Universal Horror 1920-1960
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- DirectorHarold YoungStarsLon Chaney Jr.Dick ForanJohn HubbardThe ancient Egypt Mummy, Kharis, is transported from his homeland with the high priest Mehemet to wreak vengeance on the family who has defiled the sacred tomb of his beloved Princess Ananka.
- DirectorJohn SherwoodStarsJeff MorrowRex ReasonLeigh SnowdenA scientist captures the Creature and turns him into an air-breather, only for him to escape and start killing.
- DirectorReginald Le BorgStarsLon Chaney Jr.John CarradineRobert LoweryKharis the mummy is given a sacred potion that grants him eternal life to search for his lost love, Princess Ananka, despite the unending curse that haunts them.
- DirectorLambert HillyerStarsLon ChaneyVirginia ValliJack MowerA gang of blackmailers sends a cripple to San Francisco to expose a banker they have been blackmailing. However, the cripple meets and falls in love with the banker's daughter.
- DirectorRupert JulianJohn WillardStarsHelen TwelvetreesRaymond HackettNeil HamiltonDisappearances and strange goings-on in a spooky old mansion.Lost film.
- DirectorErle C. KentonStarsNoah Beery Jr.Lois CollierPaul KellyA black cat is suspected of being possessed by the spirit of a elderly murdered woman.
- DirectorGeorge MelfordStarsAntonio MorenoLupita TovarAndrés de SegurolaStrange happenings and disappearances take place in an old dark house.Spanish Language version of The Cat Creeps (1930)
- DirectorReginald Le BorgStarsLon Chaney Jr.Anne GwynneEvelyn AnkersWhile on a South Seas trip, a professor falls in love and marries an exotic native woman. What he doesn't know is that she was raised by superstitious natives who believe her to be some kind of supernatural being.
- DirectorJohn HoffmanStarsLon Chaney Jr.Brenda JoyceJ. Carrol NaishA scientist who is working on a cure for influenza is victimized by his unscrupulous boss, who releases the vaccine before it's ready, resulting in tragedy.
- DirectorReginald Le BorgStarsLon Chaney Jr.Jean ParkerPaul KellyWhen an artist is blinded, his fiancée's father offers an operation to restore his sight. When the benefactor suddenly dies, the artist becomes a suspect.
- DirectorHarold YoungStarsLon Chaney Jr.Evelyn AnkersMilburn StoneA stage mentalist involved in a mysterious death and a discredited plastic surgeon are among the assorted characters involved in mysterious goings-on in an eerie wax museum.
- DirectorEdward LudwigStarsClaude RainsJoan BennettLionel AtwillA brilliant but impoverished writer, who is a pacifist, goes to work for a publisher and writes anti-war editorials. When he discovers that the publisher has betrayed him and is in league with munitions manufacturers to make money off of war, he goes insane.
- DirectorReginald Le BorgStarsLon Chaney Jr.Patricia MorisonJ. Carrol NaishA doctor is not sure if he murdered his beautiful but wicked wife, and has his attractive nurse try to find the truth by hypnotizing him.
- DirectorWallace FoxStarsLon Chaney Jr.Brenda JoyceJ. Edward BrombergAn unfaithful attorney is suspected of murdering his wife.
- DirectorStuart WalkerStarsClaude RainsDouglass MontgomeryHeather AngelAn opium-addicted choirmaster develops an obsession for a beautiful young girl and will not stop short of murder in order to have her.
- DirectorJoe MayStarsGeorge SandersMargaret LindsayVincent PriceBased on the novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne, this classic film follows a family feud between two brothers and an ancient curse that haunts them.
- DirectorVictor HalperinStarsCarole LombardRandolph ScottAlan DinehartA serial black widow murderess returns to life in the body of a young woman to exact revenge on a former lover, a phony spiritualist who betrayed her.Paramount film acquired by MCA/Universal in 1958.
- DirectorArthur LubinStarsGale SondergaardBrenda JoyceKirby GrantA young girl goes to work as a live-in caretaker for a spooky old woman. She doesn't know that every night, the woman drains some blood from her to feed her strange plant.After facing Sherlock Holmes, Gale Sondergaard's Spider Woman got spun off into her own movie.
- DirectorElliott NugentStarsBob HopePaulette GoddardJohn BealWhen an eccentric family meets in their uncle's remote, decaying mansion on the tenth anniversary of his death for the reading of his will, murder and madness follow.Paramount film acquired by MCA/Universal in 1958. Apparently not shown much due to legal issues.
- DirectorEdward SlomanStarsWilliam 'Stage' BoydLilyan TashmanIrving PichelAn elderly woman installs a horn in her crypt in case she's buried alive.Paramount film acquired by MCA/Universal in 1958.
- DirectorCharles VidorStarsEvelyn VenableMary MorrisAnne RevereIn New York in 1910, wealthy spinster Victoria Van Brett controls with an iron hand both the family fortune and the lives of her younger sister Caroline and half brother Rip. When Rip marries Anne Darrow, a nurse who saved his life, Victoria does everything in her power to ruin the marriage, asserting that Anne only loves Rip for his money. First, Victoria steals Rip's wedding present to Anne, his mother's pearls, which Victoria claims are not his to give. Next, she secretly writes Rip out of the family will, then calls him home early from his honeymoon to make him executor of the family millions, which leaves him little time for his bride. Victoria then restricts Anne's use of the family's Fifth Avenue mansion and only addresses her indirectly as "that woman." Meanwhile, Victoria tells Caroline that unless she cooperates with her treatment of Anne, she will lock her in the secret soundproof vault where their father died. Caroline's own romantic happiness was spoiled by Victoria years earlier, and she lives in daily terror of her sister's malicious manipulations. After many months of constant battering and humiliation, Anne goes to her friend, Dr. John Lucas, whom she was going to marry before she met Rip, for help. John suggests that Anne fight Victoria's tyranny and start inviting her own friends to the Van Brett home. That night, Anne invites John to dinner, and in the presence of family lawyer Mortimer Neff, Victoria accuses Anne of having an affair with him. Earlier in the day, Anne was forced to lie to Rip about visiting John unchaperoned. Under the weight of Victoria's present accusations, however, she admits her lie, swearing that John has not betrayed Rip's friendship. Finally overcoming Victoria's lifelong tyranny, Rip promises to take Anne from the house that night, forfeiting what he believes is his inheritance. When Anne comes downstairs with her suitcase, however, Victoria lures her into the vault by promising to give her the pearls and shuts the door. Caroline wakes at Anne's cry, but Victoria tells her it was only a dream and threatens to consign her to a mental institution. Victoria then tells Rip that Anne has eloped with John and dismisses the servants, planning to close up the house for a year. When John appears the next morning without any word from Anne, Rip becomes suspicious. The dog then barks at the wall that conceals the vault, and Caroline confesses that she heard a scream the night before and reveals the vault. Rip bends Victoria's arm to make her open the safe and discovers Anne, who has fainted. Although Victoria tries one last time to lure Caroline into the safe, Mortimer stops her, threatening to put her in prison unless she writes Rip back into the will. Caroline leaves the house with Anne and Rip, and after Mortimer leaves, Victoria goes into the safe to get the pearls, and the door locks behind her.Paramount film acquired by MCA/Universal in 1958.
- DirectorMitchell LeisenStarsFredric MarchEvelyn VenableGuy StandingThe Grim Reaper takes the form of a Prince in an attempt to relate to humans and, along the way, also learns what it is to love.Paramount film acquired by MCA/Universal in 1958.
- DirectorStuart HeislerStarsAlbert DekkerSusan HaywardFrances FarmerA mentally unstable man who has been kept in isolation for years escapes and causes trouble for his identical twin brother.
- DirectorRalph MurphyStarsNils AstherHelen WalkerReinhold SchünzelA scientist who has found a way to prolong life (he is 120 years old) finds himself in a dilemma: he has fallen in love, and he has also discovered that if he doesn't get new glands, he will die.
- DirectorTim WhelanStarsBasil RathboneEllen DrewJohn HowardA crazed physician marries a wealthy women and, with the help of his demented assistant, murders them for their money.Paramount film acquired by MCA/Universal in 1958.
- DirectorCharles BartonStarsBud AbbottLou CostelloMarjorie ReynoldsA psychiatrist stays in a mansion haunted by prankish ghosts from the Revolutionary War.
- DirectorCharles LamontStarsBud AbbottLou CostelloRobert PaigeTwo workmen accidentally launch a space rocket intended for Mars, and find mistakenly landing in New Orleans just the beginning of their misadventures.
- DirectorLeslie GoodwinsStarsAnne GwynneDonald CookJohn LitelA party is thrown at a haunted mansion, people start to die, and a man who spent a night in the "blue room" disappears.Secret of the Blue room remade yet again, this time as a musical.
- DirectorEugene FrenkeJames P. HoganStarsOnslow StevensLois WilsonValerie HobsonA doctor who has spent his career working on ways to revive the dead sees his chance to prove his theory by performing his procedures on a recently deceased dog.
- DirectorEdward DeinStarsEric FlemingMichael PateKathleen CrowleyWhile a malady is claiming the lives of young women in a Western town, a sinister gunslinger-for-hire Drake Robey is really a vampire, and it's up to Preacher Dan to save the town and girlfriend Dolores Carter.
- DirectorKurt NeumannStarsLionel AtwillGloria StuartPaul LukasTwenty years after 3 murders occur in a castle's "blue room", three men who each want to marry a beautiful girl decide to spend a night in the room to prove their bravery to her.
- DirectorPhil RosenStarsPatric KnowlesMaria MontezMaria OuspenskayaA detective tries to unravel the strange circumstances surrounding the death of a young actress.
- DirectorFord BeebeRobert F. HillStarsBuster CrabbeJean RogersCharles MiddletonFlash Gordon, Dale Arden and Dr. Alexis Zarkov visit the planet Mongo to thwart the evil schemes of Emperor Ming the Merciless, who has set his planet on a collision course with Earth.An edited version of the 1936 Flash Gordon serial, apparently made for release on television.
- StarsBela LugosiRobert KentDorothy ArnoldNot a feature, but an edited version of the 1939 serial "The Phantom Creeps" which was released to TV in 1949.TV adaptation of the 1939 serial.
- DirectorEdward F. ClineStarsOle OlsenChic JohnsonGloria JeanTwo zanies get mixed up with a Southern colonel, his beautiful daughters, a nightclub and a haunted mansion.
- DirectorFord BeebeRobert F. HillStarsBuster CrabbeJean RogersCharles MiddletonAn edited version of the 1938 Universal serial "Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars" that was released to TV in a syndication package in 1966.
- DirectorJohn FarrowStarsRay MillandAudrey TotterThomas MitchellA district attorney rises to political success and the governorship but loses his sense of morality once he starts associating with the shadowy and perhaps diabolical Nick Beal.Dark Paramount political thriller about corruption that edges on the supernatural.
- DirectorLloyd CorriganStarsAnna May WongWarner OlandSessue HayakawaPrincess Ling Moy, a young and beautiful Chinese aristocrat lives next door, unbeknownst to her, to Dr. Fu Manchu, a brilliant but twisted genius who is out to rule the world. She is involved with Ah Kee, a handsome young man, who also unbeknownst to her, is a secret agent out to thwart the heinous plots of Fu Manchu. As it turns out, Fu is not only her next-door neighbor, he is also, (unbeknownst to her), her father. When she finds out, will she take her father's part and fight the men out to get Fu, or will she become a brave heroine and save the world even if it is from the devious doings of her own Dad? Yes, it's dated, and there isn't nearly enough of Warner Oland in it; but it moves along well, has a lot of action, Wong and Hayakawa were fine actors, and if you're a Charley Chan fan, it's worth it to how much, if any, of Fu Oland used when creating Charley Chan.Paramount Fu Manchu thriller with Warner (Charlie Chan) Oland as Fu Manchu and Anna Mae Wong as his daughter.
- DirectorHugh BennettStarsJimmy LydonCharles SmithJohn LitelHenry Aldrich swallows a serum by accident and ends up in a "haunted" house.Paramount comedy/thriller entry in its "Henry Aldrich" series.
- DirectorRalph MurphyStarsGertrude MichaelPaul CavanaghHenrietta CrosmanMenace is a very fast-paced dark house murder mystery with a plot centering around three people who are targeted for death because of their alleged guilt in the tragic death of a psychopath's brother.Paramount "Old Dark House" thriller.
- DirectorNorman Z. McLeodStarsSylvia SidneyChester MorrisRobert CooganA gang of crooks evade the police by moving their operations to a small town. There the gang's leader, John Madison, encounters a faith healer and uses him to scam the gullible public of funds for a supposed chapel. But when a real healing takes place, a change comes over the gang.Paramount remake of the 1919 melodrama that made Lon Chaney a star.
- DirectorJohn FarrowStarsEdward G. RobinsonGail RussellJohn LundAfter phony stage mentalist Triton mysteriously acquires supernatural powers of precognition, he becomes frightened and abandons his act to live in anonymity.Paramount fantasy-thriller about a stage mentalist who discovers he really can tell the future.
- DirectorRobert FloreyStarsFrances DrakeReginald DennyGail PatrickA public relations man for a movie studio uses an early form of television to help solve a murder.A Paramount murder mystery that takes place on the set of a vampire movie.
- DirectorRowland V. LeeStarsWarner OlandO.P. HeggieJean ArthurThe villainous master criminal Dr. Fu Manchu sets out to destroy the people he holds responsible for the death of his family.Paramount Fu Manchu thriller starring Warner Oland. Apparently the legal status of this picture is in doubt. If Universal does own it, it may never have shown it on TV.
- DirectorRowland V. LeeStarsWarner OlandNeil HamiltonJean ArthurDuring the Boxer Rebellion in China during the early 20th century, in which a Chinese secret society attacked all westerners and anyone who associated with them, Dr. Fu Manchu's wife and child are killed by foreigners. Enraged, he vows to take his revenge on the British army officers he holds responsible for the killings.Apparently acquired by Universal from Paramount, but may never have been shown for legal reasons.
- DirectorBen HechtCharles MacArthurStarsNoël CowardJulie HaydonStanley RidgesA ruthless, cynical, hated publisher is killed in a plane crash, doomed to be a "restless" spirit for being unloved. A heavenly power gives him a month on Earth to find one person to shed a tear for him before his fate is sealed.Paramount fantasy acquired by Universal
- DirectorPaul SloaneStarsJohn HallidayCharles RugglesShirley GreyAn ocean liner is found at sea with everyone on board dead. An investigation is begun to find out what happened.Pre-Code Paramount mystery-thriller with some gruesome visuals.
- DirectorLewis AllenStarsJoel McCreaGail RussellHerbert MarshallA secretive widower hires a governess for his children, a willful boy and impressionable girl. Strange occurrences and the governess's curiosity lead her to unlock the secrets of the mysterious and uninhabited brownstone next door.Paramount thriller was a follow-up (though not a sequel) to the "Uninvited."
- DirectorStuart WalkerStarsCarole LombardCharles LaughtonCharles BickfordA nightclub singer marries the rich owner of a rubber plantation. When she returns with him to his estate in Malaysia, she finds out that he is cruel, vicious and insanely jealous. She and the plantation's overseer develop a mutual attraction, but are terrified at what will happen if her husband finds out.Paramount jungle melodrama casts Laughton in a role similar to "The Island of Lost Souls."
- DirectorHenry HathawayStarsGuy StandingJohn HallidayJudith AllenJack Brookfield, a gambler with clairvoyant and hypnotic powers, is able to win at cards through his unique gift. But when he inadvertently hypnotizes young Clay Thorne, Thorne kills an enemy of Brookfield's while under a trance. No one believes Brookfield's protestations that Thorne is innocent of any murderous intent, so Brookfield teams up with retired lawyer Martin Prentice in hopes of saving the young man from the gallows.Paramount thriller with themes of clairvoyance and hypnotism.
- DirectorRobert SiodmakStarsOlivia de HavillandLew AyresThomas MitchellA man is found murdered, and witnesses are sure about the woman they saw leaving his apartment. However, it becomes apparent that the woman has a twin, and finding out which one is the killer seems impossible.Film Noir thriller directed by Robert Siodmak
- DirectorLászló KardosStarsSigrid GurieRalph ByrdEddie QuillanJewel smugglers in Cairo try to pin their crimes on a kidnapped baron.Archeological expedition in Egypt runs into a curse: George Zucco in a fez!
- DirectorReginald Le BorgJulien DuvivierStarsGloria JeanAlan CurtisFrank CravenBank robbers Cliff Banks and Sam Baker go their separate ways while being chased by the law. Now fleeing alone, Cliff begins to reflect, via flashback, on the various events and unsavory people in his life that lead to his life of crime. Cliff ends up in the idyllic rural town of Paradise Valley. He discovers the local people are very trusting and decides the town would be the perfect place to pull a scam. He meets a farmer named Clem Broderick and his strange blind daughter Jane, who seems to have supernatural powers; she can use a dowsing rod to find water, has ESP, and can control the forces of nature. Despite all her powers, she is unable to read Cliff's mind and discover his plan to steal the Broderick farm out from under them. However, after Jane discovers what the stranger is up to, she invokes a vision in which Cliff is terrorized by the forces of nature and drowns in the river. Cliff, now shaken, vows to reform, and in the process save Clem's life when he is attacked by a bear.Criminals menace a blind girl who has connections with the supernatural.
- DirectorJulien DuvivierStarsEdward G. RobinsonCharles BoyerBarbara StanwyckAn anthology of three loosely connected occult tales, with ironic and romantic twists.Anthology of thrillers with a supernatural edge
- DirectorJohn RawlinsStarsPaul KellyConstance MooreWilliam LundiganA newspaper reporter, "Scoop" Hanlon "Paul Kelly", is required to spend time in a haunted house in which two murders are committed, several people faint and most of them drink a lot.Remake of "Secret of the Blue Room."
- DirectorHerbert BlachéStarsGladys WaltonMalcolm McGregorJohn St. PolisDr. Copin hypnotizes Joy Fielding, and she develops a split personality. She changes from an innocent, beautiful young lady into a cruel vamp, to the distress of her boyfriend."A hypnotist causes a woman to suffer from a split personality."
- DirectorFord BeebeRobert F. HillStarsBuster CrabbeJean RogersCharles MiddletonWhen a deadly Nitron ray strikes Earth, Flash Gordon and his friends travel to Mars to battle Ming the Merciless and his new ally Queen Azura.Feature edited from the 1938 serial Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars (1938).
- DirectorCurt SiodmakStarsJohn BromfieldBeverly GarlandTom PayneA doctor and an adventurer journey to the Amazon, where they encounter a man in a bizarre bird costume terrorizing the local indigenous population.Originally double billed with the Mole People.
- DirectorIrvin S. Yeaworth Jr.StarsWard RamseyKristina HansonPaul LukatherAfter undersea explosions near a Caribbean island, prehistoric creatures are unleashed on the population. A boy teams up with a Neanderthal and an irritated dinosaur try to stop the dinosaurs.
- DirectorJoseph PevneyStarsJames CagneyDorothy MaloneJane GreerThe life and career of vaudevillian and silent-screen horror star Lon Chaney, including his contentious relationship with his neurotic wife and his premature death.Universal honors its own original horror star with a biopic. Too bad the make-up is inferior to Chaney's actual work.
- DirectorRichard ThorpeStarsClaire DoddAlice WhiteOsgood PerkinsInspector Marotte, attending an auction of rare collectible books previously owned by the recently murdered M. Le Duc de Poisse, hopes he can catch his old nemesis Prahec, a murderer and book thief.Mystery set in a creepy house
- DirectorLowell ShermanStarsAlan MowbrayFlorine McKinneyPeggy ShannonAn eccentric scientist invents a ray that can turn people to stone. Then he invents one that can turn them back. He finds out that his stone-to-flesh ray can bring the museum's statues of Greek deities to life! Hilarity and hi-jinks ensue.Farcical fantasy by the author of Topper and Turnabout.
- DirectorAlan CroslandStarsEdmund LoweValerie HobsonWera EngelsBaron Leopold von Ragastein impersonates his noble lookalike Sir Everard Dominey at the vast Dominey Hall, where strange things are afoot in pre-WW1 England.Thriller with a ghost subplot.
- DirectorOtis GarrettStarsDonald WoodsNan GreyEdgar KennedyDishonest mine owner Nicholas Rood finds a Black Doll on his desk and knows that vengeance is about to overtake him for murdering his former partner. He is knifed as he talks to his daughter Marian. She summons her fiancé Nick Halstead, a private detective. He finds that six people had a motive for the murder: Rood's sister Mrs. Laura Leland; her son Rex; Rood's associates Mallison and Walling; Esteban, a servant; and Dr. Giddings. Sheriff Renick and his deputy Red get the clues all mixed up, but Nick finally narrows the search down to one suspect.Second in Universal's "Crime Club" anthology series has some supernatural overtones, specifically in a back doll with portends death.
- DirectorJoe MayStarsWilliam GarganIrene HerveyDorothy ArnoldA detective goes undercover as a producer to investigate an actor's murder, which occurred during the performance of a play. The actor's body disappeared shortly after the crime, and his ghost is rumored to be haunting the theater.Talkie remake of "The Last Warning;" not related to the 1945 Sherlock Holmes "House of Fear."
- DirectorCharles LamontStarsPeggy RyanJack OakieJune VincentA vaudeville performer returns from the dead to help his wife and daughter, who are being dominated by a greedy banker.Supernatural comedy in which a ventriloquist comes down from heaven to aid his family
- DirectorArthur LubinStarsMerle OberonTurhan BeyThomas GomezStoryteller Aesop tries to help loony King Croesus and manages to fall in love on the way.Costumer set in ancient Greece. Gale Sondergaard plays a sorceress.
- DirectorFord BeebeSaul A. GoodkindStarsBuster CrabbeConstance MooreJackie MoranA 20th Century pilot named Buck Rogers and his young friend Buddy Wade awake from 500 years in suspended animation to find that the world has been taken over by the outlaw army of Killer Kane.Feature edited from the 1939 Buck Rogers serial.
- DirectorFord BeebeSaul A. GoodkindStarsBuster CrabbeConstance MooreJackie MoranA 20th Century pilot named Buck Rogers and his young friend Buddy Wade awake from 500 years in suspended animation to find that the world has been taken over by the outlaw army of Killer Kane.Another feature edited from the 1939 Buck Rogers serial.
- DirectorFord BeebeSaul A. GoodkindStarsBuster CrabbeConstance MooreJackie MoranA 20th Century pilot named Buck Rogers and his young friend Buddy Wade awake from 500 years in suspended animation to find that the world has been taken over by the outlaw army of Killer Kane.Still another Buck Rogers movie edited from the 1939 serial, this time to cash in on the Star Wars craze.