American Horror and Drama Background (for the 1940's)
Wartime horror movies were purely an American product. Banned in Britain, with film production curbed throughout the theatre of war in Europe, horror movies were cranked out by Hollywood solely to amuse the domestic audience. The studios stuck with tried and tested ideas, wary of taking risks that might suggest they had no measure of the zeitgeist, and trotted out a series of variations on a theme. This was not an age of innovation, but horror movie memes were, nonetheless, evolving.
If the horror movies of the 1930s had dealt in well-established fictional monsters, looking back towards the nineteenth century for inspiration, the 1940s reflected the internalisation of the horror market. The Americans looked at themselves as “safe”, whereas everything else, particularly anything hailing from that frightening, chaotic, unreasonable and uncontrolled place known as Europe was dangerous. Yet, try as they might, the Americans could not keep themselves separate and pure, their basic European roots kept peeking through, their links with the lands of their ancestors eventually pulling them into World War Two. In the same way, many horror films of this period deal with roots peeking through – in the form of men or women who were subject to the emergence of a primal animal identity. It's interesting to see this device in Disney's Pinocchio (1940) as the bad boys are turned into donkeys. What does it all mean...? (from: http://www.horrorfilmhistory.com/index.php?pageID=1940s)
If the horror movies of the 1930s had dealt in well-established fictional monsters, looking back towards the nineteenth century for inspiration, the 1940s reflected the internalisation of the horror market. The Americans looked at themselves as “safe”, whereas everything else, particularly anything hailing from that frightening, chaotic, unreasonable and uncontrolled place known as Europe was dangerous. Yet, try as they might, the Americans could not keep themselves separate and pure, their basic European roots kept peeking through, their links with the lands of their ancestors eventually pulling them into World War Two. In the same way, many horror films of this period deal with roots peeking through – in the form of men or women who were subject to the emergence of a primal animal identity. It's interesting to see this device in Disney's Pinocchio (1940) as the bad boys are turned into donkeys. What does it all mean...? (from: http://www.horrorfilmhistory.com/index.php?pageID=1940s)
Famous Actors and Actresses of Horror and Drama (in the 1940s)
Lon Chaney, Jr, (February 10, 1906 – July 12, 1973)
- Real name: Creighton Tull Chaney
- Started in the following Horror films (click to find out more about each movie): The Wolf Man, in three installments of The Mummy franchise, The Ghost of Frankenstein and Son of Dracula
- He also started in cross overs that combined famous horror characters such as Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man.
Greer Garson (29 September 1904 – 6 April 1996)-
- Real name: Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson
- British American
- nominated for 7 Academy Awards (Oscars)
- She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in her appearance in Mrs. Miniver. When giving the acceptance speech she won another award; from Guinness World Records for the longest Oscar speech (5 minutes and 30 seconds)
- She started in Pride and Prejudice, Blossoms in the Dust , When Ladies Meet, Mrs. Parkington and The Valley of Decisions.
- She was married 3 times and died at the age of 91.
Top 5 Recognized Horror Movies
1. The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)- American horror-drama film based on Oscar Wilde's 1890 novel of the same name. Dorian Gray (Hurd Hatfield) is a handsome, wealthy young man living in 19th century London. While generally intelligent, he is naive and easily manipulated. These faults lead to his spiral into sin and, ultimately, misery. While posing for a painting by his friend Basil Hallward (Lowell Gilmore), Dorian meets Basil's friend Lord Henry Wotton (George Sanders). Wotton is cynical and witty, and tells Dorian that the only life worth living is one dedicated entirely to pleasure. After Wotton convinces Dorian that youth and beauty will bring him everything he desires, Dorian openly wishes that his portrait could age instead of him. He makes this statement in the presence of a certain Egyptian statue, which supposedly has the power to grant wishes.
(from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Picture_of_Dorian_Gray_(1945_film))
(from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Picture_of_Dorian_Gray_(1945_film))
2. The Wolf Man (1941)- The film stars Lon Chaney, Jr. as "The Wolf Man" and he would would reprise his classic role as "The Wolf Man" in four sequels, beginning with Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man in 1943. After learning of the death of his brother, Larry Talbot returns to his ancestral home in Llewellyn, Wales to reconcile with his estranged father, Sir John Talbot . While there, Larry becomes romantically interested in a local girl named Gwen Conliffe , who runs an antique shop. As a pretext to converse with her, he purchases a silver-headed walking stick decorated with a wolf. Gwen tells him that it represents a werewolf (which she defines as a man who changes into a wolf "at certain times of the year.") Talbot transforms into a wolf-like creature and stalks the village, first killing the local gravedigger. Talbot retains vague memories of being a werewolf and wanting to kill, and continually struggles to overcome his condition. He is finally bludgeoned to death by his father with his own silver walking stick after attacking Gwen. Sir John Talbot watches in horror as the werewolf transforms into his son's human form as the local police arrive on the scene.(from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wolf_Man_(1941_film))
3. The Dead of Night (1945)- Dead of Night stands out from British film of the 1940s, when few horror films were being produced in the country (horror films had been banned from production in Britain during the war), and it had an influence on subsequent British films in the genre. Both of the segments by John Baines were recycled for later films, and the possessed ventriloquist dummy episode was adapted as the audition episode of the long-running CBS radio series Escape. Architect Walter Craig arrives at a country house party where he reveals to the assembled guests that he has seen them all in a dream. He appears to have no prior personal knowledge of them but he is able to predict spontaneous events in the house before they unfold. The other guests attempt to test Craig's foresight, while entertaining each other with various tales of uncanny or supernatural events that they experienced or were told about. These include a racing car driver's premonition of a fatal bus crash; a light hearted tale of two obsessed golfers, one of whom becomes haunted by the other's ghost; a ghostly encounter during a children's Christmas party; a haunted antique mirror; and the story of an unbalanced ventriloquist who believes his amoral dummy is truly alive. The framing story is then capped by a twist ending.
(from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_of_Night
(from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_of_Night
4. Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)- It is the first of several films where the comedy duo meets classic characters from Universal's horror film stable. In this film, they encounter Count Dracula, Frankenstein's monster and the Wolf Man, while subsequent films pair the duo with the Mummy, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and the Invisible Man. The film opens with Lawrence Talbot making an urgent call from London to a Florida railway station where Chick Young and Wilbur Grey work as baggage-clerks. From here the story get's spooky!
(found: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbott_and_Costello_Meet_Frankenstein)
(found: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbott_and_Costello_Meet_Frankenstein)
5. Cat People (1942)- DeWitt Bodeen wrote the original screenplay which was based on Val Lewton's short story The Bagheeta published in 1930. Cat People tells the story of a young Serbian woman, Irena, who believes herself to be a descendant of a race of people who turn into cats when "excited". At the Central Park Zoo in Manhattan, New York City, Serbian-born fashion designer Irena Dubrovna makes sketches of a black panther. She catches the attention of marine engineer Oliver Reed, who strikes up a conversation. Irena invites him to her apartment for tea. As they walk away, one of Irena's discarded sketches is revealed as a panther impaled by a sword. From here everything else starts to get strange.
(from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_People_(1942_film))
(from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_People_(1942_film))
Top 5 Recognized Dramatic Movies
1. Casablanca (1942)- Set during World War II, it focuses on a man torn between, in the words of one character, "love and virtue". He must choose between his love for a woman and helping her Czech Resistance leader husband escape the Vichy-controlled Moroccan city of Casablanca to continue his fight against the Nazis. Although Casablanca was an A-list film with established stars and first-rate writers, no one involved with its production expected it to be anything out of the ordinary.
(from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casablanca_(film))
(from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casablanca_(film))
2. The Maltese Falcon (1941)- was based made into a movie from the book written by Dashiell Hammett. The story follows a San Francisco private detective and his dealings with three unscrupulous adventurers, all of whom are competing to obtain a jewel-encrusted falcon statuette. The Maltese Falcon has been named as one of the greatest films of all time by Roger Ebert and Entertainment Weekly, and was cited by Panorama du Film Noir Américain as the first major film noir.
(from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Maltese_Falcon_(1941_film))
(from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Maltese_Falcon_(1941_film))
3. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)- based off of the short story "The Greatest Gift", which Philip Van Doren Stern wrote in 1939 and published privately in 1945. The film is considered one of the most loved films in American cinema and has become traditional viewing during the Christmas season, alongside popular classics such as Holiday Inn (and its "remake", White Christmas), A Christmas Carol, Meet Me in St. Louis, and Miracle on 34th Street.
(from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It's_a_Wonderful_Life)
(from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It's_a_Wonderful_Life)
4. Citizen Kane (1941)- The story is a film à clef that examines the life and legacy of Charles Foster Kane, played by Welles, a character based in part upon the American newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst,Chicago tycoons Samuel Insull and Harold McCormick, and aspects of Welles' own life. Upon its release, Hearst prohibited mention of the film in any of his newspapers. Kane's career in the publishing world is born of idealistic social service, but gradually evolves into a ruthless pursuit of power. Narrated principally through flashbacks, the story is told through the research of a newsreel reporter seeking to solve the mystery of the newspaper magnate's dying word: "Rosebud".
(from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_Kane)
(from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_Kane)
5. The Great Dictator (1940)- American comedy-drama and anti-fascism film starring, written, produced, scored, and directed by Charlie Chaplin. At the time of its first release, the United States was still formally at peace with Nazi Germany. Chaplin's film advanced a stirring, controversial condemnation of Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini's fascism, antisemitism, and the Nazis, whom he mocks in the film as "machine men, with machine minds and machine hearts".
(from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Dictator)
(from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Dictator)