Tags: universal

Chris Costello, the youngest daughter of Lou Costello of the comedy team Abbott and Costello, is most well known for her biography of her father "Lou’s on First." This wonderfully touching biography of her talented father has been in print for over 20 years. I got the pleasure to interview this absolutely marvelous woman who gave the readers of Classic-Horror a very lovely tribute to her father and the history of the Abbott and Costello monster movies.(read more...)

In 1938, in an attempt to gain profits, Universal re-released Dracula and Frankenstein. The gamble paid off; the re-releases were extremely popular. Universal then decided to make a third Frankenstein film. In 1939, Son of Frankenstein was made. Henry Frankenstein's son Wolf von Frankenstein (Basil Rathbone) returns to his ancestral village to claim his inheritance. Wolf, his wife Elsa (Josephine Hutchinson), and his son Peter (Donnie Dugan) are not welcomed by the villagers. The villagers remember his father's monster and the damage it did.(read more...)

The Raven was the last horror film to be produced under the Laemmle dynasty of Universal. 1936 would be a year of great upheaval for the studio. In 1936, the studio hit very hard times, yet friends and relatives of the Laemmle family still took home top salaries. The stock holders became angry and voted the Laemmles out. After Carl Laemmle's family was removed, Universal became known as the "New Universal". (read more...)

Universal studio's next horror film after Bride of Frankenstein was Werewolf of London, directed by Stuart Walker. The film was the first film dealing with Lycanthropy made by a major studio. The film follows Dr. Glendon (Henry Hull), who is bitten by a strange animal while in Tibet. In Tibet, he obtains the mariphasa lupina, a flower which only blooms under the moon. When Dr. Glendon returns to England the mysterious Dr. Yogami (Warner Oland) warns him that there are two werewolves in London right now. Yogami tells Glendon that the mariphasa is the only known cure for werewolfism. Dr, Yogami also warns him that a werewolf, instinctively kills what he loves the most.(read more...)

In 1935, Universal Studios made their next horror spectacular, the sequel to Frankenstein titled Bride of Frankenstein. It is considered by many to be the greatest horror film ever produced by Universal. A prologue featuring Mary Shelley (Elsa Lanchester), Percy Shelley (Douglas Walton), and Lord Byron (Gavin Gordon) starts the film. The story picks up right at the end of Frankenstein, at the burning windmill. Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) is brought back to Frankenstein manor and the monster (Boris Karloff) climbs from the ashes of the windmill.(read more...)

In 1933, Universal produced only one horror film. It was The Invisible Man. It was the third horror film directed by James Whale.

The film opens on the snow covered village of Iping. A mysterious stranger (Claude Rains), totally covered with bandages and wearing dark goggles, checks into the Lion's Head Tavern and Inn. Meanwhile in his lab, Dr. Cranley (Henry Travers) is trying to comfort his daughter Flora (Gloria Stuart) about the disappearance of her boyfriend Jack Griffin. Cranley's other assistant Kemp (William Harrigan) tells her of his feelings for her, but he is rejected.(read more...)

In 1932, Universal released its first horror film after Frankenstein. It was titled Murders in the Rue Morgue and it was loosely based on the story by Edgar Allan Poe. Murders in the Rue Morgue was the second film that Universal released starring Bela Lugosi. Bela Lugosi plays the mad scientist Dr. Mirakle. Dr. Mirakle works at a carnival in Paris with a giant gorilla named Erik. Mirakle uses his sideshow to promote his own theories of evolution. At night he kidnaps a young street girl and injects her with Erik's blood to test his theories, she dies from the experiment. Dr. Mirakle kills several women for his experiments.(read more...)

The success of Dracula caused Universal to believe that a second horror film would be remarkably profitable. The next logical film to make would be an adaptation of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein." The film was released in December of 1931. Frankenstein told the story of Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) who, with his hunchbacked assistant Fritz (Dwight Frye), robs graves. He uses the body parts for his experiments. Henry needs a brain for his experiments, so he sends Fritz to Goldstadt University to acquire a brain. Fritz breaks in and steals a normal brain, but a loud noise frightens him and he drops it.(read more...)

A grade schooler would have a hard time identifying a picture of Humphrey Bogart from The African Queen. A pre-schooler would be equally baffled by a photograph of Vivian Leigh from Gone With the Wind.(read more...)