On Thursday, August 16 it will be the 51st anniversary of Bela Lugosi's death.I'd thought I'd take a little moment for a little fangirl rant. I love, love, love Bela Lugosi.
He was great as Dracula, you'd have to be an idiot to dispute that, but nothing takes the cake like The Black Cat (1934) - Lugosi and Karloff together! That's like a horror movie margarita, goes straight to your head and makes you giddy like a schoolgirl.
If you sit and think about what The Black Cat is all about, it's really very intelligent and subversive. Especially in regards to its portrayal of the aftermath of WWI, its survivors, and the negative social impact.
Oh, and it's totally gross and cool, too. Did I mention the necrophilia, the satanic ritual chants (I would argue THE best satanic ritual chant scene of all cinema), the architecturally crazy house Poelzig lives in, a chess game full of suspense (yes, such a thing exists!), and a truly disturbing skin-flaying scene that's still a little shocking.
I did warn you this was a fangirl rant. Thanks for indulging me.
4 comments:
Ah, Bela and Boris...my loves.
I just came across your blog randomly today and it's pretty wicked cool. :) And I love the title.
I'm going to see the Ivasion today, I hope it doesn't suck. Then Halloween in 2 weeks, yay!
I've never seen The Black Cat (though I'll keep it in mind for later viewing), but Bela Lugosi was a great actor. It's a shame he was so irrevocably typecast. Have you ever seen the film Ed Wood? He died in poverty and obscurity, with a drug habit and a failed marriage. If only he were alive today, when reviving the careers of great, forgotten actors is in vogue. They say his career failed because of his thick accent, which I don't understand--surely that was part of the hypnotic allure that had women swooning over him in Dracula?
If you were to compile a list of Hollywood's biggest mistakes (and a long, sad list it would be), one of the great ones would surely be wasting Bela Lugosi in shlock horror movies.
P.S. I'm still waiting for the Bruce Coville centered post promised in your analysis of Roald Dahl. I'm officially stalking you now.
I personally really like Ed Wood, despite how awful most people claim it to be (not Tim Burton-y enough for them?)
It's just terrible about Lugosi. I agree completely - today his accent would be nothing but a draw and he'd be playing grandfatherly types well into advanced age.
Working on the Coville post - went back and dug out a bunch of his books so I could read 'em.
I loved The Black Cat, and I'm due for a re-screening...it's been a while.
Do you know if Poe's original story was ever filmed?
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