Hope Diamond

Pretty, isn't it? This is the Hope Diamond, also called the Tavernier Blue, a 45 carat cut diamond from India. But despite its beauty, it has a dark and sinister past.

According to legend, the diamond was cursed after being allegedly stolen from an Indian temple (the origin varies from story to story). The following owners of the diamond all met rather sticky ends:

Jacques Colet - suicide
Prince Ivan Kanitovski - killed by Russian revolutionaries
Mlle Ladue - murdered by her lover
Simon Mencharides - thrown from a precipice along with his wife and child
Abu Sabir - tortured in prison
Kulub Bey - hanged
Hehver Agha - hanged
Jean-Baptiste Tavernier - torn to pieces by wild dogs in Constantinople
Nicholas Fouquet - died in prison
Princess de Lamballe - torn to pieces by a French mob
William Fals - died bankrupt
Hendrik Fals - suicide
Francis Deaulieu - died in misery

Unfortunately, as romantic and exciting as this sounds, it seems that the "curse" was made up by the media in order to sell newspapers and enhance the mystique of the diamonds. In each case, the supposed victims fall into one of three categories: 1) they never existed, 2) there is no evidence they ever owned the diamond or 3) there is no evidence they died in the way described by the "curse". The earliest mention of the curse is from a newspaper in New Zealand in 1888. It's likely that this is where the story started. The diamond is currently being housed in the Smithsonian which, so far, has not encountered any ill fortune.

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Universal's Monster Mash Movies (1943-2004)

By the 1940s, Universal Studios were not performing well. They couldn't compete with epic, ground breaking colour films like MGM's The Wizard of Oz (1939) and Gone With The Wind (1939) or Warner Bros.' The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). Then World War II hit and many actors and crew members were drafted and money and resources were limited. To save money and hoping to make quick cash, Universal pitted their most famous monsters together in a series of films that declined in quality with each successive outing - until a breakthrough comedy duo arrived on the scene and introduced us to the subgenre of comedy-horror.

We start off with a one-on-one battle between Frankenstein's Monster and the Wolf Man in this 1943 movie directed by Roy William Neil and based on a screenplay by Kurt Siodmak. Who will claim the first victory?

Plot: A pair of grave robbers break into Lawrence Talbot's (Lon Chaney, Jr.) tomb to steal his valuables. In the process, they remove the wolfsbane that was buried with him, causing his dead body to transform into a werewolf and go on a rampage (I have no idea how that is even possible). When he returns to normal, he decides to see Dr. Frankenstein, in the hopes that the doctor has found a cure to his lycanthropism. While searching for the doctor, he bumps into Frankenstein's Monster (Béla Lugosi) who is about as useful as a water bucket made of paper. Talbot then finds the doctor's daughter Elsa (Ilona Massey) and Dr. Mannering (Patric Knowles) who agree to help Talbot...but Dr. Mannering seems to be more interested in the Monster.

My thoughts: This is a weak movie. Not well thought out. The first half of the movie which focuses on Talbot trying to track down Frankenstein is well made but once he finds the monster, it loses focus and becomes a generic mad scientist story complete with angry mob. Oh, and the fight scene doesn't happen until the last 10 minutes of the movie and consists of the Wolf Man jumping on the Monster and the Monster flailing his arms around. Chaney's performance is the only good thing about this movie. Lugosi was the worst. He was just awkward and due to an editing error, audiences were not informed that the character was still blind after the events of Ghost of Frankenstein and he had all of his dialogue cut (which is why in some scenes you can see Lugosi's mouth moving but not hear anything).

Well, adding the Wolf Man and Frankenstein's monster didn't quite work, what could Universal do next? Add Dracula to the mix of course! What we got was the 1944 movie House of Frankenstein (not to be confused with a 1997 film with the same name) directed by Earle C. Kenton and written by Edward T. Lowe, Jr. and Curt Siodmak.

Plot: Not sure it has one but bear with me. Dr. Gustav Niemann (Boris Karloff) has escaped from prison and wants revenge on the men who put him away. Helping him is his hunchbacked assistant Daniel (J. Carroll Naish) whom Dr. Niemann promises to give a new body to. Along the way they murder a travelling showman Professor Lampini (George Zucco) who just happens to have Dracula's (John Carradine) corpse. Dr. Niemann revives Dracula and orders him to kill Burgermeister Hussman (Sig Ruman). This plan works but they get caught and chased away (and Dr. Niemann kills Dracula, the asshole). They end up at Frankenstein's Castle where they encounter Frankenstein's monster (Glenn Strange) and the Wolf Man (Lon Chaney, Jr.) and proceed to revive the Monster. Oh, and there's a love triangle between the hunchback, a gypsy girl (Elena Verdugo) and the Wolf Man.

My thoughts: The best way to summarise is this film is with the phrase "too many cooks spoil the broth". There is so much going on it's hard to keep track of the plot. Instead of having a couple of well-thought out plot elements, Universal decided to stick as many of them in as possible and hope for the best. Watch it if you're curious, otherwise don't bother.

After House of Frankenstein performed poorly at the box office, Universal decided to make one last effort at a serious horror movie with 1945's House of Dracula, directed by Erle C. Kenton and written by Edward T. Lowe, Jr.

Plot: Count Dracula (John Carradine) asks Dr. Edelmann (Onslow Stevens) to cure his vampirism. Edelmann agrees and begins a series of blood transfusions with the count (quite how that's meant to cure it, I have no idea). Coincidently, that very same night Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.) turns up at Edelmann's door asking to be cured of his lycanthropy. Unable to be helped immediately, Talbot throws himself off a cliff but miraculously survives. At the foot of the cliff, Talbot and Edelmann find (surprise, surprise) Frankenstein's monster and brings it back to the castle. Also in the cave they find some magical plants that will cure Talbot. Meanwhile, the blood transfusions with Count Dracula go awry when Dracula decides he doesn't want to be destroyed anymore and instead his blood...somehow turns Edelmann into a Mr. Hyde character who slowly goes nuts? Sure, why not?

My thoughts: Better than House of Frankenstein but it still suffers from the problem of there being too much going on for a movie that's only about an hour long. Not much more to say really.

By 1948, interest in Universal's horror franchises plummeted. Comedy became the big thing. And so Universal decided to combine the two together in the first of five horror comedies to feature Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, directed by Charles Barton and written by Robert Lees, Frederic I. Rinaldo and John Grant.

Plot: Wilbur Gray (Lou Costello) and Chick Young (Bud Abbott) are two railway clerks who are tasked with delivering a special shipment to Mr. McDougal (Frank Ferguson), owner of a Circus of Horrors. The shipment in question turns out to be the coffin of Dracula (Béla Lugosi) and Frankenstein's Monster (Glenn Strange). When the two monsters wake up and leave, Mr. McDougal believes Gray and Young have stolen them and have them arrested. They are then bailed out by a mysterious woman Joan (Jane Randolph) and find themselves in Dracula's castle with Wilbur's girlfriend Sandra (Leonore Aubert). Then, of course, the Wolf Man (Lon Chaney, Jr.) shows up to complete the party.

My thoughts: Good film. If you are a fan of Scooby-Doo you'll enjoy this as a lot of the horror-comedy elements in this inspired the classic 1960s cartoon. It paved the way for many more, successful horror-comedies to come.

It would be 56 years before Universal decided to put their classic monsters in the same film: the Wolf Man, Dracula and Frankenstein's Monster (still no love for the Mummy but he had his own set of films instead), directed and written by Stephen Sommers in 2004.

Plot: Basically, Dracula wants to bring his children back to life by using the energy of the Frankenstein's Monster and the Wolf Man. That's about it. Oh, and there's something about a family curse.

My thoughts: Meh. This is a good example of a movie that looks flashy and good but doesn't have much in the way of story or character development. If you have some time to kill go for it.

Next, we will be defiling ancient tombs and resurrecting dead princesses!

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