11:35 p.m.) was Richard Stapley as the ruf- fian Denis de Beaulieu. “I was there like at seven o’clock in the morning and I finished in the last shot [at 11:35], so it was a long day,” he tells the authors. “My first day at the studio and I had to do that scene where I fight [Charles Horvath] in the tavern and leap up and catch the chandelier and swing right across the room. It wasn’t an easy scene, particularly for a first day.” Stapley continues,

Charles Laughton came onto the set and was introduced to me, and just sort of grunted. And was really...I’d almost call him obnoxious. A couple of people said, “My God, he’s difficult....” He probably sort of felt that The Strange Door was a little bit beneath him. “He wants to see you prove yourself,” somebody said. Anyway, I wasn’t very comfortable. But he was Definitely not a book of the month—is this one being read by very impressed with what I did, so he Charles Laughton, Richard Stapley, and Sally Forrest between scenes of Universal-International’s The Strange Door. sort of became more friendly gradually. Courtesy of Ronald V. Borst/Hollywood Movie Posters Courtesy of Ronald V. of that song in this drama of the 1700s, as what The Strange Door might have been like if Stage 18 was home for cast and crew it’s actually a 1939 composition that became made at Hollywood’s Horror Factory in the the next day as Chateau Entrance Hall one of the hits of Edith Piaf! ’30s. (Imagine an in-his-prime Lugosi in the and Library scenes were shot. On the 17th, Universal Horrors fans have been slow role of the mad nobleman!) more work was done on the Hall and Li- to notice that Sackheim’s script mixes the Strange Door shooting commenced on brary sets and then the Dining Room set. Stevenson story with the plot of Universal’s Tuesday, May 15, with scenes set in Le Lion An unexpected surprise occurred that day The Raven: A man (Bela Lugosi in The Raven, Rouge (Stage 7) and on Universal’s Euro- when Stapley finally revealed that he had Laughton in The Strange Door) wants to pean Street (Exterior Tavern and Streets). sustained several slight injuries two days “tear torture out of himself” by taking it out Involved in the day’s shooting from start earlier in the tavern fight. He was treated in on a young girl. In both movies, Karloff, as (first shot: 9:40 a.m.) to finish (last shot: the studio hospital for a wrenched right foot the villain’s unwilling henchman, has a loyalty to the girl, which makes his char- acter sympathetic to the audience. The Courtesy of John McElwee/Greenbriar Picture Shows respective arch-villains first detain the By Tom Weaver THE STRANGE DOOR: PART TWO assigned movies in those days, and they told girl’s father in the torture chambers be- and Steve Kronenberg me, ‘This is what you’re gonna do.’ I’d do low their homes, then put the girl and her Production three or four pictures a year, when I started. boyfriend in a room with crushing walls. The long-awaited sequel to Universal The film was first announced as The But as I stayed with the studio and people Karloff, coming to their rescue, stands up Horrors: The Studio’s Classic Films, 1931- Door, which remained its title throughout got to know me (I was there for nine years, to the villain, with the result that the two 1946, originally announced in Monsters production. In the director’s chair was which I think was unheard-of in those days), fight. The innocents are freed by Karloff, from the Vault #15, Universal Terrors: 39-year-old Joseph Pevney, who began his I was able to turn things down.” who succumbs to injuries sustained in his The 1950s is now nearing completion, with showbiz career in 1924 as a boy soprano on When Sackheim’s script The Door was battle, and the villain is crushed to death Steve Kronenberg supplying the movie-by- the vaudeville circuit in his native New York submitted to the Breen Office, they warned by his own torture device. As an aside movie analyses and Tom Weaver finishing City. Roles on Broadway followed, then mar- that the tavern women must not be sugges- to this plot comparison: In 1938 when the interview and production information riage to former child star Mitzi Green, his tive of prostitutes; objected to a scene of men Universal was preparing to get back into research chores. The authors intend to 1946 movie debut in producer Joan Harri- slapping a girl on the rump; and advised the the business of making horror flicks, one submit the manuscript to McFarland & son’s Nocturne (a whodunit in which it turns moviemakers to be careful with the scene in of the first ideas floated was a remake of Company later this year with an early out that Pevney dunit), additional roles in which Denis fondles the girl: “His action in The Raven, again pairing Boris and Bela 2011 publication date anticipated. In the films noir, and in 1950 his directing bow ‘apparently approaching a sensitive zone’ is but with “a fresh angle” (The Hollywood meantime, they have provided Monsters (the crime melodrama Shakedown). Early unacceptable.” Also provided to the censors Reporter, September 17, 1938). This is noth- from the Vault with a condensed version in his Universal directing career, Pevney were the English lyrics to “I Don’t Know the ing but sheer speculation, but could the of the book’s first chapter, an up-close look specialized in action pictures, including the Ending Yet” aka “Je N’en Connais Pas La fresh angle have been the incorporation of at the 1951 Gothic chiller The Strange highly successful prizefight story Iron Man Fin” (music by Marguerite Monnat, lyrics Stevenson’s story? Could The Strange Door Door with Charles Laughton and Boris (1951), which makes him seem an offbeat by Raymond Asso), at the end of which we be the 1938 The Raven, finally coming to the Karloff. Even in its abridged form, their choice for The Strange Door. “I don’t know hear a singer (Claudia Jordon) sing in French screen more than a decade later? It’s food Loyal Voltan (Karloff) keeps dungeon prisoner excerpt had to run as a two-parter. why I did The Strange Door,” he admitted to in Le Lion Rouge in the opening scene. for thought for allegiant Universal Hor- Edmond de Maletroit (Paul Cavanagh) up to –Jim Clatterbaugh the authors. “I was a new director and I was Musicologists might smile at the inclusion rors fans, who may enjoy idly envisioning speed on events in the chateau above. Courtesy of Ronald V. Borst/Hollywood Movie Posters Courtesy of Ronald V.

48 MONSTERS FROM THE VAULT #27 SPRING 2010 49