Tod Browning: Master of the Macabre
An exploration of the visionary director's cinematic world, from the gritty realities of circus life to the shadowed depths of psychological horror.
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Early Life and Influences
A Life Beyond Convention
Born Charles Albert Browning Jr. in Louisville, Kentucky, Tod Browning's early life was marked by a departure from conventional societal norms. His fascination with circus and carnival life from childhood led him to run away from his middle-class Baptist household at the age of 16 to join a traveling circus. This formative experience would profoundly shape his artistic vision, instilling a deep appreciation for the unconventional, the grotesque, and the outsider.
The Circus as Muse
Initially working as a roustabout, Browning quickly transitioned into roles as a "spieler" (carnival barker) and performer, including contortionism and clowning. He even developed a "Living Hypnotic Corpse" act. This immersion in the world of sideshows and traveling carnivals provided him with an intimate understanding of illusion, spectacle, and the psychology of performance, elements that would become hallmarks of his filmmaking.
Personal Struggles
Browning's personal life was not without its challenges. Like his uncle, the baseball star Pete Browning, he struggled with alcoholism from a young age. A significant turning point occurred in 1915 when, while intoxicated, he was involved in a severe automobile accident that killed a passenger and left him critically injured. This traumatic event profoundly influenced his thematic focus, steering him towards darker, more morally complex narratives.
Circus, Sideshow, and Vaudeville
The Spectacle of Illusion
Browning's early career was deeply rooted in the world of performance. He worked extensively in vaudeville, performing magic acts and blackface comedy. This background provided him with a unique perspective on theatrical illusion, disguise, and the art of manipulating audience perception. He understood how to create wonder, suspense, and even horror through carefully crafted spectacle, a skill he would later translate to the cinematic medium.
The Performer's Persona
Adopting the professional name "Tod" Browning (possibly derived from the German word for death), he embraced a persona that mirrored the unconventionality of his chosen profession. His experiences as a magician's assistant, a blackface comedian, and a sideshow performer informed his understanding of character and performance, allowing him to craft complex, often morally ambiguous figures in his films.
The Art of the Barker
As a "spieler" or barker, Browning honed the skill of captivating an audience, drawing them into the world of the sideshow. This ability to engage and persuade, to create an atmosphere of intrigue and anticipation, was crucial. It foreshadowed his directorial approach, where he often used narrative and visual techniques to draw viewers into the often unsettling and bizarre worlds he created on screen.
Transition to Film: Acting Career
From Stage to Screen
After years in carnivals and vaudeville, Browning transitioned to film acting in 1909. He appeared in over 50 short slapstick productions, often collaborating with figures like Edward Dillon. His background as a physical performer and comedian influenced his on-screen presence and would later inform his directorial style, incorporating elements of burlesque and visual comedy into his narratives.
Early Collaborations
Browning's acting career provided him with valuable connections and insights into the burgeoning film industry. He worked with actors who would later become prominent figures, many associated with Mack Sennett's Keystone Film Company. This early exposure to diverse talents and filmmaking techniques laid the groundwork for his eventual move into directing.
Influence on Directing
Film historians note that Browning's experience as a slapstick actor was directly incorporated into his filmmaking. The comedic timing, physical performance, and visual gags he mastered as an actor became tools in his directorial arsenal, adding layers of complexity and often dark humor to his later, more macabre works.
Early Directing and Screenwriting
The Accidental Catalyst
The severe accident in 1915 marked a pivotal moment, effectively ending Browning's acting career and redirecting his focus towards writing screenplays and directing. His recovery period allowed him to delve deeper into narrative construction, transforming his personal trauma and fascination with the macabre into a distinct cinematic voice.
Shaping Thematic Obsessions
The accident and subsequent convalescence profoundly shaped Browning's thematic preoccupations. His films began to explore recurrent motifs of crime, culpability, retribution, and the psychological impact of trauma. This shift from comedy to moralistic melodrama, often infused with elements of the grotesque, became his signature style.
Establishing a Career
Between 1917 and 1919, Browning directed numerous successful feature films for companies like Fine Arts/Triangle and Metro Pictures. These early works, often starring prominent actresses like Priscilla Dean, established him as a capable director and screenwriter, demonstrating his affinity for melodramatic narratives and his ability to create compelling atmospheres.
Universal Studios Era
Collaborations with Priscilla Dean
Browning's tenure at Universal Studios saw the creation of several highly successful films, notably those starring Priscilla Dean. These pictures often featured exotic settings and underworld criminal activities, showcasing Browning's talent for atmospheric storytelling and his recurring themes of disguise and deception. Films like The Virgin of Stamboul and Outside the Law highlighted his skill in crafting melodramas with a distinctive edge.
The Genesis of the Browning-Chaney Partnership
Crucially, his work at Universal introduced Browning to Lon Chaney, the actor who would become his most significant collaborator. Chaney's extraordinary transformative abilities and Browning's penchant for the bizarre and grotesque created a powerful synergy. Their early collaborations, such as The Wicked Darling and Outside the Law, began to explore the psychological depths and visual extremes that would define their later masterpieces.
Artistic Synergy
The pairing of Browning's directorial vision with Chaney's acting prowess proved highly fruitful. Film historians note that Chaney's dedication to his craft provided the "extraordinary intensity" essential to Browning's creations. This period solidified Browning's reputation for handling melodramas with a unique blend of the sensational and the psychologically complex.
MGM Era: The Browning-Chaney Zenith
Artistic Maturity
Following Irving Thalberg to MGM in 1925, Browning and Chaney entered their most artistically significant period. Over eight collaborations, they produced critically acclaimed and commercially successful films that represented the pinnacle of their careers. Browning's directorial style matured, allowing him to fully realize his thematic interests in the bizarre, the psychologically complex, and the visually striking.
Masterpieces of the Silent Era
Films like The Unholy Three (1925), The Blackbird (1926), The Road to Mandalay (1926), The Unknown (1927), and West of Zanzibar (1928) showcased the profound synergy between director and actor. These works delved into themes of sexual frustration, physical deformity, obsession, and the duality of human nature, often employing striking makeup and innovative cinematic techniques.
The Unknown: A Landmark
The Unknown (1927) is widely regarded as the apex of their collaboration and a masterpiece of silent cinema. It masterfully explored the linkage of physical deformity with sexual frustration, featuring Lon Chaney's iconic performance as "Alonzo the Armless." The film's daring themes and unsettling atmosphere cemented Browning's reputation as a visionary filmmaker capable of pushing cinematic boundaries.
Navigating the Sound Era
Adapting to New Technology
The advent of sound film presented a significant challenge for many directors, including Browning. While his silent films relied heavily on visual storytelling and atmosphere, the transition to dialogue-driven narratives required adaptation. Film historians debate the extent to which Browning successfully embraced sound, with some noting his preference for visual effects over dialogue.
Early Sound Efforts
Browning's first sound film, The Thirteenth Chair (1929), based on a stage play, featured Bela Lugosi in an early role. While it showcased Browning's ability to work within the new medium, critics noted some awkwardness, perhaps reflecting the transitional period. His remake of Outside the Law (1930) also met with mixed reception.
Evolving Cinematic Language
Despite initial challenges, Browning demonstrated an evolving cinematic style in his sound films. Influenced by cinematographers like Karl Freund, he began to incorporate more camera movement, moving away from the static style sometimes associated with early sound pictures. This adaptation allowed him to maintain his signature visual flair.
Dracula (1931): A Horror Landmark
Defining the Genre
Tod Browning's Dracula (1931) is widely considered the film that launched the modern horror genre. Its immense success at Universal Studios not only revitalized the vampire myth for a new era but also paved the way for a lucrative series of monster films. The film remains a cornerstone of cinematic horror, celebrated for its atmosphere and Bela Lugosi's iconic portrayal.
Lugosi's Unforgettable Performance
With Lon Chaney's untimely death, Bela Lugosi, who had successfully portrayed Count Dracula on stage, was cast in the role. Lugosi's performance, characterized by his hypnotic gaze, distinctive accent, and aristocratic bearing, became inextricably linked with the vampire archetype. Browning skillfully captured Lugosi's unique screen presence, establishing Dracula's cinematic identity.
Visual and Thematic Depth
Despite some critical commentary on its pacing and dialogue, Dracula effectively utilized cinematic techniques to create a sense of dread and unease. Browning employed atmospheric lighting, suggestive imagery, and thematic elements that resonated with Victorian anxieties about the uncanny and the monstrous, making the film a powerful exploration of primal fears.
Freaks (1932): A Controversial Masterpiece
A Bold Departure
Following the success of Dracula, Browning returned to MGM to create Freaks (1932), a film that would become his most notorious and controversial work. Based on Tod Robbins' story "Spurs," the film centered on the lives and community of circus sideshow performers, challenging conventional notions of beauty, morality, and societal acceptance.
The Power of Community
Browning drew upon his intimate knowledge of carnival life, casting actual performers with physical differences. The film's narrative explores themes of exploitation, loyalty, and retribution, culminating in a powerful depiction of the "freaks'" collective defense of one of their own. This portrayal of solidarity and shared justice became a central tenet of Browning's social ideals.
Reception and Legacy
Freaks was met with widespread condemnation and censorship upon its release, deemed too grotesque and disturbing by many audiences and critics. Its commercial failure effectively curtailed Browning's career momentum. However, in later decades, the film has been re-evaluated and is now recognized as a groundbreaking and deeply compassionate work, a testament to Browning's unique artistic vision.
Later Career and Retirement
Post-Freaks Career
The controversy surrounding Freaks significantly impacted Browning's standing in Hollywood. While he continued to direct films like Fast Workers (1933), Mark of the Vampire (1935), The Devil-Doll (1936), and Miracles for Sale (1939), these later works did not achieve the same critical or commercial success. His career trajectory shifted, marked by a perceived decline in his ability to connect with mainstream audiences.
Thematic Continuities
Despite the changing landscape and critical reception, Browning's thematic preoccupations persisted. Films like The Devil-Doll revisited elements of his earlier work, exploring themes of disguise, revenge, and the uncanny. Even in less celebrated films, his distinctive visual style and interest in characters on the fringes of society remained evident.
Retirement
After completing Miracles for Sale in 1939, Tod Browning retired from filmmaking. He spent his later years in Malibu, California, largely away from the public eye. His unique contributions to cinema, particularly his exploration of the macabre and the human condition through the lens of the circus and the grotesque, left an indelible mark on film history.
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References
References
- Film historian Vivian Sobchack stated several one or two reel films are attributed to Browning from as early as 1914
- Towlson, 2017 Part 2: Composite quote from same source. And:Towlson, 2017 Part 1: "Browning's background as a working-class boy in Kentucky [and] his subsequent flight from a Baptist upbringing into the world of the circus..."
- Herzogenrath, 2006 p. 10: "...a significant number of his movies [are] set in the world of the circus and the sideshow [and] Browning knew very well the milieu" he portrayed. And: See here for comment on living corpse routine.
- Barson, 2021: "Browning...found steady employment in circuses and carnivals as a clown, contortionist, magician's assistant, and barker."
- Alford, 1995: "Browning married Amy Louise Stevens in 1906, but the union was short-lived since, according to some accounts, Browning was a no-good, money-borrowing layabout. Browning apparently abandoned his wife for vaudeville."
- Herzogenrath, 2006 p. 10: "...baptized and reinvented himself as 'Tod' Browning..." And: Herzogenrath provides English-German translation the tod = death.
- Robinson, 1968 p. 125: "Browning was a vaudeville comic at the time he went into movies as an actor at the Biograph Studios.
- Barson, 2021: "In June of that year [1915], while driving drunk, he collided at high speed with a moving train. Browning and actor George A. Siegmann were seriously injured; actor Elmer Booth was killed.
- Sobchack, 2006 p. 22: Exceptions comprise "two serious dramas, two romantic films and one horror film. All others are melodramas of various types."
- Towlson, 2017: "Browning suffered...a shattered right leg, unspecified internal injuries and likely the loss of his front teeth."
- Sobchack, 2006 p. 35: "Browning, in is early career, worked in the story department of Majestic Pictures..."Barson, 2021: "During Browning's long convalescence, he turned to screenwriting..."
- Rosenthal, 1975 p. 8Barson, 2021: "After his recovery, he had a small role in Griffith's Intolerance (1916) while also functioning as an assistant director on it."
- Robinson, 1968 p. 125: Browning "...was one of the master's (Griffith's) assistant on Intolerance (1916)..."
- Rosenthal, 1975 p. 8: Browning's "solo directorial debut was on Jim Bludso in 1917." Add see p. 60 on John Hay poem
- Alford, 1995: "Alice Watson became his second wife [in 1917], and remained so until her death in 1944."
- Rosenthal, 1975 p. 8: "At Universal studios he made an extremely successful series of Universal "Jewels" [prestige films] with Priscilla Dean." And p. 60: See Filmography section on "Bluebird"
- Barson, 2021: Browning "signed with the Universal Film Manufacturing Company in 1918. There he made nine films with leading actress Priscilla Dean."
- Sobchack, 2006 p. 35: "The first major star with whom Browning worked regularly was Priscilla Dean...She starred in nine Browning films." And: 'tough girls'
- Rosenthal, 1975 p. 8: "Such Dean vehicles as The White Tiger and Outside the Law are characteristic" of this milieu.
- Sobchack, 2006 p. 23: "Browning loved exotic settings" in which in his pictures "depends upon the physical strangeness of place for their effectiveness and plot movement."
- Sobchack, 2006 p. 36: "...when he [Thalberg] left [Universal] in 1925 to join the newly-formed MGM." he brought Browning and Chaney with him.
- Robinson, 1968 p. 125: "In 1925 he was taken on by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/MGM and began a series of films with Lon Chaney that must rank among the most extraordinary pictures ever made."
- Sobchack, 2006 p. 35: "Lon Chaney's influence on Browning seems considerable...their significant collaboration really began at MGM and with The Unholy Three (1925)."
- Rosenthal, 1975 p. 19: "In these films one can sense a personal rapport between actor and director which must have been deeper than mere professional respect."
- Eaker, 2016: "The original, silent Unholy Three (1925) catapulted Browning into star director status."
- Eaker, 2016: "As powerful as Chaney is in the lead role, he [is nearly] eclipsed by his dwarf [sic] co-star Earles."
- Eaker, 2016: "Their relationship is reminiscent of the one between Priscilla Dean and Wheeler Oakman in Browning's Outside The Law (1920), as are the familiar Browning themes of reformation and unpunished crimes."
- Eaker, 2016: "Of course, Zara's clairvoyant act is all illusion and Browning, as usual, lets his audience in on the trickery almost from the outset."
- Eaker, 2016: The Browning-Chaney collaborations "one of the most unsettling actor/director collaborations in the history of cinema....the strangest collaboration between director and actor in cinema history."
- Eaker, 2016: "The Blackbird (1926) is a typically deranged underworld melodrama from the Tod Browning/Lon Chaney canon, and one of the most visually arresting of Browning's films."
- Eaker, 2016: "The scenes of Chaney frantically changing identities with constables from Scotland Yard waiting below are deliriously incredible."
- Miller, 2008: "Doris Lloyd received solid notices as the Blackbird's ex-wife, who still loves him. She would build a long career, specializing in playing British maids and cleaning ladies into her seventies."
- Brenez, 2006 p. 96: "...to die as one's double means being deprived of oneself even in death: death, then, is no longer a beautiful vanishing, but a terrible spiriting away."
- Eaker, 2016: "Unfortunately, The Road to Mandalay exists only in fragmented and disintegrated state, a mere 36 minutes of its original seven reels...the only known print is a 16 mm abridged version, which was discovered in France in the 1980s."
- Sobchack, 2006 p. 33: "Browning indicated that his films did not begin with plot." Sobchack quotes Browning from Georges Sadoul, Dictionary of Film Makers, see footnote.
- Rosenthal, 1975 pp. 25â26: "Singapore Joe is so ugly that he feels his daughter (who indeed, abhors that hideous man when he patronizes the store in which she clerks) would be ashamed if she were aware of their kinship."
- Sobchack, 2006 p. 36: "...it should be emphasized that most Browning films â until Freaks â made money."
- Eaker, 2016: "Unfortunately, The Road to Mandalay is in such dissipated state that it makes for burdensome, strained viewing. The only known print is a 16 mm abridged version..." And: his 1927 "mystery melodrama"
- Eaker, 2016: "In 2003, Rick Schmidlin of Turner Classic Movies arduously produced a photo reconstruction of London After Midnight..."
- Brenez, 2006 p. 96: "...the creation of a double...the vampire [a Scotland Yard inspector] in London After Midnight..."
- Eisenberg, 2020: "The likeness of Chaney's "vampire," also popularly known as 'the man in the beaver hat'" And short plot synopsis.
- Solomon, 2006 p. 51: "...it is the contrived haunted house in which a detective and his assistant, dressed in elaborate disguises, ensnare a murderer."
- Solomon, 2006 pp. 51, 61â63: A step-by-step analysis of Browning's cinematic exposure of the trick.
- Sobchack, 2006 pp. 25â26: "... the negative New York Times review (focused on John Gilbert's performance)..."
- Wood, 2006 TCM: "Much of the criticism was leveled at the largely unsympathetic character of Cock Robin. Variety predicted The Show "undoubtedly will hurt [John Gilbert's] general popularity with the women..."
- Eaker, 2016: "The Unknown (1927) is one of the final masterpieces of the silent film era...the one film in which the artists' obsessions perfectly crystallized."
- Rosenthal, 1975 p. 32: "The Unknown defines a sexual basis for the frustration theme of the entire Browning-Chaney cycle and relates it directly to the star's physical deformity."
- Sobchack, 2006 p. 33: "Browning indicates that his story ideas did not begin with plot..." And see here for the entire quote, with references to The Road to Mandalay (1926).
- Rosenthal, 1975 p. 23: See here for another excerpt from 1928 Motion Picture Classic interview.
- Brogan, year: "As The Unknown proves, Chaney didn't need to rely on heavy make-up to transform himself for a role." And see here for quote.
- Eaker, 2016: "Nanon's sadistic father, Antonio Zanzi (Nick de Ruiz, hinted at being the abusive source for Nanon's hatred of a man's touch)."
- Eaker, 2016: "But, Alonzo must have, marry, and own Nanon, [but] she would certainly hate the hands of the double-thumbed murderer."
- Rosenthal, 1975 p. 33: "...if [Alonzo] proceeds to marry Nanon, his wife will discover his secret" as the killer of her father.
- Conterio, 2018: "Fixated on human disfigurement and underworld figures, the films are marked by a star k, obsessive aesthetic and themes of compulsion."
- Eaker, 2016: The Unknown "ends with a startling, ferociously driven, symbolic finale."Safford, 2003 TCM: "the Grand Guignol finale."
- Diekmann and Knörer, 2006 p. 73: "As far as plots are concerned, the proximity of Browning's cinema to the theatre of the Grand Guignol is evident..."
- Erickson, Allmovie: "As it turned out, Chaney's star-power enabled The Big City to score a box-office success to the tune of $387,000 in profits."
- Harvey, 2019: "It surprised many back in 1928 that Chester de Vonde's drama Kongo, which ran for 135 performances on Broadway in 1926, was adapted for the screen at all. It was lurid stuff even for the wicked stage..."
- Barson, 2021: "Chaney played "Dead-Legs" Phroso, a paralyzed former magician who raises the daughter of his hated rival in a brothel but does not know she is actually his own, in West of Zanzibar (1928)."
- Rosenthal, 1975 pp. 30â31: "Dead Legs' wife is stolen and (he believes) impregnated by an adulterous lover..." And p. 57: "
- Brandt, 2006 p. 147: See footnote #2. Brandt refers to Kipling's novel Kim (1901) as evidence for this outlook.
- Eaker, 2016: "Tiger and Bobby run into Tiger's ex-wife and Toya's mother, Mme. de Sylva (Estelle Taylor, the real-life one time wife of Jack Dempsey)."
- Sobchack, 2006 p. 23: "...one frequent minor theme worth noting in the exotic melodramas is that of sacrifice...Tiger Haynes is mauled to death for love of his daughter in Where East Is East."
- Rosenthal, 1975 p. 31Herzogenrath, 2006 p. 15: "Where East Is East...illustrates Browning's life-long tendency to interweave images of sex and race, creating an ambivalent narrative of sensual fulfillment and frantic dissillusionment."
- Rosenthal, 1975 p. 12: "Similarly, animals become the agents of destruction for Tiger in Where East Is East ..."
- Towlson, 2012: Towlson cites David J Skal and Elias Savada, Ronald V. Borstas and Elliott Stein on the topic.
- Eaker, 2016: "Two murders...a phony medium, a series of séances, a mysterious manor, stolen love letters, and potential blackmail all add up to standard Browning fare..."
- Nixon, 2006 TCM: "The suspects are played by a virtual who's-who of recognizable character actors: Conrad Nagel...Leila Hyams, later Venus in Browning's Freaks... Margaret Wycherly...Joel McCrea's scenes were deleted before the film's release."
- Nixon, 2006 TCM: "Lugosi made a number of silent film appearances before his runaway success on Broadway in Dracula." And: "...a matinee idol [in Germany]. His first American film was The Silent Command (1923)."
- Barson, 2020: "...Chaney was not yet open to the notion of making a sound picture, so Hungarian actor Bela Lugosi was recruited to play the police inspector investigating a murder at a seance."
- Eaker, 2016: "Lugosi had lived in the states and performed the [stage role in Dracula] for years before the film version so the actor's delivery for Dracula was a directorial choice, as indicated in interviews."
- Eaker, 2016: "Browning remade Outside the Law in 1930. The remake starred Edward G. Robinson and received comparatively poor reviews."
- Barson, 2021: "Dracula was an enormous success and was the first of the classic Universal horror films of the 1930s and '40s."
- Bronfen, 2006 p. 158: Universal "categorically opposed any hefty additional production costs...forced to shoot the film in sequence [and a] frugal use of special effects" enforced by studio management.
- Rosenthal, 1975 pp. 16â17: Van Helsing's "will is strong."Eaker, 2016: "The Dracula of Browning and Lugosi is an outsider...who comes to nourish on the aristocratic London Society, who he, paradoxically, yearns to join."
- Herzogenrath, 2006 p. 16: "Browning's boxing drama Iron Man is one of the rarely discussed movies of this cinematic auteur (italics)."
- Grindon, 2006 p. 173: "Neither Stuart Rosenthal nor Elliott Stein discusses the picture in their profiles of the filmmaker...David J. Skal and Elias Savada...fail to mention the title" in their index" of Browning's films.
- Grindon, 2006 p. 173: Iron Man is "an important but neglected film among Browning's ourve...the film has been neglected in the critical literature, probably because it lacks the macabre quality for which Browning's films are known."
- Herzogenrath, 2006 p. 16: "...the thematic continuity between Browning's more famous tales of grotesque horror and this boxing film. The moral and sexual frustrations that Stuart Rosenthal argues are central to Browning's work are readily apparent."
- Rosenthal, 1975 pp. 8â9: "obsessive" and "compulsive." And pp. 23â43 for Rosenthal's discussion of these four themes.
- Grindon, 2006 p. 175: "Jean Harlow's golddigging vamp is avaricious, aspiring and sexually predatory." Caption for photo.
- Baxter, 1970 p. 100: "Browning left Universal and joined Metro [after completing The Iron Man]. MGM appears frequently in the Thirties as a producer of horror films..."
- Harvey, 2009: "Dracula's enormous popularity fast-tracked Browning's return to MGM, under highly favorable financial terms and the protection of longtime ally, production chief Irving Thalberg.
- Barson, 2021: "Browning delivered a surprise with Freaks (1932), a truly shocking morality play that boldly cast a number of actual sideshow performers."
- Eaker, 2016: "During filming, many on the MGM lot found the sight of the freaks so disturbing that they sought to have the production stopped..."
- Towlson, 2017 Part 2: "Reality vs. appearance (physical beauty masking perversity) is one of the key themes in Browning's work. Another is sexual frustration and emasculation. These themes lie at the very heart of Freaks."
- Rosenthal, 1975 p. 14: "Since this is one of those rare instances in Browning's pictures in which guilt can be indisputably fixed, the freaks can be totally justified in their attack."
- Rosenthal, 1975 pp. 13â14Herzogenrath, 2006 p. 194: Herzogenrath reminds us that "Offend one, offend them all" is a paraphrase from a passage in The Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians, 12:26â27.
- Diekmann and Knörer, 2006 pp. 75â76: The final scene in Freaks "a shocking fit of grandguignolesque mutilation and horrific vengeance..."Rosenthal, 1975 p. 50: See here of Browning's technical handling of the sequence.
- Herzogenrath, 2006 p. 11: "Keeping his hands clean from controversial material after the scandal that Freaks (1932) had caused, Browning shot some 'lighter' movies..."
- Sobchack, 2006 p. 31:"Barrymore "resembles...Dr. Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan) in Dracula (1931)
- Herzogenrath, 2006 p. 16-17: "The exposition of the vampires as faked by a theatre company puts the film into Browning's pictures about the carnivalâ¦"
- Sweney, 2006 p. 206: The picture is "in the realm of Browning's carnival films...showing the audience how easy it is to dupe themâ¦In the last five minutes of the film, the vampires are revealed to be actors" hired by Professor Zelen.
- Sweney, 2006 p. 205-206: "By far the most interesting part of the film is its famous tracking shot which occurs approximately 17 minutes into the film...This one-minute sequence is one of the greatest visual feasts in the cinema of the macabre..."
- Sweney, 2006 p. 204: "...the only melodic music within the film is made by the performers: the singing and violin playing of the villagers, and the melodramatic organ (played by a dead manâ¦)"
- Sweney, 2006 p. 206-207: "...a great piece of cinematography" with Luna's "extraordinarily convincing transformation form monster to human...it makes [murderer] Baron Otto a believer" in vampires.
- Rosenthal, 1975 p. 25: "...The Devil-Doll follows the same pattern as in Browning's The Unholy Three (1925)."
- Sobchack, 2006 p. 28-29Toole, 2003 TCM: "...part of the film's cult appeal is Browning's twisted sense of humor, which is most evident in the scenes with Malita who becomes addicted to miniaturizing humans."
- Rosenthal, 1975 p. 27-28Eaker, 2016: "Ironically, to prove his innocence Lavond must again go into exile at the film's end and must forever forsake his daughter..."
- Eaker, 2016: "After The Devil Dolls, Browning sat dormant for two years until he was able to direct Miracles for Sale (1939)..."
- Eaker, 2016: Rosenthal, 1975 p. 49: "Browning's swan song...is a fairly routine mystery against a background of the occult."
- Harvey, 2009: Browning's "gruesome sensibility grew increasingly out of place amid MGM's reach for glamour and prestige. By the end of 1941, his status at the studio was so reduced that he preferred retirement."
- Herzogenrath, 2006 p. 11: "After his final film Miracles for Sale (1939)...[he did] some occasional scenario writing for MGM. In 1942, Browning retired to Malibu, California."
- Harvey, 2009: "Sadly, soon after, his wife Alice diedâalso of complications from pneumoniaâleaving him something of a Malibu recluse for the two remaining decades of his life.
- Herzogenrath, 2006 p. 11: "Variety mixed up his wife's death with Browning and published his obituary in 1944."
- Sobchack, 2006 p. 36: "In 1949 Browning was awarded a life membership in the Directors Guild of America dash- an honor afforded to only four other individuals by the time of his death from cancer in 1962."
- Eaker, 2016: "Browning's remaining twenty five years were spent as a widower recluse in alcoholic seclusion."
- Herzogenrath, 2006 p. 11: "On 6 October 1962, Browning died alone in the bathroom of his house at Malibu Beach."Eaker, 2016: "Browning died an obscure, alcoholic recluse in 1962...the perennial outsider, he could [not] have cared less."
- Rosenthal, 1975 p. 9Conterio, 2018: "Fixated on human disfigurement and underworld figures, the films are marked by a stark, obsessive aesthetic and themes of compulsion."
- Rosenthal, 1975 p. 23: "...Sexual frustration... may be experienced first hand or indirectly, through a close relative."
- Rosenthal, 1975 p. 23: Also "...the symbolic separation of the pair of qualities into two individuals." And pp. 38â39: Jekyll and Hyde analogy.
- Rosenthal, 1975 p. 23: "...the avenger must often sin in order to punish the sins of others [and] guilt cannot be clearly fixed."
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