THE GHOST GOES WEST / Denham Studios - 1935

Last Friday I posted THE SMILING GHOST, well today, THE GHOST GOES WEST and goes like this... An American businessman's family convinces him to buy a Scottish castle, disassemble it and ship it to America, brick by brick, where it will be put it back together!! But, the castle isn't the only part of the deal, it comes with the several-hundred year old ghost who haunts it.

Look at this beautiful title card, nice!.. Robert Donat was a popular actor in England, he worked up to his death in 1958 at age 53. Hitchcock attempted to get Robert for three roles, SABOTAGE (1936), SECRET AGENT (1936) and REBECCA (1940), but illness, commitments, and more illness kept him from accepting them. Elsa Lanchester also has a role.

After a brief setup from the past, we head to the year 1935...

The castle, which is for sale, is visited by American Peggy Martin, she's there to buy the place for her father who has big plans for it.

Peggy tries to sit down in a chair but the thing has a broken leg! This is a pretty wild looking still I captured as she tries to catch her balance!

Here's Robert as Donald Glourie, ancestor of the ghost, Murdoch Glourie. He hears the ghost's voice and cannot find where it's coming from. Of course, Robert plays both roles...

On the cruise to America, with the castle in the hold, Murdoch decides to mingle with the passengers, especially the pretty ones!

It's a freakin' insane ticker tape parade for the incoming Brits. Man, that's damn crazy, wouldn't want to be part of the cleanup crew!!

Check out this scene using a miniature set of New York City, a lot of work for a 10 second shot!

The Ghost appears at the warehouse where the pieces of the castle are being stored. About fifteen dudes show up and shoot at him a hundred times before they run away, because, he's a scary old GHOST!!

After the castle is rebuilt, Murdoch appears again to cause havoc with his entrance. The butler gets to show off his comedy chops as he reacts to the turmoil!

Murdoch shows himself and everyone is amazed. He has a few words about the transition.

He singles out Mr. Martin, the new owner of his castle. He has some demands that he wants to make perfectly clear, and, Mr. Martin complies after being chased around by the Ghost.

Then, Murdoch disappears forever before giving his blessing to Donald, and, we gots a happy ending... Tune in tomorrow for a very special treat!

OVER A 100 YEARS OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE VARIATIONS!

"Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde" was written by Robert Lewis Stevenson and published in 1886. In the upcoming years after that, the movie making business was just getting started, and the strange story of Dr. Jekyll was a popular subject. As far as I can tell, the first filmed version of "Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde"was in 1908 starring Hobart Bosworth! It was followed by more films in 1910 with Alwin Neuß in the lead role, 1912 starring James Cruze, and in 1913, two versions, one with King Baggot as the star, and one with Murdock MacQuarrie as the good Doctor with a split personality! What a bunch of household names today! Makes it real clear how fickle fame really is! But the ongoing tales of Dr. Jekyll didn't really get going until.....

 .......this version came out starring Johnny Barrymore in 1920!

The 1931 version starring Frederick March was a monsterpiece!
Who or what was the greatest monster of all time in the movies? Here are the choices, and you have to consider the variations like "Son of..." and "Cousin of....," Frankenstein, Dracula and/or any vampire variation, a Lycanthrope, a Mummified person, somebody Invisible, or the Doctor with a severe disorder when he drinks too much?
I think Dr. Jekyll is right up there at the top of the list!

I'm not going to attempt to list all the Dr. Jekyll movies, but here's a group of interesting variations I have compiled. This 1941 version starring Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman, and Lana Turner, probably had the most star power of them all!

So in 1951, Dr. Jekyll managed to have a son. Happy Mother's Day!

In 1953, Abbott and  Costello met "Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde," as they had previously with Frankenstein and The Invisible Man, and after this, they would also meet The Mummy!

 In 1957 it was revealed that Dr. Jekyll not only had a son, but a daughter too!

Hammer Studios came out with a comic variation called THE UGLY DUCKLING in 1959!
Just for the record, this movie is impossible to find today as far as I can tell in any way, shape, or form!

 Also in 1959, Jean Renoir's "Le Testament Du Docteur Cordelier" aka "THE DOCTOR'S HORRIBLE EXPERIMENT came out, and it might be the last serious version for quite a while!

  The nerdy Jerry Lewis Dr. Jekyll turns into rico suave Mr. Hyde in the 1963 version called "The Nutty Professor" (which was remade in itself in the 1996 Eddie Murphy version)!

In 1964, influenced by bad grades and nicotine, The Bitsko Brothers filmed their short version in 8 millimeter! Seen by only a handful of people, all footage is lost forever!

 

 

More family woes, first the brother, then the daughter, and now the sister! "Dr. Jekyll And Sister Hyde" escaped from the loony bin in 1971!

This one gets both a poster and a lobby card because Martine Beswick is in it!

 

 Let no angle be unturned, in 1976, they came out with "Dr. Black and Mr. Hyde" starring Bernie Casey! Killer Poster from Thailand I think!

 DOTTOR JEKYLL E GENTILE SIGNORA (Doctor Jekyll Likes Them Hot) was directed by Steno, and came out in 1979! Edwige Fenech has all the angles in this one!

 DR. HECKLE and MR. HYPE (1980)

I've never seen this one, and I'm not really sure I want to, even though I'm a huge Oliver Reed fan!

I mean it is supposed to be "Horribly Hilarious!"

There have been many many many more versions made over the years like this 1995 comedy, many Warner Brothers cartoons, TV shows as varied as Dobie Gillis, The Dukes Of Hazard, and The Partridge Family, and why not? "Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde" is a classic tale of the inner struggles of good and bad and dark and light! It's pretty freakin' simple, and until deemed politically incorrect, will continue until there are only two people left, and then they get into a fight!

INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS / Solofilm - 1978

Here's the first remake of the classic movie from 1956. In San Francisco, a group of people discover their friends are being replaced one by one, with clones devoid of human emotion...

The wild little flick stars Donald (DR. TERROR'S HOUSE OF HORRORS) Sutherland, Brooke (SHOCK WAVES) Adams, Jeff (THE FLY) Goldblum, Veronica (ALIEN) Cartwright and Leonard (THE BRAIN EATERS) Nimoy.

Here are our pals, Elizabeth, Matthew and Jack, as they try and figure out why some of their friends are acting a little strange.

I threw in this shot because it's just funny!

Then, Jack has a weird experience when a deformed body in his likeness is found near him. And, he needs to take a little nap...

Here's a big pod giving birth to an unformed human body, just waiting to get its host to sleep!

Leonard Nimoy shows up as Dr. Kibner, he seems to be the head honcho when it comes to putting people to sleep. Here, he's ready to shoot up Matthew and Elizabeth with something to make them groggy.

They throw in this guard dog with a human face for some stupid reason... What the Hell!!

Matthew watches as pods are being delivered overseas, things are getting out of control.

Then, the worst happens, Elizabeth falls asleep and sheds her old skin for some new pod flesh. And, she runs around naked as she chases Matthew back to town.

Matthew discovers the pod nursery and decides to sabotage the works. He takes an ax and cuts all the ropes holding up the lights which starts the whole place on fire!

And, the pods go up in flames and bleed out their unearthly ooze!

Now, is this a cool shot of Matthew running away from the building or what?!

Anyway, Matthew exposes himself when his still human friend Nancy approaches him. He gives out that unearthly screech to bring attention to her, game over, man! We're back Wednesday with even more, from, The Dungeon!!