From: jack.bohn64@gmail.com   
      
   Even old black & white movjes can be visually striking.  Case in point: Monday   
   TCM is showing four horror movies from 1932 followed by three from 1935:   
      
   White Zombie   
   Mask of Fu Manchu   
   Freaks   
   Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde   
      
   Mark of the Vampire   
   Devil Doll   
   Mad Love   
      
      
   That chasm between them is where a little something called the Motion Picture   
   Prodcution Code happened.  The Code made movies safe for the whole family to   
   watch, and every film released from then up until the ratings system is   
   essentially a G rating,    
   giving rise to the idea that sex was invented at Woodstock.   
      
   Watching straight through, one would get the idea that introducing The Code   
   dropped  quality right of the table.  "Mark of the Vampire" is a snoozefest,   
   with the exception of one visually arresting scene that shouldn't be missed.   
   (Of course, this is one studio's output, MGM's, with the exception of "White   
   Zombie," which fell into the public domain, and Paramount's Dr.J&Mr.H, which   
   MGM bought the distribution rights with the intent NOT to distribute.   
      
      
   "White Zombie" is and independent film that rented Universal's studio and   
   technicians,  so Jack Pierce's makeup turns Bela Lugosi into voodoo master   
   Murder Legendre.   
      
   Boris Karloff plays Fu Manchu ("I am a doctor of philosophy from Edinburgh, a   
   doctor of law from Christ's College, a doctor of medicine from Harvard. My   
   friends, out of courtesy, call me 'Doctor'." he says menacingly.)... er Doctor   
   Fu Manchu, searching    
   for the facemask and sword of Genghis Khan to inherit his legacy.    
      
   "Devil Doll" is science fiction (by those who don't understand science).  A   
   scientist and a banker framed for embezzlement escape from Devil's Island.    
   The scientist's wife has continued their experiments in shrinking animals to   
   doll size, but the    
   smaller brains don't function.  They think they have a solution, so quickly   
   experiment on their servant, but it's a failure, and she winds up brain dead.    
   "But that's murder." says the shocked banker, compartmentalizing the fact that   
   he is seeking lethal    
   revenge on his former partners.  Then he sees how these doll-sized creatures,   
   susceptible to control by the brainwaves of someone concentrating on them, can   
   be used for his revenge...   
      
   --    
   -Jack    
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)