Foster on Film

Within a sideshow, the Freaks live, carrying out romances, arguments, friendships, and betrayals. Cleopatra (Olga Baclanova), the beautiful acrobat of the circus, plots to marry the midget Hans (Harry Earles) for his secret fortune, and then kill him, with the aid of her lover, the strongman Hercules (Henry Victor). Frieda (Daisy Earles), Hans’s ex-fiancée, knows

‘Deadlegs’ Flint (Walter Huston) is a paraplegic who rules over a small area of the African jungle with a combination of cruelty and magic tricks. From there he plans various illegal schemes which are executed by his cowed henchmen Hogan (Mitchell Lewis) and Cookie (Forrester Harvey). He also keeps around sex toy Tula (Lupe Velez).

Timid opera violinist Erique Claudin (Claude Rains) is fired, which is awkward as he’s been using all his money to secretly pay for voice lessons for Christine DuBois (Susanna Foster). He hopes publishing his concerto will fix everything, but when he thinks it’s been stolen, he breaks and murders the publisher and has acid thrown

Mere seconds after Von Helsing (Edward Van Sloan)—and yes, it is now “Von Helsing” instead of “Van Helsing”—staked Dracula, the bobbies show up. Van Helsing goes with the “I was killing an immortal undead” defense which gets him arrested for murder, although as an upper class professor, he’s treated ridiculously well. Psychologist Jeffrey Garth (Otto Kruger), another

Things are going very badly in the Jewish ghetto of Prague. The people cry out for Rabbi Jacob (Charles Dorat) to bring the fabled golem to life so save them, but he says it isn’t yet time. Emperor Rudolph II (Harry Baur) also has the golem on his mind as he’s heard the prediction that

Successful author William Magee (Gene Raymond) makes a bet that he can finish a novel in 24 hours and heads to a secluded lodge, that’s closed for the winter season, to do so. The timid caretakers meet him there and give him the only key to the place before leaving. He adjourns to a room

Depressed, jealous, opium-addicted choirmaster John Jasper (Claude Rains) is obsessed by Rosa Bud (Heather Angel), who is the fiancée of his nephew, Edwin Drood’s (David Manners). She finds Jasper’s attentions creepy, though she keeps it to herself. Neville Landless (Douglass Montgomery) and his sister Helena (Valerie Hobson), of mixed racial heritage, come to town with Neville falling

Occultist Kay Caldwell (Louise Allbritton) brings Count Dracula (Lon Chaney Jr.)—not his son no matter what the film’s title might be—using the name Alucard, to her Louisiana plantation. This vexes her conventional sister (Evelyn Ankers), her unstable boyfriend Frank (Robert Paige), and the pushy Dr. Brewster (Frank Craven). Her plan is to marry Dracula, gain

Beautiful, young, and beguiling Jean Thatcher (Irene Ware) crashes her car, leading to brain damage. The only one with a chance to save her is Dr. Richard Vollin (Bela Lugosi), a Poe-obsessed retired surgeon. Her father, stuffy Judge Thatcher (Samuel S. Hinds) pushes Vollin until he agrees. The operation is a success, and Vollin falls

Police detectives Kelly (Hugh Herbert) and Dempsey (Allen Jenkins) were fixing a flat tire in a rainstorm when they were interrupted by Vesta (Marcia Ralston), a hysterical woman in distress, who reports that her stepfather has been killed in a lighthouse. They race to the spot to find it occupied by an artist (John Eldredge),

Death (Fredric March) wants to understand humans and their reaction to him so decides to take on human form and spend three days on the estate of Duke Lambert (Sir Guy Standing) in the guise of Prince Sirki. Death makes one rule: the Duke cannot tell any of the others in attendance who he really

Medical students Pierre Dupin (Leon Waycoff) and Paul (Bert Roach) take in a traveling carnival with their girlfriends, Camille L’Espanay (Sidney Fox) and Camille’s sister (Betty Ross Clarke). There they see a gorilla, named Erik, kept by the severe Dr.Mirakle (Bela Lugosi). At the end of his lecture the four “youths” approach the cage and