La jena: L'uomo di mezzanotte

I first saw this film on a late-night horror program in my pre-teens. Back then it scared the living daylights out of me and started a life-long love of the work of Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. I'm pleased to say so many years on, it still has the power to grab me.

Admittedly, its dated in some ways. The obviously American actors trying to get their tongues around the Scottish-style dialogue is pretty laughable at times but the gothic atmosphere of RL Stevenson's book is captured admirably. The love-interest between Donald Fettes (Russell Wade) & Mrs Marsh (Rita Corday) seems like something that should've been developed properly or cut - it goes nowhere. The character of Meg Camden (Edith Atwater) is beautiful played but never given a chance to really fly. Likewise with Bela Lugosi's Joseph, but his big scene with Karloff is just great.

In this low-budget film, Val Lewton & Robert Wise still manage to pull out all the stops, using superb lighting (esp of Karloff's cadaverous face), echoing sound (Cabman Grey's horse "clip-clopping" on the cobblestones) and the wonderful scene where the cat sitting on the mantlepiece witnesses "Toddy" MacFarlane (the wonderfully imperious Henry Daniell) grappling with Karloff's Cabman Grey. All we see are macarbe shadows dancing on the wall. As with many great movies of the period & genre, its the implication of violence that makes us sit up and take notice. (For the last word in this technique, check out the shower scene from Hitchcock's Psycho).

Tame compared to contemporary horror but the final scene especially is still chilling after all these years.