From the moment LEGENDS OF HORROR was announced I was looking forward to it with great expectation but I already had a few qualms regarding it. As has been well covered elsewhere Boris Karloff’s THE WALKING DEAD from 1936 should have been included in the set but I can live with THE RETURN OF DOCTOR X for a few reasons. 1) It does offer Humphrey Bogart the opportunity to show what a good actor can do with what for him was a thankless role. 2) The director Vincent Sherman was still alive to provide commentary on the making of the film as well as background on Bogie and others. 3) Most important of all it shows how censorship imposed on the movies in 1934 changed the style and content of the first great cycle of horror films.
The way the films are coupled is another issue. I understand the reasons for coupling Karloff and Lugosi together from a marketing standpoint but thematically MARK OF THE VAMPIRE should have been coupled with THE DEVIL DOLL as both are Tod Browning films which were heavily cut by MGM reflecting the aftermath of the FREAKS debacle. THE MASK OF FU MANCHU and MAD LOVE would have fit together nicely as portraits of over the top manaical mad doctors which are beautifully photographed with fascinating art direction.
Finally there are the commentaries themselves. I have already talked about Vincent Sherman on RETURN OF DOCTOR X as being of historical interest. The other commentaries are a mixed bag. Greg Mank’s one for THE MASK OF FU MANCHU is a prime example of how it should be done. He is obviously watching the film as he narrates telling us what to look and listen for which greatly enhances the viewing experience. On the other hand Kim Newman’s and Steve Jones’ commentary on MARK OF THE VAMPIRE, while demonstrating that they know their stuff, comes across as very distracting as they don’t coordinate what they are saying with what is going on during the film. And why is there no commentary for THE DEVIL DOLL? It was Tod Browning’s last great film and has a colorful history of its own (it’s a curious combination of Browning’s THE UNHOLY THREE and THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO).
Nevertheless this is a first rate set of rarely seen 1930’s horror films done the way it should be that no early horror fan should be without. It is attractively packaged and features great transfers for the most part (the color print of DOCTOR X looks as good as can be expected). It’s also a joy to have the 6 minutes of censored footage restored to THE MASK OF FU MANCHU in all of its politically incorrect glory. Now Warners should get to work on Volume 2 with the same sort of packaging. It could include THE WALKING DEAD, MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM, KONGO (or better yet a restored version of WEST OF ZANZIBAR), FREAKS, and a double feature of John Barrymore’s SVENGALI and THE MAD GENIUS.
The Capsule Critic 