PICTURE THIS: Poster artwork from The Black Cat (1934)

Click for a larger view. The Black Cat (c) 1934 Universal Pictures Company

A favourite film poster of mine, and a good example of where horror film advertising was at in the 1930's. A genuine original example sold for a whopping $286,800 in 2007. I wonder how much the artist (probably under contract at Universal) got paid for painting it? It's an incredibly striking work, befitting one of Universal's less celebrated, but certainly best chillers from their golden age. Released in the UK originally as The House Of Doom. Fortunately, its original title has now been reinstated.

PICTURE THIS: Lugosi & Browning, on the set of Mark Of The Vampire (1935)

Click the image for a larger view - Mark Of The Vampire (c) Turner Entertainment Co.

I'm a sucker for vintage on-set photos, and this is a particular favourite of mine. Bela Lugosi, in the role of Count Mora, is accompanied by Carol Borland as his daughter Luna. Director Tod Browning (in cap) is seated in front of the camera, with cinematographer James Wong Howe.

In the space of a few years, Lugosi would find himself trapped in the grind of poverty row studios like Monogram, a far cry from the cosseted environs of the MGM back lot where Mark Of The Vampire was made. At this stage, Browning hadn't directed in three years since the furore around his earlier Freaks (1932), and would retire altogether after 1939.

The film itself, a remake of the currently "lost" London After Midnight (1927), was enjoyable enough, if unfortunately copping-out by explaining away the film's supernatural events as an elaborate set up to catch a criminal. However, Borland's turn as Luna gave the gothic cinema one of its most enduring poster girls.

Click the image for a larger view - Mark Of The Vampire (c) Turner Entertainment Co.

As with most things discovered in my early years of horror fandom, I have Alan Frank to thank for introducing me to these images, through his books Horror Films (Hamlyn, 1977), and Movie Treasury: Monsters & Vampires (Octopus, 1976)