It is Henna Day, on a warmish LA day that I wish were more autumnal. I've been watching/rewatching a lot of spooky old movies on TCM this weekend. Things I have learned:
Vincent Price's wrap-around sunglasses in The Tomb of Ligeia are pretty much the best thing ever. Also, the black cat in this movie is the hardest working cat in show business.
Mark of the Vampire (1935) is as incomprehensible as I remembered. The vampires are not really vampires, but actors playing vampires...yet Bela Lugosi still manages to transform from a bat into a man? Still, the vampire Luna is awesome.
The reconstruction from stills of Tod Browning's lost film London After Midnight (1927), starring Lon Chaney Sr. (which Browning remade as Mark of the Vampire), is far more compelling and understandable than the remake. I hope someday a print of the movie will be found.
Either Ira Levin saw The Seventh Victim (1943) before he wrote Rosemary's Baby, or New York City and Satanists preying on young women just go really well together. The Seventh Victim is one of the few Val Lewton films I hadn't seen, and it immediately became one of my favorites.
Vincent Price's wrap-around sunglasses in The Tomb of Ligeia are pretty much the best thing ever. Also, the black cat in this movie is the hardest working cat in show business.
Mark of the Vampire (1935) is as incomprehensible as I remembered. The vampires are not really vampires, but actors playing vampires...yet Bela Lugosi still manages to transform from a bat into a man? Still, the vampire Luna is awesome.
The reconstruction from stills of Tod Browning's lost film London After Midnight (1927), starring Lon Chaney Sr. (which Browning remade as Mark of the Vampire), is far more compelling and understandable than the remake. I hope someday a print of the movie will be found.
Either Ira Levin saw The Seventh Victim (1943) before he wrote Rosemary's Baby, or New York City and Satanists preying on young women just go really well together. The Seventh Victim is one of the few Val Lewton films I hadn't seen, and it immediately became one of my favorites.