Universal Studios Monster Movies

At this time of year AMC and TCM and your local video store dust off a number of classic movies that you have heard of and seen parts of even if you have never watched the films. These are the classic monster movies from Universal Studios. Filmed mostly in the 1930s and 1940s these films dictated the iconography associated with classic monsters today. These images: the sexy stare of Dracula, the dreary mansion filled with cobwebs, the dry desiccated mummy, the stiff Frankenstein’s monster in his isolated castle, and the wolfman howling at the moon define much of what we think about Halloween and monsters.

This year the films are even more pertinent thanks to Stephen Sommers’ VanHelsing, an ode to the classic monster movies, and to the release of The Legacy Collections from Universal Studios. These nicely packaged sets include the main films of the series as well as numerous bonus tracks such as documentaries, original artwork, and alternative scores. There is Dracula, The Mummy, Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, The Wolfman, and even The Creature From the Black Lagoon now available everywhere.

Of course the legendary films have to begin somewhere and in this case they begin with Carl Laemmle the founder of Universal Studios. Laemmle did not have much interest in horror pictures but luckily his son did. Carl Laemmle Jr had loved the atmosphere of such silent films as Lon Chaney’s Phantom of the Opera and Hunchback of Notre Dame and he thought that there could be a market for these scary films. A previous film of Dracula had been made, a German film by the name of Nosferatu, and there was a current play that was a hit on Broadway so Carl Laemmle Jr acquired the rights to the Bram Stoker novel to make a big budget talking picture starring Lon Chaney. Unfortunately Lon Chaney died of cancer in 1930 before the film could be made and there was a little issue of the stock market crash that affected the budget of the film. Thus Universal Studios looked for a more modest film that more closely resembled the stage play than the novel.

It seemed appropriate that they would turn to the stage actors to play the major film roles and thus Bela Lugosi for the foreign and sexy Count Dracula. Though the film seems more like a play with little action and a lot of dialogue the film set the standard for all of the monster films to follow. It depicted a lavish and lascivious man who lived in a decadent though rundown mansion filled with shadows, cobwebs, and ruins. The film, and its Spanish language sibling, is filled with atmospheric shots of the castle alive with scavenging armadillos, home to bats and other creatures of the night. There are the sweeping staircases and the lingering close-ups on the dangerous creature with the vivid eyes. All of the important film elements that make up traditional horror films are evident in this initial film.

Dracula was released in 1931 and became a relative success for the small Universal Studios. Carl Laemmle Jr decided that another monster serried should be created. The next monster they tackled was Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Again they offered the lead to Bela Lugosi but this time he turned Universal down, Lugosi had no interest in playing a part whose main acting was to emit moans. In true old Hollywood fashion the producers case Boris Karloff as the monster after seeing his angular face in the studio commissary. The film Frankenstein made Karloff a star and signaled a decline in the career of Lugosi. Lugosi continued working in Hollywood though his career never surpassed his fame as Dracula and he was reduced to spooky roles in Ed Wood camp classic films Glen or Glenda and Plan 9 From Outer Space before his death in 1956.

The next monster movie in 1932 was The Mummy again starring Boris Karloff who at this time was a bankable star. The film did well with its romantic story of a mummy who rises from the dead to reclaim the love he lost nearly 3000 years ago. Karloff with his distinctive profile never separated himself from the monsters he played and had a very successful career playing countless monsters and mad scientists until his death in 1969.

Universal followed The Mummy with yet another series starting monster, The Invisible Man in 1933 starring Claude Rains. Claude Rains was a talented actor who began his career in The Invisible Man. Unlike many of the other monster actors he was a handsome man who was not shackled to playing creatures and madmen. He is also well known for roles in Casablanca, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and Hitchcock’s Notorious where he was able to showcase his considerable acting abilities away from the makeup and the cobwebs and the laboratories. But just like the others, he began and ended his career with roles in low budget horror films with monsters like the wolfman.

Lon Chaney Jr, the son of the legendary man of a thousand faces, Lon Chaney had come to notice by studio execs after years of bit parts when he played Lennie in the 1939 film of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. Lon Chaney Jr became the only man to play all of the monsters, tackling Frankenstein’s monster in The Ghost of Frankenstein, the mummy in The Mummy’s Tomb, The Mummy’s Ghost, and The Mummy’s Curse, and Dracula in Son of Dracula. Lon Chaney Jr continued playing these and many other roles until his death in 1973.

1935 saw the sequel The Bride of Frankenstein and The WereWolf of London though the latter was eclipsed by the 1941 film the Wolfman starring Claude Rains, Bela Lugosi, and Lon Chaney Jr as the wolfman. Thus began the franchising of these monster films as a Universal property. All told there were 4 Dracula movies through the 30s and 40s, 5 Frankenstein features, 5 Mummy films, 5 of the Invisible Man, and 4 Wolfman movies. This is not mentioning the Abbott and Costello Meet the monsters films among others. These films became a franchise that supported Universal Studios long after Carl Laemmle and his son were removed from the studio management in 1936.

These films and their monsters remain alive and well today and are evident in television and film everywhere. Not only has Stephen Sommers resurrected the Mummy and Count Dracula, there is Buffy Summers fighting vampires in a Halloween marathon and even a recent foray into The Invisible Man with Kevin Bacon. The monsters are also present the continued interest in playing Count Dracula or Frankenstein’s monster every Halloween by children and adults all over the world.

Related posts:

1. The Wolf Man
2. Van Helsing