Monsters and Madmen (The Haunted Strangler / Corridors of Blood / The Atomic Submarine / First Man into Space) (The Criterion Collection)
by Robert Day, Spencer Gordon Bennet
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DVD details
Actor: Arthur Franz, Boris Karloff, Dick Foran, Marla Landi, Marshall ThompsonDirector: Robert Day, Spencer Gordon Bennet
Brand: Image Entertainment
Writer: Charles F. Vetter
Writer: Irving Block
Writer: Jack Rabin
Writer: Jan Read
Writer: Jean Scott Rogers
Writer: John Croydon
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 1.0; English (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 1.0
Format: Black & White, Box set, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 315 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-01-23
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Criterion
DVD Reviews of Monsters and Madmen (The Haunted Strangler / Corridors of Blood / The Atomic Submarine / First Man into Space) (The Criterion Collection)
DVD Review: Great Karloff, shabby sci-fi --
Summary: 3 Stars
Among DVD companies, Criterion courts controversy as much as a Great White zeroes in on tasty human limbs leaning off of inflatable rafts. Their name is synonymous for the finest that the digital medium has to offer. A Criterion disc is sure to have the finest possible transfer with a plethora of extras. In countless reviews, any overly loaded disc is given the appellation of "Criterion worthy." Any film on the Criterion label has become shorthand for being the definitive version of that particular film. As such, discriminating viewers usually put off purchasing classic films until Criterion gets their mitts on a particular title.
The question remains -- with so many undisputed classics from major filmmakers in their catalog -- Douglas Sirk, Fassbinder, Pasolini, et al -- why does Criterion, from time to time, choose to produce loaded discs for exceedingly minor films of dubious merit? Excluding a few scattered fans of this title, does the world really need a definitive version of Fiend Without A Face (1956)? A dreary black-and-white low-budget shock show, Face's chief claim to fame is some stop-motion animated brains that "blow up real good" when shot by rifles? What is this film standing next to Spirits of the beehive (1973) in the Criterion catalogue?
And while Equinox (1971) has a very heavy fan base, was it really worth a double-disc treatment, with multiple versions, commentary tracks galore and all manner of ephemera for what is essentially a glorified home movie?
Criterion's MONSTERS AND MADMEN boxed set continues this series of rather interesting release choices. The set consists of two Grade-B, borderline-C science fiction films First Man Into Space (1959) and The Atomic Submarine (1959) and two worthy, if lower-case Boris Karloff vehicles, Corridors of Blood (1958/1962) and The Haunted Strangler (1958). All four have been previously available on other labels. While it can be argued that these films have some trace historical value, they seem unlikely candidates for the much vaunted "Criterion treatment."
First Man Into Space in particular is an example of science fiction at its most mundane. Hot-to-trot Air Force Pilot Dan Prescott (Bill Edwards) is dead set on becoming the titular character. Waving away the warnings of his older, more sensible brother (Marshall Thompson), he barrels his experimental craft too far into the stratosphere. His jet buckles under pressure, and pesky meteor dust gets into his cockpit. Crash landing near a farm, Dan is transformed into an encrusted, cyclopean monster, pillaging the lonely countryside for unwilling animal and human blood donors to slake his vampiric thirst. His Italian "scientist-in-a-skirt" girlfriend Marla Landi expresses concern and the scientific and military communities express polite disinterest ...
Set in the United States but filmed in England, a forlorn stretch of misty moors at one point stands in quite unconvincingly for the New Mexican desert. In an audio commentary, producer Richard Gordon tells film historian Tom Weaver (present on all four discs in this set) says the above mentioned scene brought quite a few chuckles during the film's American premiere. Viewers familiar with this title from TV afternoon broadcasts will be surprised by many dollops of blood and gore that were heretofore previously edited out. In spite of a few distaff scares, First Man Into Space is a dreary affair. It was unofficially remade as The Incredible Melting Man in 1977.
Even less remarkable is Atomic Submarine, a maritime drama set on claustrophobic sets that is jazzed up with the last-minute addition of a flying saucer and a one-eyed monster. After numerous United States submarines are sank without explanation along the North Pole, a special exploratory vessel is called into action. The submarine is commandeered by the militaristic Arthur Franz, who philosophically spars with a pacifist sailor (Brett Halsey), whose scientist father has since left the armed services to further the cause of world peace. Franz and Halsey talk up a storm about the nature of honor, war, peace, science and the military before the monster puts in an eleventh-hour appearance. Ill-fated blonde bombshell Joi Lansing appears briefly as Franz's love interest.
Along with Gordon and Weaver commentary track, a filmed interview with Brett Halsey is included on this disc's extras. Halsey recalls the excitement he had working on the picture, surrounded by many serial western stars and notable character actors, but recalls that costar Franz desperately wanted to be acting in more important projects at the time of Submarine's filming.
The two historical horrors included in the set fare much better. In The Haunted Strangler (aka The Grip of the Strangler), Karloff shines as an obsessed Victorian novelist fascinated by the "Haymarket Strangler," a fiend who strangled and slashed five chorus girls at the Judas Hole cabaret. Convinced that the wrong man was sent to the gallows, Insisting that an obscure medico by the name of Dr. Tenant was actually responsible, Karloff bribes a turnkey to disinter the grave of the hanged man to retrieve the murder weapon. Gripping the scalpel amidst the bones, Karloff is transformed into the grimacing, one-armed strangler, and the killings begin anew. The real underlying reason behind Karloff's interest in the murder case is revealed in a nifty plot twist, and the film turns into a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde variant.
Shot in Karloff's native England, Strangler is very carefully produced in spite of its relatively low budget. Made around the same time Hammer Studios was galvanizing the genre with more explicit gore and sex, Strangler has some remarkable bawdy content. Obviously based on the exploits of Jack the Ripper, Strangler substitutes dancing girls in lie of prostitutes for the madman's victims, That still doesn't prevent one lass from obviously proffering her services to a top-hatted gentleman in the film's opening execution scene, and few will wonder how the film's dancing girls are able to pry expensive jewelry from their wealthy gentlemen fans. Particularly memorable is a scene dissolving from Karloff's grimacing face to a line of girls dancing the can-can, bloomers and legs akimbo. In a further nod towards modernity, while the ostensible "monster" is vanquished at Strangler's conclusion, due to the machinations of a seemingly minor character, evil is clearly triumphant.
Extras on the Strangler disc, is a documentary entitled "King of the Monster," where Karloff's costars recall what a charming old duffer he was. To this reviewer, the most priceless extras are the radio ads. Paired with Fiend Without A Face, Karloff can scarcely hide his contempt for the co-feature by declaring "It's about weird little creatures .. Made by atomic energy ... Loathsome things that kill you by eating your brains!" Indeed.
Ending the collection on a high note is Corridors of Blood, filmed in 1958 but released in 1962. In addition to Karloff shining in a later role, we have a very young Christopher Lee as "Resurrection Joe," a Burke and Hare figure who figures into the film's heated narrative. Karloff stars as Dr. Bolton, a kindly surgeon in 1840's London who insists that there are infinitely more humane ways to treat patients than tying them down and severing their limbs with unclean kitchen knives. He begins a series of experiments to perfect a crude form of anesthesia, using himself as a guinea pig. In the process, he eventually winds up an addict, dependent on increasing amounts of opium and laudanum. He's eventually suspended from his practice, and becomes increasingly reliant on the highly criminal activities of the Seven Dials Tavern, who provide freshly murdered bodies to the medical establishment for research ....
Director Darren Aronofsky declared his Requiem for a Dream (2000) a horror film, where "addiction was the monster." Only nominally a horror film, Corridors of Blood presents us with a scenario where addiction -- and the corrupt society of 19th Century England as a whole -- is the monster. Karloff, who had played countless evil doctors, outcasts of society intent on raising the dead must have been aware of the irony inherent in his role in Corridors of Blood -- a "good doctor," highly regarded by the establishment who plunges filthy knives into squirming, screaming patients. One wonders if thoughts of his frequent costar, Bela Lugosi, who battled his own substance abuse issues were that far from Karloff's thoughts.
All four discs in the set boast superior transfers and more extras than any viewer would want or even need. In summation, while one questions some of Criterion's eccentric choices for preservation, no one can fault their flawless presentation.
More Monsters and Madmen (The Haunted Strangler / Corridors of Blood / The Atomic Submarine / First Man into Space) (The Criterion Collection) reviews:
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Description of Monsters and Madmen (The Haunted Strangler / Corridors of Blood / The Atomic Submarine / First Man into Space) (The Criterion Collection)
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