Tag Archives: rondo hatton

Retrospective: The Brute Man (1946)

22 Wednesday Dec 2021

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The Brute Man would mark Rondo Hatton’s final film credit having tragically passed away due to heart problems. Cast in a number of films due to his physical presence which would make him an ideal on screen villain, which started out as supporting roles for a few crime, mob-related features. By the 1940s, Hatton would see his star elevated to leading roles for movies such as The Pillow of Death and House of Horrors, the latter of which alongside this movie would see him as the iconic Creeper character. This character would be so embedded in Universal’s golden era that it would be homaged in the 1980s feature film, The Rocketeer played by Tiny Ron.

Here, Hatton’s Creeper is out for revenge for those he believes disfigured him, starting with Professor Cushman (John Hamilton). Among those whom he pursues is a couple, Clifford (Tom Neal) and Virginia (Jan Wiley), who form part of a love/hate quadrangle with the Creeper who shows a heart of gold when trying to help Helen (Jane Adams), a blind pianist. This last part of the shaped motif is a little nod to Frankenstein’s monster who also befriends the blind flutist in James Whale’s 1931 version.

Despite these attempts to pay homage to the past and create terror in the cinema again, writer George Bricker (a gun for hire to create Production companies, B-features) would struggle to strike fear in the hearts of the audience. Likewise, director Jean Yarbrough would find it hard to break the mold of the low budget horror features that he had been accustomed to. So paltry was the final product that audiences responded negatively to it, and the film is now more closely associated with being the target for grilling in Mystery Science Theater 3000.

It would be a significant turning point for Universal, who were starting to see the effects of their golden years ebbing away and losing the magic touch it once laid claim to in the field of horror. Throughout the 50s their journey would take them in a completely different direction, but that will  be for another series of articles.

  • Saul Muerte

Retrospective: House of Horrors (1946)

28 Sunday Mar 2021

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This is the movie where Rondo Hatton’s (The Spider Woman Strikes Back) shambling frame comes to the fore and I personally think that it works in this instance. There are some critics that felt at the time and retrospectively feel otherwise, and that the giant killer concept is awkward and laughable.

For me, there is a similarity to Of Mice And Men with the Lenny and and George characters, two misfits in society, outcasts if you will. The Lenny character in this case aligned with Hatton’s character, The Creeper,  instead of a good heart, misguided by those around him, he’s a malicious cold blooded killer seeking to please he’s supposed friend, Marcel De Lange (Martin Kosleck – The Mummy’s Curse, The Frozen Ghost). 

Marcel is an art sculptor and the subject of ridicule among his community. Tired of being savaged by critics, he seeks his vengeance and  just when all seems lost he has a chance encounter and saves The Creeper from drowning.

Now Marcel has a human killing machine at his beckoning call, to carry out his demands on those who’ve wronged him.

The only person who could potentially stand in his way is a female reporter, Joan (Virginia Grey) who Marcel is also infatuated with.

But will love or vengeance lead to ruin for the scared artist?

Once again, Universal were trying to champion a new horror series in The Creeper, but after receiving fairly low reviews, unlike it’s antagonist failed to unleash the horror into the world and the third strike out would leave them stumbling towards the end of the decade.

  • Saul Muerte

Retrospective: The Spider Woman Strikes Back

21 Sunday Mar 2021

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Not to be confused with some kind of Marvel spin off, or even a follow up to the Sherlock Holmes feature some years before, The Spider Woman Strikes Back is a stand alone feature from the Universal vault that starred Gale Sondergaard, who also featured in the afore-mentioned Holmes film, The Spider Woman.

Sondergaard is given reign to flex her acting muscles and prowess as the local town’s wealthiest person Zenobia Dollard, and with that she carries a huge amount of privilege and entitlement of the land and those in her community. 

Zenobia also hides behind her supposed blindness to get people to think she is a weak and ailing old woman, when she is anything but.

Our lead protagonist is Jean (Brenda Joyce), a young woman new to the town to become Zenovia’s personal assistant. It’s not long before Jean suspects that all is not well in the household, and that something sinister has occurred to her predecessors. Just as she starts to uncover Zenovia’s sinister plan, she finds herself ensnared with her life in danger.
Her only hope may lie in her only contact in town, Hal (Kirby Grant) to discover the death serum, concocted by spider venom and Jean’s blood. 

Rondo Hatton is on hand to provide the lumbering muscle to protect and do Zenovia’s bidding, but he doesn’t offer much beyond this stereotype that he was now attached to.

Universal had grand plans to start a new series involving The Spider Woman, but much like The Jungle Woman, which was launched in a similar timeframe, it never registered well with the audience.
This may have something to do with the lack of enthusiasm from director Arthur Lubin, who strongly opposed the idea of directing a horror feature, but was forced to do so by Universal or else lose his contract.

Mostly though, The Spider Woman Strikes Back suffers from a convoluted script and little substance.

It’s a shame though as I could sense from watching the film that Sondergaard would have relished the opportunity to revisit the role.

As such, it has slipped into obscurity a little and Universal were beginning to suffer from trying to climb out of the shadows of Dracula, Frankenstein, etc. to make a mark on the horror genre further.

  • Saul Muerte

Retrospective: Jungle Captive (1945)

27 Saturday Feb 2021

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The third and final outing for Paula Dupree aka The Ape Woman for Universal would revert back to the mad doctor scenario.

This time the twirling moustache award goes to Mr. Stendahl (Otto Kruger) who successfully pulls a rabbit out of the afterlife, resurrected its once lifeless form.
Riding on the euphoria of his achievements, Stendhal then trudges off to be the next Dr. Frankenstein to reanimate the corpse of Paula Dupree.

To do his dirty work however, Stendahl calls upon his lumbering assistant Moloch (Rondo Hatton) to snatch the body from the city morgue, but in his efforts kills the attendant on duty.

Now, not only has a murder occurred, and a body stolen, but Inspector Harrigan (Jerome Cowan) suspects another doctor, Don Young when he discovers a medical smock belonging to the young practitioner at the morgue.

All does not bode well for Don when it is discovered that his fiance, Ann (Amelita Ward) has provided a false alibi.

When Ann suddenly disappears, Don must now prove his innocence, find his gal, and the true murderer.

It is little wonder that this film would inevitably fall flat on its face and kill off any hopes for any further misdeeds from the Ape Woman.

Whilst Kruger puts forward a strong performance as the dastardly doctor, Universal produced another misfire, which never manages to muster up any hopes of creating a monster to be feared from the Ape Woman.
There are too many leaps in the script to ignite any identity of its own, and too often tries to ride on the shoulders of previous incarnations in Frankenstein’s Monster or The Wolf Man.
This is even more stifled in the third outing by not only losing its initial lead in Acquanetta, and even losing its first choice replacement in Betty Bryant, who was dropped two days into the shoot, but mainly due to subjecting the creature into the background, thrusting the maniacal doctor front and centre and in doing so, casts the Ape Woman into the shadows.

  • Saul Muerte