Tod Browning

Sharp-dressed inspector Bela Lugosi arrives at a British estate in Calcutta to investigate a séance murder that may be linked to a prior killing.

Starts strong, with gangster Edward G. Robinson noticing crook Owen Moore’s presence in town. Robinson shakes down Moore, demanding half of any job he’s planning to pull. Robinson also takes an interest in Moore’s moll, played by Mary Nolan.

I first saw Dracula on TV. I don’t remember when, but I was still fishing prizes out of breakfast cereals and watching Saturday morning cartoons. I do remember loving the movie. Toys, costumes, books, and a lifelong interest followed. In the decades since, I’ve seen the film dozens of times.

Solid melodrama set in the boxing world. Ayres plays the titular Iron Man, a lightweight pugilist with a blind spot for opportunistic Harlow. Armstrong underplays a meaty role as Ayres’s manager.

Though shot with actual carnival performers, Freaks features no carnival performances. Instead, the film focuses on the self-contained world behind the scenes. We see performers celebrate a new baby, struggle through a bitter breakup, and find new romance. Director Todd Browning paints these characters as relatable, not idealized saints or sullen outcasts, just folks living their lives. We relate. Then Browning strikes.

When Sir Karell is discovered drained of blood and bearing puncture wounds in his neck, vampires are blamed. Lionel Barrymore plays an occult expert summoned to protect Sir Karell’s daughter who appears to be the vampire’s next target. Also, Bela Lugosi plays a Dracula-like character sporting an unexplained gunshot head wound whose only two lines come in the finale. Spoilers follow.

Lionel Barrymore escapes from Devil’s Island and disguises himself as an old woman to seek revenge on the men that framed him by shrinking them to doll-size.