I see there's a Criterion copy of Island of Lost Souls, so that goes on the list, along with Black Narcissus.
Frankenstein really is a weird case. I agree that Karloff is the best thing in it...it seems frankly neutered to me, from the removal of "This must be what God feels like!" line on, not least because of that ridiculous "happy" ending, but also because of odd choices like Frankenstein's comic-relief grumpy old (British) man of a supposedly European aristocrat father. But obviously it made Whale and the studio enough money that by Bride of Frankenstein, he could be as gloriously perverse as he wanted.
Yeah, every disaster's an opportunity, to Herbert. While is sort of a good place to be, considering, but it sure is hard on everybody else.
See, I love the idea of Meg bringing Dan back instead! What disappoints me about the movie, in hindsight, is its innate assumption that such a twist was somehow "impossible"...Meg must be the one to die, because Dan's angst is more important than her life. Classic fridging, really, and the fallout from this particular trauma reaches ridiculous heights in Bride of Re-Animator, where Herb tries to hold onto Dan by offering him the chance to put Meg's literal heart (found on a rack of evidence from the Miskatonic Massacre in the hospital morgue) into a body made from salvaged patient-parts topped with the head of a woman Dan's been obsessing over lately, who's so cancer-ridden her head is "the only part of [her] that isn't sick!"
no subject
Frankenstein really is a weird case. I agree that Karloff is the best thing in it...it seems frankly neutered to me, from the removal of "This must be what God feels like!" line on, not least because of that ridiculous "happy" ending, but also because of odd choices like Frankenstein's comic-relief grumpy old (British) man of a supposedly European aristocrat father. But obviously it made Whale and the studio enough money that by Bride of Frankenstein, he could be as gloriously perverse as he wanted.
Yeah, every disaster's an opportunity, to Herbert. While is sort of a good place to be, considering, but it sure is hard on everybody else.
See, I love the idea of Meg bringing Dan back instead! What disappoints me about the movie, in hindsight, is its innate assumption that such a twist was somehow "impossible"...Meg must be the one to die, because Dan's angst is more important than her life. Classic fridging, really, and the fallout from this particular trauma reaches ridiculous heights in Bride of Re-Animator, where Herb tries to hold onto Dan by offering him the chance to put Meg's literal heart (found on a rack of evidence from the Miskatonic Massacre in the hospital morgue) into a body made from salvaged patient-parts topped with the head of a woman Dan's been obsessing over lately, who's so cancer-ridden her head is "the only part of [her] that isn't sick!"