SKELTON KNAGGS?

Once seen in close-up (or even in a medium shot) SKELTON KNAGGS (1911-1955), born Skelton Barnaby Knaggs, with his outsized head, large eyes, and prominent ears, is seldom forgotten by filmgoers - and for two decades, from the mid-1930s until his death in 1955, directors loved to use Skelton Knaggs to dress a horror set, or establish a menacing mood in a thriller with his mere presence in a shot.



Haven't you seen House of Dracula (1945)? This was the last of the Universal horror classics of the forties, excepting only Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948). House of Dracula features John Carradine as Dracula, Glenn Strange as Frankenstein's monster, a mad scientist, various lab assistants and rampaging villagers, and Lon Chaney as the Wolf Man, who finally gets cured of lycanthrope for a couple of years until he ran into Abbott and Costello in 1948. It's better than the usual multi-monster pics, but not up to the great scary films of the 30s. Worth seeing.

Watch this and then see these other four films.


Dick Tracy Vs. Cueball (1946)
Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome (1947) Based on the Chester Gould comic strip. Pretty good B-pictures. Gruesome was played by Karloff.
Bedlam (1946) One of the great Val Lewton produced horror classics turned out by RKO in the early 40s. Stars Boris Karloff. Highly recommended. Set in London's infamous lunatic asylum of the 18th century, from which it gets the title.
Terror by Night (1946) One of the last few Basil Rathbone-Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes pictures.


*Contributed by: "Mark Orr" Date: Sun, May 6 2001 / 20:08:52 PST