Favorite Films (lists up to participating site members)

[Mayerling]

I have to apologize about an error - the line Basil recites again and again when he resuscitates in "The Comedy of Terrors" is "What is This?!"

[Ausgirl]

Martin, I made a Tolkien thread in the off-topic area, hope you don't mind, I'm just enjoying the LoTR discussion and didn't want to derail this thread too much.

http://forum.casebook.org/showthread.php?p=327694&posted=1#post327694

[Mayerling]

In my Rathbone list I included a film "My Three Angels". The title I was trying to recall was "We're No Angels" which starred Humphrey Bogart, Peter Ustinov, and Aldo Ray, as well as Basil Rathbone, Leo G. Carroll, and Joan Bennett. It was remade as a film with Robert DiNiro and Sean Penn in the 1990s.

[Steadmund Brand]

Hi Steadmund,

Good list for Karloff too. He had one up on Lugosi in that he spoke with a really good English accent, and it may have opened up many roles that were beyond Bela's range. Boris often suggested this was the case, and Bela was not too happy about it. I forgot about "Tower of London", but even though Mord is a great character for Boris, the film's Rathbone's. My favorite bit in it deals with the wax figures he keeps regarding his various rivals and road blocks to the throne.

Actually Rathbone is worth a list of his own too:

1) David Copperfield
2) Anna Karenina
3) The Adventures of Robin Hood
4) Captain Blood
5) The Dawn Patrol (actually my favorite of Basil's conflict parts with Errol - he actually wins this one because of Errol and David Niven's antics)
6) Love From a Stranger (my first Agatha Christie based movie that I liked)
7) Kind Stranger
8) Tower of London
9) The Hound of the Baskervilles
10) The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
11) Rhythm on the River (Basil looks at his normal aristocratic character and inverts it for laughs, aided by Oscar Levant)
12) Above Suspicion
13) Sherlock Holmes Faces Death
14) The Pearl of Death
15) The Scarlet Claw
16) The Black Cat (1941) - Interesting because while not loveable, Basil is not the villain and the villain turns out to be someone totally unexpected.
17) My Three Angels
18) The Court Jester
19) The Last Hurrah (my favorite moment - when Basil tells off John Carridine, nominally his ally in the fight against Spencer Tracy)
20) The Comedy of Terrors (it is fun seeing him against Vincent Price - "Who is that?!")
21) The Mark of Zorro (I almost forgot, he had to lose to Tyrone Power as much as he had to lose swordfights against Errol Flynn - and he knew he was a better fencer than either; in his memoirs he claims Danny Kaye, in The Court Jester, was his best opponent when Kaye goes beserk with his sword - Basil had to keep on his toes to keep up with Kaye at those moments!)

wow.. nice list!! lets see, I'm not as big on Rathbone as many of the others.. but I'll try a list..

1- Captain Blood
2- The Adventures of Robin Hood
3-Son Of Frankenstein
4- Any of his Sherlock Holmes films
5-Tower of London
6-Above Suspicion
7- The MAd Doctor
8- Tales of Terror
9- The Comedy of Terrors
10- Queen of Blood (ok.. not a good film, but a guilty pleasure)

I have never seen his version of Were No Angels.. sounds fun, I'll search that one out!! ( see thank you again.. that is what this thread was for.. finding films, and enjoying new films etc)

Steadmund Brand

[Steadmund Brand]

Ya know what.. I think Lon Chaney Jr deserves a list now as well (he is the only one to play ALL of the universal classic monsters..ok except the creature from the black lagoon.. but.....) (So does Sr.. we'll see if there are any Silent film fans out there who want to do a Sr. List.. I could.. but don’t want to bore folks if they don't like silent films).. any way.. let’s do a Jr. list ( again, in order of release)

1- Of Mice And Men-1939 his is still the best Lenny ever filmed...this is the role he was born to play I believe
2- One Million BC-1940
3- Man Made Monster- 1941 (very underrated Universal classic!!!)
5- The Wolf Man- 1941
6- the Ghost of Frankenstein- 1942
7- The Mummy's Tomb- 1942
8- Frankenstein meets the Wolfman- 1943
9- Son Of Dracula-1943
10 Crazy House- 1943
11- Calling Dr. Death-1943
12- Weird Woman- 1944
13 The Mummy's Ghost- 1944
14- Dead Man's Eyes- 1944
15 House of Frankenstein- 1944
16- The Mummy's Curse
17- Strange Confession-1945
18- House of Dracula- 1945
19- Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein-1948
20- Thief of Damascus- 1952( Chaney as Sinbad...fun stuff)
21-High Noon- 1952- so many people forget Chaney is even in this masterpiece
22- I Died A Thousand Times- 1955 ( Great remake of High Sierra)
23- House Of Terror- 1960
24-Spider Baby- 1964
25- Not a film.. but he was on an Episode of The Monkees playing a character named 9 of all things) Lenny... great nod to his of Mice And Men role
and he did a TV show episode in the mid 50's called The Golden Junkman.. and I saw this once.. years ago.. but remember being quite moved by him in it... does anyone remember this?

Wow.. longer list than i thought it would be.. but he did have quite a career span

Steadmund Brand

[Mayerling]

Ya know what.. I think Lon Chaney Jr deserves a list now as well (he is the only one to play ALL of the universal classic monsters..ok except the creature from the black lagoon.. but.....) (So does Sr.. we'll see if there are any Silent film fans out there who want to do a Sr. List.. I could.. but don’t want to bore folks if they don't like silent films).. any way.. let’s do a Jr. list ( again, in order of release)

1- Of Mice And Men-1939 his is still the best Lenny ever filmed...this is the role he was born to play I believe
2- One Million BC-1940
3- Man Made Monster- 1941 (very underrated Universal classic!!!)
5- The Wolf Man- 1941
6- the Ghost of Frankenstein- 1942
7- The Mummy's Tomb- 1942
8- Frankenstein meets the Wolfman- 1943
9- Son Of Dracula-1943
10 Crazy House- 1943
11- Calling Dr. Death-1943
12- Weird Woman- 1944
13 The Mummy's Ghost- 1944
14- Dead Man's Eyes- 1944
15 House of Frankenstein- 1944
16- The Mummy's Curse
17- Strange Confession-1945
18- House of Dracula- 1945
19- Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein-1948
20- Thief of Damascus- 1952( Chaney as Sinbad...fun stuff)
21-High Noon- 1952- so many people forget Chaney is even in this masterpiece
22- I Died A Thousand Times- 1955 ( Great remake of High Sierra)
23- House Of Terror- 1960
24-Spider Baby- 1964
25- Not a film.. but he was on an Episode of The Monkees playing a character named 9 of all things) Lenny... great nod to his of Mice And Men role
and he did a TV show episode in the mid 50's called The Golden Junkman.. and I saw this once.. years ago.. but remember being quite moved by him in it... does anyone remember this?

Wow.. longer list than i thought it would be.. but he did have quite a career span

Steadmund Brand

Okay: Lon Jr.

1) Of Mice and Men (he was the best "Lenny" of all who tackled the role)
2) My Favorite Brunette (leave it to Lon Jr. to spoof Lenny, aided by Bob Hope and Peter Lorre)
3) The Wolf Man
4) Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein
5) Man Made Monster (reminds me we should make a listing for Atwell, but there is time..."Relax!"
6) Son of Dracula
7) High Noon
8) I Died A Thousand Times
9) The Defiant Ones (I wish somehow this had been his last film role - it was one of those strong serious parts that showed how good an actor he was.)

Now: Lon Sr.

1) The Phantom of the Opera
2) The Hunchback of Notre Dame
3) London After Midnight (even in it's "stills only" version now shown by Turner Network, it seems a great peace of art)
4) He Who Gets Slapped
5) Laugh Clown Laugh
6) The Unholy Three (1925)
7) The Unholy Three (1930) (If he had lived another twenty years he'd have gotten an Oscar at some point - he had a voice.)
8) The Monster
9) Tell It To the Marines
10) West of Zanzibar

Almost anything he did was worth the watching. Remarkable character actor at the best of that title.

[Robert]

Jeff, what was the Chaney film where he is impervious to electricity?

[Mayerling]

Sadly, he lied like a gentleman

Lionel Atwill was one of those character actors who dominated any scene he popped up in. With reason, for he had been a major leading man in modern and Shakespearean parts from the teens of the 20th Century onward. An interesting figure, he married the divorced first wife of General Douglas MacArthur. Atwill's Hollywood career petered out in the early 1940s when he was investigated for having a sex orgy at his home (apparently he was showing pornographic films and this became known). He refused to name who were the other people attending the party on the Grand Jury stand, and the quote "He lied like a gentleman." resulted, as did the diminished use of his great talents by the major studios (but not the minor ones, like PRC). He died, while making a serial film, in 1946.

Here are my selections for this fine actor (and in my opinion, true friend and gentleman):

1) The Mystery of the Wax Museum
2) Dr. X
3) The Devil Is A Woman (with Marlene Dietrich)
4) Three Comrades
5) Captain Blood (as "Colonel Bishop")
6) Murder at the Zoo (note the intense look in his eyes when discussing sexual activity - Atwill attended murder trials, and picked up facial habits from actual defendants)
7) Man Made Monster
8) To Be or Not To Be (1942)
9) The Sun Never Sets
10) The Vampire Bat
11) Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (as "Professor Moriarty")
12) The Hound of the Baskervilles (as "Dr. Mortimer")
13) Fog Island (nice pairing here - with fellow villain George Zucco)
14) Johnny Apollo (nice change of pace for Lionel - he's an honest attorney)
15) Song of Songs (again with Dietrich)

[Steadmund Brand]

Jeff, what was the Chaney film where he is impervious to electricity?

Man Made Monster.. great film!!

Steadmund Brand

[Steadmund Brand]

Lionel Atwill was one of those character actors who dominated any scene he popped up in. With reason, for he had been a major leading man in modern and Shakespearean parts from the teens of the 20th Century onward. An interesting figure, he married the divorced first wife of General Douglas MacArthur. Atwill's Hollywood career petered out in the early 1940s when he was investigated for having a sex orgy at his home (apparently he was showing pornographic films and this became known). He refused to name who were the other people attending the party on the Grand Jury stand, and the quote "He lied like a gentleman." resulted, as did the diminished use of his great talents by the major studios (but not the minor ones, like PRC). He died, while making a serial film, in 1946.

Here are my selections for this fine actor (and in my opinion, true friend and gentleman):

1) The Mystery of the Wax Museum
2) Dr. X
3) The Devil Is A Woman (with Marlene Dietrich)
4) Three Comrades
5) Captain Blood (as "Colonel Bishop")
6) Murder at the Zoo (note the intense look in his eyes when discussing sexual activity - Atwill attended murder trials, and picked up facial habits from actual defendants)
7) Man Made Monster
8) To Be or Not To Be (1942)
9) The Sun Never Sets
10) The Vampire Bat
11) Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (as "Professor Moriarty")
12) The Hound of the Baskervilles (as "Dr. Mortimer")
13) Fog Island (nice pairing here - with fellow villain George Zucco)
14) Johnny Apollo (nice change of pace for Lionel - he's an honest attorney)
15) Song of Songs (again with Dietrich)

ready to kick yourself.. you left off Son of Frankenstein... everyone in it was so good hard to remember at times.....I would also add

1-Mark of the Vampire- he "remake" of Lon Sr's London after Midnight
2- The High Command- kind of forgotten film from the late 30's.. quite good and a 20 something James Mason is in it as well
3- The Murder Man- this was an interesting film for many reasons, first.. it's a good film 2nd it's Spencer Tracy's first film for MGM and 3rd. it's the first film for James Stewart...good stuff.

Steadmund Brand

[Robert]

Thanks Steadmund. Sometimes I watch films and a couple of years later cannot recall the titles.

[Steadmund Brand]

Ok.. I'll do a Lon Chaney Sr. list as well...

1- The Miracle Man
2- Flesh and Blood- hard to find, but worth it if you can find it!!
3- The Hunchback of Notre Dame
4- He Who Gets Slapped
5- The Monster
6/7- Both versions of The Unholy Three
8- The Unknown- Chaney as Alonzo the "Armless" just amazing!!! freaky film that still is unsettling to this day
9- **Phantom of the Opera**- ( the * is for that fact that, to be honest.. I think this film is TERRIBLE.. i know that upsets so many" purists" but his makeup is one of the greatest in film history so the film needs a mention for that)
10- Tell it to The Marines
11- Laugh Clown Laugh- one of his most powerful performances!!
12- London After Midnight- I agree even in stills form it's a fascinating piece. Maybe the mystique or maybe his makeup...who knows, there is a reason it is the # 1 sought after " lost film"
13- While the City Sleeps
14- West Of Zanzibar

I love these lists.. so much fun for a film geek like myself!!!

Steadmund Brand

[GUT]

Both Lon's were great actors.

[Mayerling]

You're right Steadmund, I could kick myself about forgetting "Son of Frankenstein" for Lionel. I remembered it after I put down the list.

Films of George Zucco:

1) The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (many consider his "Professor Moriarty" the best of the three (the other's are Atwill's and Henry Daniel's) against Rathbone's Holmes.)
2) Lured (George as the crossword puzzle loving detective, stuck with Lucille Ball as his troublesome assistant.)
3) The Secret Garden (as a surprisingly intelligent and honest doctor)
4) Fog Island (Interestingly although murderously vengeful, Zucco is actually sympathetic in this film.)
5) The Seventh Cross (George as the thuggish head of the concentration camp)
6) Conquest (George is the aristocrat spokesman who convinces Garbo to become Napoleon's mistress - "For the good of Poland!")
7) Souls at Sea (Gary Cooper's attorney in his murder trial.)
8) Suez (George is playing Gladstone, opposite Miles Mander's Disraeli. George fully encaptures the "G.O.M."'s serious public persona, and love of a "Little Britain" rather than an empire.)
9) Captain From Castille (The neighbor and "old friend" of Tyrone Power's family who does nothing to help them when the Inquisition goes after them.)
10) After the Thin Man (George as a creepy psychiatrist, who ultimately surprises himself.)
11) The Barkleys of Broadway (George appears at the end as the judge of the talent test where Ginger Rogers is acting as "Sarah Bernhardt".)
12) Three Comrades (As the Swiss surgeon who tries to help save the life of Margaret Sullivan with an operation on the lung.)
13) Arise My Love (George as a somewhat fatuous Falangist Colonel in Civil War Spain, who allows belief in Claudette Colbert's lies to allow Ray Milland to escape.)
14) The Pirate (George as the Royal Viceroy, happy at the prospect of executing Gene Kelly as the notorious "Makoko" the pirate, but annoyed by the blustering Mayor (Walter Slezak) constantly insisting on speeding up the execution.)

There were also two films whose titles I can't recall, one where he is a friend of Bela Lugosi assisting him in some ancient ritual, and another concerning George as an expert on the Aztecs, who has a way for summoning a deadly bird with a feather to kill his enemies.

Jeff

[Steadmund Brand]

You're right Steadmund, I could kick myself about forgetting "Son of Frankenstein" for Lionel. I remembered it after I put down the list.

Films of George Zucco:

1) The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (many consider his "Professor Moriarty" the best of the three (the other's are Atwill's and Henry Daniel's) against Rathbone's Holmes.)
2) Lured (George as the crossword puzzle loving detective, stuck with Lucille Ball as his troublesome assistant.)
3) The Secret Garden (as a surprisingly intelligent and honest doctor)
4) Fog Island (Interestingly although murderously vengeful, Zucco is actually sympathetic in this film.)
5) The Seventh Cross (George as the thuggish head of the concentration camp)
6) Conquest (George is the aristocrat spokesman who convinces Garbo to become Napoleon's mistress - "For the good of Poland!")
7) Souls at Sea (Gary Cooper's attorney in his murder trial.)
8) Suez (George is playing Gladstone, opposite Miles Mander's Disraeli. George fully encaptures the "G.O.M."'s serious public persona, and love of a "Little Britain" rather than an empire.)
9) Captain From Castille (The neighbor and "old friend" of Tyrone Power's family who does nothing to help them when the Inquisition goes after them.)
10) After the Thin Man (George as a creepy psychiatrist, who ultimately surprises himself.)
11) The Barkleys of Broadway (George appears at the end as the judge of the talent test where Ginger Rogers is acting as "Sarah Bernhardt".)
12) Three Comrades (As the Swiss surgeon who tries to help save the life of Margaret Sullivan with an operation on the lung.)
13) Arise My Love (George as a somewhat fatuous Falangist Colonel in Civil War Spain, who allows belief in Claudette Colbert's lies to allow Ray Milland to escape.)
14) The Pirate (George as the Royal Viceroy, happy at the prospect of executing Gene Kelly as the notorious "Makoko" the pirate, but annoyed by the blustering Mayor (Walter Slezak) constantly insisting on speeding up the execution.)

There were also two films whose titles I can't recall, one where he is a friend of Bela Lugosi assisting him in some ancient ritual, and another concerning George as an expert on the Aztecs, who has a way for summoning a deadly bird with a feather to kill his enemies.

Jeff

Another great list....the one you are thinking of with Bela is.. I belive Voodoo Man..they did quite a few films together.... most were ok at best,like Scared To Death (terrible film.. but the only color film of Bela's career so worth watching.. once haha) Return of the Ape Man.. suprisingly bad film haha..

I'll add a few films of Zucco I like as well...

1- The Man Who Could Work Miracles
2- One of the Charlie Chan films... cant remember which.. he was a mad scientist keeping a brain alive... fun!!
3- again, can't remember which, but he was in one of the Bulldog Drummond films in the late 30's
4-The Cat And The Canary
5- The Mad Monster
6- Dead Men Walk (duel role here)
7- House Of Frankenstein
8- Lured (with Karloff and Lucille Ball in a non comedic role!!!)

Steadmund Brand