TCM Fest (Home Ed.): Mad Love

This is one sinister case of muscle memory. Much to his surprise, a recovering concert pianist suddenly finds he has a knack for throwing knives after the hands of a murderer are grafted onto his crushed arms. However, it is the deranged doctor who is the real danger to society. That stands to reason, since he was played by Peter Lorre making his American film debut in Karl Freund’s Mad Love, which airs as part of the TCM Classic Film Festival 2020 Home Edition, brought to you by the CCP, the WHO, and the viral outbreak they denied existed until it was too late.

Dr. Gogol loves diva actress Yvonne Orlac, but he is unaware she has already wed pianist Stephen Orlac, who has been away from Paris on an extended tour. Now that his return is imminent, she has announced her intention to retire from the stage. That prompts a lot of creepy behavior from Gogol, including buying her life-like statue from the city’s wax museum. Yet, suddenly he has the opportunity to be her hero when Orlac is the victim of a gruesome train derailment. Thanks to his brilliance, Gogol saves the day by (unbeknownst to them) transplanting the dexterous hands of an American killer freshly beheaded by the guillotine.

Of course, the rehab process is long and difficult, but Orlac is also rather unsettled by his hands’ apparent habit of tossing knives of their own accord, during moments of extreme stress. Gogol tries to be a decent chap about things, but his heartsickness eventually brings out the doctor’s dark side, spurring him to exploit his patients fragile state of mind.

Mad Love was produced by MGM rather than Universal, but it features three iconic actors of 1930s genre movies: Lorre (who needs no introduction), Colin Clive (who played Henry Frankenstein in the first two Frankenstein films), and Keye Luke (who had already started portraying Charlie Chan’s #1 son). Nevertheless, there is never any question this Lorre’s show from start to finish. He uses his entire M trick bag of bulging-eyed manic tics, but he still conveys Gogol’s acute pathos. Arguably, Gogol deserved better, but jealousy and obsession turned him into a monster.

TCM Fest (Home Ed.): The Creature from the Black Lagoon

It is the only classic Universal monster movie set entirely within Brazil—the Amazon to be exact. The Creature would stalk the Everglades during his two subsequent sequels, but an expedition of foolhardy scientists originally came to him. Since then, the Creature has become an icon of 1950s 3D sci-fi horror that even inspired a recent best picture Oscar winner (The Shape of Water was originally developed as a reboot). Grab some coxinha or some popcorn (if that’s the best you can do) and enjoy Jack Arnold’s The Creature from the Black Lagoon when it airs as part of the TCM Classic Film Festival 2020 Home Edition (because that’s where we all are).

Brazilian zoologist (or some kind of scientist) Dr. Carl Maia is so amazed by a fossil discovery, he rushes back to the Instituto de Biologia Maritima to secure funding for a proper excavation, leaving behind his two assistants. Make that his late assistants. Of course, the Yankee scientists are blown away by the weird webbed and clawed hand, so they immediately set off with Maia to investigate where it came from.

Dr. David Reed and his colleague Kay Lawrence are all about scientist (and each other), while their boss, Dr. Mark Williams is more interested in publicity. Williams also has a bad case of green-eyed jealousy, but he is nothing compared to the Creature, who becomes obsessed with Lawrence, in a King Kong kind of way. In fact, he might not let the Rita, their rickety hired river steamer, leave his remote inlet.

This is actually an opportune time to revisit the Black Lagoon, given the release of Mallory O’Meara’s book, The Lady from the Black Lagoon, giving Milicent Patrick long overdue credit for her Creature design work. In fact, the Creature still looks pretty darn cool, with his gills, scales, claws, and webbing. He really does look like he should be quick and lethal underwater.

Much like the classic Universal monsters that came before him, the Creature also has similar pathos. You can’t help feeling for the big guy. Admittedly, Black Lagoon is essentially a B-movie, but the cat-and-mouse game that unfolds is surprisingly effective. James C. Havens gets a credit for directing underwater sequences, but there is still a consistency of tone and nice, brisk pacing. Indeed, it might just be time for a Jack Arnold retro, considering it could also include Revenge of the Creature (the one co-starring Clint Eastwood), The Incredible Shrinking Man, the Oscar-nominated documentary short, With These Hands, and two vintage 1970s Fred Williamson films.

As we can tell from the short shorts, Richard Carlson was pretty fit portraying Reed (and presumably his political judgment was sound, since he was also starring in I Led 3 Lives at the time). It is also easy to see why Julia Adams remained a fan favorite scream queen for her turn as Lawrence, who was relatively proactive, at least by the standards of the time. Madrid-born Antonio Moreno, who played Dr. Maia is obviously not Brazilian, but Nestor Paiva, who plays Captain Lucas, was Portuguese-American, which was pretty close for Hollywood.