DVD Talk Forum - Warner Brothers Horror in October

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Warner Brothers Horror in October

News from DVD Drive-In that a 3-disc set will be coming out with the movies-Mark of the Vampire,Dr. X ,The Return of Doctor X,The Devil-Doll and Mask of Fu Manchu-can't wait.

Great news - <b>DEVIL DOLL</b> is high on my "most wanted" list, with <b>DR X</b> close behind.

Don't forget Mad Love, the other movie in the set:

http://www.pix8.net/pro/pic.php?u=4494IRvZy&i=696519

dvdaff has a release date

Hollywood's Legends of Horror Collection
- Devil-Doll, The (1936)
- Doctor X (1932)
- Return of Doctor X, The (1939)
- Mad Love (1935)
- Mark of the Vampire (1935)
- Mask of Fu Manchu, The (1932)
Release date: Oct-10-2006

So it's called "Hollywood Legends of Horror Collection" and the titles are not available separately, which is the true horror of the thing, I guess. On the plus side, these five films are all rarities in their own right.

http://ec3.images-amazon.com/images/...V62100098_.jpg

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...W/imdb-button/

Features:

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DVD Features:
Available Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 1.0)
Mark of the Vampire (1935) / The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932)
Commentary by genre historians Kim Newman and Steve Jones (Mark of the Vampire)
Theatrical Trailer (Mark of the Vampire)
Commentary by Greg Mank, author of "Karloff & Lugosi: A Story of a Haunting Collaboration" (The Mask of Fu Manchu)
Doctor X (1932) / The Return of Doctor X (1939)
Commentary by horror scholar Tom Weaver (Doctor X)
Theatrical Trailer
Commentary by director Vincent Sherman and author Steve Haberman (The Return of Doctor X)
Theatrical Trailer
Mad Love (1935) / The Devil Doll (1936)
Commentary by Steve Haberman, author of "Chronicles of Terror" (Mad Love)
Theatrical Trailers

I will probably rent "Mark of the Vampire" and "The Devil Doll" and skip on the others.

A mixed bag, but I'll be picking this one up.

Warner seems to be going more with Universal's idea for these releases. With the Karloff and Inner Sanctum sets I had no trouble buying them at $20 each despite the fact some of the movies didn't interest me. At $28 this set is one I will pick up despite it being a mixed bag. It may even be cheaper than that at Sam's.

DVDbeaver review and screencaps: http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDRev...collection.htm

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The 6 films are spread over 3 dual-layered - single-sided DVDs - each in their own slim transparent keep case with beautiful art reminding me very much of the covers used in the Val Lewton set. They are encoded in the NTSC standard in regions 1,2,3 + 4 except Disc 1 (Mark of the Vampire / The Mask of Fu Manchu) which is only region 1. All are progressively transferred. All have trailers and each have a commentary except The Devil Doll. Each have original audio and optional English, French and Spanish subtitles.

These films are all very old and quality varies quite a little bit - Dr. X (in awkward looking 2-strip Technicolor) looks the worst with many scratches and damage marks visible. Looking better but still a shade worn is Mark of the Vampire which show a lot of digital noise and dirt. The remaining four look acceptable with The Return of Dr. X appearing as good as any recent Warner transfers of older films - strong detail and good contrast. Audio was at Warner's usual high standards and I noticed no dropouts and only minor background hiss in segregated moments of the oldest films. Subtitles seemed flawlessly done.

The commentaries are all very professional - Warner found some very knowledgeable sources. I think I enjoyed The Return of Dr. X commentary the most with Steve Haberman and a crackling voiced Vincent Sherman who passed away earlier this year at 100 years of age. His memory of events and the crew was extremely sharp. He detailed quite a bit about Bogart and his slow rise to become a leading man. Greg Mank's commentary (The Mask of Fu Manchu) was also very thorough and Steve Jones and Kim Newman (Mark of the Vampire) were very entertaining to listen to.

I was in absolute nirvana watching these films and then listening to the commentaries. Although I enjoyed The Boris Karloff Collection and the Inner Sanctum Mysteries I think this package is far superior. With talent like Lionel Barrymore, Bela Lugosi, Tod Browning, Boris Karloff, Myrna Loy, Peter Lorre, Maureen O'Sullivan, Fay Wray, Michael Curtiz, Vincent Sherman and Humphrey Bogart - you know you are in for a big treat viewing these (I watched all in one day!) Great stuff that we strongly recommend! (five stars) out of (five stars)

Gary W. Tooze

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDRev...DOCTOR_X-7.jpg
(Doctor X)

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDRev...FUMANCHU-7.jpg
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDRev...FUMANCHU-8.jpg
(Mark of the Vampire]

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDRev...DOCTOR_X-5.jpg
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDRev...FUMANCHU-5.jpg

awesome...i'll be picking this up soon

I got this in the mail the other day but haven't got around to watching them, yet. Looks like a pretty nice set, though.

This Warner set almost got by me. Ordered.

Don't forget that Sony has a Karloff set-said too be much better than the Universal set.

I really wish they would have included the London After Midnight reconstruction from the Lon Chaney set as an extra for Mark of the Vampire. I will probably buy this box set, but not the Chaney set.

The LAM reconstruction was an interesting and impressive effort. It's probably also essential viewing for Chaney/silent film fans. That said, it's not something I'd probably watch more than once; got a little tedious near the end.

I just watched some of Doctor X on TCM a few days ago and I really liked it. I'll be picking up this set for sure.

those screencaps are beautiful...sold!

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Originally Posted by starecase

I really wish they would have included the London After Midnight reconstruction from the Lon Chaney set as an extra for Mark of the Vampire. I will probably buy this box set, but not the Chaney set.

I thought the only thing that survived were a few stills. Where did you see that LAM reconstruction exactly and how long does it run?

I went and bought the whole thing. $ 36 CAN (before tax) at Sunrise (Toronto).

Quote:

Originally Posted by baracine

I thought the only thing that survived were a few stills. Where did you see that LAM reconstruction exactly and how long does it run?

The LAM reconstruction is made up of stills. It's a valiant effort, but is ultimately a bit wobbily. Still, it may be the closest any of us get to actually seeing the film.

It's available on this DVD set: http://www.amazon.com/Chaney-Collect...?ie=UTF8&s=dvd

Quote:

Originally Posted by bboisvert

I've started to watch "Mark of the Vampire". It's got scary Halloween atmosphere by the bucketload and very high production values. It's a pity to think it was shortened from 80 minutes to 60 minutes by a too timid MGM. I'd be much more interested in looking for those 20 missing minutes. Picture quality, by the way, is impressive. Cinematography by James Wong Howe...

Using the following synopsis of London After Midnight, I have highlighted parts of the plot that are missing from The Mark of the Vampire, probably because of the 20-minute cuts to the original print. Of course, the names have also been changed, the setting has been moved to Czekoslovakia and the roles of "the man in the beaver hat", "Balfour's double" and Inspector Burke are played by three different actors, instead of by Lon Chaney. The remake is especially foggy when it comes to explaining what Count Mora and his daughter are doing in the murdered man's castle and how long they've been there. The part of the Professor (Lionel Barrymore) also seems to be a new element, in direct imitation of "Dracula"'s Van Helsing:

Spoiler:

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When Roger Balfour [Sir Karell Borotyn] is found shot dead [new film: drained of blood] in his London [country castle] home, his death is declared a suicide by Inspector Burke [Inspector Neumann] of Scotland Yard [Prague], even though the executor of Balfour's estate, Sir James Hamlin [Baron Otto], insists his friend never would have taken his own life. Five years later, the abandoned Balfour house comes to life again with the arrival of two sinister-looking tenants: a fiendish-looking man with pointed teeth, bulging eyes and a tall beaver hat [no more pointed teeth or hat, it's Lugosi], and a pale young woman in a long gown. The presence of the strangers prompts Sir James, who lives next door, to call in Inspector Burke again. Also living in the Hamlin household are the other people who were also present in Balfour's house the night he died: Sir James' nephew, Arthur Hibbs [Fedor, no relation]; the late Balfour's now-grown daughter, Lucille [Irena]; and Williams [Jan], the butler. Burke expresses skepticism about Sir James' suspicions that the new neighbors might have been involved in Balfour's death, until strange things start happening: Balfour's body disappears from its tomb. The new maid, Smithson [Maria], tells a terrifying tale of being menaced in Lucille's bedroom by the stranger in the beaver hat. And a man spotted inside the Balfour house by Burke and Sir James looks distinctly like the late Roger Balfour. A skittish Arthur becomes convinced the neighbors are vampires. Burke takes Lucille aside, and tells her he doesn't believe her father committed suicide. He asks her to trust him. Burke also has a private talk with Arthur. Burke uses hypnosis to put Arthur into a trance, but learns nothing new about Balfour's death. That night, someone fires a shot into Arthur's room, but Arthur isn't there; instead, it's Burke who's slightly wounded. Lucille is abducted by the beaver-hatted man and the butler and brought to her former home. Sir James, acting at Burke's instruction, also shows up at the Balfour house; he's met out front by the beaver-hatted man, who puts him into a hypnotic trance. [This is done by the Professor in the new film.] Arthur breaks into the Balfour house in an attempt to rescue Lucille; he's caught by Burke and a couple of detectives and locked away. It turns out the man with the beaver hat and pointed teeth was really a disguised Inspector Burke, who was aided at times by a double [the inspector and the actor are two different persons in the new film]; Smithson, the maid, is an assistant detective; the mysterious young woman, a stage performer working for the police. Under Burke's hypnosis, Sir James re-creates his actions the night Roger Balfour died, with Lucille and the butler, Williams, playing themselves, and Burke's double playing the part of Balfour [in the new film, this is a separate actor]. It turns out Sir James shot and killed Balfour and made the death appear a suicide [new film: he drugged him and siphoned the blood out of his body - suicide is never mentioned] after Balfour rejected Sir James as a future husband for young Lucille. Sir James is brought out of his trance and arrested by Burke. The mystery of Balfour's death solved, Lucille and Arthur, who have come to realize how much they love each other, are now free to marry. [New film: they were always to be married and couldn't keep their hands off each other all through the film.]

The cuts appear to have been made to simplify the story and make it more plausible, even if they in fact muddle it quite a bit. The Hays Code must have prevented any mention of suicide. (Murder is OK, but not suicide since you can't punish the culprit.) Also, by moving the action to Central Europe, the whole vampire thing is given much more importance: everybody believes in vampires, the murdered victim has been drained of blood, the peasants venture in graveyards to get their fresh supply of "bat thorn" to protect themselves, gypsies sing their colourful songs, men in shorts dance their thigh-slapping dances, etc.

I am now watching The Mask of Fu Machu (1932), which I had never seen before. The picture is very clear except for a few instances - sometimes just a few seconds - where the film seems to have been cut for censorship reasons and the missing footage and sound replaced by footage from a grainier copy, possibly in 16 mm. The cuts take out politically incorrect sentiments against the Chinese (in the mouth of the British Secret Service representative) and against the "Christian White race" (in the mouth of Fu Manchu), including one whopper about killing the White man to get at his women, as well as an instance of sexually-tinged sadism, when the Mirna Loy character (as Fu Manchu's daughter) urges on the whipping of the semi-naked studmuffin Charles Starret with a little too much enthusiasm. I don't know if those restored cuts are mentioned in the commentary yet. Uncannily, no one thought of cutting a bit where a muscular Black man in a diaper is killed off without a second thought as part of a medical procedure.

Quote:

Originally Posted by darkside

Family Video has this set on sale for $18.69. There is a $5 off coupon that brings it down to $14.68 with $0.99 shipping.

Coupon Code: NEWMEM96

Thanks to dizzlle01 for posting the code.