Universal Monsters Legacy Collection Ideas

[Mike Scott]

Welcome to the UMA, dbone828 !

Universal does, apparently, still hole the c. on THE MAN WHO LAUGHS. Their copyright and logo appear on the KINO box.

Universal also owns The Spider Woman Strikes Back, The Cat Creeps, Curse of the Undead and The Jungle Captive. They just haven't released them to DVD, yet. I was hoping for another "Cult Horror Collection" with Spider, Cat, the 2 Jungle movies and another Para. horror, but it didn't happen.

[YoungestMonsterKid]

Welcome to the UMA, dbone828 !

Universal does, apparently, still hole the c. on THE MAN WHO LAUGHS. Their copyright and logo appear on the KINO box.

Universal also owns The Spider Woman Strikes Back, The Cat Creeps, Curse of the Undead and The Jungle Captive. They just haven't released them to DVD, yet. I was hoping for another "Cult Horror Collection" with Spider, Cat, the 2 Jungle movies and another Para. horror, but it didn't happen.

I had heard about uncertainty about them owning those movies or not anymore. Why did they choose to renew the rights to those but not Phantom and Hunchback?

[dbone828]

I had heard about uncertainty about them owning those movies or not anymore. Why did they choose to renew the rights to those but not Phantom and Hunchback?

It was in the early '50s that they failed to renew the copyrights for Phantom and Hunchback.  I don't know for sure, but my guess would be that perhaps at the time Universal saw no potential in making any more money from silent films.  At the time, I think some film companies were even ordering for any existing copies of any silent movies to be melted down into silver.

[dbone828]

Welcome to the UMA, dbone828 !

Universal does, apparently, still hole the c. on THE MAN WHO LAUGHS. Their copyright and logo appear on the KINO box.

Universal also owns The Spider Woman Strikes Back, The Cat Creeps, Curse of the Undead and The Jungle Captive. They just haven't released them to DVD, yet. I was hoping for another "Cult Horror Collection" with Spider, Cat, the 2 Jungle movies and another Para. horror, but it didn't happen.

Thanks for the welcome, Mike!

I like the idea of another Cult Horror Collection like the one you have in mind would.

There's a few other classic horror films that were released as individual DVDs under the Vault Series banner by Universal, but have not yet been included in any box set collection:

• Secret of the Blue Room
• The Mystery of Edwin Drood
• The Mystery of Marie Roget
• Jungle Woman
• The Thing That Couldn't Die

[Mike Scott]

There's a few other classic horror films that were released as individual DVDs under the Vault Series banner by Universal

Yeah, I was hoping for that 2nd "Cult" set before they started releasing everything via the VAULT series (at $20 a pop).

[horrorhunter]

Yeah, I was hoping for that 2nd "Cult" set before they started releasing everything via the VAULT series (at $20 a pop).

Hate those overpriced MODs with no special features. 

[YoungestMonsterKid]

It was in the early '50s that they failed to renew the copyrights for Phantom and Hunchback.  I don't know for sure, but my guess would be that perhaps at the time Universal saw no potential in making any more money from silent films.  At the time, I think some film companies were even ordering for any existing copies of any silent movies to be melted down into silver.

That's what I assumed too. Which is why it doesn't add up that they didn't let Man Who Laughs (and others) into public domain as well. Now I realize that at the time they didn't realize that shortly after there would be a huge boom in the popularity of monsters. And that those would be two major movies on the list. But they had to realize they were big successes. As I recall Man Who Laughs didn't do well on original release. Plus to this day Universal hasn't made any Man Who Laughs merchandise (despite the fact it's become so popular because of The Joker).

[aura of foreboding]

It's partly because of the quality and the fact that anybody could copy and sell them.

Not if Universal gives the film a nice restoration with a new score.   

[Mike Scott]

Not if Universal gives the film a nice restoration with a new score.   

Or colorize it. (Yuk!)

[aura of foreboding]

Or colorize it. (Yuk!)

Ewwwwwwww!

[YoungestMonsterKid]

Or colorize it. (Yuk!)

Why would colorizing a film that originally had a whole 16 minutes in color be a bad thing?

[Mord]

Why would colorizing a film that originally had a whole 16 minutes in color be a bad thing?

It would make those 16 minutes less special.

[YoungestMonsterKid]

It would make those 16 minutes less special.

but it would restore the many scenes where color is lost at least
I'm saying maybe they could just colorize those parts

[Mike Scott]

Why would colorizing a film that originally had a whole 16 minutes in color be a bad thing?

I just meant colorizing, in general, in order to be able to copyright a film. If you're talking about The Phantom, the original tinting and hand coloring should be preserved/restored, but it shouldn't be "colorized", like those Shirley Temple, or 3 Stooges movies.

[AxelGripp]

Okay, here are some corrections (Basically, Man Made Monster and The Black Castle are put on the Lon CHaney , Jr. set)

Dracula:

Dracula
Dracula (Spanish)
Dracula's Daughter
Son of Dracula
House of Frankenstein
House of Dracula
Abbot and Costello Meet Dracula


Frankenstein:

Frankenstein
Bride of Frankenstein
Son of Frankenstein
The Ghost of Frankenstein
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man
House of Frankenstein
House of Dracula
Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein


The Wolf-Man

The Wolf-Man
Werewolf of London
She-Wolf of London
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man
House of Frankenstein
House of Dracula
Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein


The Mummy:

The Mummy
The Mummy's Hand
The Mummy's Tomb
The Mummy's Ghost
The Mummy's Curse
Abbot and Costello Meet the Mummy


The Invisible Man:

The Invisible Man
The Invisible Man Returns
The Invisible Woman
Invisible Agent
The Invisible Man's Revenge
Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man


Creature from the Black Lagoon:

Creature from the Black Lagoon
Revenge of the Creature
The Creature Walks Among Us


The Phantom of the Opera:

The Phantom of the Opera (1943)


Silent

The Cat and the Canary
The Man Who Laughs
The Last Warning
The Last Performance


Cult Horror

Secret of the Blue Room
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Horror Island
The Mad Doctor of Market Street
The Strange Case of Doctor Rx
The Mystery of Marie Roget
Captive Wild Woman
The Mad Ghoul
Jungle Woman
The Jungle Captive
The Spider Woman Strikes Back
House of Horrors
The Cat Creeps (1946)
The Brute Man


50's Sci-Fi

It Came from Outer Space
This Island Earth
Tarantula
Cult of the Cobra
Curucu, Beast of the Amazon
The Mole People
The Incredible Shrinking Man
The Deadly Mantis
The Land Unknown
The Monolith Monsters
The Thing That Couldn't Die
Monsters on the Campus
Curse of the Undead
The Leech Woman


Bella Lugosi

Murders in the Rue Morgue
The Black Cat (1934)
The Raven
The Invisible Ray
The Phantom Creeps
Black Friday
The Black Cat (1941)
Night Monster


Boris Karloff

The Old Dark House
The Black Cat
The Raven
The Invisible Ray
Night Key
Tower of London
Black Friday
The Climax
Abbot and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff
The Strange Door
The Black Castle
Abbot and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde


Lon Chaney, Jr.

Man Made Monster
Calling Dr. Death
Weird Woman
Dead Man's Eyes
The Frozen Ghost
Strange Confession
Pillow of Death
The Black Castle