An Aging Broad with a Scrapbook: 1940s

This post is part of a new series I'm calling Stale Crumbs, a collection of posts I've written months or years ago that have never been published. Hopefully, they won't be as unpalatable as actual stale crumbs. Of course, it's entirely possible the Stale Crumbs series may end up going nowhere, that my posts on The Dunwich Horror, Psych-Out, and Mystery of the Wax Museum, among others, may continue to lurk in draft form. I always have the best intentions to get back into blogging and then something suddenly comes up.

The following post was written back in January 2023.

My absence from blogging during this year's Season of Horror may have led my dwindling readership to ponder whether the Aging Broad may have made it to the final curtain. Good news, everyone! I'm still here. Despite not finding time to write, the Season of Horror came. Somehow or other, it came just the same. Here are a few highlights from this year's viewing:

I started off by diving into an exploration of the many movies based on the Mexican folktale of La Llorona.

The Curse of La Llorona (2019)
I saw The Conjuring and this felt like more of the same with La Llorona as the featured malevolent spirit. It had some scary elements that ended up being less effective since I'd seen them before. Meh.

The Legend of La Llorona (2022)
This movie didn't make much sense, was poorly written and, for the most part, terribly acted. I should have listened to other reviewers who said the same thing. There were a few parts that made me laugh, though that was not the intention, and my misplaced amusement did not make up for the WTF feeling I had through the rest of the film.

"Vaya con dios, Maria."

La Llorona (2019)
This retelling does not adhere strictly to the traditional legend and focuses more on the Mal hombre who wronged La Llorona. Interesting and well done. Unsettling more than scary. It is the best of all versions I watched.

La Llorona (1933)
This version seemed more of a mystery than horror. It covers two of the folklore origins which makes for a long digression, but also gives it a greater sense of authenticity. I enjoy it mostly for the period in which it was made, which makes it my favorite version of the tale thus far.

La Llorona (1960)
I enjoyed this retelling, though it was rather frustrating that La Llorona was reluctant to carry out her curse in the end. She may have had the best wail of all the Lloronas. "Ay! Mis hijooooooos!"

Next, I revisited some movies featured in the '80s Horror Collection on the Criterion Channel.

Near Dark (1987)
I've seen a lot of vampire movies. For the time, this was a novel take and is still enjoyable to watch.

Christine (1983)
I have not seen this since the '80s. As with many movies based on King novels, the book is better. Quite a bit is lost in the screen adaptation.

After that, I got sidetracked by Noirvember before returning to some classic horror.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters (1956)
I watched this on Thanksgiving. It's a great movie that the whole family can enjoy, especially Raymond Burr fans. I do enjoy him, but the constant voiceover does detract.

Gojira (1954)
Of course, I had to follow up with the original Godzilla, which is much more enjoyable without the incessant narration. It's interesting to revisit this well known movie monster from childhood and wonder how it became such a beloved monster. Son of Godzilla may have been a factor.

The Devil Bat (1940)
Now this was a real humdinger! Bela Lugosi engineers a giant bat that kills anyone wearing a special aftershave he formulated in order to exact revenge on his greedy employers who have enriched themselves from his work while he remains a poor mad scientist. This bat has a wail that could rival La Llorona. It's an absolutely ludicrous movie that entertains nonetheless.

Somehow I missed out on my usual 70s horror fare this season. That will have to be remedied during the next Season of Horror.

I first watched this movie in 2017 and would have been interested in watching it for the cast alone, even if I hadn't already seen the film that inspired it.

#33 The Long Night

Joe Adams, a former soldier, has shot a man, and then refuses to open the door to the police, instead shooting at them through the door. They run away to seek reinforcements, allowing Joe time to reflect on the circumstances that led up to him becoming a murderer. We learn he is a working stiff with a sandblasting job that's damaging his health, who falls in love with a cute, young girl, who's been taken in by charming creep, Maximillian. After Joe catches her sneaking around to see Maximillian perform, he takes up with Maximillian's former assistant for a no strings relationship. Joe and JoAnn finally decide they love each other enough to commit to one another, but Maximillian isn't having it, and he confronts Joe in a way that isn't very smart. JoAnn mounts a last ditch attempt to save Joe.

"A murderer. A killer. Thought I was all through with killing. Had no use for it. Hated it. Maybe even more than you. Well, here I am. You ever see a killer before? I've seen plenty. And plenty killed. Lots of murderers around. All kinds of them. And lots of ways of getting killed. Everybody kills a little bit, quiet like. With nobody knowing it."

This movie is definitely worth watching, but of the two films, I think it's fair to say that Le jour se lève is a superior movie. Henry Fonda has a lot more dialogue to explain what's going on inside his head, taking away some of the imagination required, and Barbara Bel Geddes, in her first screen role, narrates an extended sequence explaining thoroughly her relationship with Maximillian. Vincent Price is as entertaining as ever, hamming it up in the role of charlatan, and Ann Dvorak is comparable to Arletty, though she maintained a safe distance from Henry Fonda in the bedroom scene, lest we think there was a possibility that they were doing more than drinking beer and snacking on pretzels. The Hollywood ending is less powerful than the punch-in-the-gut ending of the French version. The sets in this film have the same visual style as the French version, which makes it interesting to compare the two.