Isle of the Dead (1945) / Zombies on Broadway (1945) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - March 10, 1946

RKO double-bill featuring Boris Karloff headlining another fine offering from producer Val Lewton, Isle of the Dead. Bela Lugosi is the selling point of the second feature, which, despite the blurbs shouting EERIE! and SCAREY!, was actually of comedy featuring the duo of Brown and Carney. A pair of Abbott and Costello wannabes that never quite made it. So it goes.

Isle of the Dead was directed by Mark Robson, who I know best for directing Earthquake (1974). Zombies on Broadway was directed by Gordon Douglas, a journeyman workhorse who would go on to helm the better received, and far more fondly remembered, giant ant feature THEM! (1954).

The Mummy (1932) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - February 2, 1933

Boris Karloff's second iconic monster for Universal is poised to shamble into San Francisco Bay Area theaters. Although the programmer-style sequels are interchangeable retreads - telling the exact same story over and over, beat-for-beat - the first movie is actually quite good. A superlative and subtle performance by Karloff (The Uncanny) making The Mummy all the better.

Halloween Midnite Shows - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - October 31, 1946

The Fox West Coast Theatre chain held a series of late night screenings of Halloween appropriate fare to celebrate All Hallow's Eve in 1946. I have no idea what that 'Sneak Spook Preview' being screened at the Paramount was, but it might have been a marketing bait and switch. No idea.

House of Frankenstein (1944) is a fun little romp that plays like two episodes of a television series have been edited together to form something that resembles a feature length movie. The Vampire's Ghost (1945) is an above average cheapie boosted by a somewhat decent script, co-written by Leigh Brackett, and enlivened by a solid performance from John Abbott, who plays the titular vampire.

I have yet to see Voodoo Man (1944), but seeing that it was directed by William Beaudine and stars both Bela Lugosi and John Carradine, I just might check it out some random, rainy morning when I am in the mood to watch an old school grind-house programmer.

Arsenic and Old Lace - Newspaper Ad [San Francisco Examiner - April 29, 1943]

Although Boris Karloff was unable to play Jonathan Brewster in the successful 1944 film version of Arsenic and Old Lace, San Francisco audiences could still delight in his reactions to numerous characters noting how much Jonathan "looks like Boris Karloff."

The Mummy (1932) - Newspaper Ad [Oakland Tribune - April 2, 1933]

 

Friday the 13th Midnite Jinx Show(s) - Newspaper Ad [Oakland Tribune - March 13, 1953]

March 13th fell on a Friday in 1953 and, once again, the Fox West Coast Theaters held a bunch of Friday the 13th-themed Midnite Jinx Shows throughout the East Bay. Just as they done the previous month, when February 13th had also fallen on a Friday. What did they show?

Kind of hard to say, this time. When I checked the listings for the California, the Fox, the Grand, and the Senator theaters, the only information given was: "Chills! Thrills! Gifts and Surprises on Stage and Screen." Okay.

A small blurb for the event did say that, "Learned masters of ceremonies (or jinx hosts) will inform patrons of such facts as those pertaining to Woodrow Wilson who was born the 13th, married on the 13th and has 13 letters to his name; that stars such as Kay Francis, Judith Evelyn, Sidney Blackmer and many more were born on the 13th and that drama critics will not be in the audience."

A second ad, on the same page, states that the Friday the 13th Midnite Jinx Show at the Grand Lake will be showing a double-bill of The Walking Dead, starring Bela Lugosi, and Terror House (1942), starring James Mason. 

Although I suspect that the Bela Lugosi feature is retitled film, I could not (at time of writing) find any information about it. So it goes.

A third and final ad, again on the same page, hypes a double-bill of the melodramas Tower of London (1939) and The Man Who Reclaimed His Head (1934). Russ Byrd returns as Master of Ceremonies, with Tiny James once again at the organ keyboard.

Isle of the Dead (1945) / Zombies on Broadway (1945) - Newspaper Ad [San Francisco Examiner - March 6, 1946]

Twenty or so years ago, more or less, I purchased a DVD box set of the horror films Val Lewton produced for RKO. I watched them all, of course, but some lodged in my memory and others did not. Isle of the Dead is one of the latter.

Citing Arnold Böcklin's painting The Isle of the Dead as its inspiration (the painting is used as a backdrop for the film's opening title) and namesake, Isle of the Dead was directed by frequent Lewton collaborator Mark Robson.

While Robson had a lengthy directing career filled with all manner of notable titles, I knew him best as the director of Earthquake (1974).

The second half of this RKO first run double-bill is Zombies on Broadway, which was the studio's attempt at an Abbott and Costello style comedy. I have not seen it. But... John Stanley, in his book Revenge of the Creature Features Movie Guide, said, "Taken as a period piece, it is quite funny..." I'll take his word for it.

But I did learn a couple of interesting tidbits about the film. One being that Darby Jones, whose zombified countenance provided memorable nightmare fuel in Lewton's 1943 production I Walked with a Zombie, played one of the zombies commanded by the mad scientist Paul Renault (Bela Lugosi, of course). Another being that the film was directed by Gordon Douglas, who helmed the classic giant monster movie THEM! (1954).

The Devil Commands (1941) - Man Behind the Mask [The Face Behind the Mask] (1941) - Newspaper Ad [San Francisco Examiner - February 24, 1941]

The Devil Commands, the "top half" of this so-called Double Terror Show, stars the legendary Boris Karloff as a scientist obsessed with communicating with his dead wife. I have never seen it. The same goes for The Face Behind the Mask, which the ad changes the title of to Man Behind the Mask for some reason. That has Peter Lorre playing a disfigured watch-maker whose rage at society drives him to a life of crime.

The former was directed by Edward Dmytryk, who might be best known for directing 1954's The Caine Mutiny. The latter was directed by Robert Florey, who also directed the Marx brothers in The Cocoanuts, Bela Lugosi in Murders in the Rue Morgue, and Peter Lorre, once again, in The Beast with Five Fingers.

Florey also directed two banger episodes from the first season of The Twilight Zone. Perchance to Dream (Episode 9) and The Fever (Episode 17). His final directing credit was for a first season episode of The Outer Limits. Moonstone (Episode 24).

Frankenstein (1931) - Newspaper Ad [San Francisco Examiner - December 3, 1931]

The success of Dracula set the stage for the taking of this risky second venture into gothic horror. With Dracula, at least, there was the proven success of the stage production it was adapting to point at and assuage the concerns of dubious investors.

That was not the case with Frankenstein, though. This was a big swing gamble that had more than a few people at Universal Studios questioning the commercial instincts of Carl Laemmle Jr., the 23-year-old head of production.

Laemmle's instincts proved correct, though. Frankenstein was another smash hit for the studio and, coupled with Dracula, opened the creative doors, so that other monsters would be able to shamble out of the shadows and up onto the big screen.