Review: Columbia Horror
Blu-ray: Columbia Horror (1932-1944)
Over the years it has been my pleasure to review the Indicator box set releases of ‘Columbia Noir’, so I was excited to get stuck into a ‘Columbia Horror’ box set, containing 6 movies which I’d never seen before:
- Behind the Mask (1932)
- Black Moon (1934)
- Air Hawks (1935)
- Island of Doomed Men (1940)
- Cry of the Werewolf (1944)
- The Soul of a Monster (1944)
First of all I have to say that there is a reason the Universal horror movies are better known than those of the studios rival Columbia…mostly because Universal actually made horror movies, whereas, going from the 6 on display here, Columbia had a hard time putting any horror into their movies.
While all 6 are decent enough (but far from great) they still dragged despite their short running times, none of them particularly striking me as being a horror movie apart from the title and a few tenuous plot lines that never really go anywhere.
When the word ‘werewolf’ is in the title, I want to see a werewolf (no matter how bad the make-up effects may be) and not watch a real canine trotting about the movie sets. ‘The Soul of a Monster’ has no physical monster rambling around, just a good man that has now been inhabited by the soul of one…true to the title I guess!
The highlight for me was Peter Lorre in ‘Island of Doomed Men’, playing a despicable character who smokes so many cigarettes I’m surprised he never set his remote island hideaway on fire.
None of the movies were especially memorable and often left me thinking “get on with it”, which is never a good sign.
With the lack of ‘Volume 1’ being on the box, I’m assuming there are not a lot of Columbia “horror” movies to be pulled from the archives, which may be a good thing if these are anything to go by.
There are the usual plethora of special features, which hopefully will peak my interest more than the actual movies did.
Hopefully you find them more enjoyable than I did.
INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION 3 x BLU-RAY BOX SET SPECIAL FEATURES
BEHIND THE MASK / BLACK MOON
- High Definition remasters of Behind the Mask and Black Moon
- Tinted and black-and-white presentations of Black Moon
- Original mono audio
- Audio commentary on Behind the Maskwith filmmaker and film historian Daniel Kremer (2024)
- Audio commentary on Black Moon with critics and authors Stephen Jones and Kim Newman (2024)
- A Gentleman of Leisure (2024, 11 mins): author and academic Sheldon Hall assesses the career of Jack Holt, the forgotten star of Behind the Mask and Black Moon
- The BEHP Interview with Constance Cummings (1997, 69 mins): archival audio recording, made as part of the British Entertainment History Project, of the Behind the Mask actor in conversation with Roy Fowler
- Behind the Mask image gallery
- Black Moon image gallery
- New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- World premiere of Behind the Mask on Blu-ray
- UK premiere of Black Moon on Blu-ray
AIR HAWKS / ISLAND OF DOOMED MEN
- High Definition remasters of Air Hawksand Island of Doomed Men
- Original mono audio
- Audio commentary on Air Hawks with film historian Jeremy Arnold (2024)
- Audio commentary on Island of Doomed Men with film historians Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson (2024)
- Darkness of the Morbid Brain (2024, 17 mins): Jonathan Rigby, author of American Gothic: Six Decades of Classic Horror Cinema, looks at the life and career of the iconic performer Peter Lorre
- New York to Berlin in Twenty-Six Hours(1933, 2 mins): newsreel footage of aviator Wiley Post, who plays himself in Air Hawks
- Air Hawks image gallery
- Island of Doomed Men image gallery
- New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- World premiere of Air Hawks on Blu-ray
- UK premiere of Island of Doomed Men on Blu-ray
CRY OF THE WEREWOLF / THE SOUL OF A MONSTER
- High Definition remasters of Cry of the Werewolf and The Soul of a Monster
- Original mono audio
- Audio commentary on Cry of the Werewolf with academic and curator Eloise Ross (2024)
- Audio commentary on The Soul of a Monster with critics and authors Stephen Jones and Kim Newman (2024)
- Casting Shadows (2024, 21 mins): archivist Tom Vincent provides an overview of the award-winning career of prolific cinematographer Burnett Guffey
- Don’t Kill Your Friends (1943, 14 mins): World War II short film featuring Cry of the Werewolf star Nina Foch
- Cry of the Werewolf image gallery
- The Soul of a Monster image gallery
- New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- World premieres on Blu-ray
- Limited edition exclusive 100-page book with new essays by Bethan Roberts, Ellen Wright, Sergio Angelini, Paul Duane, Tim Snelson, and Jeff Billington; archival profiles of actors Boris Karloff, Fay Wray, and Rochelle Hudson; archival reports on the death of Air Hawks actor Wiley Post; extracts from Cry of the Werewolf’s pressbook; an examination of actor Rose Hobart’s blacklisting; new writing on Don’t Kill Your Friends; and film credits
- Limited edition box set of 6,000 individually numbered units for the UK
Review by Dave from discs kindly supplied by Powerhouse Films.
