This week on SVENGOOLIE...

[CineMaven]

Well....okay. Okay.

[RedRiver]

Thank you, CineMarvelous!

[CineMaven]

[RedRiver]

I see the bad moon arising.
I see trouble on the way.
I see earthquakes and lightnin'.
I see bad times today.

Don't go around tonight,
Well, it's bound to take your life,
There's a bad moon on the rise.

(Words and music by Lawrence Talbot.)

[moira finnie]

Love The Wolf Man--though he might be stealing the groundhog's spotlight tomorrow! I also watch the film to see Maria Ouspenskaya chewing the scenery. Here's the lineup for the rest of February (I think most if not all have been on here before, but what the heck):

FEB 9th
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943): GREAT fun--especially those townspeople, who are much more frightening than the monsters.
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FEB 16th
Curse of the Werewolf (1961): Oliver Reed was never lovelier...
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FEB 23rd
Werewolf of London (1935): Henry Hull, scary guy? Okay, I'll give it a try. This should be different...
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For anyone curious about Svengoolie's health, here is an excerpt from the host's Svengoolie Monthly Newletter:

I keep getting requests for another health update- I am making slow but steady progress after my double bypass, and am rehabbing as hard as I'm allowed. I am NOT allowed to come back to work yet. I have been getting messages from viewers saying, "We see you're back on TV- welcome back!" You can thank our ace director and editor, Chris, for that, since he's done a great job of crafting complete shows out of past material. It doesn't always work- you'll notice our first February feature, 'The Wolf Man,' will not have the usual mail segment. That's because Chris could not find suitable elements from mail segments in old shows to make a segment that would work. Hopefully, that won't happen much- and I guarantee it won't if I'm allowed to return to the studio sooner than later!

[RedRiver]

Thanks for the update, Moira! I love the "monster team-up" films. "Frank Meets Wolfie" is probably the best. As you say, most of this stuff was on last year.

[MikeBSG]

"Werewolf of London" has some great moments, but as a whole it doesn't reach the first rank of Universal horror films. I think Henry Hull is miscast, BUT Werner Oland and Valerie Hobson are wonderful.

[RedRiver]

Henry Hull is scarier in JESSE JAMES. "Shoot 'em down like dogs!"

[moira finnie]

Henry Hull is scarier in JESSE JAMES. "Shoot 'em down like dogs!"

I always had the feeling that Hull was born with a cigar in his mouth, though he was great at those grizzled characters, esp. in Jesse James, High Sierra, and Lifeboat. I doubt if he smoked as a Werewolf, though I am looking forward to this one later this month.

Did you know that his sister-in-law was that darling little mushroom of a character actress, Josephine Hull (Arsenic and Old Lace, Harvey) and that his son was married for some years to one of my favorite character actresses, Constance Ford? Now that's an intriguing theatrical dynasty.

[RedRiver]

Even a man who is pure in heart
and says his prayers by night,
may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms
and his underwear's too tight!

Svengoolie

Not much to say about this wonderful horror classic that hasn't been said before. If there's a top half of the top shelf, this treasure is on it. It's exciting, pathetic, exceptionally well written. The movie is half over before Talbot even becomes a monster. And we don't even care! For a mediocre actor, Lon Jr was quite entertaining. He had a gentle humility, surprising in a big man, that brought warmth to a character and transferred it to the viewer. We feel comfortable in his company; sad at his misfortune. I'm more likely to credit Karloff, Rathbone and Rains for solid acting in this genre. Chaney, in his very lack of theatrical know-how, makes his own contribution.

[RedRiver]

Moira, I didn't know Kentucky's own Henry Hull was related by marriage to Elwood's sister Veda. I love that IMDB's photo of Henry is not some sharp, sophisticated character role. It's from WEREWOLF OF LONDON! Fully made up and ready to howl!

I guess Svengoolie doesn't have access to the teenage monster films. What fun it would be to see Michael Landon and Gary Conway do their stuff again! Yet another of those perfect double features.

[intothenitrate]

I always had the feeling that Hull was born with a cigar in his mouth...

I KNOW he was born with a piece of scenery in his mouth!

While this thread was percolating, I remembered the first time I saw The Wolfman as a teenager. The moment Larry realizes what has happened to him, there's a look of irrevocable doom on his face; something terrible had happened that couldn't be undone. That emotion registered very strongly with me. While Lon Jr might not compare favorably to the other horror greats, I'll always be fond of him for getting that across.

[MikeBSG]

As much as I love "Cat People," it seems to me that in recent years it has become a cliche in film criticism to automatically praise Lewton's film by knocking "The Wolf Man."

I saw "The Wolf Man" when I was a kid and loved it. Years passed before I saw it again, but when I did, "The Wolf Man" stood out as one of the best Universal horror movies. It has an insanely good cast. Besides horror stalwarts Chaney, Lugosi, Ankers and Ouspenskaya, the movie gives us Claude Rains, Ralph Bellamy, Warren William, and Patric Knowles in parts that in other horror movies would go to forgettable performers. The script is very well constructed, and the action is well handled. Watch the fight to the death between Chaney and Rains and try to count how many camera set-ups they must have used. Universal really took care with this movie, and it paid off.

[moira finnie]

As much as I love "Cat People," it seems to me that in recent years it has become a cliche in film criticism to automatically praise Lewton's film by knocking "The Wolf Man."

I am probably revealing my lack of critical sophistication, but while Lewton has become a deserved critics' darling, I did not know that there were others who felt the need to denigrate the power of The Wolf Man. I sometimes wonder if the rivulet of mordant humor that runs all through the fantastically imaginative and allegorical screenplays of Curt Siodmak (from The Wolf Man on through Donovan's Brain, The Beast with Five Fingers, The Invisible Woman, and even the creaky F.P.1 Doesn't Answer) might prevent people from taking his stories seriously. It doesn't always pay to be entertaining.

[RedRiver]

I remembered the first time I saw The Wolfman

It scared me to death! I was very young. (We started early in our house!) FRANKENSTEIN and DRACULA were pretty creepy. But this one gave me nightmares!