"That's pretty obnoxious." RR, You are as entitled to your opinion as I am to mine. But, if you're referring to my post, you are incorrect. What you mean is you don't like it. I thought it was rather well written myself. I don't think slapping women is a very admirable trait, even if the s...

Victor Fleming: Moving to immaturity, would be a better heading. I've lately been acquainting myself with Mr Fleming and his attainments. "Hollywood's Hidden Genius" and "America's Movie Master" was, apparently, nothing more than an obnoxious know-all and a bully. you've only to ...

JackFavell Wrote (Re. SHADOW OF A DOUBT): "The characters are just odd enough to appeal to me." They're rather eccentrically cast too JF. We've got Henry Travers (from Prudhoe, Northumberland), age 64, as "Joe", head of the household. Patricia Collinge (from Dublin), age 50, as h...

Yes W.G. I think he did say that. Chaney did suffer considerable discomfort in some roles. For instance, when he played the double amputee "Blizzard" (I think that was the name) his legs were strapped up, tightly, behind him. He wore leather stumps on his knees and a specially tailored fro...

I've just watched CITIZEN KANE. Isn't that Mr. Cotten sitting to left of screen, just after the newsreel screening that opens the film?

Erik, Chaney's makeup tricks were ingenious, but quite a lot of bunk found it's way into print over the years as to just how some of his effects were achieved. For instance: I read (when I was still at school) that to play a blind man in one film, Chaney covered his eyeball with the white skin from ...

JF, I've just re-read this thread. I like your excellent in-depth analysis of Cotten on page two. It's just right.

The makeup gets more grotesque each time Jekyll becomes Hyde. The final application, though only seen briefly, is truly hideous. I wonder how they managed to hold down March's eyelids for that. it looks exceedingly uncomfortable. I'm reminded of the makeup used by Lon Chaney in LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT...

W.G. I can detect a little of March's Jekyll in his Hyde. There's a subtle hint of the repressed arrogance bubbling just beneath the surface as he talks with Lanyon after the Carew dinner party (when his hopes of an early wedding date are dashed). I've watched this a couple of times again lately, an...

Joseph Cotten--"buttered toast"! What's wrong with buttered toast anyway? He's great in SHADOW OF A DOUBT. The film isn't brilliant (sorry, Hitchcock fans), but Cotton is. His performance is undermined by silly script conceits that have him commit blunders a schoolboy would've avoided (the...

"Time itself is an anachronism..." To quote John Hoyt's character "Varno" in THE TIME TRAVELERS. I might add that nothing exists. The past is gone. The present--the second you think about it--is past. And the future hasn't happened!

In passing, I'd love to know why the people at Gramercy Pictures (the makers of RETURN OF DRACULA) chose to use a stock shot of R.M.S. Aquitania to suggest the Count's Atlantic crossing. The Aquitania (last of the beautiful four funnelled liners) was withdrawn from service and scrapped in 1950! It's...

WG, Of course you're right. But Chaney did try, even if he didn't quite pull it off. And that's part of the fun. Incidently, this picture marks the first appearance of the great trick effect, devised by John P. Fulton, that shows the Count changing into a bat (and back). It's interesting that bats a...

SON OF DRACULA anyone? Certainly not a great picture but not a bad one either. I've always had a bit of a liking for Chaney in this. In fact, I'll take him over Lee (I can almost hear the groans), and definitely Oldman (if Stoker could see that one, he'd scratch his head) any day!

Yes. It would have a treat to see Bela in HOF and HOD, both with that great bat transformation trick effect by John P. Fulton. The effect was lessened somewhat in A&C MEET FRANKENSTEIN by having Walter Lantz do it in cartoon form.