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Universal Horror Collection: Vol.1 [Blu-ray]
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Genre | Horror |
Format | NTSC, Subtitled |
Contributor | Edgar G Ulmer, Lambert Hillyer, Boris Karloff, Arthur Lubin, Lew Landers, Bela Legosie |
Language | English |
Number Of Discs | 4 |
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About Us
For almost 20 years, Shout! Factory has redefined what it means to be an entertainment company for fans, by fans. Through its beginnings lovingly releasing and reviving beloved cult films and classic TV series, Shout! cultivated an uncanny ability to rediscover great content and applied these skills to producing and distributing fan-driven new releases that set the bar for independent entertainment. Shout! Factory's extensive experience in a diverse array of genres has led to the launch of several well-respected properties, including Shout! Studios, Scream Factory, Mystery Science Theater 3000, Shout Kids, Shout Select and the streaming service Shout! Factory TV. Capitalizing on both traditional and emerging digital platforms, Shout! Factory is a media company devoted to producing, uncovering, preserving and revitalizing the very best of pop culture.
Product Description
Four-disc set includes: The Black Cat (1934) Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi teamed up for the first time in director Edgar G. Ulmer's macabre Pre-code chiller that borrows the title (and little else) from Edgar Allan Poe. A Balkan castle, built over a WWI graveyard, is the site for a bizarre battle of wills between psychiatrist Dr. Vitus Werdegast (Lugosi) and devil-worshipping cult leader Hjalmar Poelzig (Karloff). With David Manners, Julie Bishop. 65 min. BW/Rtg: NR The Raven (1935) Grand exercise in terror and suspense stars Bela Lugosi as Dr. Richard Vollin, a plastic surgeon obsessed with the works of Poe and a beautiful patient (Irene Ware) who spurns his advances. Vollin invites the woman, her fiancé, and her father to his retreat and, with the aid of a criminal (Boris Karloff), he disfigured, imprisons, and tortures them. With Irene Ware, Samuel Hinds. 62 min. BW/Rtg: NR The Invisible Ray (1936) When his time-spanning technology pinpoints the African location of a radium-bearing meteorite, researcher Janos Rukh (Boris Karloff) silences his critics. However, prolonged radiation exposure imbues him with a paranoia that turns him against his inner circle... and a death touch that let's him make good on his demented threats. Bela Lugosi, Frances Drake, Violet Kemble Cooper, Beulah Bondi also star. 80 min. BW/Rtg: NR Black Friday (1940) Scientist Dr. Ernest Sovac (Boris Karloff) transfers the brain of a gangster into the body of an English professor injured in a car accident. When the academician takes on the characteristics of the hood and seeks revenge against a rival mobster (Bela Lugosi), Sovac faces the consequences of his well-intended but diabolical experiment. Stanley Ridges, Anne Nagel also star. 70 min. BW/Rtg: NR Standard; Soundtrack: English Dolby Digital mono; Subtitles: English (SDH).
Product details
- Aspect Ratio : 1.33:1
- MPAA rating : NR (Not Rated)
- Product Dimensions : 0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 0.03 ounces
- Director : Arthur Lubin, Lambert Hillyer, Lew Landers, Edgar G Ulmer
- Media Format : NTSC, Subtitled
- Run time : 4 hours and 36 minutes
- Release date : June 18, 2019
- Actors : Boris Karloff, Bela Legosie
- Subtitles: : English
- Studio : SHOUT! FACTORY
- ASIN : B07MQGGKQ9
- Country of Origin : USA
- Number of discs : 4
- Best Sellers Rank: #21,118 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #1,098 in Horror (Movies & TV)
- Customer Reviews:
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2) 1934: Gift of Gab - see “Not in this Box” below.
3) 1935: The Raven
4) 1936: The Invisible Ray
5) 1939: Son of Frankenstein - see “Not in this Box” below.
6) 1940: Black Friday
7) 1940: You'll Find Out - see “Not in this Box” below.
8) 1945: The Body Snatcher - see “Not in this Box” below.
1934: THE BLACK CAT
Universal’s top-grossing film of 1934.
‘The Black Cat’ pushed the limits of what was permissible on film.
It was one of the last films released before the Production Code went into effect.
Torture, devil worship, necrophilia and especially skinning alive were banned, but are on full display in this movie.
Great set design and an almost continuous classical music score.
The best film in this collection.
Unexpectedly, Bela Lugosi was cast as the hero.
Not to be confused with Universal’s second version of ‘The Black Cat’ (1941) with Lugosi and Basil Rathbone (but without Karloff) available in a 2 DVD set: Universal Horror: Classic Movie Archive (The Black Cat / Man Made Monster / Horror Island / Night Monster / Captive Wild Woman)
1935: THE RAVEN
Lugosi plays a mad surgeon obsessed with Edgar Allan Poe.
Karloff is his victim.
This is the only film in which Lugosi’s part is larger than Karloff’s (though Karloff received top billing, as usual).
1936: THE INVISIBLE RAY
Technically a science fiction film.
Karloff is an astronomer turned homicidal maniac by exposure to a radioactive meteor (clearly a victim of circumstance).
Lugosi, in a much smaller part, plays a fellow astronomer who tries to tame deadly “Radiation X” to benefit humanity.
1940: BLACK FRIDAY
A horror /crime film.
This time everyone is up to no good.
Mad Scientist Karloff transplants a criminal’s brain into an accident victim’s body.
Then the brain starts to remember where a fortune in stolen money is stashed.
The accident victim with the criminal brain is not played by Bela Lugosi, as you might expect, but by supporting actor Stanley Ridges.
Lugosi has a smaller part as a rival gangster.
Karloff, Lugosi and Ridges spend the rest of the film trying to beat each other to the stolen money.
All four were released on DVD in 2005, but without any extras.
The new Blu-rays come with multiple bonus features:
--- new 2-K scans (greatly improved pictures)
--- audio commentaries for all four films
--- additional audio commentaries for ‘The Black Cat’ and ‘The Raven’ (a total of six commentaries altogether)
--- four-part documentary: “A Good Game: Karloff and Lugosi At Universal” (1 hour, 14 minutes total)
--- documentary: “Dreams Within A Dream: The Classic Cinema of Edgar Allan Poe” (1 hour)
--- theatrical trailers
--- vintage footage: “The Black Cat Contest” - children parade their pet cats before Karloff and Lugosi (creepy)
--- four still galleries
--- audio recording: Bela Lugosi reads Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart”
--- Inner Sanctum radio show: Boris Karloff in “The Tell-Tale Heart”
--- English SDH subtitles for the feature films
Four Blu-rays and a twelve page booklet in a four-disc box with a cardboard slipcase.
NOT IN THIS BOX:
--- 1934: ‘Gift of Gab’
Inexplicable comedy starring Edmund Loewe and Gloria Stewart.
It featured cameos by thirty Universal stars: Karloff is billed sixth, Lugosi is billed 22nd (his appearance lasts nine seconds).
Not on DVD or Blu-ray or Amazon Download, but it is on YouTube: look up “Gift of Gab 1934”
The sketch with Karloff and Lugosi runs from 45:36 to 49:25
--- 1939: Son of Frankenstein [Blu-ray]
in Frankenstein: Complete Legacy Collection [Blu-ray ] (5 discs) with audio commentary & subtitles.
The only horror film on this list in which Karloff did not receive top-billing.
That distinction went to Basil Rathbone as Dr. Wolf Frankenstein, son of the original Dr. Frankenstein.
But third-billed Bela Lugosi steals the film as Ygor, Frankenstein’s broken-necked nemesis.
Ygor was so popular with horror fans that he was brought back from the dead for the next film, ‘Ghost of Frankenstein’, where Ygor’s brain was transplanted into the Frankenstein monster.
In the following film, ‘Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man’, Lugosi played the Frankenstein monster (quite logical really).
--- 1940: ‘You’ll Find out’
in a 2 DVD set: Karloff & Lugosi Horror Classics with subtitles.
Heavy-handed 1940 comedy from RKO starring comedian/bandleader Kay Kiser,
with support from Karloff, Lugosi and Peter Lorre (only time these three legends appeared together).
--- 1945: The Body Snatcher [Blu-ray ]
with audio commentary & subtitles - Karloff and Lugosi’s final film together.
Made at RKO for legendary producer Val Lewton.
Karloff considered this to be his best work. Lugosi’s part is embarrassingly brief.
P.S.
at the Black Mass near the end of ‘The Black Cat’ (chapter 11), Boris Karloff chants in Latin:
“Cum grano salis. Fortis cadere cedere non potest. Humanum est errare. Lupis pilum mutat, non mentem. Magna est veritas et praevalebit. Acta exteriora indicant interiora secreta. Aequam memento rebus in arduis servare mentem. Amissum quod nescitur non amittitur. Brutum fulmen. Cum grano salis. Fortis cadere cedere non potest. Fructu, non foliis arborem aestima. Insanus omnes furere credit ceteros. Quem paenitet peccasse paene est innocens.”
The English translation is gibberish:
“With a grain of salt. A brave man may fall, but he cannot yield. To err is human. The wolf may change his skin, but not his nature. Truth is mighty and will prevail. External actions show internal secrets. Remember when life's path is steep to keep your mind even. The loss that is not known is no loss at all. Heavy thunder. With a grain of salt. A brave man may fall, but he cannot yield. By fruit, not by leaves, judge a tree. Every madman thinks everybody mad. Who repents from sinning is almost innocent.” (translation: IMDB)
VOLUME TWO:
Universal Horror Collection, Vol. 2 [Blu-ray ] will be released on July 23.
Universal’s two biggest horror stars Karloff and Lugosi are not in these films, nor is Lon Chaney Jr.
But Universal had a very deep bench, and these films are still highly recommended:
1) 1933: ‘Murders in the Zoo’ starring Lionel Atwill
2) 1942: ‘The Mad Doctor of Market Street’ starring Lionel Atwill
3) 1942: ‘The Strange Case of Doctor Rx’ starring Lionel Atwill
4) 1943: ‘The Mad Ghoul’ starring George Zucco
Reviewed in the United States on June 18, 2019
2) 1934: Gift of Gab - see “Not in this Box” below.
3) 1935: The Raven
4) 1936: The Invisible Ray
5) 1939: Son of Frankenstein - see “Not in this Box” below.
6) 1940: Black Friday
7) 1940: You'll Find Out - see “Not in this Box” below.
8) 1945: The Body Snatcher - see “Not in this Box” below.
1934: THE BLACK CAT
Universal’s top-grossing film of 1934.
‘The Black Cat’ pushed the limits of what was permissible on film.
It was one of the last films released before the Production Code went into effect.
Torture, devil worship, necrophilia and especially skinning alive were banned, but are on full display in this movie.
Great set design and an almost continuous classical music score.
The best film in this collection.
Unexpectedly, Bela Lugosi was cast as the hero.
Not to be confused with Universal’s second version of ‘The Black Cat’ (1941) with Lugosi and Basil Rathbone (but without Karloff) available in a 2 DVD set: [[ASIN:B000WNHTCC Universal Horror: Classic Movie Archive (The Black Cat / Man Made Monster / Horror Island / Night Monster / Captive Wild Woman)]]
1935: THE RAVEN
Lugosi plays a mad surgeon obsessed with Edgar Allan Poe.
Karloff is his victim.
This is the only film in which Lugosi’s part is larger than Karloff’s (though Karloff received top billing, as usual).
1936: THE INVISIBLE RAY
Technically a science fiction film.
Karloff is an astronomer turned homicidal maniac by exposure to a radioactive meteor (clearly a victim of circumstance).
Lugosi, in a much smaller part, plays a fellow astronomer who tries to tame deadly “Radiation X” to benefit humanity.
1940: BLACK FRIDAY
A horror /crime film.
This time everyone is up to no good.
Mad Scientist Karloff transplants a criminal’s brain into an accident victim’s body.
Then the brain starts to remember where a fortune in stolen money is stashed.
The accident victim with the criminal brain is not played by Bela Lugosi, as you might expect, but by supporting actor Stanley Ridges.
Lugosi has a smaller part as a rival gangster.
Karloff, Lugosi and Ridges spend the rest of the film trying to beat each other to the stolen money.
All four were released on DVD in 2005, but without any extras.
The new Blu-rays come with multiple bonus features:
--- new 2-K scans (greatly improved pictures)
--- audio commentaries for all four films
--- additional audio commentaries for ‘The Black Cat’ and ‘The Raven’ (a total of six commentaries altogether)
--- four-part documentary: “A Good Game: Karloff and Lugosi At Universal” (1 hour, 14 minutes total)
--- documentary: “Dreams Within A Dream: The Classic Cinema of Edgar Allan Poe” (1 hour)
--- theatrical trailers
--- vintage footage: “The Black Cat Contest” - children parade their pet cats before Karloff and Lugosi (creepy)
--- four still galleries
--- audio recording: Bela Lugosi reads Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart”
--- Inner Sanctum radio show: Boris Karloff in “The Tell-Tale Heart”
--- English SDH subtitles for the feature films
Four Blu-rays and a twelve page booklet in a four-disc box with a cardboard slipcase.
NOT IN THIS BOX:
--- 1934: ‘Gift of Gab’
Inexplicable comedy starring Edmund Loewe and Gloria Stewart.
It featured cameos by thirty Universal stars: Karloff is billed sixth, Lugosi is billed 22nd (his appearance lasts nine seconds).
Not on DVD or Blu-ray or Amazon Download, but it is on YouTube: look up “Gift of Gab 1934”
The sketch with Karloff and Lugosi runs from 45:36 to 49:25
--- 1939: Son of Frankenstein [Blu-ray]
in [[ASIN:B01IFWT4B0 Frankenstein: Complete Legacy Collection [Blu-ray]]] (5 discs) with audio commentary & subtitles.
The only horror film on this list in which Karloff did not receive top-billing.
That distinction went to Basil Rathbone as Dr. Wolf Frankenstein, son of the original Dr. Frankenstein.
But third-billed Bela Lugosi steals the film as Ygor, Frankenstein’s broken-necked nemesis.
Ygor was so popular with horror fans that he was brought back from the dead for the next film, ‘Ghost of Frankenstein’, where Ygor’s brain was transplanted into the Frankenstein monster.
In the following film, ‘Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man’, Lugosi played the Frankenstein monster (quite logical really).
--- 1940: ‘You’ll Find out’
in a 2 DVD set: [[ASIN:B07GRVVYBP Karloff & Lugosi Horror Classics]] with subtitles.
Heavy-handed 1940 comedy from RKO starring comedian/bandleader Kay Kiser,
with support from Karloff, Lugosi and Peter Lorre (only time these three legends appeared together).
--- 1945: [[ASIN:B07KZKCZZY The Body Snatcher [Blu-ray]]]
with audio commentary & subtitles - Karloff and Lugosi’s final film together.
Made at RKO for legendary producer Val Lewton.
Karloff considered this to be his best work. Lugosi’s part is embarrassingly brief.
P.S.
at the Black Mass near the end of ‘The Black Cat’ (chapter 11), Boris Karloff chants in Latin:
“Cum grano salis. Fortis cadere cedere non potest. Humanum est errare. Lupis pilum mutat, non mentem. Magna est veritas et praevalebit. Acta exteriora indicant interiora secreta. Aequam memento rebus in arduis servare mentem. Amissum quod nescitur non amittitur. Brutum fulmen. Cum grano salis. Fortis cadere cedere non potest. Fructu, non foliis arborem aestima. Insanus omnes furere credit ceteros. Quem paenitet peccasse paene est innocens.”
The English translation is gibberish:
“With a grain of salt. A brave man may fall, but he cannot yield. To err is human. The wolf may change his skin, but not his nature. Truth is mighty and will prevail. External actions show internal secrets. Remember when life's path is steep to keep your mind even. The loss that is not known is no loss at all. Heavy thunder. With a grain of salt. A brave man may fall, but he cannot yield. By fruit, not by leaves, judge a tree. Every madman thinks everybody mad. Who repents from sinning is almost innocent.” (translation: IMDB)
VOLUME TWO:
[[ASIN:B07QH1HRFZ Universal Horror Collection, Vol. 2 [Blu-ray]]] will be released on July 23.
Universal’s two biggest horror stars Karloff and Lugosi are not in these films, nor is Lon Chaney Jr.
But Universal had a very deep bench, and these films are still highly recommended:
1) 1933: ‘Murders in the Zoo’ starring Lionel Atwill
2) 1942: ‘The Mad Doctor of Market Street’ starring Lionel Atwill
3) 1942: ‘The Strange Case of Doctor Rx’ starring Lionel Atwill
4) 1943: ‘The Mad Ghoul’ starring George Zucco
Before retirement I was one of the film restorers for VCI/Magic Lantern Entertainment. So keep in mind that I may be more exacting than the average viewer.
That said, the picture quality on “The Invisible Ray” and “The Black Cat” is excellent. There were deep blacks, white whites, as well as excellent contrast and focus.
The sound on “Ray” was also excellent. The sound on “The Black Cat was just a bit raspy at times, but hardly anyone other than an audiophile would have noticed that.
In short, I was impressed and congratulate Shout Factory for these marvelous releases.
Disc One: The Black Cat (1934)
Disc Two : The Raven (1935)
Disc Three: The Invisible Ray (1936)
Disc Four : Black Friday (1940)
All four films come with the featurettes "A Good Game: Karloff & Lugosi At Universal" containing interesting interviews with horror film experts , who also provide equally interesting audio commentaries, and still galleries.
A definite upgrade over the double-sided Bela Lugosi DVD set from 2005, though the omission of "Murders In The Rue Morgue" (1932) is unfortunate(Karloff did not star) Still, no doubt it will be included in a future Volume III, IV, or V set...I sincerely hope! (Volume II is already due next month)
Top reviews from other countries
the documentaries are very interesting though.