This expression causes some confusion. “The idea was created that every cheap horror or science fiction movie is a B movie. The authentic B movie stayed in the past, in the 30s and 40s. The generalization by critics is incorrect”, says journalist Carlos Primati, a film history researcher.
Originally, B movies were produced by the secondary unit of the major studios, which, in the 1930s and 1940s, shared their operations. In unit A, only outstanding films were made, where the biggest stars shone. The tapes that came out of the B drive of the big studios were starless, even though the budget wasn’t always low. This double production began during the American economic crisis caused by the crash of the New York Stock Exchange in 1929. As cinemas lost spectators, the idea arose to attract the public by showing two films for the price of one.
The double sessions always featured one film from the studios’ A unit and another from B, usually a western, science fiction, or horror tape. The two-in-one formula was so successful that, by 1935, 85% of American theaters were showing double screenings. At that time, the big studios owned chains of cinemas, where they showed their own tapes. In 1948, a law forced them to withdraw from exhibition halls.
Without the big studios’ control over the theaters, double screenings lost steam and the golden age of B movies was over. From the 1950s onwards, studios committed to making films on a low budget emerged, creating tapes that had fantastic and appealing themes and that were shown in modest cinemas. Productions with these characteristics — such as the horror classic Night of the Living Dead (1968) — ended up being labeled as B movies, although this expression was born to define another specific period in the history of American cinema.
Good, cheap and crazy
Here are ten classics of this cinematographic style that marked the 40s
1940
the primateby William Nigh
Actor Boris Karloff is a doctor who tries to cure a girl with polio. But for that, he needs the spinal fluid of human beings. When a dangerous gorilla escapes from a circus, he has the perfect alibi to kill people for the precious liquid.
The Vampire of Deathby Jean Yarbrough
After being betrayed by his assistants, Doctor Carruthers has an original plan: create giant bats to attack his enemies. The Doctor was played by Bela Lugosi
1941
The Invisible Ghostby Joseph H. Lewis
An evil (Polly Ann Young) and domineering woman hypnotizes her husband (Bela Lugosi) to force him to participate in a murder plot.
1942
The Missing Corpseby Wallace Fox
A mad scientist tries to keep his wife young. But to obtain the elixir of youth, he kidnaps young girls, extracts their bodily fluids and injects them into the body of his beloved.
The Black Dragonsby William Nigh
Once again Bela Lugosi plays a mad scientist, hired by the Japanese to transform the faces of six Asians into copies of important American figures.
1943
The Revenge of the Zombiesby Steve Sekely
In the swamps of Louisiana, Doctor Max von Altermann, played by John Carradine, manufactures zombies for the Nazi Army and transforms the sister of the movie’s good guy into a living dead.
1944
The Lady and the Beastby Robert Sherman
A living brain (that’s right!) takes over the mind of a scientist in order to carry out his plans for justice and revenge.
The Return of the Man-Apeby Phil Rosen
Two scientists, Lugosi and John Carradine, find the body of a prehistoric man and decide to exchange his primitive brain for a more developed one to control the creature.
Blue Beardby Edgar G. Ulmer
John Carradine plays a vile and dangerous criminal whose hobby is strangling helpless victims.
1946
Diabolic Vampireby Frank Wishar
sequence of The Vampire of Death. Here, young Nina (Rosemary La Planche) thinks she’s inherited the murderous instincts of her late father, the sinister Doctor Carruthers.
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