NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Indicator Blu-ray (October 2024): Indicator have transferred six 30's and 40's Columbia films to their Columbia Horror boxset. House on three dual-layered Blu-rays are Pre-Codes John Francis Dillon's "Behind the Mask" from 1932 + Roy William Neill's "Black Moon", plus Albert S. Rogell's 1935 "Air Hawks" with Ralph Bellamy, Charles Barton's "Island of Doomed Men" with Peter Lorre, Henry Levin's "Cry of the Werewolf" with Nina Foch (My Name is Julia Ross) and Danish actress Osa Massen from 1944 and from the same year - Will Jason's "The Soul of a Monster". These are cited as "High Definition remasters of all 6 films with Black Moon including the tinted and black-and-white presentations." We reviewed a Blu-ray of Black Moon, with Fay Wray, by Imprint HERE from earlier this year (2024.) We also reviewed the Sony DVD of Behind the Mask HERE from 2013 part of their Karloff: Criminal Kind boxset. Island of Doomed Men was on Imprint Blu-ray in 2023 from their Essential Film Noir Collection 5 - that we reviewed HERE. We've made some comparisons below. The Imprint/Indicator 1080Ps (Black Moon + Island of Doomed Men) look almost exact - even the tints in Black Moon - high bitrates - plenty of grain texture - solid contrast. The HD upgrade for Karloff-starred Behind the Mask was easy to see with better grain support and layered contrast. Some of latter films like Cry of the Werewolf have notably more visible speckles and frame-specific marks - we have captured examples below. It was relatively rare and the strong image quality was appreciated. Please refer to our screen grabs.  

NOTE: We have added 158 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Indicator use linear PCM mono tracks (24-bit) in the original English language. The score for Black Moon was by Louis Silvers (musical director or stock scores used in films like It Happened One Night, Drums Along the Mohawk, Only Angels Have Wings.) The score for Air Hawks was by Howard Jackson who composed for this film and for almost 400 titles in his career finding his calling in documentary shorts but did do features like Tobor the Great, Murder at the Vantities, Cry Terror! and Sam Fuller's Merrill's Marauders. Also uncredited was Louis Silvers. The score on Island Of Doomed Men was credited to Gerard Carbonara (King of Chinatown, Among the Living, Union Pacific, The Monster and the Girl, Dr. Cyclops, Abilene Town) and of course the classic piano being played by Lorraine (Rochelle Hudson). The 'Musical Director' for Cry of the Werewolf and on The Soul of a Monster was Russian-born Mischa Bakaleinikoff (The Werewolf, The Lineup, New Orleans Uncensored, The Crooked Web, Cell 2455 Death Row, Comanche Station, It Came from Beneath the Sea, The Giant Claw, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, The 27th Day, 20 Million Miles to Earth, Lady for a Day) with a mix of previously utilized stock music to establish a supernatural tone. Effects were representative for the time - fairly flat and rudimentary - planes and an electronic gizmo in Air Hawks, a flogging and gunfire in Island of Doomed Men etc.. Indicator offer optional English (SDH) subtitles on their three Region 'B' Blu-rays.

The Indicator Blu-ray offer a new commentary for each film. Daniel Kremer (Sidney J. Furie: Life and Films) on Behind the Mask, Stephen Jones (author of The Art Of Horror Movies: An Illustrated History) and Kim Newman (author of Classic Monsters Unleashed) on Black Moon and on The Soul of a Monster. We get a Jeremy Arnold (author of The Essentials Vol. 2: 52 More Must-See Movies and Why They Matter) commentary on Air Hawks and Alexandra Heller-Nicholas (The Cinema Coven: Witches, Witchcraft and Women's Filmmaking) and Josh Nelson on Island of Doomed Men. I also enjoyed academic and curator Eloise Ross (contributor to The Pre-Code Companion, Issue #2: Three on a Match, Female, & Other Men's Women) on Cry of the Werewolf. These are all experts who discuss Pre-Codes the cast, crew, directors, comparable genre films of the era and much, much, more. All that I have sampled at at their usual strong level. A Gentleman of Leisure is new with author and academic Sheldon Hall (Armchair Cinema: A History of Feature Films on British Television, 1929-1981) assesses the career of Jack Holt (who also worked as a surveyor, laborer, prospector, trapper, and stagecoach driver, among many other jobs.), the forgotten star of Behind the Mask and Black Moon - running over 10-minutes. There is a hour+ BEHP interview with Constance Cummings (Blithe Spirit) archival audio recording from 1997 running to the film, made as part of the British Entertainment History Project, of the Behind the Mask actor in conversation with Roy Fowler. Darkness of the Morbid Brain is new and spends over 1/4 hour with Jonathan Rigby, author of American Gothic: Six Decades of Classic Horror Cinema, looks at the life and career of the iconic performer Peter Lorre. Included is New York to Berlin in Twenty-Six Hours - short 1933 newsreel footage of aviator Wiley Post, who plays himself in Air Hawks. Casting Shadows is a new 21-minute video with archivist Tom Vincent providing an overview of the award-winning career of prolific cinematographer Burnett Guffey (From Here to Eternity, Bonnie and Clyde.) Don’t Kill Your Friends is a 1943 World War II short film featuring Cry of the Werewolf star Nina Foch. There is an image gallery for each film. The package includes a 100-page book containing new and archival writings.

Behind the Mask is a 1932 pre-code horror with Karloff (from Frankenstein's monster to Imhotep in The Mummy) with a mysterious, criminal mastermind named Mr. X (Edward Van Sloan - who played Professor Van Helsing in 1931's Dracula.) Repeating my comments: "Roy William Neill's Black Moon is another pre-code horror film. I recall a few vintage horrors using "voodoo" as a plot point; White Zombie, I Walked With A Zombie, and Valley of the Zombies. I only observed one prevalent example of pre-code naughtiness; Dorothy Burgess (as Juanita,) seemingly in trance, wears an invisible wisp of a see-thru top near the conclusion. Black Moon was based on a short story by Clements Ripley. At Yale, he was an editor of the campus humor magazine, 'The Yale Record', with James Ashmore Creelman, who was the co-writer of King Kong (famously with Fay Wray - who also plays Gail Hamilton in Black Moon) and The Most Dangerous Game (again with Miss Wray.) I actually don't mind that the film takes a while for any significant excitement. I am reminded (Thanks David!) that the film has some unsavory racism. Those potentially offended should be forewarned. Director Albert Rogell (who moved from shorts to B-films) and his 1935 Air Hawks, has A-lister, Ralph Bellamy (an incredible career from His Girl Friday and The Wolf Man to Rosemary's Baby, Trading Places and Pretty Woman,) as well as aviator Wiley Post, the first pilot to fly solo around the world, in his only feature film appearance. Island Of Doomed Men has Peter Lorre as a psychopathic tyrant, in an exotic location with evil-doings ala Anna May Wong's Island of Lost Men. I was very keen to see Henry Levin's (1959's Journey to the Center of the Earth) Cry of the Werewolf which has sexy Nina Foch (My Name is Julia Ross) and Osa Massen (Rocketship X-M) where a Romani princess has the ability to change into a wolf at will... and does-so to commit murder! The Soul of a Monster involves the near-death of Dr. George Winson (George Macready - Kubrick's Paths of Glory , Frankenheimer's Seven Days in May.) In response, his wife Anne Winson (Jeanne Bates - Mrs. X in Eraserhead and Irene in Mulholland Drive) summons the Satan to keep her husband alive. Cry of the Werewolf was double-billed theatrically with The Soul of a Monster and continued to receive theatrical re-releases into the 1950s. The Indicator Blu-ray has new expert commentaries, critical appreciations, and rare archival short films, as well as a 100-page book. How can vintage-era, or genre, film fans resist? Strongly recommended!

Gary Tooze