Re: Universal horror titles that didn't make it in 1935 -- The Music of Universal Horror and Drama Films

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Date Posted: 07:37:28 12/27/07 Thu
Author: Alan
Subject: Re: Universal horror titles that didn't make it in 1935
In reply to: Rick 's message, "Universal horror titles that didn't make it in 1935" on 13:30:55 12/26/07 Wed

Hi Rick,

It's true, the Universal story department was abuzz in the early and mid '30's, striving to develop new material for it's line of Horror films. Judging from what I've read, they may have been pretty intriguing.

"Cagliostro" was a nine page story by Nina Wilcox Putnam, that Universal story editor Richard Schayer derived into a potential Boris Karloff project in early 1932. According to an article by Paul M. Jensen (published in Gary J. and Susan Svehla's Midnight Marquee Actors Series book on Karloff), the story concerns an ancient Egyptian alchemist, immortal due to an infusion of certain nitrates, who walks through the centuries killing those who resemble the woman who rejected him long before! He finally crumbles to dust when he is deprived of the nitrates that sustain him.

If this sounds similar to "The Mummy", it should; writer John Balderston adapted that story to his screenplay for that 1932 film.

"Bluebeard" and "The Suicide Club" were both announced as Karloff projects in the early 30's. I believe Richard Bojarski's "The Films of Boris Karloff" reproduced a studio drawing of Karloff as Bluebeard, and claimed that "The Suicide Club", based on a story by Robert Louis Stevenson, was to be the first teaming of Karloff and Bela Lugosi. "The Black Cat", a very loose adaptation of Poe, was made instead, and perhaps Universal sold their option on the Stevenson story, because MGM produced their own treatment, retitled "Trouble for Two", in 1936.

One last Universal Horror that didn't make it has origins back to the mid-30's; a treatment known as "The Electric Man", conceived as a Karloff-Lugosi vehicle, was shelved when Universal suspended it's Horror cycle in 1936 (or, perhaps they chose to make the rather similar "The Invisible Ray"). The story lay dormant until 1940 when it was retooled for Lon Chaney Jr. and Lionel Atwill and produced as "Man Made Monster".

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Re: Universal horror titles that didn't make it in 1935 -- Rick, 21:19:23 12/27/07 Thu [1]

Hi Alan,

Thanks for the contributions. Yes, Universal had many story mill ideas that never materialized over the years. The three horror films; Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Black Cat and The Raven were all loosely based on Poe's novels.

The 1934 Lugosi-Karloff film was Universal's highest-grossing film of the year and perhaps the strangest one made in the horror catagory. The Raven wasn't looked on favorable by the new management team at Universal and by 1936, they decided to abandon the elborate macabre-stories with Lugosi in the spotlight. This hurt his career badly.

The Black Cat ( 1941 ) is nothing like the 1934 film at all. More like The Old Dark House-style type of film. Lugosi appears in a support role as the creepy butler. The music department rewrote cues from Tower of London and Son of Frankenstein in the majority of the score.

Rick

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[> [> [> Re: Universal horror titles that didn't make it in 1935 -- Alan, 22:44:52 12/27/07 Thu [1]

Hello again, Rick! I hope you had a great Christmas!

The Lugosi-Karloff "The Black Cat" stands as one of the greatest of the early Universal Horror films. It's quirky, it's bizarre, it borders on a sort of unspoken obscenity (imagine if it had been made just a few months earlier, without the restrictions of the new Production Code), and it boasts two great lead performances. Karloff, with his new-wave haircut and gaunt appearance, registers beautifully as the epitome of evil. Meanwhile, Lugosi contributes one of the most measured, textured portraits of bitterness, suffering and loss I've seen; it may well be his finest hour on-screen.

Bela's career certainly suffered after the first wave of Classic Horror passed. What a shame. He went to England and made a very good film, "The Mystery of the Marie Celeste", a.k.a. "Ghost Ship", a.k.a. "Phantom Ship". Lugosi again plays against type, as a disheveled, one-armed seaman, and he is quite impressive.

He is similarly disheveled in the 1941 "The Black Cat"; he doesn't portray a butler, but the unshaven caretaker Eduardo, a sad comedown for a man who had performed admirably as Dracula, Dr. Miracle, Vitus Werdegast, Dr. Vollin, and Ygor at the same studio.

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[> [> [> [> Re: Universal horror titles that didn't make it in 1935 -- Rick, 19:55:23 12/28/07 Fri [1]

Hi Alan,

Thanks for the correction in the role Lugosi played in the 1941 feature film. I had read that his part was as butler, so evidently the contributor online wasn't paying attention to the film.

The Black Cat ( 1934 ) was one of the early sound films to employ an almost continuous music score by Heinz Roemheld. In the way of leit motifs, R paraphrased Tasso by Liszt to serve as the theme for Werdegast. He did the same for Sonata in B Minor's recap section to underscore scenes that establish Poelzig. The film would suffer greatly without the music. His use of themes as leit motifs cover many scenes in the film to identify characters and locales. "Cat Love Theme", he slightly paraphrased from Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Love Theme and "Pathetique" ( movements 1 and 4 ). This is heard in the love scenes with the Alison couple and in some others with Werdegast and Poelzig.

If you print out the 1934 music page I authored and track the DVD of the film, you will see and hear it in a better sense. It was a painstaking task, but I loved doing it. Heinz loved the classics. Original compositions he employed were "Cat Threat" and "Emeline", which he named after his wife. Other original cues include "Cat Scream", "Cat Crawl" and "Morgue".

A shorter version of "Emeline" is heard early on in The White Hell of Pitz Palu ( Grapevine Video ) as the couple first go inside the cabin. A jaunty version of the cue was recorded for the Pitz Palu, but it didn't make it into the 1930 silent film. But, it was tracked in Destination Unknown's repeated cast credits.

Incidentally, all the music in The Black Cat was original. No tracked music in the score. An orchestra of only 28 musicians recorded it in eight hours with Roemheld as conductor. The organist was given nine hours for his material. The film had a high budget.

Roemheld's music tracked over to films such as Flash Gordon, Trip to Mars and features such as Werewolf of London and The Raven adds a significant impact in the cinematic quality of the films.

Rick

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[> [> [> [> [> Re: Universal horror titles that didn't make it in 1935 -- Rick, 13:17:39 01/01/08 Tue [1]

Other Roemheld originals are Allegro Appassionato, Introduction and Religioso, Introduction to Tasso and Introduction to the Quintet.

Rick

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