything now.

The Cat People (1942)

This is a well known classic horror film, it was suppossedly the first monster movie of its time to refrain from showing its monster. Instead shadow techniques and silhouettes are used, although we do get brief glimpses of the monster eyes and rough form.
The film stars, well you can see for yourself from the movie poster to the right. It was written by De Witt Bodeen and was directed by Jacques Tourneur and is a bit longer than the prior film, lasting an hour and 13 mins.
The basic storyline is that a young Serbian woman, Irene, has come to the US and meets Oliver, whos a nice enough chap and they fall deeply in love. But Irene has the belief that if she kisses someone or gets jealous or angry she will turn into a panther and killer her lover or whoever has pissed her off. Theres a whole tale about the village she came from in Serbia worshipping Satan etc. until King John came and rid the town of the witches (gets explained better in the film). But Irenes problems really start when she starts to get jealous of one of Olivers work collegues.
This is a great film, the story is brilliant and there are loadsa little things that link togther nicely (i.e. Irenes whole 'i'm not lying to you'). There have been sequels and re-makes (including a porn version) but i haven't seen any of them