While the 1941 version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (with Spencer Tracy) is good, I've always preferred the earlier 1932 version with Fredric March. After years of being supressed (because MGM had bought the rights from Paramount for their 1941 remake and didn't want competition), and then shown only in a censored version, the film was finally fully restored several years ago. This is the version that TCM shows. And, BTW, I've read lots of "explanations" of how the Jekyll-to-Hyde transformations were achieved, and nobody gets it right! And yes, I know how they did them - it's actually quite obvious (though no less brilliant) if you study the film closely.

The Beast With Five Fingers (1946) was a lot of fun, but the ending was a bit of a letdown. I'm not going to give it away if anyone out there hasn't seen the film. Nothing quite beats the shots of a dismembered hand playing the piano (left hand only) in the middle of the night! Any film starring Peter Lorre is worth a look.

Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein is one of my all-time favorites. Even though the moving candle bit was re-used from Hold That Ghost, the film is still a classic. Great line: "Hey Chick - you know that person you said there's no such person? I think he's in there, in person!" In fact, just about every line is great!

The Vampire (1957). Not many people remember this one. It was always shown on TV as Mark of the Vampire, but should not be confused with the 1935 MGM film of the same title. This one starred John Beal as a small-town doctor who gets infected by a bat's bite and periodically changes into a Horrible Bloodsucking Fiend. This one used to turn up a lot on NYC television's Chiller Theater on WPIX in the early 1960s. Back in 1935, Beal had starred with Katharine Hepburn in The Little Minister. By the late '50s, he was reduced to appearing in low-budget stuff like this - but the film was still good for a few scary moments.

The Island of Lost Souls (1932): The House of Pain! First - and best - adaptation of H.G. Wells's The Island of Dr. Moreau. "What is the Law?" "Law no more!" (Hell, I turn an animal into a human being every time I shave...)

More later.

Signor V.

"For me, there's only my wife..."

"Sure I cook with wine - sometimes I even add it to the food!"

"When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies?"

"It was a grass harp... And we listened."

"Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it? Every, every minute?"

"No. Saints and poets, maybe... they do some."