UK Roku Channels

Welcome back, Boils & Ghouls...

... to 'Day Seven' of "A Cinematic History of Horror for Hallowe'en On Roku" in which I shall bring you my next batch of fright flicks from the enormous back-catalogue of macabre movies that have been thrilling cinema-goers for more than a century and can now be streamed to your television sets via the magic of Roku player - so, let's dim the lights... and get on with the frights! :-O


If you read my special hallowe'en blogathon preview - FOUND HERE - which I published last Friday, you'll know that I plan to post one Hallowe'en / Horror related article every day, throughout the month of October, featuring one horror movie per year from cinematic history, starting in 1895 and ending in 2016. This should average out at about four films per day, so you'll have plenty of choice for your macabre movie viewing as we count down the days to Hallowe'en on October 31st! ;-)


On Saturday, to get things started, we went all the way back to the end of the 19th century for some of the earliest horror cinema footage ever recorded. The movies on day one were from 1895 - 1898 (inclusive) and featured beheadings, vampires, skeletons and nightmarish dreams. For my second article on day two of this series, I shared four films (one for each year) from 1899 - 1902 (inclusive) and those featured ghostly apparitions, aliens and selenites, plus a visit from the devil to a convent. In my next post on day three, I shared four films (again, one for each year) from 1903 - 1906 (inclusive) and those featured impish devils, demons and ghost brides, plus a man who practices entomology being pinned to a cork like an insect. For my fourth article on day four in this series of posts, I shared four more films (one for each year) from 1907 - 1910 (inclusive) which featured evil spectres, haunted houses, plus the first filmed version of the story of Frankenstein's monster. Following that post, on day five, I shared another four films (again, one per year) from 1911 - 1914 (inclusive) and those were all based on works of literature by either Dante Alighieri, Robert Louis Stevenson or Edgar Allan Poe. Yesterday, on day six, four films were shared (one for each year) from 1915 - 1918 (inclusive) and those included one about a spooky portrait, another about the victim of a kidnapping, plus a Faustian tale told from a female perspective and another about an artificial creature produced by a mad scientist. For this post, I plan to share four more films (one per year) from 1919 - 1922 (inclusive) and these feature an epic account of the horrors of war, plus tales of vampires and phantom carriages, as well as a hypnotist who uses a somnambulist to commit murder! As with the films shared previously in this series (bearing in mind the time period during which they were made) they all fall into the silent movie category and some may have visible signs of wear and tear but, despite this, they are all none the less watchable as further examples of early films whose influence can still be seen in far more modern movies from the horror genre...

First up today... is an epic anti-war film from France, directed by Abel Gance, that was first released in 1919 under the original title of "J'accuse!"... but it doesn't require an expert in linguistics to deduce that for British audiences it translated to, "I Accuse", which is the derivative used for the UK release. This film tells the story of two men: one married, the other the lover of the first man's wife, who meet in the trenches of the First World War. The older of the two, François Laurin (Séverin-Mars), is the one married to Edith (Maryse Dauvray)... while the younger man, Jean Diaz (Romuald Joubé) is the one with whom Edith Laurin is having an affair. As their tale unfolds... it becomes a microcosm for the horrors of war and, despite being set in the trenches of WWI, it makes a strong case for pacifism. Aside from that, this movie is also notable for having (perhaps) one of the most famous sequences in film history with what is widely referred to as "The March of the Dead" - lasting almost 20 minutes - which comes towards the end of the film. This haunting sequence becomes even more eerie when you consider that the soldiers featured in it were real soldiers, at home on leave from the front, and that many (if not most) of them lost their lives (on returning to the war) within weeks of filming this. Hardly surprising then, that this remains with the viewer long after watching... and is probably the main reason why this film is still remembered, to this day!













As with a lot of these early films, we are fortunate to have copies of them in the public domain... which, for Roku users, means they are widely available on YouTube as well as other free resources for streaming online video. In the case of this particular film, with the overall running time being close to three hours, the version I came across on YouTube has been split into two parts... so, if you want to watch this movie in it's entirety, you will need to use both links (i.e. PART ONE, followed by PART TWO, as indicated below) and just imagine you are switching reels, between them. Feel free to watch this movie online, or use the links to cast from YouTube (via Roku player) and watch it on the big screen for maximum shock value! Either way, here it is... in two parts:-



YOUTUBE LINK: J'accuse! [aka I Accuse] (1919) - PART ONE [IMDB Rating: 7.1]

YOUTUBE LINK: J'accuse! [aka I Accuse] (1919) - PART TWO [IMDB Rating: 7.1]



Interestingly, there was a shorter remake of this film in 1938... by the same director (Abel Gance) who gave us the original 1919 version. I use the term "remake" rather loosely, however, as the latter film is significantly different from the first and could almost be considered a sequel... despite sharing the same title! Picking up the story of 'Jean Diaz', years after he served in the trenches of WWI, this film looks at his post-war immersion into scientific research to develop a machine that will prevent further wars on that scale. Believing he has succeeded, Jean's discovery is then subverted by the government, while Europe slides towards the inevitability of WWII. In desperation, Diaz summons the ghosts of the war dead from the graves and fields of France to give silent, accusing protest. The result is a watchable film, with an even clearer "anti-war" message than the earlier 1919 version. This "timely drama of momentous significance" (as per the tagline of this movie) clocks-in at a far more palatable 1hr 35mins, and you will find it has been uploaded to Dailymotion by 'ulaghchi' so, if you're curious about it, you can always use the Dailymotion channel for Roku devices to watch it. A simple search, from within the channel, should turn up the desired result(s)... but, if not, here are the two links (split into PART ONE and PART TWO, as before) that you will need to find it online:-


DAILYMOTION LINK: J'accuse! [aka I Accuse] (1938) - PART ONE [IMDB Rating: 7.2]

DAILYMOTION LINK: J'accuse! [aka I Accuse] (1938) - PART TWO [IMDB Rating: 7.2]


So, while it's the earlier (1919) version which remains the subject of this post, arguably providing more of a spectacle and being more innovative than the 1938 film of the same name, I felt this was worthy of a mention... due to it's close ties with the original. Hopefully, some of you will get to see both of them and draw your own conclusions. If you do, please feel free to leave a comment below and share your own thoughts on either one, or both, of these movies... as well as any of the others that are featured in this post, or any other post(s) from this month-long blogathon series for Hallowe'en. It's always a pleasure to hear from readers of this blog and, although I am aware of having had many visitors to these pages, the interaction is what makes it all worthwhile... so, please don't be shy! ;-)


Our next film today is a feature-length film from Germany, which was directed by Robert Wiene, and first released in 1920 under the original title of "Das Cabinet Des Dr. Caligari"... but, again, it doesn't require an expert in linguistics to deduce that it translates to, "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari", which is the derivative used for the U.S. release. This film tells the story of a somnambulist, known as Cesare, who is used by a hypnotist, called Dr. Caligari, to commit murder!