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‘It’s About Time British Actors Kicked Against these Roles in “Horror” Films’: Horror stars, psychological films and the tyranny of the Old World in classical horror cinema

2013; Routledge; Volume: 33; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/01439685.2013.798077

1465-3451

Mark Jancovich,

Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism

Abstract This article is an examination of the ways in which Englishness was associated with horror long before the success of Hammer, the British studio that in the late 1950s and 1960s became synonymous with a particularly English version of Gothic cinema. During the 1930s and 1940s, many key horror stars were English or signified Englishness; and the article explores the ways in which this was due to a preoccupation with themes of psychological dominance and dependence during the period. In other words, the threat of psychological dominance and dependence that preoccupied horror films meant that the horror villain was often associated with the spectre of old-world despotism in relation to which the United States defined itself as a rejection. Furthermore, these psychological themes also demonstrate that, during this period, the horror film either included, or was intimately related to, the gangster film and spy thriller so that most horror stars played a range of horror villains, gangsters and spies. However, rather than focusing of figures such as Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Lionel Atwill or George Zucco (the British actors most commonly associated with the horror film during this period), the article will concentrate on a series of actors closely associated with horror in the period, but who are not necessarily remembered in this way today—Claude Rains, Charles Laughton, Basil Rathbone and Vincent Price—stars who demonstrate the ways in which psychological themes not only connected the horror villain, gangster and spy but were also related to the spectre of old-world despotism. Notes 1 David Pirie, A Heritage of Horror: the English gothic cinema 1946–1972 (London, 1974), 9. In his study, Pirie uses both the words ‘English’ and ‘British’. These terms are often confused, largely due to the ways in which the Irish, Welsh and Scottish have been colonized by the English. In this article, I have therefore distinguished between the two terms along the following lines: British is used when referring to national institutions such as the British film industry, while English is used to refer to those constructions that are more particular, such as when groups are seen as representing the dominance of Englishness over Britain more generally. For example, while Ray Milland was born in Wales and Basil Rathbone was born in South Africa, these figures came to represent Englishness in Hollywood, whether this was constructed as a positive or negative aristocratic tradition. Interestingly, in the context of this article, Charles Laughton was born in Yorkshire and, while he was taken to signify Englishness when playing his tyrants, he often used regional accents when playing many of his meek and oppressed little men, a technique that distinguished these figures from aristocratic or colonial definitions of Englishness. 2 Pirie, A Heritage of Horror, 10. My emphasis. 3 Peter Hutchings, Hammer and Beyond: the British horror film (Manchester, 1994). 4 Anon, Laughton as Doctor, Picturegoer, 16 July 1932, 5. 5 Robin Wood, Hollywood From Vietnam to Reagan (New York, 1986). 6 Nick Roddick, A New Deal in Entertainment: Warner Brothers in the 1930s (London, 1983); Clayton R. Koppes and Gregory D. Black, Hollywood Goes to War: how politics, profits and propaganda shaped World War II films (Berkerley, 1990); and Michael E. Birdwell, Celluloid Soldiers: Warner’s campaign against Nazism (New York, 1999). 7 Mark Jancovich and Shane Brown, ‘The screen’s number one and number two bogeymen’: the critical reception of Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi in the 1930s and 1940s, in Kate Egan and Sarah Thomas (eds), Cult Film Stardom (London, 2013), 243–258. 8 See, for example, Mark Jancovich, A real shocker: authenticity, genre and the struggle for cultural distinctions, Continuum, 14(1) (2000), 23–35; Genre and the problem of reception: generic classification and cultural distinctions in the promotion of the Silence of Lambs, in Melvyn Stokes and Richard Maltby (eds), Hollywood Spectatorship (London, 2000), 33–44; The meaning of mystery: genre, marketing and the Universal Sherlock Holmes series of the 1940s, Film International, 3(17) (2004), 34–45; Thrills and chills: horror, the woman’s film and the origins of film noir, The New Review of Film and Television, 7(2) (2009), 157–171; and ‘Two ways of looking’: the critical reception of 1940s horror, Cinema Journal, 49(3) (2010), 45–66. 9 Siegfried Kracauer, Hollywood’s terror films: do they reflect an American state of mind, Commentary, 2 (1946), 133. 10 Fred Stanley, Hollywood Shivers, New York Times, 28 May 1944, X3. 11 For more on the status and tastes of the New York Times film critics, see Jancovich, ‘Two ways of looking’; Frank Eugene Beaver, Bosley Crowther: social critic of the film, 1940–1967 (New York, 1974); and Barbara Klinger, Melodrama and Meaning: history, culture, and the films of Douglas Sirk (Bloomington, 1994). 12 John Brosnan, The Horror People (London, 1976), 283. 13 Kim Newman, The BFI Companion to Horror (London, 1996), 266. 14 Mordaunt Hall, Claude Rains Makes His Film Debut in a Version of H. G. Wells’s Novel, ‘The Invisible Man’, New York Times, 18 November 1933, 18. 15 Andre Sennwald, Claude Rains in ‘The Man Who Reclaimed His Head,’ at the Rialto, New York Times, 9 January 1935, 22. 16 Andre Sennwald, The Cinema Turns its Spotlight on the Mystery Behind ‘The Mystery of Edwin Drood’, New York Times, 21 March 1935, 27. 17 David J. Skal with Jessica Rains, Claude Rains: an actors voice (Lexington, 2008). 18 Anon, A New Lon Chaney?, Picturegoer, 23 September 1933, 5. 19 Bosley Crowther, 1942, “Kings Row,” With Ann Sheridan and Claude Rains, a Heavy Rambling Film, Has its First Showing Here at the Astor, New York Times, 3 February 1942, 23. 20 Bosley Crowther, Nelson Eddy Much in Evidence in “The Phantom of the Opera,” Wherein Claude Rains Also Appears, at the Capitol, New York Times, 15 October 1943, 15. 21 Bosley Crowther, ‘Notorious,’ Hitchcock Thriller, Starring Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant, Opens at Radio City—Claude Rains Featured, New York Times, 16 August 1946, 19. 22 For more on Notorious as a horror film, see Mark Jancovich, ‘The English master of movie melodrama’: Hitchcock, horror and the woman’s film, Film International, 9(3) (2010), 51–67. 23 Bosley Crowther, The Unsuspected, New York Times, 4 October 1947, 9. 24 Bosley Crowther, “Casablanca,” With Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, at Hollywood, New York Times, 27 November 1942, 27. 25 T.S., Here Comes Mr. Jordan, New York Times, 8 August 1941, 13. 26 Bosley Crowther, Angel on My Shoulder, New York Times, 21 October 1946, 27. 27 Bosley Crowther, Caesar and Cleopatra, New York Times, 6 September 1946, 18. 28 Bosley Crowther, The Sea Hawk, New York Times, 10 August 1940, 16. 29 Hall, Claude Rains Makes His Film Debut, 18. 30 Bosley Crowther, Deception, New York Times, 19 October 1946, 15. 31 T.M.P., Strange Holiday, 20 October 1945, 8. 32 Brosnan, The Horror People, and Newman, The BFI Companion to Horror. For more on Laughton, see Charles Higham, Charles Laughton: an intimate biography (New York, 1976); and Simon Callow, Charles Laughton: a difficult actor (London, 1987). 33 Anon, Meet Mr Laughton, New York Times, 11 October 1931, X2. 34 Anon, Meet Mr Laughton, X2. 35 Mordaunt Hall, The Screen: Boris Karloff, Charles Laughton and Raymond Massey in a Film of Priestley’s ‘The Old Dark House’, New York Times, 28 October 1932, 22. 36 Mordaunt Hall, Charles Laughton in Pictorial Version of Jeffery Dell’s Play, ‘Payment Deferred’, New York Times, 8 November 1932, 26. 37 Mordaunt Hall, Charles Laughton is a Mad Scientist in Pictorial Conception of H. G. Wells Story, New York Times, 13 January 1933, 19. 38 Frank S. Nugent, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, New York Times, 1 January 1940, 29. 39 Bosley Crowther, ‘The Canterville Ghost,’ with Charles Laughton, Margret O’Brien, at the Globe, New York Times, 29 July 1944, 16. 40 Joseph Greco, The File on Robert Siodmak in Hollywood: 1941–1951 (Parkland, 1999). See also Mark Jancovich, ‘A former director of German horror films’: horror, European cinema and the critical reception of Robert Siodmak’s Hollywood career, in Patricia Allmer, Emily Brick and David Huxley (eds), European Nightmares (London, 2012), 185–193. 41 T.M.P., At Loew’s Criterion, New York Times, 1 February 1945, 18. 42 Bosley Crowther, The Big Clock, New York Times, 22 April 1948, 34. 43 Bosley Crowther, “This Land is Mine,” a Moving Drama About Freedom, With Maureen O’Hara and Charles Laughton, Opens at the Rivoli, New York Times, 28 May 1943, 19. 44 Anon, De Mille’s Latest Production, New York Times, 20 November 1932, X4. 45 Andre Sennwald, The Capitol Presents a Brilliant Screen Version of ‘The Barratts of Wimpole Street’, New York Times, 29 September 1934, 12. 46 Andre Sennwald, The Screen Version of ‘Mutiny on the Bounty,’ at the Capitol, New York Times, 9 November 1935, 19. 47 Bosley Crowther, Arch of Triumph, New York Times, 21 April 1948, 33. 48 Bosley Crowther, The Paradine Case, New York Times, 9 January 1948, 26. 49 Frank S. Nugent, Jamaica Inn, New York Times, 12 October 1939, 33. 50 Andre Sennwald, The Rivoli Presents a Memorable Motion Picture of ‘Les Miserables’, New York Times, 22 April 1935, 14. 51 Brosnan, The Horror People, 283. For more on Rathbone, see his biography: Basil Rathbone, In and Out of Character, originally published in 1956 (New York, 1997). 52 Jancovich and Brown, ‘The screen’s number one and number two bogeymen’. 53 Frank S. Nugent, Frank Lloyd Embroiders Upon the Villon Legend in ‘If I Were King,’ New to the Paramount, New York Times, 29 September 1938, 31. My emphasis. 54 David Thomson, The New Biographical Dictionary of Film, 4th edition (London, 2002), 712. 55 Bosley Crowther, Mr. Rathbone Considers Bad Men and Good Acting, New York Times, 25 September 1938, 159. 56 Nugent, Frank Lloyd Embroiders, 31. 57 Frank S. Nugent, Frank Vosper’s ‘Love From a Stranger’ Is Shown at the Rivoli, New York Times, 19 April 1937, 27. 58 B.R.C., Son of Frankenstein, New York Times, 30 January 1939, 9. 59 Frank S. Nugent, Hound of the Baskervilles, New York Times, 25 March 1939, 19. 60 See Jancovich, The Meaning of Mystery. Furthermore, not only did the Holmes films feature stars with established reputations in horror but they also spawned a number of horror spin-offs. For example, Gale Sondergaard (a female star who had strong associations with the horror genre during the 1940s) not only starred as Holmes’s adversary in The Spider Woman (1944) but also reappeared in the role in The Spider Woman Strikes Back (1946), a film that was not one of the Holmes series but rather an attempt to develop an independent horror series. It was also described by the New York Times as ‘this week's new horror offering at the Rialto’ in which ‘Sondergaard exudes evil all over the screen’ (E.J.B., ‘The Spider Woman Strikes Back’, New York Times, 23 March 1946, 8).Similarly, Rondo Hatton was cast as the monstrous ‘Hoxton Creeper’ in The Pearl of Death (1944), where he threatened Holmes, Watson and others; and he went on to appear with Sondergaard in The Spider Woman Strikes Back and to appear twice more as ‘The Creeper’ in House of Horrors (1946) and The Brute Man (1946), the former being seen as not only appropriate to ‘that house of horror films, the Rialto’ but also to be in ‘the approved shuddery tradition’ so that ‘Hatton is properly scary’ in his role (E.J.B, ‘At the Rialto’, New York Times, 23 February 1946, 20).If The Spider Woman Strikes Back, House of Horrors and The Brute Man actually seem to have very little relation to the original Holmes films (even the Spider Woman and the Creeper seem to be quite different from film to film), the use of these actors, and the names of the characters that they played, were clearly meant to create an association between the films and, in so doing, demonstrate that the Holmes films were seen as horror films or, at the very least, were closely associated with horror as a genre. 61 Frank S. Nugent, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, New York Times, 2 September 1939, 20. 62 See Jancovich, The English master of movie melodrama. 63 Frank S. Nugent, Rio, New York Times, 27 October 1939, 27. 64 Frank S. Nugent, Tower of London, New York Times, 12 December 1939, 37. 65 Bosley Crowther, Foiled Again, New York Times, 27 February 1941, 23. 66 A.W., At the Rialto, New York Times, 26 April 1941, 20. 67 Bosley Crowther, Fingers at the Window, New York Times, 23 April 1942, 27. 68 Bosley Crowther, Holmes Up-to-Date, New York Times, 19 September 1942, 9. 69 Bosley Crowther, “Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon,” With Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce and Lionel Atwill, Arrives at the Rialto, New York Times, 5 January 1943, 15. 70 T.S., At the Palace, New York Times, 8 October 1943, 15. 71 Bosley Crowther, One Less Spider, New York Times, 15 January 1944, 11. 72 B.C. S. Holmes Continued, New York Times, 19 May 1944, 12. 73 P.P.K., Homes At It Again, New York Times, 26 August 1944, 15. 74 B.C. Holmes Solves Another, New York Times, 17 March 1945, 17. 75 Frank S. Nugent, The Screen: Errol Flynn Leads His Merry Men to the Music Hall in ‘The Adventures of Robin Hood’, New York Times, 13 May 1938, 17. 76 Bosley Crowther, The Mark of Zorro, New York Times, 4 November 1940, 23, 77 Andre Sennwald, ‘The Last Days of Pompeii,’ A Historical Film, With Preston Foster, at the Centre Theatre, New York Times, 17 October 1935, 29. 78 Andre Sennwald, The Capitol Presents a Distinguished Screen Edition of ‘David Copperfield’, New York Times, 19 January 1935, 8. 79 Andre Sennwald, Greta Garbo as the Star of a New Screen Version of ‘Anna Karenina’, New York Times, 31 August 1935, 16. 80 Andre Sennwald, Ronald Coleman in ‘A Tale of Two Cities,’ At the Capitol, New York Times, 26 December 1935, 21. 81 Frank S. Nugent, Metro’s Film of ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ Opens at the Astor, New York Times, 21 August 1936, 12. 82 Andre Sennwald, A Newcomer Named Errol Flynn in a Handsome Film Version of ‘Captain Blood,’ At the Strand, New York Times, 27 December 1935, 14. 83 Brosnan, The Horror People: 147. 84 Brosnan, The Horror People. 147. 85 Brosnan, The Horror People, 150. 86 Nugent, Tower of London, 37. 87 Frank S. Nugent, Don’t Look Now, Mr Wells, but You’re Being Followed as ‘The Invisible Man Returns’ to the Rialto, New York Times, 16 January 1940, 19. 88 Frank S. Nugent, Monotony in the Jungle, New York Times, 30 January 1940, 15. 89 Cynthia Erb, Tracking ‘King Kong’: a Hollywood icon in world culture (Detroit, 1999). 90 B.C., The House of the Seven Gables, New York Times, 15 April 1940, 21. 91 Bosley Crowther, Hudson Bay, New York Times, 10 January 1941, 23. 92 Bosley Crowther, The Eve of St. Mark, New York Times, 31 May 1944, 22. 93 Victoria Price, Vincent Price: a daughter’s biography (New York, 1999). 94 Bosley Crowther, ‘Gaslight,’ Adapted from Play ‘Angel Street,’ at Capitol, New York Times, 5 May 1944, 17. 95 Kate Cameron, Top-Notch Mystery on the Roxy Screen, New York Daily News, 12 October 1944, republished in New York Times Motion Picture Critics’ Reviews, 1944 (New York, 1944), 213. 96 Alton Cook, Laura, New York World-Telegram, 11 October 1944, republished in New York Times Motion Picture Critics’ Reviews, 1944, 213. 97 Howard Barnes, Laura, New York Herald Tribune, 12 October 1944; Rose Pelswick, At the Roxy, New York Journal American, 12 October 1944; Irene Thirer, ‘Laura’, Superb, Sophisticated Screen Thriller at the Roxy, New York Post, 12 October 1944. All republished in New York Times Motion Picture Critics’ Reviews, 1944, 213–4. 98 Bosley Crowther, Leave Her to Heaven, New York Times, 26 December 1945, 15. 99 Bosley Crowther, Bosley, Bad Medicine, New York Times, 9 March 1946, 10. 100 Bosley Crowther, 1946, ‘Dragonwyck,’ Which Opens at the Roxy Theatre, Seen as One More Repetition of the Famous Old Story of Bluebeard, New York Times, 11 April 1946, 35. 101 T.M.P., The Web, New York Times, 5 June 1947, 32. 102 Bosley Crowther, The Long Night, New York Times, 17 September 1947, 31. 103 A.W., Rogues’ Regiment, New York Times, 20 December 1948, 31. 104 Bosley Crowther, The Three Musketeers, New York Times, 21 October 1948, 33.