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 MJBare |
Gods and Monsters |
Lead | |
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(06/17/09 12:48 PM) |
Finally saw the movie and I thought it was a great flick. They had a scene at a Hollywood party in the early 1950's where James Whale, Boris Karloff and
Elsa Lancaster had a picture taken together. Was that a real occurance and if so, does that picture exist?
mjb |
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BijouBob8mm |
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(06/17/09 12:55 PM) |
I believe the impromptu party reunion and resulting photo are fiction. (But can't recall where I read/heard that, in order to cite the source.) Haven't watched my DVD of the film in a while. I know there are some behind the scenes featurettes...is there a commentary track? (Guess this is as good an excuse as any for rewatching it!) |
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Joe Karlosi |
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(06/17/09 1:05 PM) |
I said this in another thread, but I only saw this once when it was first released and thought it was an insult to James Whale. Because I doubt that all Whale
had on his mind was sex 24 hours a day, or that he'd do something like force a reporter to strip naked in order to grant an interview. There had to me more
to the director than that. And this goes for anyone, be they straight or gay; if there was a film (or book -- I realize that this movie was from the book
FATHER OF FRANKENSTEIN) made about Lionel Atwill, for example, I wouldn't expect that all Pinky Atwill did was host wild orgies with women, and little
else. If they made a film about David Carradine, hopefully it wouldn't only be about his sexual ideas. I also think there was some agenda in making GODS
AND MONSTERS.
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 Rakshasa |
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(06/17/09 1:09 PM) |
Joe Karlosi wrote:What specific agenda was that, Joe? |
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Don Glut |
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(06/17/09 1:16 PM) |
My problem with GODS AND MONSTERS was the make-up on the actor playing Karloff at that party. The scene is set during the 1950s ... but the make-up has the
Boris look of the 1960s/THRILLER era. He should have had the younger look of VOODOO ISLAND, etc.
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BijouBob8mm |
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(06/17/09 1:32 PM) |
I also think there was some agenda in making GODS AND MONSTERS.Wasn't this based on the novel The Father of Frankenstein? Never got around to reading it, so don't know how close to the book it remained. |
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Ted Newsom |
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(06/17/09 1:42 PM) |
It was damned close, except that they made a substitution of a Germanic housekeeper instead of, I think, a Mexican one. There were other minor changes, like
the "reporter" who interviews Whale in the beginning is described as a chubby, bespectacled (and I think) bearded fanboy type, not a nelly. (Making
him at least a bit ore attractive actually helps the scene work. If he was a total geek, it could have come off as slightly sadistic, not to mention making
Whale look like a chubby chaser.)
As for the film's center-- hey, they guy is post-stroke, forgetful, depressed, incapable of expressing himself even in the minor way on canvas, and obsessed with two things in his past, love (or sex) and death. I don't see any insult to Whale. The character is predatory only in the most cheeky and flirtatious way, wistful rather than lustful. I didn't object to Karloff looking five years "older," either. I mean, James Whale looked about the same in the Bride of Frankenstein recreations, and that's a difference of 22 years. |
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BijouBob8mm |
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(06/17/09 4:02 PM) |
It was damned close, except that they made a substitution of a Germanic housekeeper instead of, I think, a Mexican one.First time I saw this, it took a bit before I realized I was watching Lynn Redgrave as the housekeeper! I know GEORGY GIRL was a long time ago, but I'd like to think that it was more of a fantastic make-up job than just the accumulation of years. (Especially after seeing her do all those health food commercials and still look striking.) |
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Doc Dynamo |
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(06/17/09 4:13 PM) |
I really liked Gods and Monsters, but agree that they pushed Whale's sex obsession a little (pardon the expression) hard. I'd guess it was done for one
of these reasons:
They wanted to make absoultely, positively sure that you knew Whale was gay They really, really liked the sex/life vs death/horror movies angle. Condon was warming up for Kinsey PS: Didn't Chubby Chaser use to be on SNL? |
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Don Glut |
making Whale look like a chubby chaser.) | ||
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(06/17/09 4:51 PM) |
Chubby Chaser? That put a whole new twist to Whale's story.
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TheShadowsVoice |
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(06/17/09 6:24 PM) |
All in all, I liked the film. You can argue they way overdid Whales sexual appitite, but whos to really say what he thought? Possibly it was on his mind 24/7,
though I dont think he would have or COULD have expressed it quite so blatently as depicted in the movie. I do think the film was intended to be an homage to
Whale, but occasional such things can stray a bit.
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Don Glut |
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(06/17/09 6:59 PM) |
I'd liked to have seen a little more of Whale on set directing the movies (and characters) we all so fondly remember. But that probably would have been a
different story.
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Wich2 |
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(06/17/09 7:09 PM) |
"But that probably would have been a different story."
Exactly. And to folks other than hardcore filmfans, a bit of a bore. I know folks always say they want to see THE LON CHANEY STORY, or JOHN WAYNE, THE MOVIE, etc... But to just spend time on-set with these guys, is a little like making a biopic of Henry Ford & using screentime watching cars being put together! -Craig |
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Ted Newsom |
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(06/17/09 7:40 PM) |
Can't wait for the MAN IN THE IRON MASK scene, where we see five minutes of James Whale bobbing his foot up and down during a scene and flustering the
young Peter Cushing.
Riveting stuff, yessir, it's gonna be cool. Maybe a miniseries? |
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Don Glut |
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(06/17/09 8:17 PM) |
Probably the same reasons we haven't yet seen (and maybe never will see) a Boris biopic.
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Dr Acula |
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(06/17/09 8:19 PM) |
For whatever reason, the main story I got from Gods and Monsters is that James Whale wanted to die, and wanted to die ever since his WWI service. His sexuality
was beside the point of his death fetishism...
...an atomic powered brain in a jar jacked directly into a computer who wont be denied!
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Wich2 |
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(06/17/09 8:21 PM) |
Yup.
I know one scene like the BRIDE shoot HAD to be in the Whale pic... but that kind of stuff is damn near impossible to pull off! Every one of the poor actors is immediately judged against the original; the recreation never looks exactly like the original film, etc. |
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Detective Kemper |
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(06/17/09 8:41 PM) |
I really liked Gods and Monsters. It's one of my faves, actually. Looking at the deleted scenes on the DVD, I did notice that the Monster makeup that
didn't make it into the movie, Karloff's makeup, is from the wrong movie. They have him made up as the Monster from the 1931 Frankenstein, no singed
hair, costume not burned or torn, hands not burned. It's a good makeup, just not from Bride of Frankenstein, which may explain why it was ultimately cut. I
also have Father of Frankenstein with annotations, but I haven't gotten around to reading it. But from what I skimmed, it's written in present tense
like a movie script.
Best, DK |
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Wich2 |
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(06/17/09 8:48 PM) |
"Karloff's makeup, is from the wrong movie. They have him made up as the Monster from the 1931 Frankenstein, no singed hair, costume not burned or
torn, hands not burned"
It's been a while since I saw the film - but isn't the appearance of The Monster in a "mental moment" in Whale's home? In which case, the "more iconic" makeup makes sense? |
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Detective Kemper |
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(06/17/09 8:54 PM) |
Actually, I'm referring to the recreation of the shooting of the Bride's creation scene. There is a deleted scene that briefly show the Monster getting
out of Pierce's makeup chair and the makeup is the wrong makeup. Or maybe its a production still. I'll have to look at the DVD again. But it did strike
me that it was the wrong makeup.
DK
Last Edited By: Detective Kemper
06/17/09 8:58 PM.
Edited 1 times.
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Wich2 |
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(06/17/09 8:55 PM) |
Ah!
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