Margaret Rutherford biography captures the famed actor's eccentric, endearing character

Review by Doug Gibson

I absolutely adore the acting skills and personality of the late Dame Margaret Rutherford, who for nearly three decades was a major star in Great Britain, as popular there as May Robson was in the United States, or Kathy Bates, to use a more recent comparison.

Her face was unique, both angular and broad, with jutting chin, iconic during the middle of the 20th century. Look at the photos below, catch the one with the cape, a wardrobe choice ubiquitous during her acting career, on the stage and film. Her character was a gale wind, determined, forceful respectability with a hint of dotty-ness, shrewdly polite but brooking no foolishness or disrespect.

The lady possessed charisma. I envy those who watch her films for the first time: Blithe Spirits, The Importance of Being Earnest, her "Miss Marple" films, particularly Murder She Said and Murder Most Foul (she was not Agatha Christie's Marple by any stretch but her offbeat, almost comic portrayal of the literary spinster sleuth was so original one can't help but love the films). She won an Oscar for The VIPs, but in reality that was a reward for a handful of superior films she had not been Oscar-rewarded for.

I also enjoy her role in a more provincial film from the early 1950s, "'Innocents in Paris." She interacts more with her real-life husband, Stringer Davis, who was in virtually all her films, and plays, as that was often contracted. They play well together, particularly in her Marple films (which, frankly, she's best known for in the United States.)

British author Andy Merriman has penned a fine biography of Rutherford. It's titled "Margaret Rutherford: Dreadnought with Good Manners." It's a very detailed account of her life. Not blessed with conventional good looks, it took years of dedication to her acting craft before her career gained steam. There are passages of Rutherford bicycling through Wimbledon and other areas to low-paying teaching jobs during the oft times that her early career stalled. She was persistent, and it paid off as her career gained stream in early middle age on the stage and eventually the screen.

Merriman captures in detail -- sometimes to a fault -- the ins and outs of Rutherford's stage work, her movies, her radio performances with the BBC, and television work. I appreciate his respect for the eccentric but loving relationship between Rutherford and her husband Davis. They married in middle age. She outshone him in the business, but there was no resentment. They both loved and needed each other.

As Merriman details, Rutherford suffered from depression. She had a bipolar personality that sometimes led to unwise, impulsive acts outside conventional common sense. It led to excess spending habits that frequently left the couple in rough financial times. On a more serious note, at one time, Rutherford convinced herself to be in a romantic relationship with a singer decades her junior. She made plans for them to run off together. The shocked singer ended his friendship and artistic association with Rutherford. That led her to one of her occasional breakdowns, resulting in shock treatments. Davis (seen below) was always there to help her regain stability.

During her life Rutherford feared that a family history of unstable behavior would cause her to lose her sanity. Her father murdered her grandpa. As a toddler her mother killed herself. She was raised by her aunt. Once famous, she was known among her peers as a kind woman, willing to make gestures of generosity. A very young Claire Bloom, a co-star in Innocents in Paris, relates an anecdote of Rutherford's kindly nature in the book.

Besides being a great biography, the book stands as a history tome, detailing 50 years of the British entertainment industry. Noel Coward, Richard Harrison, Alastair Sim, Constance Cummings, David Lean, Michael Redgrave, Fay Compton, Robert Morley, Joan Hickson, Ron Moody, etc. It will be a fantastic read for film enthusiasts.

But, please check out a few of her films. They are easy to stream. Essentials are her roles as Madame Arcati in Blithe Spirits and her Miss Marple films. All are available at Amazon. The Marple films play often on TCM.

Return of the Ape Man; Bela Lugosi goes all mad scientist over John Carradine

A slightly different version of this review was originally published on Oct. 23, 2017, in the post, "Bela Lugosi, vampire, mad scientist or a god, he enhanced a film.)

Review by Doug Gibson

In “Return of the Ape Man,” one of Bela Lugosi’s final Monogram offerings, his deviously mad scientist, Professor Dexter, offers , with polite arrogance, this laconic remark at a fashionable party to another guest. “You know, some people’s brains would never be missed.” Shortly afterward, Dexter tries to prove it by luring the intended of his partner’s niece to his laboratory for an unwilling partial brain transfer to a reanimated, prehistoric “ape man.” Only the interference of partner Professor Gilmore, with the added persuasion of a gun, stops Dexter. “He might not die,” is Dexter’s defense.

If not for Lugosi, “Return of the Ape Man” would be virtually forgotten. Even John Carradine underplays his role as Gilmore to the point of near narcolepsy. The rest of the cast also seems to play their roles with lethargy. The script, frankly, is unimaginative, and cheats viewers of a climax with Bela’s character alive. But Lugosi’s Dexter is his second-best mad scientist role; only Dr. Vollin in 1935’s “The Raven,” surpasses Prof. Gilmore in mad, ethics-be-damned-crime-be-damned, obsession. Like Vollin, Gilmore is courtly, charismatic, dedicated and mad as a hatter in his desire to reanimate a primitive human and provide him a decent brain, at any cost.

Casual fans of the genre may not know that Lugosi played a mad scientist far more often on screen than he did a vampire. He has some great lines in “Return of the Ape Man.” They include: “Murder is an ugly word. As a scientist I don’t recognize it;” and “Fool, you’ll pay for this!” is Dexter’s angry retort when Gilmore stops him the first time. The too-passive Gilmore eventually becomes the subject of Dexter’s partial brain transplant, and the mad glee that fills the countenance of Lugosi’s Dexter is chilling and unforgettable. Do yourself a favor, Lugosi fans, see “Return of the Ape Man.

In fact, Lugosi only played his signature role, his iconic Count Dracula, in two films. He played a vampire in only three films, although he played a fake vampire in two films. His last primary role was again, a mad scientist, in Ed Wood's "Bride of the Vampire."

After his several-years tenure at Monogram, Lugosi made an A feature, One Body Too Many, in a supporting role. He then was in three films with a RKO, a more prestigious poverty row studio than Monogram. He starred in one of those films, "Zombies in Broadway," as guess it, a mad scientist. The other films were The Body Snatcher, a high-billed but ultimately supporting role to Boris Karloff, and Genius at Work, another supporting role in a cast that included Lionel Atwill.

Film work dried up after a feature role in Scared to Death, a color film where Lugosi played another favored role, the Red Herring, in a film that included Atwill. He was mostly on the stage the rest of the 1940s before resuming Count Dracula in the classic, iconic comedy, "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein." During this time, Bela made ends meet traveling across the country with his wife Lillian appearing in summer stock productions of "Dracula," and "Arsenic and Old Lace," as well as appearing in magic and spook shows. 

Boris Karloff in a time of pandemic, Isle of the Dead

By Doug Gibson

Isle of the Dead, 1945, RKO Radio Pictures, 71 minutes, black and white. Directed by Mark Robson, Produced by Val Lewton. Starring Boris Karloff as General Nikolas Pherides; Ellen Drew as Thea; Marc Cramer as Oliver Davis; and Katherine Emery as Mrs. St. Aubyn. Schlock-Meter rating: 8 stars out of 10.

The mid 1940s was the beginning of a transition period for thrillers. The great Universal monsters were now B pictures, and soon to be relegated as fodder for comedy teams. The terrors of the nuclear age to come would bring a new type of horror star, Godzilla and various over-sized insects crawling across movie screens. But in between that change came several great horror films from Val Lewton, who knew how to exploit the supernatural and make the spines of World War II movie-goers chill.

In this current era of Coronavirus pandemic, Isle of the Dead seems appropriate to discuss. It is about our worst fears, death, the plague and even being buried alive. Producer Lawton and director Mark Robson are old hands at slowly building a story, creating unease, and then slamming the viewer with a terrifying climax. There is a scene, about two-thirds of the way through, that takes this film from suspense to terror. An invalid woman (Katherine Emery) fears being buried alive. It's a legitimate fear since she suffers from spells where she appears dead. She suffers a spell and is presumed dead and put in a coffin. In a crypt, the camera pans to her coffin. She screams, and desperate clawing is heard inside. It's a scary payoff to a well-made chiller.

The plot involves a dour Greek general (Karloff) and an American reporter (Cramer) who visit an isolated island near the front of a war. They spend the night with an anthropologist and his several guests (all of whom have been forced to the island to avoid the war). A British guest (veteran cult actor Skelton Knaggs) is discovered dead. A doctor decrees it to be the plague. The general orders everyone confined to the house. One by one the plague starts to claim its victims.

As mentioned, the film drips in atmosphere. The first scenes show Karloff and the reporter walking through a battlefield strewn with the bodies of dead soldiers. There's a creepy sight of suffering soldiers hauling away wagons full of the dead for disposal. As Karloff explains, it must be done immediately to avoid the plague. The house on the island has a claustrophobic feel, none of the rooms are too large. The island is dark, foggy and creepy, the crypt dark and forbidding.

Karloff does a very capable job as a villain who can still inspire some sympathy. The heartless, but courtly Greek general who places "rule of law" over mercy is a study of extremism from two sides. When the plague starts, Karloff's general scorns the superstitions of an elderly Greek maid, preferring to put his trust in the doctor. But when the plague claims the doctor, a disillusioned Karloff switches beliefs. Still the extremist, he allies with the maid, and with frightening intensity, believes a young woman named Thea (Ellen Drew) is possessed with an evil spirit. They plot to kill Thea.

Today very few horror films rely on atmosphere to turn suspense into horror. Most try to use foreground shots (like John Carpenter's Halloween) to create tension. Some succeed. Most don't. Too many filmmakers err by throwing away characterization, thinking that a quick knife killing serves as a payoff to a lazy viewer. Val Newton's Isle of the Dead is a reminder that creating a scary film is a gradual process that takes time and care.

At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul – The First Coffin Joe Feature

Review by Steve D. Stones

In tribute to Brazilian filmmaker Jose Mojica Marins (aka Coffin Joe) who recently passed away on February 19^th, 2020. He was born on March 13^th, 1936 in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Considered Brazil's first horror feature – At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul (1964) is directed by and stars horror icon Jose Mojica Marins (aka Coffin Joe) as Ze do Caixao. The film is part of a trilogy of Coffin Joe films followed by - This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse (1967) and Embodiment of Evil (2008). See also – Awakening of The Beast (1983).

It Midnight I'll Take Your Soul opens with Coffin Joe (Jose Mojica Marins) standing in a dark, smoke filled environment while asking the viewer questions like “What is life? It is the beginning of death. What is death? It is the end of life.”

After attending a burial at the local cemetery, Coffin Joe is hungry for a meal of meat. Because it is a local religious holiday of Holy Friday, he is not allowed to have meat. He leaves to buy lamb for his meal and eats it in front of his home window to taunt the beliefs of a religious procession that passes by.

Coffin Joe is known as Ze do Caixao in the film and is the undertaker of a small Brazilian town who disdains religion and dresses in a dark cape, top hat and carries a cane clutched in fingers of talon like fingernails. His appearance is similar to Dracula and Dr. Jekyll in the Robert Louis Stevenson classic - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In fact, Coffin Joe even pursues beautiful women in the film, much like Dracula, in an attempt to continue his bloodline by finding the perfect female companion, even though he is married to Lenita (Valeria Vasquez).

Lenita is unable to bear children, so Coffin Joe decides to torture and murder her by tying her to a bed while allowing a giant poisonous spider to bite her on the neck. The local police are unable to find any clues connecting Coffin Joe to the murder, so they accept the death as a simple spider bite.

Terezinha (Magda Mei) is a beautiful local woman that Coffin Joe wants to impregnate to have her bear a son to continue his bloodline. She rejects Coffin Joe's advances because she is married to Antonio. To get Antonio out of the way, Coffin Joe murders him by bashing his head into a bath tub and drowning him.

Coffin Joe is not a man to cross paths with or confront in any way. Anyone who crosses him is met with extreme violence. For example, in a scene that takes place in a tavern, Coffin Joe joins a table of card players. One of the players refuses to give his money to Coffin Joe after he wins a poker hand. Coffin Joe becomes violent with the man and breaks a wine bottle, then drives it through the fingers of the card player at the card table. The card player screams in painful agony. Coffin Joe sends for a doctor and agrees to pay all medical expenses. It appears he does have some sympathy for his victims.

In another confrontational scene in the tavern, Coffin Joe removes the crown of thorns from a Jesus sculpture on a table and punches a man in the face with the thorns after the man confronts him for making advances on his niece - Maria. This scene further reinforces Coffin Joe's disdain for religion, symbols and all things sacred that he disagrees with.

The end of the film foreshadows much of the bizarre sequences we can expect to see in the follow up film – This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse (1967). A reflection of the counter-culture atmosphere of the 1960s, Coffin Joe injects the last few minutes of the film with strange, surreal images that make the viewer think perhaps they are watching an experimental Salvador Dali/Luis Bunuel film. These scenes are very psychedelic and hallucinogenic. The black and white treatment of this film gives it a gloomy atmosphere that is every bit as creepy as the classic Universal Studios monster classics of the 1930s and '40s.

May Coffin Joe rest in peace. His unique, bizarre films will live on forever to his many devoted fans all over the world.