Search Results for Public Domain Movies

Boris Karloff: Enduring Screen Icon

Before Willem Dafoe and Anthony Hopkins, Boris Karloff was the go-to character actor when it came to portraying all facets of the seedier side of humanity.

In Universal Studios’ The Mummy (1932), Boris Karloff plays an Egyptian named Imhotep who is revived after 2,700 years of slumber when an archeologist’s assistant reads aloud the hieroglyphics of a cursed scroll. Some version of this story has been regurgitated onscreen nearly every decade since, but the title character has never been performed with Boris Karloff’s astonishing pathos, grace, and intensity. These represent merely a fraction of the attributes that make Karloff an abiding legend of the silver screen.

The Mummy’s loony premise doesn’t seem to faze him as an actor; he enunciates his dialogue with the same focused severity required to play King Lear. Lines like “My love has lasted longer than the temples of our gods” might elicit overacting from lesser

Why Betty Boop Still Tickles Our Fancy

Before Willem Dafoe and Anthony Hopkins, Boris Karloff was the go-to character actor when it came to portraying all facets of the seedier side of hum

In Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988), private detective Eddie Valiant is slumped at a table at the Ink and Paint Club, awaiting suspect Jessica Rabbit’s performance,

when a voice calls from off-screen, “Cigars? Cigarettes?” With just two words in that warbling baby voice, Eddie knows who the cigarette girl is before he sees her: Betty Boop.

“What are you doing here?” Eddie asks Betty. The 1930’s star is out of place in the 1947 film noir setting.

“Work’s been kinda slow since cartoons went to color,” Betty bashfully rolls her shoulders.

Betty Boop in fact starred in one color cartoon, Poor Cinderella of 1934. That it was Fleischer Studios’ first foray into color speaks to Betty’s popularity. Poor Cinderella boasts lovely painted

Bela Lugosi: Enduring Screen Icon

Whether one views him as an iconic master of the macabre or a troubled performer who never got the attention he deserved, Bela Lugosi’s name still rings bells — typically large ones, perched atop the spire of a weathered Gothic castle.

Born Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó in 1882 to a middle-class family in Lugos, Austria-Hungary, Lugosi dropped out of school at age twelve to pursue his dream of becoming a thespian. For the next two decades, Lugosi traveled throughout the continent and beyond, acting in stage productions and early silent films before eventually ending up in America, where he landed a career-making role in the 1927 Broadway production of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Though the quality of Lugosi’s artistic output waxed and waned in the thirty years that followed, his on-screen image remained largely tethered to the aesthetics of Count Dracula. Nevertheless, Lugosi boasts a diverse filmography peppered with pictures ranging

TV series hosted by Boris Karloff

Anthology series hosted by Boris Karloff that originally told ordinary tales of crime and mystery, but later became a showcase for gothic horror stories, many of which were based on works by authors such as Cornell Woolrich, Robert Bloch and Charlotte Armstrong.

Filmed on location in India, The Hindu is an outgrowth of the “Gunga Ram” episodes originally seen on TV’s Smilin’ Ed’s Gang (later known as Andy’s Gang). Nino Marcel stars as adventurous young mahout Gunga Ram, with Vito Scotti (of all people!) as his timorous sidekick. Top billing is bestowed upon Boris Karloff as the irascible general of the Maharajah of Bakore (Lou Krugman). Though Karloff behaves in a surly fashion, the film’s real villain is Victor Jory, as head of a deadly fire-worshipping cult. At the behest of British regent Reginald Denny, Gunga Ram does his best to put an end to Jory’s cult for good and all. Also on hand as the cult’s high priestess is June Foray, better known for her voiceover work on such cartoon series as Rocky and His Friends and George of the Jungle. Despite its lumpy continuity, The Hindu is fairly entertaining, especially for the many TV fans [...]

Mr. Wong investigates deaths caused by an ancient curse which was released when an important archaeological find is uncovered. Luke’s first starring role (replacing Boris Karloff) marks the end of the Mr. Wong series. Dir. Phil Rosen

Superheroes and Comic Book Characters

Before Marvel and DC Comics were the most trusted revenue generators in franchise filmmaking, superheroes had a long and storied history on the silver screen.

Here is a list of heroes who all made their first big screen appearances as the subjects of their own serials, a popular cinematic form of the late ‘30s and early ‘40s in which a story was told in weekly segments, typically over the course of 12 episodes or so.

Most of these heroes shortly found their way from the serial format into feature-length films and then eventually into television series. These icons have a way of growing with the times, which is why we still know them today and can still catch them on big screens across the nation.

Flash Gordon (1936-55)

As some of the most technically proficient and visually captivating live-action serials of this period, it is easy to imagine a young

Famous Public Domain Movies and Famous Remakes

Certain stories simply demand to be told again and again and again. Though cinema has hardly moved into its second century, there are certain stories, characters, concepts, and ideas that we just can’t leave behind. It’s why so many movies are remade and rebooted.

Furthermore, a selection of these original properties have entered into the public domain. In this list, we’ll examine a selection of the most famous public domain movies and the remakes they inspired.

Phantom of the Opera (1925)

We’ll start with the Phantom of the Opera, a classic example of a story told and retold over the decades. From the original book by Gaston Leroux, audiences have been treated to dozens of films, television series, children’s books, and – perhaps most famously – Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical. One of the most important, however, is the 1925 silent movie starring Lon Chaney as the titular Phantom.