- Actors: Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, David Manners, Julie Bishop, Egon Brecher
- Directors: Edgar G. Ulmer
- Writers: Edgar G. Ulmer, Edgar Allan Poe, Peter Ruric, Tom Kilpatrick
- Producers: Carl Laemmle Jr., E.M. Asher
- Format: NTSC, Import
- Number of tapes: 1
- MPAA Rating:
- Studio: Universal Studios
- VHS Release Date: Sep 16 1997
- Run Time: 65 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
- ASIN: 6302526191
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Product Details |
Product Description
Amazon.com Essential Video
Edgar Ulmer's baroque masterpiece is the pinnacle of expressionism of Hollywood, a beautiful melding of gothic antiquity and modernity in the shadow of World War I. Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff square off in their finest film together as decades-old nemeses who meet for a fateful showdown on the very battlefield where Karloff's devilish dark priest sacrificed his own army and framed Lugosi's good doctor for the crime. Karloff plays the most evil character of his career, a mesmerizingly demonic architect (inspired by the notorious real-life Satanist Aleister Crowley) who stole Lugosi's wife and daughter and built his shrinelike home, a stunning piece of Bauhaus-inspired glass and steel architecture, on the graves of his victims. His intensity and hypnotic understatement is a revelation, a genuine monster in human guise far more insidious and evil than the creatures of Universal's more famous horror classics. Lugosi delivers his finest performance ever as a Van Helsing-like hero whose simmering hatred and rage finally boils over into madness and sadistic revenge. A pair of silly American honeymooners become but two more pawns in their game of vengeance. John Mescall, who shot the gorgeous Bride of Frankenstein, beautifully delivers eerie unease and sinister imagery, from the Caligari-like black church of slanting beams and slashing shadows to the tomb of glass-lined caskets displaying victims held in suspended animation. One of the finest horror films to emerge from Universal's golden age of horror. --Sean Axmaker
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
universal, put this on dvd!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Black Cat (VHS Tape)
where is that little area where we can vote for this film to be put on dvd?they've dug into their vaults and released such dumb titles as 'house of frankenstein' but havent released this art deco masterpeice! come on! karloff and lugosi's best teaming!
5.0 out of 5 stars
Masterpiece of the Macabre,
By Steven S Silvers (California) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Black Cat (VHS Tape)
A story that finds a recently-released WW I prisoner of war, Dr. Vitus Werdegast, travelling by train to the eerie mountain-top home of his former commanding officer, Hjalmar Poelzig, who betrayed Werdegast and his comrades to the enemy army, subsequently marrying Werdegast's wife (whom he told died during the war) and, after killing her and preserving her body, marries Werdegast's daughter as well. Sworn on revenge, Werdegast brings fellow travellers Mr. and Mrs. Alison to Poelzig's home, a Caligariesque fortress which Poelzig designed, as he happens to be an architect when he's not too busy running his Satanic Cult from the depths of his house. The house, it seems, was built upon the ruins of the WW I fort Poelzig had commanded during the last years of the war, the very spot where tens of thousands of Poelzig's own men were murdered or taken prisoner of war thanks to his betrayal of them...It is against this background that the two men, Poelzig and Werdegast, play out a living chess game against one another, using the young Mr. & Mrs. Alison as the stakes for a macabre ritual played out between the betrayer and the betrayed. One of the very best of the Universal horror films,even though it can properly be regarded as *not* being what one would think of as a "horror film," this one is a must for any deep-thinking person who desires to understand the potential for extreme darkness the human soul can be capable of.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing resolution,
By
This review is from: Black Cat (VHS Tape)
A pair of young American newlyweds (David Manners and Julie Bishop) become involved in the face-off between the devil-worshipping architect Poelzig (Boris Karloff) and Werdegast (Bela Lugosi), the man he destroyed years before, who has returned for his vengeance. The style of the film is operatic, with big exaggerated performances, a swelling score derived from classical tunes, and magnificent, brooding set design. Director Edgar Ulmer does a wonderful job of building an atmosphere of sinister dread that makes the early part of the film utterly fascinating.However, once Poelzig reveals his true nature and intent to the young couple, the film abruptly runs out of steam. The masterful build-up is resolved by a lot of frantic running from room to room, capped off by the obligatory and ludicrous explosion at the end. Is this due to the studio hacks that supposedly recut Ulmer's film? It would be nice if a restored version could be released on DVD some day.
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