Films to Love: Ghosts and Giggles
Last week Friday, I left you with a Books to Love: Haunting Reads post all about the books that will usher in the mood of Halloween while you read. Today, I’m offering a variety of movies from actual horror to downright laugh out loud comedies that are perfect to watch after all your trick-or-treating is done.
It might seem strange to start a Film to Love post with a silent film, but I believe that silent films have the ability to haunt us more deeply. I’m not certain whether it’s the universality of what is depicted in the moving images, the poignancy of the human experience through expression alone, that resonants so deeply or the juxtaposition of orchestration with those images that renders them all the more potent. Whichever it is, silent films stick with us.
The German film Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror is just such a film. While it is considered to be one of the first horror films translated to the screen, it possesses none of the traditional horror tropes we have come to expect of great modern horror films. Rather it tells a straight forward tale of Count Orlok and Thomas Hutter.
Enrico Diekmann and Albin Grau, partners of the short-lived German studio Prana Film, created what can easily be called one of the first films to have a cult following. There are many factors for this. The desire to translate Nosferatu, which means Bird of Death, into cinema came from occultist Albin Grau’s war experience when he met a Serbian farmer who claimed that his father was a vampire and member of the undead. With those seeds planted, Grau helped found Prana Film with the supreme intent to make films with strong occult and supernatural themes. Unfortunately, rather than obtain the rights to Stoker’s Dracula, Diekmann and Grau commissioned Henrik Galeen to write a screenplay loosely based on the book with all the names changed. This was not enough and after filming concluded in 1921 and the movie was released in 1922, Prana Films had to declare bankruptcy to escape the infringement lawsuit Stoker’s widow filed against them.
All copies of the film were ordered destroyed. Fortunately for us, at least one copy had been distributed worldwide and avoided destruction. Over the years, the film has been redistributed and persevered by a devoted cult following. However, the original score written by Hans Erdmann did not survive. What remains is only a reconstitution of the original score, which is a lose as I can only imagine the haunting aspect the original music would have leant to an already horrific film. However, while Prana Films may have only made one film in their short life, Nosferatu accomplished precisely what Grau wanted. The film is riddled with occultist and spiritualist symbols. It taps deeply into the spiritual realm and presents the horror tropes of werewolves and vampires not as elements from the mythology of humanity, but rather true aspects of a mysterious world that we have yet to fully understand.
Roger Ebert’s critique of Nosferatu from his list of The Great Movies encapsulates best why it’s such a iconic movie:
“Here is the story of Dracula before it was buried alive in clichés, jokes, TV skits, cartoons and more than 30 other films. The film is in awe of its material. It seems to really believe in vampires. ... Is Murnau’s ‘Nosferatu’ scary in the modern sense? Not for me. I admire it more for its artistry and ideas, its atmosphere and images, than for its ability to manipulate my emotions like a skillful modern horror film. It knows none of the later tricks of the trade, like sudden threats that pop in from the side of the screen. But ‘Nosferatu’ remains effective: It doesn’t scare us, but it haunts us.”
As the title of today’s post indicates, it’s not all frightening films that I’ll be covering. In fact, unlike my brother and dear friend Jo Ann, I don’t gravitate to horror films as a rule. I’ve watched my share, but I tend to shy away from them for the most part. However, a good screwball comedy is always on my radar. When it comes to screwball comedies, you don’t have to look to much farther than at the plethora of films Cary Grant did in ‘30s and ‘40s. And we happen to be in luck as one of those films is a definitive Halloween movie. I speak of none other than the classic Arsenic and Old Lace.
If you had to study a movie on how to make a screwball comedy, this would be the one to use. First off, it’s directed by Frank Capra, who is one of the quintessential American directors. If you want a comprehensive cinematic vocabulary, you should be familiar with his work. It spanned the gamut from strongly dramatic films to superb screwball comedies. (See this post for more about Capra.) Then there’s Cary Grant’s performance as Mortimer Brewster, a theater critic who returns home to Brooklyn to introduce his new wife to the two sweet aunts that raised him. And while Grant considered his performance to be way too over the top, for the farcical nature of this dark comedy, it’s spot on.
The cast of characters outside of Grant are exceptional as well. Jean Adair and Josephine Hull reprise their Broadway roles as the sweet, but homicidally inclined aunts. John Alexander, who made the role of the aunt’s insane brother Teddy Brewster famous on Broadway, also took the trip to Hollywood to breath life into the screen version. Only Boris Karloff remained in New York, as Raymond Massey took on his role of Mortimer’s criminal brother. There’s even a small part for horror legend Peter Lorre, who aside from acting in much more frightening films than this, is an excellent comedian in his own right. (You might remember him from his brief appearance in Casablanca- see posts here and here.)
A brief synopsis just to whet your appetite. Mortimer Brewster has only just married the love his life, and before they embark on their honeymoon, he wants his aunts to meet her. So, they taxi from Manhattan to Brooklyn to make said introductions. However, while Mortimer was fully aware that his Uncle Teddy was slipping into deep insanity, believing himself to be Theodore Roosevelt- a thing which brings in hysterical and unexpected elements to this play, he had no idea that his aunts were also going batty. When he discovers a dead body hidden in the window seat, his immediate belief is that Teddy has killed someone. However, when he presents his findings to his aunts, he discovers how misinformed his original theory truly is. What ensues from there, I’ll not tell you, but know that you will be laughing aloud for this comedy which draws on many tried and true slapstick elements perfected in the silent movie era.
It’s impossible for me to write a post about Halloween themed movies and not include Mel Brooks tour de force, Young Frankenstein, starring Gene Wilder, Marty Feldmann, Peter Boyle, Madeleine Kahn, Cloris Leachmann, and even a cameo by Gene Hackman. Young Frankenstein is a complete farce. Based oh so loosely off of Mary Shelley’s classic Frankenstein, Mel Brooks does what he does best- he leaves us holding our sides, laughing.
Gene Wilder plays Frederick Frankenstein, grandson of Victor Frankenstein. Frederick is a scientist and teacher who has spent his life distancing himself from his grandfather’s shady reputation. However, when he inherits Victor’s entire estate, he must travel to Transylvania to review all the legal aspects of the inheritance. And while his initial assumption is that he will merely go there, liquidate what he can, and return to his current life, when he arrives at Frankenstein’s castle, he finds himself embroiled in his grandfather’s work.
Mel Brooks shot the entire film in black and white and utilized many of the filming techniques from the ‘30s and ‘40s to give this movie the feeling of a much older film. However, the comedy is 100% Mel Brooks, down to sexual innuendos and superb allusions. (Ahem: Pardon me, boy, is this the Transylvnia station. Ya, ya, Track 29. Oh, can I give you a shine? That would have made Chattanooga Choo Choo composers Harry Warren and Mack Gordon laugh, no doubt.)
Young Frankenstein gets quoted in our house quite a lot. If you haven’t seen it, I cannot encourage you enough to do so. It’s one that really will make you laugh.
So, you’ve heard about a few of my favorites to watch on Halloween? What are yours?
