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Jul 20 10 2:58 PM
ryanbrennan wrote:I almost forgot, as a warm-up we watched the Jiri Trnka 1949 stop motion classic THE EMPEROR'S NIGHTINGALE, narrated by Boris Karloff. Maybe I was too tired or just not in the right mood but I found the film tedious at 55 minutes. I can only imagine what the 72 minute Czech version would have been like.
Jul 20 10 4:31 PM
Jul 20 10 4:57 PM
oldmanster wrote:Where does the work of Jan Svankmajer fit into your list? I've yet to watch any of his films, but I have a couple queued up on Netflix (Alice, 1988; Faust, 1994). ... Reed
Jul 21 10 5:55 PM
Director Lee Sholem isn't credited. Did he have his name removed?
Jul 23 10 5:02 PM
Director Lee Sholem isn't credited. Did he have his name removed? It literally frightens me to imagine a movie from which "Roll 'em" Sholem had his name removed. This image literally makes me laugh. Where does the work of Jan Svankmajer fit into your list? I've yet to watch any of his films, but I have a couple queued up on Netflix (Alice, 1988; Faust, 1994).I liked Svanmajer's ALICE. It's creepy and disquieting. The stop motion is not smooth but imparts a spooky sense of kinetic life.
Director Lee Sholem isn't credited. Did he have his name removed? It literally frightens me to imagine a movie from which "Roll 'em" Sholem had his name removed.
Where does the work of Jan Svankmajer fit into your list? I've yet to watch any of his films, but I have a couple queued up on Netflix (Alice, 1988; Faust, 1994).
Aug 29 10 12:18 AM
Sep 4 10 6:39 PM
Sep 13 10 12:28 AM
Oct 2 10 11:08 AM
Last night, we kicked off our 25th year (!) of watching vintage movies on Friday nights. The lineup:
Acrobatty Bunny (1946): The circus is in town, and the lion's cage has been placed right over Bugs Bunny's rabbit hole, leading to an ongoing and escalating battle between the two of them. Very funny cartoon, with naturally Bugs outwitting his larger rival. I was fascinated by the lion's blue nose; was he a censor? They didn't say. Highlight was the lion in drag dancing a hula while Bugs strummed the Uke.
Ripley's Believe it or Not #3 (1931): The shorts stink and are made on a budget lower than I spend for Diet Pepsi in a month, but what th' heck. Highlight was definitely a man who can straighten out his own spine and grow 7 inches. No, no, he could, they showed it. Wow.
Robert Benchley in "How to Watch Football" (1938): Not one of the better Benchley shorts; he is at home listening to the game on the radio when he imagines he were at the game, leading to a fantasy sequence where he's at the game and being bothered by a group of horrid, rude fans. What IS hysterical is the football announcer, also Benchley, making remarks by V.O. during the "action", with comments like, "We've got a great crowd today, 40,000 screaming fans. Well, 20,000."
Popeye and Bluto beat the hell out of each other in "Pleased to Meet Cha!" (1935) Olive Oyl at her most insufferable; these boys should dump her and go date Betty Boop. I will say this, Olive looks more like Shelley Duvall every time I see her.
"Duel Personalities" (1939): Alfalfa is hypnotized (by the guy who played Tai Chotali in "Captain Marvel") and thinks he's D'Artagnon, and challenges Butch to a fight to the death, the idiot. These later MGM "Our Gang" shorts are beginning to get lousy. I miss Wheezer, Stymie, Joe Cobb, Chubby, and Mary Ann more than I can say.
Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, & Lupe Valez in the egg skit from "Hollywood Party" (1934) After that last short, we definitely needed some laughs, and this is one of the funniest things I've ever seen.
"Spooks!" (1953) After that, we all donned our 3D glasses to watch Moe, Larry, and Shemp battle a gorilla, mad scientist, and goofy-ass henchman in a haunted house. Best 3D effect was when we were all squirted with a fire extinguisher; worst was when Moe's fingers went into the camera to poke us all in the eyes.
Finally, the first episode of our 1943 wartime serial, "G-Men vs. the Black Dragon". Our American agents battle the evil Japanese warlord, who sneaks into L.A. dressed as a mummy. Well, he does. He's supposed to be Japanese, but he is played by Nino Pepitone and talks like Chico Marx. What's up with THAT? Why didn't they just make him a Mussolini agent? Hmmm. Food for thought. Anyway, the female secret agent got trapped in a filing cabinet at the end, which doesn't seem too perilous, except it then explodes into flames and takes the building with it. Wow! Continued next week.
Oct 2 10 11:09 AM
Next week: Gloria Stuart night! www.inthebalcony.com/FNF
Oct 16 10 2:17 AM
Dennis and I indulged in another double feature Movie Night.Our first feature was a Universal on demand DVD of TELL THEM WILLIE BOY IS HERE. I had seen this film theatrically and then, maybe, on network TV. It had been a long time since I'd seen it. The key element I remembered was Conrad Hall's Panavision cinematography, the on location backlit compositions that he was so fond of and good at photographing. This was Abraham Polonsky's first directorial effort following his blacklisting during the McCarthy era of the 1950s. Like most of Polonsky's films it is a message picture, this one about racism with elements that hint at the Vietnam War then still in progress, but fashioned as a thought provoking entertainment. It's 1909 and the White Man has invaded the traditional tribal grounds, sequestering the original population into reservations where they can be more easily controlled with little to no regard for their tribal customs or way of life. Headstrong Willie Boy (Robert Blake) returns to his home grounds seeking the hand of raven-haired Lola (Katherine Ross). Her father will not condone the pairing and, to make a long story short, Willie kills Lola's father in self defense. According to tribal law and custom this automatically makes her his wife. But when they run it is construed as a kidnapping by misguided Indian sympathist Dr. Arnold (Susan Clark) and she goads her lover, Deputy Sheriff "Coop" Cooper (Robert Redford), into forming a posse to pursue the couple.Based on Harry Lawton's book, the film purports to tell a true story. Though Redford is top-billed, there are several roles in the film and screen time is divided up among them in a manner not usually seen in "Star" vehicles. Actually, Redford's true stardom was just beginning given that BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID was released in October and WILLIE BOY hit screens in December. This simply means that the latter film was already in the can before the former film sent Redford's stock skyrocketing. It was just a lucky coincidence that Reford's co-star, Ross, was also in the film. Had it been made later, after the box office success of BUTCH, we might have seen a different approach with more screen time for Redford and Ross possibly in the Susan Clark role.There are several pleasures to be had in the supporting cast. Barry Sullivan and Charles McGraw are welcome sights. Appearing in smaller roles are Charles Aidman, John Vernon, Lou Frizzell and a few more familiar faces. Dave Grusin provides an interesting film score, one that would make a nice addition to a soundtrack collection. The print quality of this anamorphic DVD was very good.Our second feature was SOLDIER IN THE RAIN with Steve McQueen and Jackie Gleason. Blake Edwards and Maurice Richlin adapted William Goldman's novel about the relationship between Master Sergeant Maxwell Slaughter (Gleason) and Sergeant Eustis Clay as they go about their (shady) business on a military base. Ralph Nelson directs McQueen in one of his most overtly comical performances to good effect. Gleason actually has the more serious role of the two. Tuesday Weld is fun as Bobby Jo Pepperdine just as she was fun playing Thalia Menninger on THE MANY LOVES OF DOBIE GILLIS. Tony Bill gets to play extreme goofy and Tom Poston has his moments in a small role. Ed Nelson has a great role as a mean-spirited MP who has his eye on McQueen's antics. This was possibly his most memorable role in an "A" picture up to that time and it would only be another year before he would become famous as Dr. Rossi on the TV series PEYTON PLACE. As MP James Priest he goes from being a merely stern authority figure out to catch McQueen breaking the rules to an outright bad guy. A bar fight in which he and a buddy unfairly gang up on McQueen is a stunner. Nelson's autobiography, Beyond Peyton Place, relates that it was on this film that he and Tom Poston became friends. We learn that Poston was allergic to onions, which caused his throat to swell up. Nelson also offers Poston's solution should someone spill red wine on your clothing -- douse it in salt (the salt absorbs the wine).Henry Mancini's score is fine (another good candidate for CD release) and the picture quality of this disc looks fine.
Oct 16 10 8:18 AM
Oct 16 10 11:25 AM
reddog122 wrote:Always good to read a MOVIE NIGHTS review Ryan. Are the MONSTER KIDS meetings still ongoing? I remember a few post back you wrote Arch was going to start writing about them again at MISCELLANEOUS MONSTERS.
It was a double birthday as we celebrated the special day of FXRH and RyanBrennan, both born on June 17 a year apart. FXRH bought everyone their choice of goodies from the dollar menu at Jack-in-the-Box (tacos, bacon cheeseburgers, Breakfast Jacks) or Beef ‘n Cheddars (luckily on sale two for $4) from Arby’s. I baked a devil’s food cake with cream cheese icing (all pre-packaged ingredients), which is just about the best cake you can make for the price. Count Gamula supplied a half gallon of Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla ice cream.
First up was EL FANTASMA DE LA OPERETA (1955), which we all thought was a Mexican film, but turns out was made in Argentina. It had no subtitles so we had to guess as to what was going on. Here’s what we determined: a group of performers is warned not to do a show at a theater because it is haunted by a phantom. A mad scientist who has collected the world’s most famous monsters (Dracula, the Wolf Man, the Invisible Man, and, of course, the Frankenstein monster) also shows up to try to stop them from performing, which is something we couldn’t quite figure out. At various times throughout, song and dance numbers are rammed down our throats.
Of course, it was the monsters we were interested in – that’s why we call them “Monster Kid meetings.”
Only the Frankenstein monster was patterned after the Universal design, with a flat top and bolts in his neck – and he takes Boris Karloff’s jerky arm movements to an absurd level when he tries (and continually fails) to grab someone. He’s also pretty short for a Frankenstein monster.
I suppose that a point could be made that the movie’s Dracula is a little like John Carradine since he wears a high top hat. But he also wears a monocle (is that a Dracula “first”?) and is about as threatening as some society fancy boy. No fangs, of course.
The Wolf Man is the oddest of the bunch – he’s short and fat and extremely ineffectual, so perhaps the filmmakers were thinking that Lou Costello was bitten by Lon Chaney Jr. somewhere in ABBOT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN and decided that this was what he’d be like. I think they were pretty close.
Oops, I forgot. The Invisible Man does look exactly like the Universal version, since he’s invisible the entire time. And I do mean invisible. For his introduction, there’s a hat hanging on a wire (and just why would he be wearing a hat and nothing else?). In another scene, a door opens; and in another, a bad double exposure has him drink some coffee. That’s it for invisible man effects. Seriously.
I should have realized this wasn’t a real 1950s' Mexican movie for several reasons. First, the sex seemed to be much more overt, what with the group leader’s wife getting annoyed that he won’t make love to her right at the beginning of the movie (they had twin beds, of course – the movie didn’t go that far). And there are two obviously gay characters. But the big giveaway that it wasn’t a Mexican movie was that it had at least two special visual effects – one of them was actually stop motion! (For those who must know, about ten minutes into the film a poster advertising the entertainers bursts open via stop motion.) I’ve seen a bunch of 1950s Mexican movies and have yet to find a single optical effect, not even a wipe between scenes. Hell, I’m not sure I’ve seen a simple dissolve.
We had a great time with this and it was very much an MST3K kind of romp. We were even seeing lots of resemblances to other famous people – I thought the female lead was a dead ringer for Rosemary DeCamp (from the LOVE THAT BOB show) and in one scene there was a portrait of someone who looked just like Forrest J Ackerman! I’m not kidding.
Sadly, I can’t really recommend the movie to anyone who’s not interested in Mexican movies or Universal monster rip-offs. But we loved it.
Oct 16 10 1:00 PM
Oct 19 10 4:39 AM
Always good to read a MOVIE NIGHTS review Ryan.
Oct 22 10 6:38 PM
Oct 23 10 10:56 AM
ryanbrennan wrote:While we were there, FXRH demonstrated the 2-D to 3-D conversion of non-3-D material. Arch was there before me and saw many more examples. I only say about 30 seconds and material from three or four films. The only shot I remember was of Count Floyd on an SCTV appearance. The converter turned Floyd concave so it looked like I was looking into a cake mold. I'm told, though, that it looks particularly good with certain films.
Jan 20 11 12:12 AM
Jan 21 11 9:08 AM
Jan 28 11 10:18 PM
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