Hammer Horror Collection (Warner Bros)

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Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)

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General		Extras
Category	Horror	Main Menu Audio Listing-Cast & Crew Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	1957
Running Time	79:47
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Terence Fisher
Studio Distributor	Warner Home Video	Starring	Peter Cushing Hazel Court Robert Urquhart Christopher Lee
Case	Gatefold
RPI	Box	Music	James Bernard

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 1.0 (192Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 1.0 (192Kb/s) German Dolby Digital 1.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	Unknown	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English French German Swedish Danish Norwegian Greek Turkish Arabic English for the Hearing Impaired German for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    In 1949, a new production house came into being in England. It would build its reputation on quality budget films with a particular focus on the Horror genre. Still in existence today, it has been responsible for producing over two hundred films and television programs. Amongst these are some of my personal favourites, especially the early Quartermass films and in particular Quartermass And The Pit. They are also responsible for one of the most unusual horror combinations: The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires where Peter Cushing's character is hunting vampires (of course) in China and is ably assisted in this by a group of Kung Fu experts.

    In 1957 they produced what I believe was their first Frankenstein film, The Curse Of Frankenstein, with Peter Cushing playing Baron Victor Frankenstein and Christopher Lee as the creature. In this version of the story we focus on the character of Frankenstein with the monster almost taking a back seat. He is a truly driven man that will stop at nothing to achieve his goals, including murder. The creature does not engender the pathos that some other versions of the story sometimes do - he is a damaged and dangerous creature from start to finish. The traditional scene showing the creature's human side is completely missing.

    This is not to say that this is not an excellent interpretation of the story, simply a bit different from the others. The sets are fantastic with a real gothic feel to the Baron's residence. The monster looks good for the 50s and is more seriously done than some versions, particularly those with bolts in their necks. We have the usual mad scientists lab with flashing lights, test tubes and lots of air lines for bubbles. Dry ice is also in regular use.

    As a foil to the horror in the film there is also some sexuality supplied by Hazel Court as Elizabeth. Her costumes are very regal and sensuous with wide skirts and low cut tops. Robert Urquhart plays Paul Krempe, initially the young Frankenstein's tutor and later his assistant. He does not approve of the experiments that Frankenstein is performing and tries to stop them from going forward.

    This is the first of three discs that make up the new box set Hammer Horror Collection. In this set we have this film along with Horror Of Dracula and The Mummy, all late fifties Hammer Horror productions.

Video

    The film master used for this transfer is nothing short of miraculous and is in near-perfect condition. I have given films of far less age than this allowances for their age - this film requires no allowance at all. As far as film artefacts are concerned this film could have been made yesterday.

    There is, however, a strange artefact during the scene changes. This film uses fades to move from one scene to another. While the fade is progressing, the image and colours are slightly brighter than normal. When the transition completes, the brightness and colour saturation drop slightly. This is a little distracting. I must assume that this is in the source material as I cannot think of a mechanism where MPEG processing could introduce such an artefact. An example of this is the red liquid in the beaker on the bench in the lab at 9:19.

    The film is presented at 1.78:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.

    The only real problem with this transfer is related to the sharpness. In general, the image is only reasonably sharp with some scenes better than others. I suspect that the low bit rate and higher-than-normal compression used in this transfer has had an effect on the sharpness, or the sharpness has been reduced via a filter to prevent pixelization. On the other hand, the original image may be to blame - it is difficult to judge with only the final transfer being available for viewing. Moving objects or backgrounds during pans are even less sharp. Black levels are good as is the shadow detail. There is only the most minuscule amount of low level noise, only visible in some scenes with a mid grey background.

    Colours are very good with no noise present at all. Skins tones are good for most of the film though there is the occasional scene where they appear a little washed out.

    Other than the effect on the sharpness there are no real visible MPEG artefacts. With the low bitrate I distrusted my initial impressions and examined many scenes very closely. The only problem I could find was some very minor posterization in the background which is nearly invisible. An example is the grey bricks in the background at 21:23. The film master as mentioned is in near-perfect condition with almost invisible grain and no other film artefacts.

    The subtitles are easy to read and reasonably accurate to the dialogue.

    This is a single layered disc.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There are three soundtracks on this disc, all Dolby Digital 1.0. The first and default is English, with German and French the other two. I found the soundtrack a little bright and thin and as a personal preference prefer mono sound tracks in Dolby Digital 2.0, although I understand the wish to avoid the Hass effect with the same signal coming from two speakers.

    Dialogue quality is excellent as is the audio sync.

    The music is wonderfully creepy and suits the film very well.

    There is no surround nor subwoofer activity.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

Theatrical Trailer (2:16)

    Presented at 1.33:1 and 16x9 enhanced. The image is mail-slotted into the centre of the screen and accompanied by a Dolby Digital 1.0 soundtrack. The quality is not quite the same as the main feature with some grain visible and some brightness strobing present. It is the trailer you would expect from this era with the over-the-top voice-over and the creepy lettering appearing between scenes.

Cast and Crew

    A single page simply listing the cast and crew against a black and white image from the movie.

   While this box set has been released in the US, information on this release is extremely hard to come by. This film itself was also released separately from the set. That single release and the disc included in this set appear to be identical in content. Comparing reviews of the transfers of the single disc release would appear to be very similar, though the R1 might be a tad sharper overall, although I have not seen the R1 myself and cannot confirm this.

    I will call this an R4 winner unless further information comes to light as I really don't like NTSC 3:2 pulldown.

    I believe this to be one of the better versions of Frankenstein. A great cast has come together to tell the story in a character-driven way and it is truly creepy in parts. It is a great first film as part of this box set.

    The video is a little soft.

    The audio is a bit thin.

    Extras are a bit thin too.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Horror of Dracula (Dracula) (1958)

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General		Extras
Category	Horror	Main Menu Audio Listing-Cast & Crew Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	1958
Running Time	78:11
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Terence Fisher
Studio Distributor	Warner Home Video	Starring	Peter Cushing Christopher Lee Michael Gough Melissa Stribling Carol Marsh
Case	Gatefold
RPI	Box	Music	James Bernard

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 1.0 (192Kb/s) German Dolby Digital 1.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.75:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English French German Swedish Danish Norwegian Greek Turkish Arabic English for the Hearing Impaired German for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Horror of Dracula is the second disc in the Hammer Horror Collection box set. I think the story is much better than the Curse of Frankenstein but unfortunately the film master is not as well preserved. Nor is the transfer of the same standard.

    In 1897 Bram Stoker finished a novel that brought to the public attention the legend of the vampire. He chose Vlad Dracula as the central character for his novel. Dracula was a 15th century prince in Wallachia, a province of Romania bordered to the north by Transylvania and Moldavia. While Vlad was a brutal ruler also known as the Impaler, he had not previously been associated with the vampire legend. This novel was to change that forever. The name Dracula is now inextricably intertwined with the legend of the vampire. Apparently we have no idea why Stoker moved the home of Dracula north to Transylvania.

    The legend of the vampire comes from far far back in the earliest memories of man. Many cultures have a version of this legend. It has also become part of the modern myth, inspiring many movies, both horror and comedy, and even a musical. Recent series such as Buffy have taken the original legends in slightly different directions despite guest appearances by Dracula.

    In my opinion, this movie is one of the best versions of the legend on the silver screen. When I picture Dracula in my mind he has the face of Christopher Lee and the man trying to drive the stake into his heart will always be Peter Cushing. This is a wonderfully compact story with all the correct elements in the right places; wonderful acting, and a truly creepy feeling at the right moments. A little bit of gore and a gradual building of the tension lead to a galloping ending that is very satisfying. We begin with a friend of Doctor Van Helsing (Peter Cushing), Jonathan Harker, travelling to Transylvania to take on the evil vampire in his own home. While he fails to nail, or stake Dracula, he does manage to kill Dracula's female companion. Driven by revenge, Dracula comes to England to find Jonathan's fiancée. When mysterious things start happening, Doctor Van Helsing is called in to help. The two antagonists play a game of cat and mouse as Helsing tries to track down the daytime lair of Dracula.

    The sets are particularly good in this film - Dracula's main entrance and hall is a wonderfully gothic creation. I particularly like the tall obelisk at the bottom of the stairs. The costumes are also great which, considering that Hammer Studios worked on a tight budget, is proof that you don't need a big budget to make a great film.

Video

    Presented at 1.78:1 and 16x9 enhanced, IMDB reports this film as having a theatrical aspect ratio of 1.75:1 so this is close.

    Unfortunately, the image is quite soft throughout the film, both in the foreground and more so in the background. Movement causes a further loss of resolution such as the overcoat at 2:47. Another example is the scarf at 59:43 which almost becomes transparent. Black levels are good as is the shadow detail, but there is a large amount of low level noise generated by the grain. There are a couple of funny artefacts where part of a scene suddenly becomes brighter for a single frame and then returns to normal which gives the appearance of a blue flash bulb illuminating part of a scene. This can be seen at 22:11 and again at 22:17.

    The colours are somewhat affected by the low level noise and grain but do have good levels of saturation. Flesh tones move from the warm to the cold, and not just for Dracula.

    MPEG artefacts are restricted mostly to the background and appear as constant slight pixelization and posterization. An example can be seen at 7:38. There is also some posterization in the foreground such as in the face at 59:44 and 59:48. There is some aliasing present. An example can be seen in the window shutters at 60:46. There are a number of white flecks and other film artefacts and of course the previously mentioned grain.

    There are a number of subtitles including English and English for the Hearing Impaired. Both are easy to read and accurate to the on-screen dialogue.

    This is a single layered disc.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    Like the audio on the first disc in this set, the audio here is a little thin. Other than that there are no problems.

    There are two audio soundtracks on this disc, both Dolby Digital 1.0. The first is English and the second German.

    The music is described at one point in the English for the Hearing Impaired subtitles as 'Ominous Instrumental music', and so it is. This is a wonderful soundtrack that works with the on-screen action to create a perfect atmosphere for watching this film.

    Of course, being a mono soundtrack, there is no surround activity nor subwoofer activity.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

Theatrical Trailer (2:14)

    Presented at 1.78:1 and accompanied by a Dolby Digital 1.0 soundtrack, the trailer is in worse condition than the main feature. The grain is worse as are the other film artefacts. The audio is also recorded at a higher level than the main feature.

Cast and Crew

    A single static page with the cast and crew listed.

    While this box set has been released in the US, information on this release is extremely hard to come by. The movie has also been released by itself. The content is identical although reports on the transfer give it a better rating than I have. The box set appears to be available in England under the title of "Hammer Horror Originals" and again the transfer is reportedly slightly better, although it is likely that they are identical transfers to the R4 ones.

    While mild by today's standards, there is a small amount of gore in this film - (SPOILER ALERT: highlight with mouse to read) some red blood welling up around the stake as it is driven home - rendered in wonderful rich Technicolor. Dracula's taste in necks and the attached women leans to the voluptuous and the costumes show this to best advantage.

    The video is a bit disappointing.

    The audio lacks depth but is good for its era.

    The extras are also disappointing.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

The Mummy (1959)

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General		Extras
Category	Horror	Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	1959
Running Time	84:16
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Terence Fisher
Studio Distributor	Warner Home Video	Starring	Peter Cushing Christopher Lee Yvonne Furneaux Eddie Byrne Felix Aylmer
Case	Gatefold
RPI	Box	Music	Franz Reizenstein

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 1.0 (192Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 1.0 (192Kb/s) German Dolby Digital 1.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.66:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English French German Swedish Danish Greek Turkish Arabic English for the Hearing Impaired German for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    The Western world's fascination with ancient Egypt has given rise to a great number of movies, stretching from the earliest silent films like Cleopatra (1899), through Abbott And Costello Meet The Mummy, to the latest action adventure offerings including the excellent series Stargate. For a look at the incredible number of movies and other material that has been spawned, take a look at this page at the American University in Cairo: http://www.aucegypt.edu/academic/anth/anth400/mummy_movies.htm .

    Included in this number is of course this film, produced in 1959. As I have watched each of the previous films in this box set I have been aware of the history of the story on which they are based - Frankenstein and Dracula both arose from books. As I watched The Mummy, I realised that I knew nothing about the origin of the story. From what I can find out it would appear that the basis for the story may be the death of Lord Carnarvon seven weeks after opening the Tomb of Tutankhamen. At the time, the discovery of the tomb was headline news across the globe. A novelist of the time, Mari Corelli, warned of dire consequences for anyone who entered the tomb and Conan Doyle announced that Carnarvon's death could have been the result of the mummy's curse. Although this event popularised the curse it did not originate with this story - the original story seems to have come from an English novelist, Jane Loudon Webb in the 1820s after she viewed a bizarre striptease act in which mummies were unwrapped in a show near London's Piccadilly Circus. The concept of vengeful mummies was further refined in the story Lost in a Pyramid: The Mummy's Curse by Louisa May Alcott, the author of Little Women.

    This is the second movie in which Christopher Lee plays a non-speaking part. Both as Frankenstein and as the mummy, his face is covered and only his eyes are natural. As I watched the film I became aware of the fact that Lee is a brilliant mime - you can tell exactly what his character is feeling. To do this with only body language and his eyes is the mark of a true genius. While the other main actors do credible jobs they are particularly overshadowed by Lee's performance in The Mummy.

    We spend a credible amount of time during the film in ancient Egypt setting up the back story surrounding the Mummy. These scenes are a little cheesy by today's standards but still fun to watch.

    The story starts with the opening of the tomb of Princess Ananka. The archaeologists are excited to find that the tomb has not been opened since ancient times. What they do not realise is that the tomb is guarded by a curse...the curse of the mummy. In ancient times, the head of the priests, Kharis, was in love with Princess Ananka. This was a forbidden love, and when she died he attempted to bring her back to life with an ancient ritual. He was caught in the act and as punishment is buried alive in the tomb to act as her guardian for all time. When the tomb is opened, the mummy is released to act out his vengeance.

Video

    The transfer is presented at 1.78:1 and is 16x9 enhanced. The original aspect ratio appears to be 1.66:1 so we are close but not quite right.

    The sharpness is still lacking even if it is an improvement over Dracula. Unfortunately, the black level and in particular the shadow detail is sadly lacking in this transfer. As many scenes are shot in dark surroundings, this lack is particularly noticeable. Overall, the contrast is down a little and some scenes look a little drab. There is a small amount of low level noise present. This noise can be seen clearly in the sky at 14:07.

    Colours are good and are relatively free of noise although there is some posterization present in the backgrounds.

    MPEG artefacts are restricted to background posterization as seen at 65:22 in the background and in many other scenes. The transfer is free of aliasing or telecine wobble. There are a fair number of film artefacts present, both small and large. A particularly large one can be seen at 64:19 as an example. Grain is present in reasonable quantities.

    Both the English and English for Hearing Impaired subtitles are easy to read and accurate to the spoken word as well as offering up descriptions of explosions and other audio effects in the Hearing Impaired track.

    This is a single layered disc.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio quality remains the same as the previous two discs - somewhat thin and bright but perfectly serviceable.

    Dialogue quality is excellent throughout, as is the audio sync.

    The music was somewhat more in the background for this film with only the occasional swelling of creepy music to help the mood.

    There was no surround nor subwoofer activity.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

    A static menu presented at 1.78:1 and 16x9 enhanced with no audio. Again I think they have taken a close-up of a section of the original movie poster for use as the backdrop.

Theatrical Trailer (2:18)

    Also presented at 1.78:1 and 16x9 enhanced but displayed with a black border around the entire image reducing its overall size while maintaining the approximate aspect ratio. It is accompanied by a Dolby Digital 1.0 soundtrack that has the dramatic voice-over that all these trailers seem to have. The quality is down a bit from the main feature with more grain and film artefacts and some brightness variations.

    As noted in the other reviews, the box set is available in R1 but I cannot locate any reviews of the material. I have to assume, though, that in all likelihood the transfers are the same as in the single releases. Again I found a review of the single release and the video and audio quality seem similar. Overall with the three films I would probably go for the Region 4 version. Some of the dolly pans in these films are shaky enough without the introduction of 3:2 pulldown problems.

    Considering the times in which it was made and its limited budget, this is a very entertaining film. I cannot say that any scene really gave me the chills other than one scene for which this film was famous in its day (I won't spoil the surprise). Peter Cushing was not as interesting in this film as he is in his vampire hunting roles but he is still not bad.

    The video is not bad for its age.

    The audio is showing its age.

    The extras are lacking.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall