Abstract
Although Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney Jr are seen as the key horror stars of the 1940s, along with lesser figures such as Lionel Atwill and George Zucco, the period was one in which the horror film was not limited to the low-budget productions of Universal, Columbia and others but, on the contrary, one in which many horror films were “dressed in full Class ‘A’ paraphernalia, including million dollar budgets and big name casts” (Stanley, 1944: X3). Consequently, a number of romantic male leads became closely associated with the genre — stars such as Ray Milland, Joseph Cotton, Cary Grant and George Sanders. If these stars are hardly remembered in this way today, this is largely because many of their key horror films are no longer associated with the genre, although they were understood as horror films at the time of their original release. For example, the figure of the gangster and the spy were no strangers to the horror film during the 1940s, and many films that would commonly be understood as thrillers today were clearly seen as horror films at the time (Jancovich, 2009b).
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
A.W. (1944), “At the Gotham.” New York Times, 23 October, 14.
A.W. (1946), “A Scandal in Paris.” New York Times, 16 September, 9.
B.C. (1939), “At the Rialto.” New York Times, 19 July, 23.
B.C. (1940), “The House of the Seven Gables.” New York Times, 15 April, 21.
B.R.C. (1937), “At the Rivoli.” New York Times, 4 November, 29.
B.R.C. (1939), “Beau Geste.” New York Times, 3 August, 15.
Brosnan, J. (1976), The Horror People. London: Macdonald and Jane’s.
Cameron, K. (1945), “‘Lost Weekend’ Daring Film of Drunk’s Orgy.” New York Daily News, 2 December 1945; reprinted in New York Motion Picture Critics’ Reviews 1945, New York: Critics’ Theatre Reviews, Inc., p. 90.
Char. (1945), “Film Reviews.” Variety, 7 March, 20.
Crowther, B. (1939), “Everything Happens at Night.” New York Times, 16 December, 12.
Crowther, B. (1940a), “Arise My Love.” New York Times, 17 October, 33.
Crowther, B. (1940b), “The Doctor Takes a Wife.” New York Times, 15 June, 12.
Crowther, B. (1940c), “Irene.” New York Times, 24 May, 23.
Crowther, B. (1940d), “Foreign Correspondent.” New York Times, 28 August, 15.
Crowther, B. (1941a), “’skylark,’ Lively Comedy Which Takes of from Triangle, at the Paramount.” New York Times, 20 November, 39.
Crowther, B. (1941b), “Citizen Kane.” New York Times, 2 May, 25.
Crowther, B. (1941c), “Suspicion.” New York Times, 21 November, 23.
Crowther, B. (1941d), “Man Hunt.” New York Times, 14 July, 20.
Crowther, B. (1941e), “ ‘The Saint,’ Relaxes.” New York Times, 31 January, 15.
Crowther, B. (1941f), “A Date with the Falcon.” New York Times, 25 November, 33.
Crowther, B. (1941g), “Rage in Heaven.” New York Times, 21 March, 19.
Crowther, B. (1942a), “ ‘The Lady Has Plans,’ Opens at the Paramount.” New York Times, 5 May, 27.
Crowther, B. (1942b), “‘The Talk of the Town,’ a Smart Comedy, Starring Cary Grant, Ronald Colman, Jean Arthur, Arrives at the Music Hall.” New York Times, 28 August, 22.
Crowther, B. (1942c), “‘Once Upon a Honeymoon,’ with Ginger Rogers, Cary Grant, Opens at Music Hall.” New York Times, 13 November, 28.
Crowther, B. (1942d), “ ‘Her Cardboard Lover,’ Remade by Metro Studio, with Norma Shearer and Robert Taylor, Presented at the Capitol.” New York Times, 17 July, 19.
Crowther, B. (1942e), “Murder by the Books.” New York Times, 22 December, 31.
Crowther, B. (1943a), “’ shadow of a Doubt,’ a Thriller, with Teresa Wright, Joseph Cotton, at Rivoli.” New York Times, 13 January, 18.
Crowther, B. (1943b), “ ‘This Land of Is Mine,’ A Moving Drama about Freedom, with Maureen O’Hara and Charles Laughton, Opens at the Rivoli.” New York Times, 28 May, 19.
Crowther, B. (1944a), “Whooooooo!” New York Times, 21 February, 19.
Crowther, B. (1944b), “ ‘Gaslight,’ Adapted from Play ‘Angel Street,’ at Capitol.” New York Times, 5 May, 17.
Crowther, B. (1944c), “’ since You Went Away,’ a Film of Wartime Domestic Life with Claudette Colbert and Others, Opens at the Capitol.” New York Times, 21 July, 16.
Crowther, B. (1944d), “ ‘Arsenic and Old Lace,’ with Cary Grant, in Premier at the Strand.” New York Times, 2 September, 17.
Crowther, B. (1944e), “ ‘Destination Tokyo,’ a Highly Eventful Submarine Drama, with Cary Grant and John Garfield, Opens at the Strand.” New York Times, 1 January, 9.
Crowther, B. (1944f), “‘None but the Lonely Heart,’ in Which Cary Grant and Ethel Barrymore Star, at Palace.” New York Times, 18 November, 16.
Crowther, B. (1945a), “ ‘Ministry of Fear,’ a Mystery Thriller, with Ray Milland, at the Paramount.” New York Times, 8 February, 15.
Crowther, B. (1945b), “The Lost Weekend.” New York Times, 3 December, 17.
Crowther, B. (1945c), “ ‘I’ll Be Seeing You,’ Drama of a Shell-Shocked Solider, with Joseph Cotton, Ginger Rodgers, Opens at Capitol.” New York Times, 6 April, 20.
Crowther, B. (1945d), “‘Love Letters,’ Drama in Which Jennifer Jones Stars, Comes to Rivoli.” New York Times, 27 August, 22.
Crowther, B. (1945e), “‘The Picture of Dorian Gray,’ Film Version of Wilde Novel, with Hatfield and Sanders, Opens at Capitol Theatre.” New York Times, 2 March, 15.
Crowther, B. (1945f), “Uncle Hany.” New York Times, 24 August, 14.
Crowther, B. (1946), “‘Notorious,’ Hitchcock Thriller Starring Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant, Opens at Radio City — Claude Rains Featured.” New York Times, 15 August, 19.
Crowther, B. (1948a), “So Evil My Love.” New York Times, 22 July, 27.
Crowther, B. (1948b), “The Big Clock.” New York Times, 22 April, 34.
Crowther, B. (1949a), “Selznick’s ‘Portrait of Jennie,’ with Cotton and Jennifer Jones, Opens at Rivoli.” New York Times, 30 March, 31.
Crowther, B. (1949b), “Under Capricorn.” New York Times, 9 September, 28.
Crowther, B. (1950), “The Third Man.” New York Times, 3 February, 29.
E.J.B. (1947), “Lured.” New York Times, 29 August, 14.
F.S.N. (1934), “Death in the Evening.” New York Times, 22 November, 27.
Greco, J. (1999), The File on Robert Siodmak in Hollywood: 1941–1951. Parkland: Diss ertation. com.
Hall, M. (1932), “Charles Laughton in a Pictorial Version of Jeffrey Dell’s Play, ‘Payment Defened’.” New York Times, 8 November, 26.
Jancovich, M. (2009a), “Shadows and Bogeymen: Horror, Stylization and the Critical Reception of Orson Welles during the 1940s.” Participations: A Journal of Audience and Reception Studies, 6(1).
Jancovich, M. (2009b), “‘Thrills and Chills’: Horror, the Woman’s Film and the Origins of Film Noir.” New Review of Film and Television, 7(2), 157–171.
Kilgallen, D. (1945), “Ten Knights in My Hollywood Date Book.” Photoplay, 20–21 June, 77.
Kracauer, S. (1946), “Hollywood’s Tenor Films: Do They Reflect and American State of Mind?” Commentary, 2, 132–136.
McCann, G. (1996), Cary Grant: A Class Apart. London: Fourth Estate.
Newman, K. (1996), The BFI Companion to Horror. London: Cassell.
Nugent, F.S. (1936), “Talkative Is the World for ‘Next Time We Love,’ Current at the Radio City Music Hall.” New York Times, 31 January, 16.
Nugent, RS. (1937), “Deanna Durbin’s Debut in ‘Three Smart Girls,’ at the Roxy.” New York Times, 25 January, 22.
Nugent, RS. (1939), “Confessions of a Nazi Spy.” New York Times, 29 August, 13.
Nugent, RS. (1940a), “The Saint’s Double Trouble.” New York Times, 13 February, 27.
Nugent, RS. (1940b), “Rebecca.” New York Times, 29 March, 25.
Sennwald, A. (1935a), “Claudette Colbert as the ‘No Girl’ of ‘The Gilded Lily,’ at the Paramount.” New York Times, 9 February, 11.
Sennwald, A. (1935b), “Peter Lorre, Poet of the Damned: The Chilling Baby Killer of ‘M’ Contributes Another Evil Portrait in ‘The Man Who Knew Too Much’.” New York Times, 31 March, X3.
Stanley, F. (1944), “Hollywood Shivers.” New York Times, 28 May, X3.
Thomson, D. (2003), The New Biographical Dictionary of Film, Fourth Edition. London: Little, Brown.
T.M.P. (1939), “At the Rialto.” New York Times, 9 March, 18.
T.M.P. (1942), “ ‘Magnificent Ambersons,’ Welles’s Film From Novel by Tarkington, Opens at Capitol.” New York Times, 14 August, 13.
T.M.P. (1943), “Cary Grant and Laraine Day Are Bewildering Yet Fun in RKO Film ‘Mr. Lucky’ Presented at the Radio City Music Hall.” New York Times, 23 July, 21.
T.M.P. (1944), “At the Roxy.” New York Times, 20 January, 15.
T.M.P. (1945), “At the Roxy.” New York Times, 18 February, 15.
T.M.P. (1946), “‘Night and Day,’ Warner Version of Cole Porter’s Life, Opens at Hollywood-Cary Grant and Monty Woolley in Leads.” New York Times, 26 July, 16.
T.M.P. (1947), “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.” New York Times, 27 June, 17.
TS. (1942), “At the Rialto.” New York Times, 30 May, 9.
TS. (1943), “At the Palace.” New York Times, 19 March, 15.
Vanderbeets, R. (1990), George Sanders: An Exhausted Life. New York: Madison.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2015 Mark Jancovich
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Jancovich, M. (2015). Victims and Villains: Psychological Themes, Male Stars and Horror Films in the 1940s. In: Geraghty, L. (eds) Popular Media Cultures. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137350374_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137350374_5
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-46834-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-35037-4
eBook Packages: Palgrave Media & Culture CollectionLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)