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Erich von Stroheim Mystérieux BoxSet (1929-1946)

Posted By: Notsaint
Erich von Stroheim Mystérieux BoxSet (1929-1946)

Erich von Stroheim Mystérieux BoxSet [2012]
The Lady and the Monster (1944) / The Mask of Diijon (1946) / The Great Gabbo (1929) / The Crime of Doctor Crespi (1935)
2xDVD9 | VIDEO_TS | PAL | 4:3 | 720x576 | ~ 6500kbps | 6.9Gb + 7.1Gb
Audio: English AC3 2.0 @ 192 Kbps | Subtitles: French | Full time: 314 minutes
USA | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi, Mystery, Romance, Thriller

Artus Films of France has just released a phenomenal set of four Erich von Stroheim movies, "The Great Gabbo", "The Crime of Dr. Crespi", "The Mask of Diijon", and "The Lady and the Monster". All of them are in English, with removable French subs. The set is named "Erich von Stroheim Mystérieux".

* * * DISK 1 * * *


Erich von Stroheim Mystérieux BoxSet (1929-1946)

Erich von Stroheim Mystérieux BoxSet (1929-1946)

Erich von Stroheim Mystérieux BoxSet (1929-1946)


Erich von Stroheim Mystérieux BoxSet (1929-1946)

The Lady and the Monster (1944)
VIDEO_TS | PAL | 4:3 | 720x576 | 6700kbps
Audio: English AC3 2.0 @ 192 Kbps | Subtitles: French
01:26:00 | USA | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller

A millionaire's brain is preserved after his death, and telepathically begins to take control of those around him.

Director: George Sherman
Cast: Vera Ralston, Richard Arlen, Erich von Stroheim, Helen Vinson, Mary Nash, Sidney Blackmer, Janet Martin, William Henry, Charles Cane, Juanita Quigley, Josephine Dillon, Antonio Triana, Lola Montes, Lane Chandler, Wallis Clark, Herbert Clifton, Harry Depp, Maxine Doyle, Sam Flint, Frank Graham, Harry Hayden, Edward Keane, Tom London, Lee Phelps, Helen Talbot

Erich von Stroheim Mystérieux BoxSet (1929-1946)

Erich von Stroheim Mystérieux BoxSet (1929-1946)

Erich von Stroheim Mystérieux BoxSet (1929-1946)


IMDb

The Lady And The Monster is a misnomer of a title in that no other world or unearthly creatures will be found here. The monster in this film is the brain of a malignant and vicious millionaire who is killed in a plane crash and has his brain removed by scientist Erich Von Stroheim. Von Stroheim and his assistant Richard Arlen put the brain in a saline solution and keep it alive with electricity. Just the brain mind you, they're not reconstructing human beings as Dr. Frankenstein was.

But Walter Donovan was a real piece of work even for a miser. He's got his assets carefully hidden so that wife Helen Vinson and her lawyer Sidney Blackmer don't know where they are. And he's got a son in William Henry in prison who doesn't know he's Donovan's kid.

In fact everyone has an agenda here. Vera Hruba Ralston who is Von Stroheim's nurse wants Arlen. But Arlen is taken over by the brain which through Von Stroheim's experiments has developed tremendous telepathic powers and as it grows stronger controls Arlen more and more.

This film is the first one based on Curt Siodmark's novel Donovan's Brain. It's been remade twice since. In the version with Lew Ayres in Arlen's part, the brain has a truly ambitious plan for world domination with stock and currency manipulation. Here the brain is just working on settling some old scores.

Just the fact that Von Stroheim is cast as the evil scientist meant that audiences knew exactly what to expect when they bought their tickets. He's his usual hateful self as he always was except in Sunset Boulevard.

The Lady And The Monster is one of Republic Pictures better products from the Forties, a real nice low budget thriller. By the way take note of Mary Nash as Von Stroheim's housekeeper. She's the one who saves the world from Donovan's Brain.
~ bkoganbing

Erich von Stroheim Mystérieux BoxSet (1929-1946)

The Mask of Diijon (1946)
VIDEO_TS | PAL | 4:3 | 720x576 | 6900kbps
Audio: English AC3 2.0 @ 192 Kbps | Subtitles: French
01:13:00 | USA | Drama, Horror, Mystery, Romance, Thriller

A stage illusionist's comeback attempt results in his humiliation. He plots to revenge himself by hypnotizing people into committing murders for him.

Director: Lew Landers
Cast: Erich von Stroheim, Jeanne Bates, William Wright, Denise Vernac, Edward Van Sloan, Hope Landin, Mauritz Hugo, Shimen Ruskin, Antonio Filauri, George Chandler, Mickey Daniels, Roy Darmour, Robert Malcolm, Anthony Warde
Writing credits: Arthur St. Claire, Griffin Jay

Erich von Stroheim Mystérieux BoxSet (1929-1946)

Erich von Stroheim Mystérieux BoxSet (1929-1946)

Erich von Stroheim Mystérieux BoxSet (1929-1946)


IMDb

No one will ever accuse THE MASK OF DIIJON of being a landmark thriller/drama/noir/whatever. But this film deserves the honor of having the all-time greatest final 30 seconds in the history of cinema. To reveal its wonderful climactic secret would be to rob the viewer of easily the best moment in the whole film, so I will resist, but it's all more worth watching than one might think.

Erich Von Stroheim chews up every scene he is in, which is the bulk of the picture, and this is a good thing. Anyone who adored him as Max Von Mayerling in SUNSET BLVD. knows full well that there isn't really any such thing as a bad Stroheim performance. He even smiles and laughs - admittedly rather briefly - in THE MASK OF DIIJON.

And the film is, for all its faults in narrative, an inevitably fascinating ultra-cheapie. The very fact that Stroheim committed to the project at all raises eyebrows; he treats the whole picture as a gag and is arguably the only sparkling performer in the whole project, and must have known this. The very opening sequence shows his character reduced to peddling cheap carnival tricks (and in doing so, tricks the audience by creating a fake beginning to the film), so there had to be an air of self-consciousness here, considering that the main conceit of the film (the power of hypnosis) is entirely preposterous. And there are a handful of nice touches throughout, particularly an outlandish sequence where Stroheim hypnotizes a would-be robber and stops the crime cold.

It's all a sublimely ridiculous tale, never believable for a moment, and pure entertainment. And it has the greatest ending ever. Trust me.
~ Howard_B_Eale (Braintree, MA)

* * * DISK 2 * * *


Erich von Stroheim Mystérieux BoxSet (1929-1946)

Erich von Stroheim Mystérieux BoxSet (1929-1946)

Erich von Stroheim Mystérieux BoxSet (1929-1946)


Erich von Stroheim Mystérieux BoxSet (1929-1946)

The Great Gabbo (1929)
VIDEO_TS | PAL | 4:3 | 720x576 | 6800kbps
Audio: English AC3 2.0 @ 192 Kbps | Subtitles: French
00:59:00 | USA | Drama, Musical, Romance

An insanely, egocentric ventriloquist, even though he is possessed by his wooden dummy, is in love with a dancer who is in love with another. The dummy gives advice to the ventriloquist.

Directors: James Cruze, Erich von Stroheim
Cast: Erich von Stroheim, Betty Compson, Donald Douglas, Marjorie Kane, John F. Hamilton, Harry Ross, George Grandee, Marbeth Wright

Erich von Stroheim Mystérieux BoxSet (1929-1946)

Erich von Stroheim Mystérieux BoxSet (1929-1946)

Erich von Stroheim Mystérieux BoxSet (1929-1946)


IMDb

THE GREAT GABBO (Sono-Art, 1929), directed by James Cruze, adapted from the story "The Rival Dummy" by Ben Hecht, stars famed director and actor Erich Von Stroheim in his talkie debut as an egotistical ventriloquist named Gabbo, or should I say, THE GREAAAT GABBO. He not only performs on stage with his dummy, Otto, (Gabbo's better half) but talks to it in his dressing room, on the street and in restaurants, with the dummy himself talking back to him, especially when Gabbo is drinking water, eating or smoking a cigarette. He has an assistant named Mary (Betty Compson), with whom he constantly finds fault in her efforts. ("My coffee is too cold/ My coffee is too hot!" etc.) During one performance she accidentally stumbles and drops a tray, which infuriates him to criticize her action, causing her to walk out on him. As time passes, Gabbo increases his fame by becoming a featured headliner in the Manhattan Revue where Mary now performs as a singer and dancer along with her new partner named Frank (Donald Douglas). In spite that he is more conceited than ever, Gabbo decides he wants Mary back with him, but something happens that will cause Gabbo to go completely insane in a dramatic climax that disrupts the show.

Aside from long stretches of dialog and no underscoring, a common practice in early talkies, "The Great Gabbo," though not considered a musical, has its share of production numbers. What makes this 1929 movie stand out among other musicals at that time is that the orchestration during the stage numbers doesn't sound at all like the usual 1920s score but more-so something from the Ziegfeld Follies. The choreography, compliments by Maurice L. Kusell, unfortunately, does not have the creativity of a Busby Berkeley, for that mainly the girls on stage simply walk back and forth carrying umbrellas, do some dancing and ballet, but there are never any closeups and the camera seldom moves or intercuts, making some of the eight to ten minute production numbers appear to be a little longer than its time length. The tunes itself, however, aren't really bad to listen to, although none of them became popular on the Hit Parade. The opening credits listing mentions sequences in Multicolor, but the entire movie itself can be seen today only in black and white.

The songs (By Paul Titsworth, Lynn Cowan, Don McNamee and King Zany) from the existing film print include: "I'm Laughing" and "The Lollipop Song-Ickey" (both sung by Otto); "Every Now and Then" (sung by Marjorie Kane and Donald Douglas); "I'm in Love With You" (sung by Douglas and Betty Compson); "The New Step" (sung by Kane); "Caught in the Web of Love" (sung by Douglas and Compton/ chorus); "I'm in Love With You" (dance number); and a finale that includes a montage of dance numbers, including the cut number of "The Ga-Ga Bird" which is shown briefly. Of all the songs, only "Caught in the Web of Love" has a slow score, but a production number that sets Douglas and Compton as human spiders dancing in front of a giant spider web. "I'm in Love With You" is one of the better songs presented in the movie, that would be sometimes edited out from some TV prints. Marjorie "Babe" Kane (famous for her role as WC Fields' daughter in the comedy short THE DENTIST in 1932) supplies some comedy, songs and taps.

THE GREAT GABBO is Von Stroheim's show all the way, monocle and all, but not the voice that accompanies his dummy, Otto. In spite of slow spots, it's an interesting drama, original in theme and premise. One wonders if Rod Serling, host of TV's "The Twilight Zone" of the 1960s, had seen this movie, since there is an episode that I recall that involves a performer obsessed by his dummy and having conversations with it, for which the dummy runs and later ruins his life and career.

I last saw THE GREAT GABBO on Cable TV's The Nostalgia Channel in the early 1990s, and it used to be one of the movies shown on Public Television's SPROCKETS back in the early 1980s. This rarely seen antique, a real curio at best, can be found on video cassette through various distributors. For a best VHS or DVD print with clearer picture and sound quality, with restored opening and exit music (but minus the reported color sequences), the best recommendation is to obtain a copy from the KINO Video Company.
~ lugonian

Erich von Stroheim Mystérieux BoxSet (1929-1946)

The Crime of Doctor Crespi (1935)
VIDEO_TS | PAL | 4:3 | 720x576 | 6400kbps
Audio: English AC3 2.0 @ 192 Kbps | Subtitles: French
01:36:00 | USA | Crime, Horror, Mystery

A crazed scientist invents a serum that induces a catatonic state in whoever it is injected into. He uses the serum to paralyze his enemies, so that he can bury them alive.

Director: John H. Auer
Cast: Erich von Stroheim, Harriet Russell, Dwight Frye, Paul Guilfoyle, John Bohn, Geraldine Kay, Jean Brooks, Patsy Berlin, Joe Verdi, Dean Raymond

Erich von Stroheim Mystérieux BoxSet (1929-1946)

Erich von Stroheim Mystérieux BoxSet (1929-1946)

Erich von Stroheim Mystérieux BoxSet (1929-1946)


IMDb

Dr. Crespi has a festering hatred for Dr. Stephen Ross, the man who married his ex-sweetheart. Ross must undergo surgery and Crespi, sensing an opportunity, seizes it. Ross "appears" to die but Crespi has given him a drug that places the victim in a trance-like state, but leaves him in possession of his senses. Crespi attends the premature burial of his hated colleague. Dr. John Arnold has his suspicions and calls on Dr. Thomas to to help him. They exhume the body and find Ross alive, albeit now a terrified, ghostly figure given to stalking the hospital corridors.
~ Les Adams