Almost every monster movie today can claim some kind of influence from the old Universal Film Classics. The ideas of Dracula the way he dresses, the way he talks, the way he attacks can all be traced back to the Bela Lugosi interpretation. Boris Karlof and his tragic monster is the first images when one talks about Frankenstein. The Mummy, Lon Chaney Jr's Wolfman, Claude Rains as the Invisible Man are all staples for what we think of when these classic monsters that have come up over and over again are reimagined for the cinema.
To sit in a theater where the silver screen lights up any smoke or dust in the air and see these dark sets come to life with their soundtracks and scary make up for the time must have been a sight to see. After all, it is within this era that Orson Welles shocked the world with a radio broadcast.
Dracula
Bela Lugosi wanted to play the role so badly that he made less than other actors in the movie. He is the image of Dracula when people think about Dracula even now almost a century later. He never blinks his eyes, trying to add to the undead-ness of the character.
Frankenstein
This is how the make up for the monster has kept with the times, it is still under copyright through the year 2026. When other movies have tried to make the monster it doesn't live up because this is what we envision in our minds even if we have never seen this movie. Boris Karloff as the monster....he took it after Lugosi turned it down because he didnt want to take a roll that didn't speak. This was the first movie to use the castle/thunder effect that has been stolen a million times since. The film was banned in The film was banned in Kansas upon its original release on the grounds that it exhibited "cruelty and tended to debase morals".
The Invisible Man
Claude Rains and his great voice years before Casablanca, had problems with stuttering when he was younger. Ironically, Boris Karloff turned down this role because he wouldn't be seen on film. Gloria Stuart....years before she was old Rose on Titanic....hated doing scenes with Rains because he wouldn't share the scene with his leading ladies. Often he would hog all the camera angles and scenery. Who knows how much he realized he was doing being he was covered in bandages.
The Mummy
Speaking of being covered in bandages. The movie that inspired movie franchises both good and bad in the future....here is Boris Karloff again as Immotep and the Mummy terrorizing Egyptians just trying to get back the girl he loved.
Wolfman
Lon Chaney Jr had a father known as the man of a 1000 faces so he had some big shoes to fill and he did it as a terrorized man who turns beast every time the moon goes full. His make up took six hours to apply and three to take off. Bela Lugosi actively campaigned for the role but ended up with a minor role instead. Claude Rains also stars. Speaking of minor roles....in one scene Chaney ends up fighting a 'wolf' which in real life was Lon's own german shepard.
There are many other films Universal did and has tried to re launch a few times but here is the basis of all of them. If you get a chance to check them out definitely do so. They are cheesy by todays standards but can still find a way to entertain.
-Josh Engleby
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