Classic Horror Films, Including Phantom of the Opera, Dracula, and The Old Dar...

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Classic Horror Films, Including Phantom of the Opera, Dracula, and The Old Dark House (Universal, 1925-32), The Walking Dead (Warner Bros., 1936), Dr. Cyclops (Paramount, 1939), House of Dracula (Universal, 1945), and Eyes Without a Face (Les Yeux sans visage) (Miracle Films, 1962), 8" x 10" Key Set Photographs (40+) and Camera Negatives (3). Vintage gelatin silver semi-gloss (2-double-weight) 8" x 10" and borderless 7" x 9.25" key set photographs (5-contact printed), and 35mm (3) hand-painted "glass shot" camera negatives in 3.25" x 5.5" card stock mount with typewritten and paper captions of set design created by Conrad Tritschler for Dracula (Universal, 1931) (dir. Tod Browning), of Lon Chaney in Phantom of the Opera (5+), Boris Karloff, Melvin Douglas, Gloria Stuart, Charles Laughton, Lilian Bond, and Raymond Massey in The Old Dark House (dir. James Whale) (5), Karloff in The Walking Dead (dir. Michael Curtiz) (3), Bela Lugosi with Greta Gynt in The Dark Eyes of London (ABPC, 1939) (1), with Anne Nagel and Stanley Ridges in Black Friday (Universal, 1940) (1), Albert Decker, Janice Logan, and Thomas Coley in Dr. Cyclops (5+), J. Carrol Naish in House of Frankenstein (Universal, 1944) (1), Lon Chaney Jr., John Carradine, Marha O'Driscoll, and Lionel Atwill in House of Dracula (4), Rondo Hatton (final film) in The Brute Man (Universal, 1946) (1), and Pierre Brasseur, Alida Valli, and Juliette Mayniel in Eyes Without a Face (Les Yeux sans visage) (15+), with paper caption on the verso. Good/Very Good to Very Fine/Excellent, with edge tears, edge chips, corner creases (1), and scattered handling (5). Comes with a COA from Heritage Auctions.

More Information: Original 35mm glass shot camera negatives created by Conrad Tritschler, stage designer and special effects artist, for use in the production of Dracula (1931). These hand-painted glass artworks were mounted directly in front of the camera to extend or enhance Universal's Gothic sets, allowing the filmmakers to create the illusion of vast castle interiors, towering staircases, and shadowed landscapes that would have been impossible to construct full-scale on the soundstage. Tritschler, a British-born designer who later worked in Hollywood, was one of the earliest practitioners of the "glass shot" technique — an early optical effect combining miniature painting and live action within the same frame. His skill at architectural composition and atmospheric lighting made his work an integral part of Dracula's production design, helping to establish the film's eerie grandeur.

In addition to Dracula, Tritschler contributed similar painted-glass environments to Victor Halperin's White Zombie (1932), further developing a visual language of Gothic decay and dreamlike depth that became foundational to the early horror aesthetic. He returned to Britain in the late 1930s and died there in 1939. These surviving camera negatives are not merely production artifacts but working elements of Universal's most iconic horror film — physical components of the images that introduced the Gothic style to sound-era cinema. As such, they represent a rare intersection of set design, special effects, and film art, preserving the ingenuity of Tritschler's craft and the haunting atmosphere that defined Dracula's enduring legacy.

Adapted from J. B. Priestley's novel Benighted, The Old Dark House is one of the defining works of early 1930s horror and black comedy. Directed by James Whale immediately after Frankenstein (1931), the film established many of the tropes that would dominate gothic cinema for decades — the storm-lashed mansion, eccentric inhabitants, and a stranded group of travelers forced into their unsettling company. Boris Karloff, newly a star after Frankenstein, appears as Morgan, the hulking, mute butler whose presence adds both menace and tragic pathos to the film's tone of macabre humor. Featuring a remarkable ensemble cast — including Charles Laughton in his first Hollywood role and Gloria Stuart in one of her earliest Universal appearances — the film epitomized Whale's unique blend of horror and wit, balancing atmospheric dread with subversive comedy. Initially overshadowed by Frankenstein and The Invisible Man, it has since been recognized as one of the most sophisticated and influential horror films of the early sound era, admired for its sharp social satire and expressionistic visual style.

Franju's modern horror masterpiece Eyes Without a Face remains one of the most unsettling and poetic films ever produced in France, fusing clinical realism with dreamlike lyricism. Brasseur stars as Dr. Génessier, a brilliant but deranged surgeon attempting to restore the disfigured face of his daughter (Mayniel) by transplanting the features of abducted young women. Valli plays his loyal assistant, whose composure masks moral complicity. Upon its release, Eyes Without a Face shocked audiences with its restrained yet graphic imagery of surgery and its hauntingly detached tone. Initially censored and misunderstood, the film has since been recognized as a cornerstone of European horror, influencing directors from Jesús Franco to John Woo, and inspiring later works such as Face/Off (1997) and Pedro Almodóvar's The Skin I Live In (2011). The stark elegance of Franju's vision — shaped by Eugen Schüfftan's chiaroscuro cinematography and Maurice Jarre's hypnotic score — created a uniquely tragic horror aesthetic, more akin to poetry than exploitation. Studio stills such as this one capture that fragile balance between beauty and terror, emblematic of a film that redefined the genre as both art and nightmare.


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