Great movie. The end where Bela is carving up Boris. You dont see it, just the effects from the shadow . Its left to the imagination. Of course there's more to the movie than that scene. TCM always shows horror movies this time of year. There's just something about black and white movies .
Let all Men know thee, but no man know thee thoroughly: Men freely ford that see the shallows. Benjamin Franklin
Posts: 3989 | Location: Sparta, NJ USA | Registered: August 16, 2002
I love that mansion. Set design for the film was by the film's director, Edgar G. Ulmer. Ulmer, while known primarily as a director, worked uncredited as a set designer on some significant and visually striking films- Fritz Lang's Metropolis and M, and F.W. Murnau's Sunrise. Talented fellow, whom most American film buffs will remember primarily for the ultra-cheap film noir Detour.
The set seems very art deco to me. In this case though very simple but meaningful. At least to me. Also this movie touches on a lot of social no no's. Satanism, sleeping with a very young woman and torture. Although not an academy award winning movie I think it does make an impact on cinema. Imho.
Let all Men know thee, but no man know thee thoroughly: Men freely ford that see the shallows. Benjamin Franklin
Posts: 3989 | Location: Sparta, NJ USA | Registered: August 16, 2002
Tonight on TCM, you can see the other end of the Ulmer spectrum, with his 1945 film noir, Detour. If this film had any lower of a budget, there wouldn't have even been film in the camera.
One thing to look for in this film is a brief instance of forced perspective.
Just watched Detour. Very moody picture. Vera has to be the most unlikeble woman I have seen in film in a good while. Found it to be a very enjoyable film, almost claustrophic at times. Looks like Ulmer even cut corners on the band,showing them as shadow figures. Heard but not seen.
I missed the instance of forced perspective,however.
Posts: 17717 | Location: Stuck at home | Registered: January 02, 2015
Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL: I missed the instance of forced perspective,however.
At 4:03. The coffee mug. No budget for a lens that could make that kind of transition from medium shot to extreme close-up, so the art department built a very big coffee mug.