Charles W Jones

Doctor X ( 1932 ) is a pre-Code thrill ride that utilized two-color Technicolor, which if you’ve never seen anything in this format, it takes a second to enjoy it. From the first glimpse, it’s like a horrible attempt of colorization, then as your eyes adjust it’s like glowing sepia and cyan and is quite beautiful the way it shimmers. One of my favorite stars from the era is Fay Wray, and she graces the screen as Joanne Xavier, Dr. Jerry Xavier’s (Lionel Atwill) daughter. Another notable for me is Lee Tracy, who is great with bringing comic relief; he plays Lee Taylor, a reporter for the Daily World investigating a string of killings that happen during a full moon. The experiments being conducted at the Academy of Surgical Research are fun; I don’t want to spoil them, so check this one out to see them for yourself. There is an edginess present and creepiness that are off the charts. The make-up effects and other special effects are astounding to witness. Doctor X masters creepiness with...

Pre-code movies are always interesting to watch, though most of them I can’t imagine what they would’ve been rated back then. By today’s standards, they are totally G-Rated. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde ( 1931 ) isn’t one of those stories that are a secret to most people, well maybe to millennials. There’ve been several adaptations over the years of Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 novella, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and this will always be my favorite. I’ve walked a strange and terrible road. Dr. Henry Jekyll After many years of not seeing Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, I’d forgotten that the pronunciation of his last name is ‘Gee-kill,’ not ‘Jek-ill’ as most say it, including myself. Fredric March won an Academy Award for his role as Dr. Henry Jekyll, no matter how you say it. And it’s well deserved. It’s hard to believe that it’s the same man behind the make-up and fake teeth. The transformation from Jekyll to Hyde uses freeze frame, which is similar to stop-motion animation but...

I vaguely remember seeing The Vampire Bat ( 1933 ) on a Sunday afternoon back in the early 1980s. The memory didn’t spark in me that Fay Wray was in it. (Whatever happened to Fay Wray?) But why would I remember that from a movie I saw when I was ten. This is a strange one with rubber bats being clutched by the town fool. The dramatic acting, ominous music, and interesting sets are what draws my attention the most for movies made in the early days. The Vampire Bat is one of those movies that always make me wonder if people in the 1930s (how should I say?) had weak constitutions because this movie is far from scary. The Vampire Bat is creepy and suspenseful with a hint of comedy, but not frightening at all; to me at least. It also has a good portion of cheesy goodness, though, I don’t think it was intended. My biggest question about this movie is, what’s that in the fish tank? When you’re flipping through the channels, and you come across The Vampire Bat, watch it, you won’t be disappoin...

I cannot tell you how many years it’s been since I’ve seen The Invisible Man (1932), and I’d forgotten how wonderful this adaptation is. The effects are ingenious. When he takes the bandages from his head, it’s breathtaking. If they were to do it today, it’d be all CGI and gross. I love Una O’Connor, she is an absolute delight to watch, I wish she was in more of the movie. Though when Gloria Stuart takes the spotlight, mesmerizing me with her beauty, I forgot all about Una. Claude Rains plays the Invisible Man, but we never see his face until the end. After taking the chemical, not only does he become invisible, but he changes mentally, and he’s physically stronger, and deranged. It is funny that when he walks out of the barn in the snow that it’s shoeprints not bare feet. The ending is so abrupt, I wonder if they didn’t know what else to do. And those are my only critical points in this movie. I can’t tell you enough to see this movie the first chance you get. I give The Invisible Man...