This month I bring you something a little different. Instead of vintage comics, I'd like to visit a vintage magazine, 'Famous Monsters of Filmland'. This series ran from 1958-1983. This is the father of horror magazines, which inspired all sorts (including my personal favorite, Fangoria). Originally conceived as a one-off, the first issue was so popular that they had an unexpected 25 year run! In fact, the first issue had to have a second printing because it sold out so fast.
What this magazine did that was so special, is that it reminded audiences (especially of the younger variety at the time) of the horror icons who had come and gone before, the silent greats like Lon Chaney Sr. This is a gem of archiving in general, because it preserves stills and stories that would otherwise have been lost forever if someone hadn't come along to show why they were so wonderful. The history of this magazine is so rich, I can't just describe it in a few select paragraphs, and I encourage you to explore it for yourselves. In the meantime, here's the first part of the first issue which I will be sharing this October.
I'm going to be at comic con in San Antonio today! As such, I didn't have a lot of time to prepare a post, but in the mean-time while I take plenty of pictures to share tomorrow, here's an awesome puzzle for a promotional poster - - the Bela Lugosi Frankenstein that never was...
A year after the success of Dracula, Bela Lugosi found himself onscreen in another (though much more independent) feature which featured his piercing gaze at it's best. Oh sure. White Zombie is not an excellent example of acting, most of it is your typical 30s low-budget ham. But...there's a certain charm in this film.
One thing I particularly like is that the heroine shares my name, but a more relevant aspect I'd like to mention is her acting in particular once she becomes zombified. The lead actress, Madge Bellamy, was a relatively popular silent film actress. So her over-the-top gesticulating and posing is really a relic of the previous decade, and it's very clear in this movie how drastic the transition between talkie acting and silent acting was becoming. Now I'm not criticizing the style at all, I actually love it...in a silent movie. Somehow when she's this angelic zombie, though, it really works. I suppose it helps that she doesn't say anything else until the very end of the picture. She's rather like the ghost of the 20s, stepping through into the 30s to give a final good-bye to the old style in exchange for the new.
If you are a fan of zombie pictures, this is an essential...because it's one of (if not) the first zombie movies. Not your Fulci-style corpses, but the old-fashioned voodoo kind. People seemingly dead, put into mental slavery through means of a devilish concoction and...if the lobby card up there isn't a slight hint...the gaze (and I guess hands) of their zombie master.
The combination of some silent film style acting, the music, and the constant close-ups when Lugosi uses his powers...reminds me of ballet. It's really quite beautiful.
Lugosi is great in this, in the way only he could have been, dastardly and disturbing. There's no doubt the man had massive screen presence. Some of the pacing is slow, which is to be expected, but I think anyone who really loves the horror genre really needs to devote some time to White Zombie, if not from an entertainment perspective alone, then at least for the historical aspects.
A lot of people think of Bela Lugosi or Boris Karloff when they were older, as well as many other amazing actors in horror cinema, especially given that some of their more infamous roles were performed when many of these people were in their late 30s and early 40s...so I thought you guys might appreciate these pictures...
Now before you ask where 'Lon Chaney' is, I'd like to point out that he was not terribly youthful when he got into the film business, nor are there a lot of resources when it comes to early cinema, sadly, given that so very many silent pictures are lost to us.
Bela Lugosi
Boris Karloff
Vincent Price
Lon Chaney JR
Christopher Lee
Peter Cushing
This is the first of hopefully many gallery posts of horror greats in their prime...
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