The Undying Monster (John Brahm, 1942) [RePoPo]

******************************************************************************* The Undying Monster (John Brahm, 1942) ******************************************************************************* Type..................: Movie Container file........: MKV Audio Languages.......: English 2.0 (Mono, Untouched) Subtitles Ripped......: Spanish Subtitles in Subpack..: French, Spanish Aspect Ratio..........: 1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio.: 1.37:1 Color.................: B/W Source................: NTSC DVD Genre.................: Sci/Fi IMDb Rating...........: 5.8 Movie Information.....: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035489/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- One of two 20th Century-Fox horror melodramas released in 1942 (Dr. Renault's Secret was the second), The Undying Monster is a well-crafted variation on Universal's "Wolf Man" series. Ever since the suicide of its patriarch, the Hammonds, an old and wealthy English family has seemingly lived under a curse. When a number of murders occur on the Hammond estate, Scotland Yard inspector Bob Curtis (James Ellison) and his garrulous female assistant Christy (Heather Thatcher) are sent out to investigate. Everyone on the premises-Helga Hammond (Heather Angel), her brother Oliver (John Howard), family doctor Geoffrey Covert (Bramwell Fletcher), family servants Mr. and Mrs. Walton (Halliwell Hobbes and Eily Malyon)-seems to know more than he or she is letting on. Only in the final few minutes of the film is the horrible family secret revealed and the murderer dispensed with. Atmospherically directed by John Brahm on several impressive standing sets (that gigantic stained-glass window is a knockout!), The Undying Monster is a model "B" picture, hampered only by Heather Thatcher's intrusive comedy relief. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CAST James Ellison - Bob Curtis Heather Angel - Helga Hammond John Howard - Oliver Hammond Bramwell Fletcher - Dr. Geoffrey Covert Heather Thatcher - Christy Aubrey Mather - Inspector Craig Halliwell Hobbes - Walton Eily Malyon - Mrs. Walton Heather Wilde - Millie Charles McGraw - Stredwick Alec Craig - Will Holmes Herbert - Constable Clive Morgan - Foster David Thursby - Miles McGregor Donald Stuart - Charles Clagpool John Rogers - Tom Clagpool Matthew Boulton - Coroner CREW John Brahm - Director Bryan Foy - Producer Lillie Hayward - Screenwriter Michel Jacoby - Screenwriter Jessie Douglas Kerruish - Book Author Lucien Ballard - Cinematographer Emil Newman - Composer (Music Score) David Raksin - Composer (Music Score) Harry Reynolds - Editor Lewis H. Creber - Art Director Richard Day - Art Director ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- REVIEWS by Eric Donovan In The Undying Monster, a wealthy but cursed family is plagued by an ancestor believed to have sold his soul centuries ago to the devil (or so the legend goes). This monster now attacks people who wander the woods alone on moonlit nights. Creating the template for British crime procedurals for generations to come, a sardonic and weathered detective (James Ellison) agrees to help a brazen and skeptical heiress (played by cult icon Heather Angel) to get to the bottom of the curse while a twitchy, doomsayer butler warns them all of the grave, unspeakable things the curse has wrought. The film effectively maintains an atmosphere of dread despite scenes with Victorian-era DNA testing and the sudden realization that the empty sarcophagus in the basement might be a clue. And under the claustrophobic lens of Lucien Ballard (The House on Telegraph Hill, The Wild Bunch), the family's sweeping mansion begins to feel like a gothic prison. DVD extras include "Concerto Macabre: The Films of John Brahm," a 15-minute retrospective of director's work, trailer, advertising images and an overview of the box set's restoration process. Some IMDB review Enjoyed taping this film recently, which was shown during the early hours of the AM. It is a great picture from the 1940's and director John Brahm, who also directed such film greats as, "Hangover Square",'45 and "The Lodger",'44, starring Laid Cregar. Twentieth Century-Fox produced this film which is from a good novel taken from Jessie Douglas Kerruish's 1936 book. It is a tale of a family cursed since the Crusades and is rather moody stuff, quite spoilt by the British censor's scissors. Not only did he remove the carefully photographed final metamorphosis, leaving audiences to wonder why the dim thing that the police shot should suddenly look like John Howard, but he also insisted on the title being changed to The Hammond Mystery. Fortunately enough of Brahm's brilliance was devoted to less shocking sequences so that most of his mood remained. Lucien Ballard swung his camera round as ancient room, alighting on odd objects at each dour bong of midnight. He also showed a large stain glass window which made the old homestead very creapy. The phrase: When the stars are bright on a frosty night, Beware the baying in the rocky lane" You will have to see the picture to find out what the MONSTER REALLY IS ! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- the first time I saw this horror classic was on TV in the 1950s and it really scared me particularly the ending when the monsters face is shown as it appears on the side of the rocks .And I couldn't sleep that night because I kept seeing the monsters face.And after for several years of searching for it I went to a movie show in New York City and found it and of course purchased it.And have watched it several times over the past years .And indeed enjoyed it even more.And the entire cast from john Howard heather angel James Ellison halliwell Hobbes and the rest all did a spectacular job.And the spooky music and foggy sets added to the creepies of the movie .Excellent Movie Classic ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MEDIAINFO REPORT General Format : Matroska File size : 1.03 GiB Duration : 1h 3mn Overall bit rate : 2 329 Kbps Encoded date : UTC 2009-02-07 13:04:42 Writing application : mkvmerge v2.2.0 ('Turn It On Again') built on Mar 4 2008 12:58:26 Writing library : libebml v0.7.7 + libmatroska v0.8.1 Video Format : AVC Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec Format profile : [email protected] /* */ Format settings, CABAC : Yes Format settings, ReFrames : 3 frames Muxing mode : Container profile=[email protected] /* */ Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC Duration : 1h 2mn Bit rate : 2 035 Kbps Nominal bit rate : 2 134 Kbps Width : 640 pixels Height : 464 pixels Display aspect ratio : 1.379 Frame rate : 23.976 fps Resolution : 24 bits Colorimetry : 4:2:0 Scan type : Progressive Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.300 Title : The Undying Monster Writing library : x264 core 58 svn-736bm Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=1 / deblock=1:-2:-1 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=5 / brdo=0 / mixed_ref=0 / me_range=8 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=0 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / chroma_qp_offset=0 / threads=2 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / mbaff=0 / bframes=16 / b_pyramid=1 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / wpredb=1 / bime=0 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40(pre) / rc=2pass / bitrate=2134 / ratetol=1.0 / rceq='blurCplx^(1- qComp)' / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ip_ratio=1.40 / pb_ratio=1.30 Audio Format : AC-3 Format/Info : Audio Coding 3 Codec ID : A_AC3 Duration : 1h 3mn Bit rate mode : Constant Bit rate : 192 Kbps Channel(s) : 2 channels Channel positions : L R Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz Title : English 2.0 (Mono) Language : English Text Format : UTF-8 Codec ID : S_TEXT/UTF8 Codec ID/Info : UTF-8 Plain Text Title : Español Language : Spanish ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE NOTICE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is intended to be played on a PC or a HTPC. If it works on your standalone player, good for you. You can always convert it to a regular DVD using tools as ConvertXtoDVD. Size has been calculated in order to get the optimum PQ without oversizing the file, hence the irregular size of the file (not the usual 700Mb/1.4Gb rip). A rate of Bits/(Pixel*Frame) around 0.3 is perfect, above that point, picture quality becomes virtually the same to the original source. Check you have installed the right codecs, as listed in this .nfo file, before trying to play it. VLC will play this file without having to install any codec. If you don't like the codec(s), container, resolution, file size, languages or any technical aspect on this rip, keep it to yourself and if you're able, go and do your own. Serious feedback on quality will always be welcome. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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spen007 (2009-02-16)

Just a quick note here..... having been born in NY c. 1951, I remember most of the 50s scifi films you have on these pages. The picture & sound quality of the films I have already downloaded are fantastic. Congratulations my new friend.... what a pleasure it is and a change to download these gems. Just a shame I can´t get my hands on a few Zacherly TV shows. Again... thanks! Your new friend in Rio, Spence