Angels and Ministers of Grace Defend Us!

Book excerpt: Like a lovingly guided midnight tour, this book covers the seductive shadows of the most fascinating horror films and melodramas from the 1930s and 1940s. From the bloody censorship battles behind 1935's Bride of Frankenstein, to the sexual controversies of 1941's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and the gruesome Nazi atrocities of 1943's Women in Bondage, this book delves into newly excavated research to tell the behind-the-scenes sagas of some of Hollywood's most frightening films. Peek behind the scenes, revel in on-the-set anecdotes and get a look at the script notes illuminating characters like WereWolf of London, Richard III, Panther Woman and Rasputin. Included are profiles of the performers and filmmakers who made the nightmares feel all too real in the darkened theaters of yesteryear, and an examination of the factors that have kept these films popular so many decades later.