Reviews (24)

Terrific House!
"House of Dracula" is a surprisingly sinister shocker from Universal right before it shut down it's B movie unit--and promptly fired all of its legendary cast and crew, including Evelyn Ankers, Fay Helm, Lon Chaney, David Bruce, etc. The whole movie is beautifully lit and photographed. The story is like an eerie dream, with everyone gliding around in a trance-like state. Martha O'Driscoll is wonderful as the nurse who falls in love with Chaney--the Wolfman. Her hushed voice and her playing of the Rachmoninoff Concerto are the highlights. Especially good is Onslow Stevens as the classical "mad" doctor. Since this is a fantasy movie, don't be surprised when all the monsters conveniently gather in the old mansion: John Carradine, as Dracula (good and chilling, but he still ain't Lugosi); Chaney as the Wolfman and Glenn Strange as the Frankenstein monster.There's even a female hunchback(Jane Adams) thrown in. Best scene: when the hunchback opens the door to the laboratory to check on the doctor and he has changed into a crazed, glittering eyed monster. His shadow, backlit onthe wall, races towards hers. Beautiful and dreamy and with terrific, expressionistic sets, this among the last of the Universal shockers. Enjoy it, buy it!

The Final Monster party at Universal!
House of Dracula is an enjoyable classic monster film. Onslow Stevens is quite good as the compassionate, but mis-guided scientist who trys to "cure" Dracula, the Wolf Man and The Frankenstein Monster as well as his lovely, but Hunchedbacked, assistant, the ravishing Jane Adams. Quite an ambitious agenda for one film! The results are mixed, Dracula can't stop preying on pretty nurses and is dispatched by the good doctor. However Dracula, played very well by John Carradine, reverses a transfusion and curses the doctor with some of his blood. The doctor performs an operation and cures Lon Chaney Jr. of the Werewolf curse. Tragically, Dracula's blood turns the good doctor to evil and he revives the Frankenstein Monster and kills his pretty nurse before he is gunned down by the now ex-Wolfman. Lionel Atwill (always a welcome addition to these films!) is electrocuted by Frankenstein before the monster is consumed in the flames of the laboratory. This movie whatever its faults certainly doesn't drag!! All this and more happens in a brisk 70 minutes. What I don't understand is why Universal hasn't released "House of Dracula" on DVD with its other classic monster films? I have the VHS tape above as well as the Laserdisc release of 1995. Both show a print that is quite well preserved. So where is the DVD Universal???????? I would like to complete my collection~and get a few more as gifts!! My brother and I watched these as kids growing up, far better than the often sexually explicit "Slasher Flicks" that today's pre-teens are watching!! When our parents were that age movies like "House of Dracula" were what they watched at the Saturday afternoon Matinee. I am sure they would also love to see it again as well. I can only hope that Universal "digs it up", before the next full moon or at least in the near future for a DVD release!

It Stunk but I loved it.
The late sequels in Universal Studios Monster line up were turkeys. As a rule the later the sequel, the bigger the turkey that came out. We all know that. We know it every time we rent one of them and we know it before buying any of them. But, they're fun to watch. They're so bad they're beautiful (or something like that). But, when you pull out the last of the sequels you do it knowing it should be something that "gobble, gobbles" its way around the yard a time or ten. Let's qualify this. Abbott and Costello's outing with Universal's group of "creepies" wasn't really a sequel. For one thing it didn't have any continuity with the rest of the pictures (not that some of the sequels did either). Unlike the sequels it was played for laughs, deliberately that is; some of the sequels had plenty of laughs but most of them weren't intentional. It was also a pretty good film. The later sequels weren't good films. House of Dracula was the last of the real sequels and only one thing can be said about it.

The film is utterly ridiculous. It features a bad script, bad acting and some lousy effects. The "plot" (use this term very loosely) has more holes than a strainer. The only iota of continuity is with Edelman's discovery of the Monster. Then he ends up doing so little all you can do is wonder why the character was used at all. Dracula and the Werewolf are just around and well, despite having been "killed" before. No explanation is ever given. Writer Edward T Lowe Jr. couldn't think of any reasonable ways to kill off the heavies so they lead themselves to their executions (though to be fair Lowe may not have been given much choice; his name appears on the credits of some much better films). Dracula's finish is particularly dumb. As the Count John Carradine turns in what has to be the best performance from any of the cast. He manages a fair degree of subtlety and avoids excesses even when the script(?) creates them. Unfortunately, the character he was given to play was a moron. When Dracula succeeded in getting himself killed all I could wonder was how he'd survived two days as one of the undead let alone five hundred years. Lon Chaney, reprising his role as the Wolfman fares even worse. As always he delivers his performance with conviction and feeling. This script kills him though. Any time he succeeds in creating sympathy for the character there's a line that nobody could deliver (not sober anyway) that follows. It's too bad. He was a better actor than that. It's no wonder he walked through a lot of his pictures drunk. The rest of this cast fares even worse. Onslow Stevens is reasonably palatable (if annoyingly patronizing) when his character is good. His "bad" state comes across like a pantomime that wouldn't have been convincing in a silent film. It's amazing the producers didn't decide to send him right over the top with shaving cream foaming from his mouth or something like that. The pair of women here play their parts as if made of wood. To be fair that's about all they were given to work with. Some of dialogue the "beautiful" assistant (Martha O'Driscoll) had would have made Lawrence Olivier struggle for credibility. Ultimately she's only believable when she's hypnotized; then she's supposed to act like a piece of cardboard. As the disfigured assistant the lovely Jane Adams could have been great. She captures the kindness and humility of the tragic "Nina" well. She wasn't given anything to work with either. As a result her character has the emotional range of a kazoo.

The special effects range between fair and lousy. Most of them had been used before (and with better execution). Chaney's transformation from man to beast is solid but that's where quality ends. The animated transformation from bat to human or vice versa is one example. In other features (such as "Son of Dracula" three years earlier) the effect was obvious, but not bad. In this film the effect is so shoddy the producers may just as well have used a bat from a "Looney Tunes" feature. The sequences with the bat are even worse. In at least one of them the wires are visible. Flashbacks involving the monster are pathetic. Most are from other films (featuring other actors in the role) and it shows. Karloff and Strange didn't even walk the same way when portraying the creature. Where maintaining credibility is concerned this film emerges as a lesson in how to shoot yourself in the foot, several times.

It is fun to watch though, so much so that it's impossible to hate or even dislike it. In fact, it's hard not to love it. The transfer to DVD is stellar. The print used appears to be in good shape which is good. Sound and picture quality were, by the 1940's, very good. Granted, the tracks were mono but recording technology had already reached a level which still stands well today. Photography had reached a similar plateau. Some of what's in this film is excellent. The sets are spooky in a way only the old classics managed. The lighting which was an art form unto itself in black and white films is great. It's due to this that this film manages to remain spooky despite its absurdity.

The bottom line: it stunk but I loved it.

This text refers to the DVD transfer in the Legacy Collection

Hello Universal?!
Where's the DVD? We all need this one to complete set!!!!

And where are your other Lugosi/Karloff DVD's, like "Black Cat," "The Raven," and others?

Wonderful horror clash!!
This film has a great pace and fabulous monsters appearing once again. Dracula and the wolf man appear in Dr.Edelman's lab to find a cure for their deadly instincts. After wolfman is getting cured (finally), Edelman is poisoned by Dracula, who dies from sun exposure by the doctor,and turns ino a Jekyll Hyde monster. Dr.Edelman finds the body of the Frankenstein monster and brings it back to life. At the unforgettable conclusion, we get a murder and close view actions of the still living and powerful Frankenstein monster, who appears in the sequel again in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. View the film to get more info about it. Don't view it as a serious critic. Other reviews posted on Amazon as "John Connor" or from "Palm Desert California.." ... Read more

Reviews (13)

Batman on a Low Budget
Upon viewing the first chapter, it's obvious that "Batman and Robin" (1949) will not emerge as one of the all-time great serials. With producer Sam Katzman at the helm, it's bargain-basement all the way -- right down to the cheap costumes and an incredibly poor excuse for a Batmobile. Despite low-budget shortcomings, there's plenty of hokey fun as Batman and Robin face one contrived cliffhanger after another. The mysterious Wizard makes for an interesting villain, since he never was featured in the comic books. Robert Lowery does a good job as Batman, but John Duncan makes the Boy Wonder look like a juvenile delinquent. It's also nice to see character actor Lyle Talbot as Commissioner Gordon, even though he has a tendency to activate the Bat Signal in broad daylight. Flaws and all, "Batman and Robin" is an undeniable guilty pleasure.

Best of the 2 BATMAN Serials!
Despite what some BATMAN Serial bashers have said here, this is the better of the two Columbia Movie serials based on BATMAN. Robert Lowery (BATMAN) became quite a movie star in many other films and John Duncan (Robin) worked in many classic films of the day as well... This is the most entertaining BATMAN serial with the WIZARD and holds your interest from chapter to chapter with GREAT cliffhanger endings! Of course this is LOW BUDGET as were all the serials of the time! If you want fun, just watch these tapes.

Good, but something's missing
It was good to get the 1949 Batman & Robin serial in a fairly high-quality VHS reproduction. But here's something known to only a few fans: There are about 10 minutes missing from the first chapter.

You can watch this several times without ever realizing that something is missing. Then you get to see the thing in it's entirety elsewhere, and at least two stars get lost immediately for the way we got cheated.

Hope to see this in DVD someday, with the missing parts restored.

A little long, but good
This does go on a bit, but it's still quite good. The Wizard is a great villan who probably wouldn't have worked in the films but could have been done in a multi-part cartoon or even the Adam West tv series. I agree it is a little bit of a stretch for Batman to be driving Bruce Wayne's car and no one questions it. I'm not positive, but I think there was another Batman movie serial like this done before or after this one, but I've never seen it advertised for sale. I would recomend this for a rainy day afternoon viewing with the whole family.

Not Bad!
I can only recall having seen two 40's era movie serials, CAPTAIN MARVEL-1941 (CM) and BATMAN & ROBIN-1949 (BM&R) and so can only base my opinions on serials made during this time based on these two films. Both films followed the same premise of having the hero(s) track down a mysterious masked villan who through the use of advanced technology, technology which doesn't even exist today, and an endless supply of thug labor attempts to exert control over others. CM has 12 chapters and BM&R has 15 chapters. One chapter would be shown each week with a cliffhanger ending until the final chapter ends the serial by unmasking the villan and ending the crime spree. Both serials come across as a mix of mystery, action and suspense. Although the mystery of trying to figure out who is the masked villan is not a true mystery. A true mystery leaves clues so that the viewer can possibly figure out the mystery. In these serials clues are withheld until the villan is unmasked and the viewer finds out it is someone to whom the given clues did not point.

I think CM was the better of the 2 serial but BM&R was enjoyable. In each episode Batman & Robin would track down the masked villan known as the Wizard. The Wizard was able to control any moving vehicle with a machine he stole. He needed diamonds to power the machine. The Wizard also attempted to steal an experimental explosive. The Wizard also had a machine that could see anywhere. He could view his hired help, follow the Batman and Robin and other such things. However, he never used it to alert his thug help that Batman & Robin were approaching or to track Batman & Robin to their hideout. The Wizard could also hypnotize people with his blinking eyes. From a childs perspective the Wizard is very deadly and powerful. From an adults perspective The Wizard is too powerful to be believed and isn't smart enough to use the power effectively.

Batman & Robin have what would be considered by modern standards as lame costumes. Robin has a descent costume but the Batman costume looks as though it were made from pajamas and a devils mask. It is obvious to all that have seen both Bruce Wayne & Dick Grayson and Batman & Robin that they are are the same persons. They don't even try to mask their voices. The Batcave is very cheezy and the Wayne Manor looks less like a mansion and more like a middle class home in the Gothem suburbs. Why Batman and Robin even wear utility belts is beyond me as they seldom use them. The less said about the Batcar the better. Also there are no super villans so Batman & Robin beat up the same thugs over and over in each chapter.

Having said all this I must end it by saying the serial is highly enjoyable. No one watches this expecting to see award winning acting or a story that will be nominated for an Oscar. The viewer just enjoys the story for what it is. A way to escape for a short while. Looking for the flaws in the serial is as much fun as watching the story itself. The cliffhanger endings usually show the certain demise of the hero(s) and even though you know they survive you can't help but to look forward to the next chapter to see by what implausible means they were able to escape death.

So if your a fan of old serials or Batman & Robin this would probably be worth watching and is available on VHS. Due to the many chapters and that the entire serial takes up 2 VHS tapes it would be nice if this came out on DVD. The entire serial would fit on 1 DVD and the DVD chapters would make it easier to pick up the viewing where you last left off. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Prehistoric Indiana Jones
I'm just quoting reviewers who see this serial as the precursor to Indiana Jones. Except for pleasant childhood memories of Flash Gordon, I'm usually bored with serials. The repetitive nature and exposition of serials is unintentionally funny though eventually a drag. Still, Lost City has some exciting, exotic locals and has that "Star Wars" credits and text that travels up the screen. And it stars Lionel Atwill, Key Luke, Jane Addams!Also it fully exemplifies what the TV show "Batman" was making fun of(and hence why Indiana Jones is ridiculous). I'm not a historian of serials, but if you want to watch or own only one, I recommend this one.

Typical 1944-46 Universal serial
Lost City was close to being Universal's last serial effort. It is not as dull as some of their other serial efforts but it is not very good either. Very noticeable is Universal's penchant for saving money by framing their serial plots around available stock shots. In Lost City the cliffhangers for chapters 2,3 and 4 were lifted from the 1943 Maria Montez-Jon Hall epic White Savage and many more "liftings" are prevelant in other chapters. If you want an exotic serial go with "Drums of Fu Manchu", one of Republic's finest. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Rondo Hatton at his "best".
Rondo Hatton was a victim of acromegaly whose deformed face (and voice) were tastelessly exploited in several films of the Forties. This one has two distinctions -- it was Hatton's last film (he died before its release) and it was the only Universal horror film which Universal did not bother to release, but rather sold to the ultra-low budget studio PRC for release, altho the film still begins with the Universal logo. The plot involves a handsome college student whose face becomes deformed due to a laboratory accident. Since Hatton actually was handsome and athletic in his pre-acromegaly period, the film has a bizarre parallel with his own life. (But it is difficult to accept that this type of deformity could be caused by a splash of acid.) The nouveau ugly man becomes a brutal killer, proving it is possible to be grotesque on the outside and rotten on the inside, too. He befriends a young blind woman who believes blind people have good character judgment, yet she never suspects he is a brutal killer. This grim, depressing film is interesting in a perverse way.

And now, the DVD technical review
Another customer review very nicely covers the movie itself, so just let me chime in with a few quick words about the technical quality of the DVD release.

You might think that this disc would be grainy, or soft, or with poor contrast, particularly since it's from the legendary poverty row studio PRC, and a few other PRC videos are so-so. Truth is, although the film was released by PRC, it was produced by Universal Studios!

You'll be exceedingly happy to discover that the transfer to DVD is outstanding. Contrast is excellent, and the image is sharp and clean. This is a Criterion-level transfer here! Sound is nice and clean too. Of course, the disc hasn't anything in the way of extras. Running time is just about an hour, the case is a snapper.

If you're interested in the related films, this one is the last of the "Creeper" films. The Creeper is Rondo Hatton's "signature role" begun in 1944 in the Rathbone/Bruce Sherlock Holmes film PEARL OF DEATH, followed by 1946's HOUSE OF HORRORS, and finally THE BRUTE MAN (which was indeed Hatton's last film).

Below-par B thriller of historical interest only
The Brute Man was the last film of Rondo Hatton, an acromagly sufferer whose disfigured looks were exploited by Hollywood in a series of movies in which he played a psychopathic back-breaker called The Creeper (although none of the movies, including the Sherlock Holmes thriller Pearl of Death, has any link and were not part of any series).

This cheap PRC production has Hatton hunt down the people responsible for his disfigurement (an explosion in his college lab) and also murder various others who get in his way. The victims include a nosy shop assistant and a jeweller who insists that Hatton pay for a broach. Meantime, he falls in love with a blind woman but she eventually betrays him to the police and he tries to kill her too.

One of the amusing things about this movie is that there's supposed to be a huge Dragnet out for Hatton but he's always walking down the street openly despite his looks and appearance. He actually doesn't give a bad performance. Deapite his reputation as The Ugliest Man Alive his looks aren't really bad enough to warrant the screaming reaction he gets from some of his victims. Film is padded out by some silly footage involving the investigating police (at one point playing cards when the Commissioner comes in and then taunting him). A pretty silly script and a general lack of style. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Day at the Beach - A great film from a first timer
Day at the Beach is a great movie. It is funny, captivating and an impressive debut from Nick Veronis (I never heard of him until now). I highly reccomed this movie to anyone looking for 90 min of entertainment or would like to see what a real independent film should look like. Great Cast! Great Movie! Very Inspirational.

A MUST SEE!
Nick Veronis does literally the impossible. Not only does he write, direct and produce this title but he does it with such technique and style. I highly recommend this movie for anyone who is looking for inspiration to create their own "cinematic masterpiece"! ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Rondo Hatton at his "best".
Rondo Hatton was a victim of acromegaly whose deformed face (and voice) were tastelessly exploited in several films of the Forties. This one has two distinctions -- it was Hatton's last film (he died before its release) and it was the only Universal horror film which Universal did not bother to release, but rather sold to the ultra-low budget studio PRC for release, altho the film still begins with the Universal logo. The plot involves a handsome college student whose face becomes deformed due to a laboratory accident. Since Hatton actually was handsome and athletic in his pre-acromegaly period, the film has a bizarre parallel with his own life. (But it is difficult to accept that this type of deformity could be caused by a splash of acid.) The nouveau ugly man becomes a brutal killer, proving it is possible to be grotesque on the outside and rotten on the inside, too. He befriends a young blind woman who believes blind people have good character judgment, yet she never suspects he is a brutal killer. This grim, depressing film is interesting in a perverse way.

And now, the DVD technical review
Another customer review very nicely covers the movie itself, so just let me chime in with a few quick words about the technical quality of the DVD release.

You might think that this disc would be grainy, or soft, or with poor contrast, particularly since it's from the legendary poverty row studio PRC, and a few other PRC videos are so-so. Truth is, although the film was released by PRC, it was produced by Universal Studios!

You'll be exceedingly happy to discover that the transfer to DVD is outstanding. Contrast is excellent, and the image is sharp and clean. This is a Criterion-level transfer here! Sound is nice and clean too. Of course, the disc hasn't anything in the way of extras. Running time is just about an hour, the case is a snapper.

If you're interested in the related films, this one is the last of the "Creeper" films. The Creeper is Rondo Hatton's "signature role" begun in 1944 in the Rathbone/Bruce Sherlock Holmes film PEARL OF DEATH, followed by 1946's HOUSE OF HORRORS, and finally THE BRUTE MAN (which was indeed Hatton's last film).

Below-par B thriller of historical interest only
The Brute Man was the last film of Rondo Hatton, an acromagly sufferer whose disfigured looks were exploited by Hollywood in a series of movies in which he played a psychopathic back-breaker called The Creeper (although none of the movies, including the Sherlock Holmes thriller Pearl of Death, has any link and were not part of any series).

This cheap PRC production has Hatton hunt down the people responsible for his disfigurement (an explosion in his college lab) and also murder various others who get in his way. The victims include a nosy shop assistant and a jeweller who insists that Hatton pay for a broach. Meantime, he falls in love with a blind woman but she eventually betrays him to the police and he tries to kill her too.

One of the amusing things about this movie is that there's supposed to be a huge Dragnet out for Hatton but he's always walking down the street openly despite his looks and appearance. He actually doesn't give a bad performance. Deapite his reputation as The Ugliest Man Alive his looks aren't really bad enough to warrant the screaming reaction he gets from some of his victims. Film is padded out by some silly footage involving the investigating police (at one point playing cards when the Commissioner comes in and then taunting him). A pretty silly script and a general lack of style. ... Read more