This book is well written and painstakingly researched. Mank has personally interviewed as many of the players in the Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff story as was possible, and to his credit he includes plenty of conflicting stories. He has poured through studio records and includes information on star billing, salaries and even production updates. Mank even goes to the trouble of giving exact addresses of the stars homes! The end of the book features complete career information about each star (including theatre, film and television) and a detailed filmography of the films they made together.

The book takes a linear route, and Mank treats it like a slowly unraveling story beginning with Karloff's arrival on the Universal lot to play Frankenstein's monster and ending with his death. In between those events he devotes entire chapters to the eight films Lugosi and Karloff made together: The Black Cat (1934), Gift of Gab (1934), The Raven (1935), The Invisible Ray (1936), Son of Frankenstein (1939), Black Friday (1940), You'll Find Out (1940) and The Body Snatcher (1945). In addition a few chapters are provided in between to fill out the story between movies (including a chapter devoted to Bride of Frankenstein) and separate chapters at the end devoted to the end of each star's life. The chapter on the Black Cat is particularly detailed and informative and makes the book worth the price and the time in and of itself.

The 372 pages are packed with information. There are quotes from the stars themselves, their wives, friends, fellow actors and directors. As I said before many of these stories disagree especially when it comes to Lugosi. There are many mini-biographies of such luminaries as James Whale, Dwight Frye, Edgar Ulmer, David Manners, Colin Clive, Peter Lorre, Val Lewton, and just about every other major figure to come in contact with the two actors. There are many great full-page pictures (many that I haven't seen anywhere else).

Mank proceeds from the premise of contrasting "Dear Boris" as a gentle beloved distinguished and successful actor and "Poor Bela" as a doomed tragic figure who was misunderstood and a victim of circumstance and his own mismanaged affairs. This is a great hook to give the book some spice, but ultimately it is the weakness of the book. Mank is up front about the fact that he is biased towards Karloff, and I feel he misses the point at times about Lugosi's talent and his ultimate fate. For instance he praises Karloff for knowing when he was in a dog and phoning in his performance and condemns Lugosi for always playing his heart out no matter how bad the film. I disagree with this approach completely. However, despite the sometime distracting Karloff bias, this book is still the best and most informative book I have ever read on the subject. To his credit, Mank tries hard to be fair (who after all is truly unbiased and at least Mank recognizes his) to the point of printing opinions that don't agree with his.

I highly recommend this to any fan of Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, classic horror movies, old Hollywood and film in general. It is both fascinating and easy to read.

One of the best horror films ever made and truly deserving the acolade classic.The book brings to light all the infomation any film buff would need to satisfy their thist for behind the scenes details.From the eary concepts to final shooting schedule, how the orginal makeup designs were brought about to interveiws with cast members and the man who actually wrote the script.Great behind the scences photographs from the great Jack P. Pierce's lost scrap books (when is Douglas Norwine going to publish that book about Pierce)to the orginal film score, an absolute delight to read and treasure.

In the many chroniclings of the history of the Golden Age of Horror, women have always been horribly short shrifted. Tomes have been written about Karloff and Lugosi. Even directors Whale and Browning have enjoyed volumes written on their lives and films. But aside from an occasional story on Elsa's turn as the Monster's "mate", or Carroll Borland's life-long infatuation with Lugosi, the history of women in our genre is pitifully lacking. Until now. Author Gregory Mank takes a huge step to rectify this situation by shining a well-deserved and much-overdue light (torch?) on the women whose contributions to the early horror classics have been both overlooked and under-appreciated for far too long. Concentrating on the classics of the 30s, Elsa Lanchester, Helen Chandler, Gloria Stuart, Carroll Borland, Fay Wray, Zita Johann and even high-pitched screamer Una O'Connor, join a long, dis- tinguished list of actresses who have their lives and careers presented to us by Mank. Each artist receives a mini-bio, which includes stage and screen appearances. Of particular interest (and a highlight of the book) is a detailed and engaging look into each actresses' "signature" horror film, revealing dates, salaries, production notes and stories of co-stars and directors. Punctuated into this are insights and other information provided by research done by the author or the reminiscences of the subject herself. These wonderful personal

anecdotes were culled from interviews with Mank by a surprising (to this reviewer) number of the actresses who were (and some who happily still are) with us at the time of the author's research. Mank's skill lies in pretty much allowing each subject's life to tell its own story. So doing, each actress takes on a new life for the reader, a life whose existence had previously only been hinted at. They emerge from being known as simply labels: "the victim", the "hapless heroine" or "the monster" to be revealed as real flesh and blood women. Women who are intelligent, opinionated, witty, hard-working and passionate. Not merely characters... but three-dimensional character actresses. A wonderful and deserving achievement indeed. With this book (and a companion volume, which chronicles our favorite ladies of the 40s), Mank adds yet again to his already formidable legacy as THE chronicler of the Golden Age of Horror, this time adding the heretofore missing point-of-view (and warmth) of the distaff players. Always an interesting read, generously illustrated with many wonderful (and unique?) photos, this book is well worth the (usual) hefty McFarland price tag, and is an essential addition to any classic horror film buff's collection.

Gregory William Mank, who earlier has profiled Lugosi and Karloff, turns his considerable writing skills and knowledge to the distaff side this time, profiling such disparate talents as Maria Ouspenskaya and Louise Currie. Mr. Mank manages to bring the reader back to the mad-cap days at Universal and RKO with an authoritative yet never dull narrative that is peppered with asides from his large cast. This marvellous book concludes with a survey among well-known authorities of the genre to nominate the decade's best performance by an actress/supporting actress in a horror film: Allow this reader to add his choise: Frances Dee as the gutsy "I" of "I Walk With a Zombie."

How different could 3 actors be? Lionel Atwill,a highly respected stage actor that made a specialty out of playing off-beat mad doctor roles and whom his friends called 'Pinky'. Colin Clive, another star of the stage who detested his horror movie roles and drank himself to death. George Zucco, an actor that worked on stage with Colin Clive, made a living acting in everything from Grade 'A' feature films to poverty row Grade 'Z' pictures. I knew something of the lives of Atwill and Clive, but the bio of Zucco was especially interesting. While Atwill was the host of 'adult' parties in his home, and Clive spiralled into an early alcohol-induced death, Zucco comes across as a gentleman. This book was most interesting, and not only taught me the differences in the three men, but also the one thing they had in common. All three were fine actors with backgrounds on the stage who(especially for Atwill and Zucco) always strived to give a good performance, no matter what the picture they were involved with.

I just finished reading Gregory William Mank's "Hollywood's Maddest Doctors," and I must hand it to Mr. Mank. He has done a fine job.

The three subjects of the volume-Lionel Atwill, Colin Clive, and George Zucco-were extraordinary stage-trained actors who became legendary players in the great Universal Studios' horror classics of the 1930's and early 1940's. Even more interesting is the fact that each man was far more interesting in real life than he was in the roles he played on stage and screen. Each in his own way was a tortured soul.

Atwill, the great matinee idol of the British and American stages of the 1920's, was a powerful character actor whose lead roles in such classics as "Dr. X" and "The Mystery of the Wax Museum" elevated him to the same pedestal as Karloff and Lugosi in the horror genre. However, in real life he was a self-destructive free spirit whose sexual escapades led to his downfall. Bitter in his last years, he died an outcast in an industry that was appalled at his unabashed sexual proclivities.

Colin Clive, whose masterful portrayal of Dr. Frankenstein ranks as one of the best pieces of acting in any genre, was a tormented soul who lacked self-confidence and took refuge in the bottle. He would die tragically at the age of 37 from kidney and liver failure, his talent only partially tapped.

Finally, there is the gentlemanly George Zucco who could play virtually any role with equal skill and grace, but who nevertheless was stereotyped in "mad doctor" roles to his everlasting chagrin. Zucco would die unfulfilled, wondering to the last how his career might have been different if only he had gotten more diverse dramatic and comedy roles.

Mank does a super job in bringing out the irony in each man's career-we remember them best for the mad, often tragic characters they portrayed on film. Yet it was in real life that these men played out their most genuinely tragic roles.

I highly recommend Mr. Mank's book to all true fans of these three unsing heroes of early horror films. Each was very talented and very troubled. To his credit, Mank does an excellent job in illuminating both the professional and personal components of their lives. A fine job.