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British Horror Cinema
British horror cinema is a sub-category of horror films made by British studios. Horror films began in Britain with silent films in the early 20th century. Some of the most successful British horror films were made by Hammer Film Productions around the 1960s. A distinguishing feature of British horror cinema from its foundations in the 1910s until the end of Hammer's prolific output in the genre in the 1970s was storylines based on, or referring to, the gothic literature of the 19th century. History Silent era British silent horror drew its influence from gothic literature of the nineteenth century. Influential works during the nineteenth century include ''e.g.'', Mary Shelley’s ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' (1818), and the gothic horror novel, ''Dracula'' (1897), written by Bram Stoker. The rise of British silent horror cinema coincided with World War I. The War and the associated prevalence of violence, maiming and death had a profound impact on films prod ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christopher Lee As Frankenstein's Monster, Count Dracula And Kharis
Christopher is the English version of a Europe-wide name derived from the Greek name Χριστόφορος (''Christophoros'' or '' Christoforos''). The constituent parts are Χριστός (''Christós''), " Christ" or " Anointed", and φέρειν (''phérein''), "to bear"; hence the "Christ-bearer". As a given name, 'Christopher' has been in use since the 10th century. In English, Christopher may be abbreviated as " Chris", "Topher", and sometimes "Kit". It was frequently the most popular male first name in the United Kingdom, having been in the top twenty in England and Wales from the 1940s until 1995, although it has since dropped out of the top 100. The name is most common in England and not so common in Wales, Scotland, or Ireland. People with the given name Antiquity and Middle Ages * Saint Christopher (died 251), saint venerated by Catholics and Orthodox Christians * Christopher (Domestic of the Schools) (fl. 870s), Byzantine general * Christopher Lekapenos (d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Wilson (director)
Frank Wilson (1873–?), was a British actor, writer and film director.Low p.151 Wilson was a prolific director during the silent era, shooting well over 200 shorts and feature films. He worked at the pioneering Hepworth Pictures in Walton Studios and later at Broadwest of Walthamstow Studios. Selected filmography Director * '' The Jewel Thieves Outwitted'' (1913) * ''The Vicar of Wakefield'' (1913) * '' A Cigarette-Maker's Romance'' (1913) * ''The Heart of Midlothian'' (1914) * ''Justice'' (1914) * '' Her Boy'' (1915) * '' The Nightbirds of London'' (1915) * '' The White Boys'' (1916) * ''The Grand Babylon Hotel'' (1916) * '' A Bunch of Violets'' (1916) * ''A Gamble for Love'' (1917) * ''The Man Behind 'The Times''' (1917) * ''Her Marriage Lines'' (1917) * '' The Woman Wins'' (1918) * ''The Soul of Guilda Lois'' (1919) * ''The Irresistible Flapper'' (1919) * ''With All Her Heart ''With All Her Heart'' is a 1920 British silent drama film directed by Frank Wilson and starring ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Man Who Changed His Mind
''The Man Who Changed His Mind'' is a 1936 British science fiction horror film starring Boris Karloff and Anna Lee. It was directed by Robert Stevenson (director), Robert Stevenson and was produced by Gainsborough Pictures. The film was also known as ''The Brainsnatcher'' or ''The Man Who Lived Again''.Stephen Jacobs, ''Boris Karloff: More Than a Monster'', Tomahawk Press 2011 p 198 Plot Dr. Laurience (Karloff), a once-respectable scientist, begins to research the origins of the mind and soul in an isolated manor house, aided only by the promising surgeon Clare Wyatt (Lee) and a wheelchair-using confederate named Clayton (Donald Calthrop). The scientific community rejects his theories and Laurience risks losing everything for which he has worked so obsessively. To save his research, Laurience (pronounced "Lorenz") begins to use his discoveries in brain transference for his own nefarious purposes, replacing the mind of philanthropist Lord Haslewood (Frank Cellier (actor), Frank Ce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Unholy Quest
''The Unholy Quest'' is a 1934 British horror film directed by Widgey R. Newman and starring Claude Bailey, Terence de Marney and Christine Adrian. It was made as a quota quickie.Chibnall p.281 A mad professor tries to revive the body of a long-dead crusader. Cast * Claude Bailey as Professor Sorotoff * Terence de Marney as Frank Davis * Christine Adrian as Vera * John A. Milton as Hawkins * Harry Terry Harry Terry (born 1887, date of death unknown) was an English stage and film actor. He made his stage debut in 1900, and appeared in more than 60 films between 1927 and 1952, including two films directed by Alfred Hitchcock. He was born in Londo ... as Soapy * Ian Wilson as Wilky References Bibliography * Chibnall, Steve. ''Quota Quickies: The Birth of the British 'B' Film''. British Film Institute, 2007. * Low, Rachael. ''Filmmaking in 1930s Britain''. George Allen & Unwin, 1985. * Wood, Linda. ''British Films, 1927-1939''. British Film Institute, 1986. External link ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Ghoul (1933 Film)
''The Ghoul'' is a 1933 British horror film starring Boris Karloff and featuring Harold Huth, Dorothy Hyson, Ernest Thesiger, and Cedric Hardwicke; Ralph Richardson made his film debut. Plot Professor Henry Morlant (Boris Karloff), a great Egyptologist, thinks that the ancient jewel which he calls the "Eternal Light" will give him powers of rejuvenation if it is offered up to the ancient Egyptian god Anubis. But when Morlant dies, his servant Laing (Ernest Thesiger) steals the jewel. While a gaggle of interlopers, including a disreputable solicitor (Cedric Hardwicke) and a fake parson (Ralph Richardson), descend on the Professor's manor to investigate or steal the jewel for themselves, Morlant returns from the dead ("when the full moon strikes the door of my tomb", he predicted before dying) to kill everyone who has betrayed him. Cast * Boris Karloff as Professor Henry Morlant, renowned Egyptologist * Cedric Hardwicke as Mr. Broughton, the Professor's solicitor * Ernest Thes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Castle Sinister
''Castle Sinister'' was a 1932 British horror film produced, written and directed by Widgey R. Newman. Very little is known of either the film or the director, although available information suggests Newman to have been something of a maverick in the British film industry of the time. ''Castle Sinister'' is classed as a lost film. Overview The film was apparently set in a lonely mansion in Devon, and was marketed with the tagline "Mad doctor tries to put girl's brain into apeman's head!" A brief synopsis in the cinema magazine ''The Bioscope'' (6 April 1932) offers a plot outline: "The story of a young man's adventures in a large country mansion with a scientist who is engaged in forwarding his theory that rejuvenation by the transfer of certain glands is more than a possibility. A girl is, of course, involved to supply the necessary love interest, and a misshapen creature, victim of the scientist, supplies the thrills." It also mentions "a constantly howling wind and a gener ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Loane Tucker
George Loane Tucker (June 12, 1872 – June 20, 1921) was an American actor, silent film director, screenwriter, producer, and editor. Career Tucker was born George S. Loane in Chicago to George Loane and stage actress Ethel Tucker. After graduating from the University of Chicago, he got a job as a railroad clerk. He was chief clerk for the Maintenance of Way. Tucker was later the youngest man to be promoted to Contracting Freight Agent. After his first wife died while giving birth to the couple's son, Tucker quit his job. On the advice of friends, he began acting in stage productions. By the mid-1910s, films were becoming a more popular draw for audiences which led Tucker to film acting and scenario writing. In 1911, he wrote a script for the short drama film ''Their First Misunderstanding''. The film, which starred Mary Pickford, was a surprise hit. Over the course of his career, Tucker directed 69 films, 19 of which he also wrote. In 1913 he directed ''Traffic in Souls' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reynolds & Hearn
Reynolds may refer to: Places Australia * Hundred of Reynolds, a cadastral unit in South Australia * Hundred of Reynolds (Northern Territory), a cadastral unit in the Northern Territory of Australia United States * Reynolds, Mendocino County, California, a former settlement * Reynolds, Georgia, a town in Taylor County * Reynolds, Illinois, a village in Mercer and Rock Island counties * Reynolds, Indiana, a town in White County * Reynolds, Dallas County, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Reynolds, Reynolds County, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Reynolds, Nebraska, a village in Jefferson County * Reynolds, North Dakota, a city * Reynolds Township, Lee County, Illinois, a town * Reynolds Township, Michigan, a civil township of Montcalm County * Reynolds Township, Minnesota, a town in Todd County * Reynolds County, Missouri, a county in southeast Missouri Outer space * Reynolds (crater), impact crater on Mars Business * Reynolds Brothers, a New Jersey clothing s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Beetle (novel)
''The Beetle'' (or ''The Beetle: A Mystery'') is an 1897 horror novel by British writer Richard Marsh, in which a shape-shifting ancient Egyptian entity seeks revenge on a British member of Parliament. The novel initially sold more copies than Bram Stoker's ''Dracula'', a similar horror story published in the same year. Plot summary ''The Beetle'' is told from the point of view of four narrators: Robert Holt, Sydney Atherton, Marjorie Lindon, and Augustus Champnell. The novel begins by retelling an account of Robert Holt, a clerk who has been searching for a job all day. Denied food and water at a workhouse, he continues to walk in the dark through the rain until he comes upon an abandoned, dilapidated house with an open window. There he finds shelter and meets a monstrous figure, the mysterious Beetle. The Beetle takes control of Holt's mind through mesmerism, allowing him to take human form, and then accuses Holt of being a thief and promises to treat him like one. Then ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Marsh (author)
Richard Marsh (12 October 1857 – 9 August 1915) was the pseudonym of the English author born Richard Bernard Heldmann. A best-selling and prolific author of the late 19th century and the Edwardian period, Marsh is best known now for his supernatural thriller novel '' The Beetle'', which was published the same year as Bram Stoker's ''Dracula'' (1897), and was initially even more popular, outselling Dracula six times over. ''The Beetle'' remained in print until 1960. Marsh produced nearly 80 volumes of fiction and numerous short stories, in genres including horror, crime, romance and humour. Many of these have been republished recently, beginning with ''The Beetle'' in 2004. Marsh's grandson Robert Aickman was a notable writer of short "strange stories". Biography Richard Bernard Heldmann was born on 12 October 1857, in North London, to lace merchant Joseph Heldmann (1827–96) and Emma Marsh (1830–1911), a lace-manufacturer's daughter. Heldmann began publishing fiction dur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Beetle (film)
''The Beetle'' is a 1919 British silent film, silent horror film directed by Alexander Butler and starring Leal Douglas, Maudie Dunham, Hebden Foster and Fred Morgan (actor), Fred Morgan. It was based on the 1897 novel ''The Beetle (novel), The Beetle: A Mystery'' by Richard Marsh (author), Richard Marsh. The 1897 novel went into print a few months after Bram Stoker's ''Dracula'' hit bookshelves, and it outsold ''Dracula'' at the time. It has since passed into relative obscurity, although it seems to have served as Stoker's inspiration for his 1903 ''The Jewel of Seven Stars'', which also involved an ancient Egyptian princess reincarnating into the body of a modern-day woman. Director Alexander Butler went on to an acting role in the similarly themed 1925 film ''She (1925 film), She''. Jonathan Rigby has called Leal Douglas’s High Priestess “the polymorphous title role”. Plot An Ancient Egyptian princess (Leal Douglas) transforms herself into a beetle in order to gain rev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Will Barker (director)
William George Barker (18 January 1868, in Cheshunt – 6 November 1951, in Wimbledon) was a British film producer, director, cinematographer, and entrepreneur who took film-making in Britain from a low budget form of novel entertainment to the heights of lavishly-produced epics that were matched only by Hollywood for quality and style . Biography Early career His early career was that of a commercial traveller. He was evidently successful enough at this, that he was able to indulge his interest in photography. In 1901 he started a business at 50 Gray's Inn Road, Holborn for the purposes of making moving pictures on a hand cranked Lumiere camera, which had bought a few years before and then showing the resulting films to the public -for a fee. This was the Autoscope Company. Like the early Mitchell and Kenyon films, the genre was mainly 'topicals'; for they require the least amount of preparation and expense. On 1 January 1906 it merged with the Warwick Trading Company w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
