chiller blog

Posted Sep 21, 09 02:47 PM

CHILLER'S CHALK OUTLINE: Universal Studios Monsters, by Michael Mallory

With a legacy unmatched at other studios, Universal Pictures thrilled moviegoers from the 1920s to the late 1950s with a slate of horror films beginning with silent pictures such as The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Phantom of the Opera, and classics like Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy and Creature From the Black Lagoon. These movies not only propelled actors such as Lon Chaney and Bela Lugosi to legendary status, they also cemented the studio's standing as Hollywood's premier producer of horror films. Universal Studios Monsters: A Legacy of Horror is a tribute to the studio's golden age of horror films, offering insights into the creation of more than fifty horror classics, richly illustrated with stills from the legendary fright films, behind-the-scenes shots, and many original movie posters.

Copyright Universal Studios: Monsters by Michael Mallory, Universe, 2009.

I don't own a coffee table, nor have I ever.

Strange, since I drink a lot of coffee. Can never take it straight. Yeah, I use the fancy shmancy creamers - and not the instant imitation gruel relegated to the Styrofoam cup corners of oily machine shop waiting rooms.

BUT if I were to add that elusive coffee table, Universe Publishing's Universal Studios Monsters: A Legacy of Horror, by Michael Mallory, would be lovingly displayed. And if you want to look at it, Jeeves, you first wash your hands AND use a coaster, thank you.

Mallory's 411 on the studio's signature roots rises distinctly above the standard 101, his accessible, informative style falling somewhere between coffee talk and an engaging campus lecture. He keeps his historical retracing positive - which somewhat glosses over the stigma of the era's major studios shunning the genre. Often out of necessity rather than artistic strategy, Universal clawed up the ranks of the Warners and the MGMs by successfully producing what its competitors would not: Cost-conscious horror pics with what were thought to be exploitive, B-movie elements. Yes, you know the stalwarts - Count Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, the Wolf Man, the Invisible Man - but probably not the Creeper, the Spider Woman and - no joke - Paula the Ape Woman.

Yes. Paula. The Ape Woman.

But Mallory's idealism is as strong as his research. The gorgeous one-sheets are vibrantly reproduced in high resolution, and candid photos - my fav: Karloff, in Frankenstein make-up, sipping tea - casually break down the fourth wall. The author does a good job placing his production anecdotes, the kind of "Oh, really?" stories that readers are destined to repeat to others.

Who knew that Universal Pictures founder Carl Laemmle employed so many relatives in front of the camera that poet Ogden Nash once penned, "Uncle Carl Laemmle has a very large family?" Who noticed that Laemmle's name is misspelled in the opening credits of Dracula - and that the film initially had an epilogue, which was cut? Or that the production-plagued silent classic, The Phantom of the Opera, shot its chandelier drop in reverse?

USM: ALoH succinctly details the studio's ascent through two breakout silent classics (The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Phantom) through the Standard Capital Corporation's late Depression takeover of the studio, which abandoned Laemmle's horror strategy and the genre's first cycle. But a quick fast-cash double bill rerelease of Dracula and Frankenstein proved so successful as to usher in a second cycle in which Universal's new management re-embraced and sequelized their past hits, ending with the close of World War II. A third cycle, ending with The Leech Woman, was less distinguished, leading to the genre's exodus largely into TV.

In addition to the obvious profiles on Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Chaney (and Chaney, Jr.), there are refreshing page turns given to lesser-recognized talents such as icon-making make-up legend Jack P. Pierce and character actress Una O'Connor, the comic relief of many an accursed, haunted place.

What? You don't have a coffee table, either? No matter. Universal Studios Monsters: A Legacy of Horror positions itself firmly in any horror fan's shelf of honor.