Halloween Movies: Ten Vintage Selections

Vintage = Too old to be considered modern, but not old enough to be considered antique (According to the Urban Dictionary.)

Actually, it probably sounds better to describe these movies produced anywhere from the 1930s to the 1980s as vintage rather than old. They are derived from books or plays of that period and most of us probably read them in a school English class. Characteristics that these movies do possess, however, is that they make the viewer think as well as wait in suspense for plot resolution. No hit and run action or blood and gore.

Some of them might seem pretty silly and tame compared to more modern slasher / psychological horror films. But they are great to watch curled up with a bowl of popcorn and your favorite Halloween vintage candy.

Graphic adapted by G. A. Bramlage from Dover Publication

1. The Witches - Rolad Dahl (Book) - January 1st 1983
2. The Mists of Avalon - Marion Zimmer Bradley (Book Series) - 1983
3. The Turn of the Screw - 1898 - Henry James (novella)
4. Gaslight - 1941 - from Patrick Hamilton's play, Gas Light
5. Bell, Book and Candle - John Van Druten (play) - 1951
6. Arsenic and Old Lace (originally Bodies in the Cellar) - 1939 - Joseph Otto Kesselring (play)
7. Frankenstein - 1818 - Mary Shelley (novel)
8. Dracula - 1897 - Bram Stoker (novel)
9. Legend of Sleepy Hallow - 1820 - Washington Irving (short story) and
10. Masque of the Red Death -1842 - Edgar Allen Poe (short story)

A few years ago, I began showing movies once a month for a community group that had started out as a book review club. Most participants lost enthusiasm for reading and reporting on books, but liked to watch movies adapted from books. The search was on to find appropriate movies that began life as books - a lot of classics rose to the top of the list.

Now I choose and show movies to two groups of retirees - the remnants of the book club and those liking a once-a-week special. There are a few caveats for the films I choose:

• No promiscuous sex;
• No unnecessary or overly gory war scenes;
• no slashing or gore
• and
• always a happy ending...I made that promise!

My trip back into vintage films and my first film Hub of many starts with films of the 50s because these are the ones I remember the best. Now, I'm stretching my memory, as well as re-watching films of the 1940s and finding excellent ones adapted from books. There are not many award winners among my Hub selections. However, they are the ones I, or my audience, like the best. Please, let me know how you like the choices in this article, and in my other film articles.

Photo: LaSalle Theater, Cleveland, OH where my fascination with movies began. Cleveland, OH Landmark Commission

Two monsters ingrained in our Halloween frights and fears emerged from novels written in the 19th century.

Frankenstein, written by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, was the result of a competition among her three companions and Shelley during their time living in Switzerland. The first edition, published anonymously in 1918, and the second with Shelley as the author in 1823, produced a score of films, plays and TV shows, plus almost a dozen free adaptations of the plot.

Dracula is an 1897 Gothic horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker and while Stoker did not invent the vampire, he defined its modern form. This novel has also led to many film and play adaptations as well as television interpretations.

Prometheus was a Titan of Greek Mythology. He stole fire from the gods and gave it to humans. Zeus - father of gods and men - punished him severely until Hercules rescued him. In modern times Prometheus is a symbol of lonely and valiant resistance to authority.

Bram Stoker's Dracula led the current phase and craze for all things vampire. Stoker's story tells of Dracula's attempt to move from Transylvania to England. Dracula ultimately battles a small group of men and women led by Professor Abraham Van Helsing.

As a book, Stoker's novel was assigned to many genres: vampire literature, horror fiction, the gothic novel and invasion literature. Although Stoker may not have invented vampires, he certainly did format the modern one.