Hollywood Legends of Horror

Six-disc set includes: Doctor X (1932)A series of cannibalistic murders that rocked New York brought glib crime reporter Lee Taylor (Lee Tracy), and the cops, to the Long Island medical research institute of Dr. Jerry Xavier (Lionel Atwill). Aware that he and his four staffers comprise the suspect pool, Xavier asks 48 hours to root out the killer himself-but his elaborate unmasking gambit will run into stunning snags. Early Technicolor pre-Code shocker also stars Fay Wray, Preston Foster, Arthur Edmund Carew. 76 min. C/Rtg: NR The Mask Of Fu Manchu (1932)Boris Karloff stepped into the role of Sax Rohmer's infamous Asian mastermind Fu Manchu for this luridly campy MGM pre-Code thriller, as British operative Dennis Nayland Smith (Lewis Stone) and his coterie must race against time with the diabolical doctor and his seductive daughter Fah Lo See (Myrna Loy) to uncover the tomb of Genghis Khan and claim the supernatural artifacts within. Karen Morley, Charles Starrett, Jean Hersholt, David Torrence also star. 68 min. BW/Rtg: NR Mad Love (1935)When concert pianist Stephen Orlac (Colin Clive) suffered career-threatening injuries in a train wreck, his actress wife Yvonne (Frances Drake) ruefully turned to an obsessed fan-the brilliant if creepy surgeon Dr. Gogol (Peter Lorre). The mad medico's solution was to graft the hands of a just-executed murderer onto his patient... leaving the musician to fear he was succumbing to his donor's deadly impulses. Shocking, stylish take on "The Hands of Orlac" co-stars Ted Healy. 68 min. BW/Rtg: NR Mark Of The Vampire (1935)After a Prague nobleman was found murdered and drained of blood, the family's suspicions turned to the soon-arrived and creepy new neighbor Count Mora (Bela Lugosi). When the victim's lovely daughter (Elizabeth Allan) is nearly assaulted, occult expert Prof. Zelen (Lionel Barrymore) is brought in for her protection-but does the crafty academic have another endgame to trap the killer? Tod Browning's talkie remake of "London After Midnight" co-stars Jean Hersholt, Lionel Atwill, Carroll Borland. 60 min. BW/Rtg: NR The Devil Doll (1936)Framed for embezzlement and murder, Paris financier Paul Lavond (Lionel Barrymore) broke prison... and swore vengeance against the corrupt colleagues that set him up. His bizarre scheme involved donning drag as an elderly toy shop proprietress-and using the unholy shrinking process of his mad scientist cellmate to turn human beings into foot-tall assassins. Tod Browning's effects-filled shocker also stars Maureen O'Sullivan, Frank Lawton, Robert Grieg, Henry B. Walthall. 78 min. BW/Rtg: NR The Return Of Doctor X (1939)Baffled by a string of murders unconnected save for the victims' rare blood type, reporter Walter Garrett (Wayne Morris) turned to doctor buddy Michael Rhodes (Dennis Morgan) for consult. Their trail led to the supposedly late hematologist Maurice Xavier (Humphrey Bogart), revived through unholy experiments-and requiring the precious plasma to survive. Bogey's sole horror outing, unrelated to 1932's "Doctor X," also stars Rosemary Lane, John Litel, Huntz Hall. 62 min. BW/Rtg: NR