P.S. Decoy is a great film.
The Devil Commands (1941)
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Mr. Arkadin
- Posts: 2645
- Joined: April 14th, 2007, 3:00 pm
Re: The Devil Commands (1941)
Klonnie, The Devil Commands shows early tomorrow morning. Wake up Scrooge! You haven't missed it!!
P.S. Decoy is a great film.
P.S. Decoy is a great film.
Re: The Devil Commands (1941)
”THE DEVIL COMMANDS” (1941)
Director: Edward Dymytryk
It’s so hard for me sometimes to explain exactly why I love these ‘old’ movies as I do. I have such a visceral and emotional response to these shimmering (or murky) B&W films whether they be “A” pictures or “B" that it's hard to explain intellectually. But perhaps that's why we're on these Message Boards. Maybe words aren't needed among us.
I love ”THE DEVIL COMMANDS.” I love the low-budgetness of its production though well-done. It has a succinctly executed plot thanx to Dymytryk. Once again, BORIS KARLOFF owns the movie he stars in. I find him compelling to watch: the sonorous resonance of his voice, its soft accent, his dark handsome looks. I can picture him with a white dinner jacket against his swarthy complexion dancing at the Mocambo. Also he’s just a darned good actor. I think becuz he mostly did the horror genre, he might be over-looked and under-rated as an actor; Karloff has played Frankenstein’s monster, a kindly scientist and a terrifying graverobber. He can be soft or crazed. Hell...he’s every bit as good as Spencer Tracy.
His pathos as the grieving Dr. Julian Blair touches my heart. He’s rather the avuncular absent-minded professor in the beginning of this movie. We see his comfortably happy marriage to wife Helen played by SHIRLEY WARDE. She’d have certainly done Moms like Henry Aldrich’s and Andrew Hardy’s proud. She made an impression with me...very sweet. She helps him with his experiments and playfully chides him for working so hard. During Karloff’s demonstration before fellow scientists, I just loved the way he quietly asks his wife if her hair is wet. He was so soft, quiet and tender with her.
We see he’s well-respected in the scientific community when he shares his idea with them:
”You will be the first people...to see the proof that the human brain gives off an impulse that can be recorded.”
And in the regular community when he goes to pick up the cake for his daughter’s homecoming.
But you know what else we see...we see a man spiraling down...down...down; a man turning his scientific experiments for the good of mankind...into using science as a coping mechanism for his grief.
With what at first could be a scientific possibility, has now gone awry as Karloff discovers that he has heard his dead wife’s voice:
”Well now I know there is a way for the dead to talk to the living.”
And skepticism hits Karloff between the eyes when his fellow scientists begin to scoff and question his sanity when he said:
KARLOFF: "Well I believe that the human brain, the brain that invented radio, is itself the most perfect sending and receiving medium on earth.”
SCIENTIST #1: ”But what if you do find a way to pierce the veil between us and them.”
SCIENTIST #2: ”And let the world of the dead back in upon the living?”
SCIENTIST #1: ”We don’t know what evil may be lurking behind that veil waiting to get through.”
SCIENTIST #2: ”What if you let loose on humanity something much more terrible
than any fear that haunts us now?”
Karloff’s goose is cooked and his daughter (played by AMANDA DUFF but I longed to see ANNE GWYNNE in this) and science assistant (played by RICHARD FISKE) witness his discretization.
Faithful man-servant Karl (played by RALPH PENNEY) suggests Karloff go to see the medium he uses to talk to his dead mom. (Wha'?) Now its Karloff's turn to play skeptic but he humors poor dumb Karl. Karloff meets up with Mrs. Walters, played by the great ANNE REVERE. Now I might be alone in this, but I find Revere majestic in every role she plays; Mom or Mean. Even as the mother of Elizabeth Taylor, Gregory Peck or Monty Clift, I find her sternly beautiful with a Puritan/MidWestern look and a grand speaking voice. I could listen to her all day. I think Revere would have made a good Mrs. Danvers...or Lady MacBeth. As the Medium, she is debunked by Karloff but he does experience an electrical sensation with her that is the only real part of her act. Could this be love? Hardly.
"This is science Mrs. Walters. There’s nothing of the occult about it!”
Karloff has shunted his daughter aside and adopts Revere as confidante/co-conspirator in his scientific exploits. Though he does use her for her energy, Karloff’s motives are pure but wacky...Revere hears his plans with a different financial motive in mind. Please note the look on her face as Karloff talks of his plan to communicate with the dead. I don’t think I exaggerate that she has a look that is exalted, rapturous and down right ecstacy-filled. But her voice is cold...cold...cold when she says (in her perfect enunciation):
"If you can do what you’re trying to do, you’ll own the world. You know that don’t you?”
Whew! Her face was intense, her eyes unblinking. I’m telling you, I watched her.
Revere is driving the bus now, taking the reins of the household. And I did think of Lady MacBeth with her control over Karloff, moving him out of town, making things easy for him to just concentrate on completing his experiments...bringing her that much closer to riches she believes await. She doesn’t allow Karloff to get medical care for Karl...now a shell-shocked victim of Karloff’s single-minded determination and experimentation. Pulling him away from all he’s known, when we see him two years later, his hair is unkempt and unruly. He looks disheveled. Bodies are now missing
His housekeeper Mrs. Marcy is played by the venerable and ubiquitous DOROTHY ADAMS. Oh you’d know her if you saw this famed character actress. (”LAURA”). She is prompted by the town’s sheriff to investigate what’s going on in Karloff’s laboratory. It will be the last thing she ever does. That whole scene with her in the lab was great; The music, her fear. What the heck is under that tarp?
Poor Karloff...his single-mindedness endangers his own daughter and puts him back in Frankenstein monster mode where townspeople with torches are after him. What an eerie sight to see the bodies of the missing dead trussed up in Diver Dan helmets...the noisy whirlwind of energy centripetally forcing the bodies to lean inward; Revere is eventually and justly hoisted on her own petard, and so is Karloff as it all comes crashing down in a rousing denouement.
"THE WALKING DEAD" "THE RAVEN" "THE BLACK CAT" & "BLACK FRIDAY" are among my favorite Karloff films along with his classic portrayals of the Frankenstein monster and "THE MUMMY."
The music, the acting, the writing, economy of direction...I love "THE DEVIL COMMANDS.”
But I can’t clearly tell you why.
Director: Edward Dymytryk
It’s so hard for me sometimes to explain exactly why I love these ‘old’ movies as I do. I have such a visceral and emotional response to these shimmering (or murky) B&W films whether they be “A” pictures or “B" that it's hard to explain intellectually. But perhaps that's why we're on these Message Boards. Maybe words aren't needed among us.
I love ”THE DEVIL COMMANDS.” I love the low-budgetness of its production though well-done. It has a succinctly executed plot thanx to Dymytryk. Once again, BORIS KARLOFF owns the movie he stars in. I find him compelling to watch: the sonorous resonance of his voice, its soft accent, his dark handsome looks. I can picture him with a white dinner jacket against his swarthy complexion dancing at the Mocambo. Also he’s just a darned good actor. I think becuz he mostly did the horror genre, he might be over-looked and under-rated as an actor; Karloff has played Frankenstein’s monster, a kindly scientist and a terrifying graverobber. He can be soft or crazed. Hell...he’s every bit as good as Spencer Tracy.
His pathos as the grieving Dr. Julian Blair touches my heart. He’s rather the avuncular absent-minded professor in the beginning of this movie. We see his comfortably happy marriage to wife Helen played by SHIRLEY WARDE. She’d have certainly done Moms like Henry Aldrich’s and Andrew Hardy’s proud. She made an impression with me...very sweet. She helps him with his experiments and playfully chides him for working so hard. During Karloff’s demonstration before fellow scientists, I just loved the way he quietly asks his wife if her hair is wet. He was so soft, quiet and tender with her.
We see he’s well-respected in the scientific community when he shares his idea with them:
”You will be the first people...to see the proof that the human brain gives off an impulse that can be recorded.”
And in the regular community when he goes to pick up the cake for his daughter’s homecoming.
But you know what else we see...we see a man spiraling down...down...down; a man turning his scientific experiments for the good of mankind...into using science as a coping mechanism for his grief.
With what at first could be a scientific possibility, has now gone awry as Karloff discovers that he has heard his dead wife’s voice:
”Well now I know there is a way for the dead to talk to the living.”
And skepticism hits Karloff between the eyes when his fellow scientists begin to scoff and question his sanity when he said:
KARLOFF: "Well I believe that the human brain, the brain that invented radio, is itself the most perfect sending and receiving medium on earth.”
SCIENTIST #1: ”But what if you do find a way to pierce the veil between us and them.”
SCIENTIST #2: ”And let the world of the dead back in upon the living?”
SCIENTIST #1: ”We don’t know what evil may be lurking behind that veil waiting to get through.”
SCIENTIST #2: ”What if you let loose on humanity something much more terrible
than any fear that haunts us now?”
Karloff’s goose is cooked and his daughter (played by AMANDA DUFF but I longed to see ANNE GWYNNE in this) and science assistant (played by RICHARD FISKE) witness his discretization.
Faithful man-servant Karl (played by RALPH PENNEY) suggests Karloff go to see the medium he uses to talk to his dead mom. (Wha'?) Now its Karloff's turn to play skeptic but he humors poor dumb Karl. Karloff meets up with Mrs. Walters, played by the great ANNE REVERE. Now I might be alone in this, but I find Revere majestic in every role she plays; Mom or Mean. Even as the mother of Elizabeth Taylor, Gregory Peck or Monty Clift, I find her sternly beautiful with a Puritan/MidWestern look and a grand speaking voice. I could listen to her all day. I think Revere would have made a good Mrs. Danvers...or Lady MacBeth. As the Medium, she is debunked by Karloff but he does experience an electrical sensation with her that is the only real part of her act. Could this be love? Hardly.
"This is science Mrs. Walters. There’s nothing of the occult about it!”
Karloff has shunted his daughter aside and adopts Revere as confidante/co-conspirator in his scientific exploits. Though he does use her for her energy, Karloff’s motives are pure but wacky...Revere hears his plans with a different financial motive in mind. Please note the look on her face as Karloff talks of his plan to communicate with the dead. I don’t think I exaggerate that she has a look that is exalted, rapturous and down right ecstacy-filled. But her voice is cold...cold...cold when she says (in her perfect enunciation):
"If you can do what you’re trying to do, you’ll own the world. You know that don’t you?”
Whew! Her face was intense, her eyes unblinking. I’m telling you, I watched her.
Revere is driving the bus now, taking the reins of the household. And I did think of Lady MacBeth with her control over Karloff, moving him out of town, making things easy for him to just concentrate on completing his experiments...bringing her that much closer to riches she believes await. She doesn’t allow Karloff to get medical care for Karl...now a shell-shocked victim of Karloff’s single-minded determination and experimentation. Pulling him away from all he’s known, when we see him two years later, his hair is unkempt and unruly. He looks disheveled. Bodies are now missing
His housekeeper Mrs. Marcy is played by the venerable and ubiquitous DOROTHY ADAMS. Oh you’d know her if you saw this famed character actress. (”LAURA”). She is prompted by the town’s sheriff to investigate what’s going on in Karloff’s laboratory. It will be the last thing she ever does. That whole scene with her in the lab was great; The music, her fear. What the heck is under that tarp?
Poor Karloff...his single-mindedness endangers his own daughter and puts him back in Frankenstein monster mode where townspeople with torches are after him. What an eerie sight to see the bodies of the missing dead trussed up in Diver Dan helmets...the noisy whirlwind of energy centripetally forcing the bodies to lean inward; Revere is eventually and justly hoisted on her own petard, and so is Karloff as it all comes crashing down in a rousing denouement.
"THE WALKING DEAD" "THE RAVEN" "THE BLACK CAT" & "BLACK FRIDAY" are among my favorite Karloff films along with his classic portrayals of the Frankenstein monster and "THE MUMMY."
The music, the acting, the writing, economy of direction...I love "THE DEVIL COMMANDS.”
But I can’t clearly tell you why.
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Mr. Arkadin
- Posts: 2645
- Joined: April 14th, 2007, 3:00 pm
Re: The Devil Commands (1941)
Karloff is one of my favorites, possibly because of the purity and sincerity of his performances. While many actors have habits and bits of business, Karloff always seemed willing to adapt himself to each character and many times fleshed them out from a stereotyped part into something original and memorable.
A truly great actor who never got the acclaim he deserved.
A truly great actor who never got the acclaim he deserved.
Re: The Devil Commands (1941)
"The Devil Commands" airs on TCM at 5:30PM Friday night (10/30/2009) as one of the films in a day of Karloff. This might sound crazy, but I've been looking forward to this day as much as TCM's day of Gloria Grahame's films.
Friday is KarloffDay.
Friday is KarloffDay.
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Mr. Arkadin
- Posts: 2645
- Joined: April 14th, 2007, 3:00 pm
Re: The Devil Commands (1941)
CineMaven wrote: This might sound crazy, but I've been looking forward to this day as much as TCM's day of Gloria Grahame's films
I'd think you were crazy if you didn't say it!
BTW, I would never insinuate that everyone else here is crazy by default.
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Bronxgirl48
- Posts: 1604
- Joined: May 1st, 2009, 2:06 am
Re: The Devil Commands (1941)
Maven, I can't add anything more on your terrific post about THE DEVIL COMMANDS, You WERE RIGHT ABOUT ANNE REVERE in this role. I was just fascinated by her character, and the charismatic way she underplayed "Mrs. Walters".
Definitely not preachy.
Definitely not preachy.
Re: The Devil Commands (1941)
YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love when people change their mind. Or have their mind open enough TO change. You've taught me a lesson, Bronxie.
Ya know...she might've made a good Mrs. Danvers. Or how 'bout that head of the Sanitorium in "THE UNINVITED" that Cornelia Otis Skinner played. Glad you came around. Maybe not for ALL her roles, but at least the one in "THE DEVIL COMMANDS".
I love when people change their mind. Or have their mind open enough TO change. You've taught me a lesson, Bronxie.
Ya know...she might've made a good Mrs. Danvers. Or how 'bout that head of the Sanitorium in "THE UNINVITED" that Cornelia Otis Skinner played. Glad you came around. Maybe not for ALL her roles, but at least the one in "THE DEVIL COMMANDS".
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Bronxgirl48
- Posts: 1604
- Joined: May 1st, 2009, 2:06 am
Re: The Devil Commands (1941)
I could definitely see Anne as Mrs. Danvers or Miss Holloway, absolutely. I'm thinking she would have been more subtle than Judith Anderson, and Cornelia Otis Skinner in those parts, although less enjoyably hammy, but still register as sinister and chilling in a more realistic, human way.
I can't thank you enough for turning me on to Revere in THE DEVIL COMMANDS. In a word, she's great!
I can't thank you enough for turning me on to Revere in THE DEVIL COMMANDS. In a word, she's great!