Yuku free message boards

When you go to sleep each night to the soundtrack of "Dungeon of Harrow", you tend to pick up details that an occasional viewing would overlook.

My wife usually rolls her eyes when I crank up the VCR, but then she always manages to come up with some tart observations as the story plays out for the thousandth time.

I never get tired of seeing (but more often, hearing) the story and I thought to put together a little compendium of trivia and minutiae concerning the production, characters, and idiosyncracies of "Dungeon of Harrow."

Please indulge me.

> Everyone who has seen this movie comments on the ridiculous modelwork struggling to pass as a 3-masted schooner. Note the soap suds meant to pass for foam. Some of the bubbles taken to scale would be as big as Volkswagen bugs.

> The "crest of Fallon -- it's on all our ships", thanks to the art project of a 2nd grader somewhere.

> Everybody in the story comes from England, right? The only one who sounds credibly English is Bill McNulty as the Count. Well, I suppose we are lucky the rest were able to say their lines at all.

> Check out the "body" of the girl survivor who made it to shore before Fallon and the Captain. Uh, looks like a mannequin to me. Notice how its feet are contorted into the sort of position that would allow high heels to be fitted. Also, it appears that the girl has a blond punk cut.

> The funniest dialogue comes out of Mantis' mouth. I chuckle every time I hear him deliver his answer to the Count's inquiry about the status of the Captain: "He's dead." (I can't capture the flavor of it in print -- ya just gotta hear it).

> The Captain's messy move from the bedroom: well, this obviously had to have happened while Fallon, Cassandra, and the Count were at dinner. So I guess Mantis was in charge of the move (it certainly wouldn't be little Anne). Suppose the Count gave him his orders before he excused himself to go to the Chapel prior to dinner? "Wait until Cassandra brings the other fellow down to Dinner"? My idle mind just starts to thinking how these things happen -- that's all.

> The furniture in Fallon's room: besides the built in bed and large lantern-like hanging lamp, there is evidently a padded Victorian chair and an old-fashioned framed globe.

> There is quite a bit of unwanted noise on the track, particularly in early scenes within the castle -- when Cassandra comes to collect Fallon for dinner, she walks across the bedroom floor and apparently steps on something metal -- the CLINK is distinctly audible on the track.

> One of my favorite non-sequitir scenes is when the exasperated Count, set upon by the evidence that he might be wrong about Anne's attempted poisoning of him, says "I know I'm right. I know he's a pirate!" -- seems like his next words should be "I'll prove it -- I'll just burn this pirate's face!"

> Hey, the door latches in this place -- kinda look like those loops they put in bathrooms to hang towels on!

> Sure would like to get a print that lacks the jump cuts -- especially the one when Anne comes out of Fallon's, ahem, closet.

> Love the velvet rag that the Count carries around with him. Matches his jacket.

> My wife thinks that the reason that Cassandra moves so slowly and stiffly is that she is wearing a corset. Hmmmm, wouldn't mind having a chance to see the proof of it, if you know what I mean.

> Continuity error: the lidded box on the table in the scene where Cassandra exposits on the situation at the Castle -- it's open for the first part of the conversation, then all of the sudden appears closed toward the wrap up.

> Does anybody really believe that the old Count could open the sarcophagus lid and go down the stairs to the dungeon in the amount of time between Fallon hailing him and Fallon entering the Chapel?

> Anybody disagree with my assessment of Fallon as a complete wuss? Why the hell did he not jump the Count while Mantis was busy fighting the Captain? After all, with Cassandra, it was 3 to 2, good guy's favor.

> And what's with Cassandra calling Fallon by his last name, even after they have both obviously become lovers. Why doesn't she call him by his first name (Aaron)? Guess in her neighborhood, you dropped the "Mr." or "Mrs." when you got familiar.

> When Cassandra begins to tell Fallon of the "secrets of the Castle of Sade", she starts by pointing out the portrait of the Countess, and noting "The Countess was a beautiful woman...". In my mind, I always want to add the words "...although you couldn't tell by this portrait".

> I love the little jerk the Countess gives when Cassandra plunges the weapon (what is it -- a letter opener?) into her heart. It's just the perfect little touch.

> Continuity error: you may notice that, in the scene where the Count is confronting Mantis about letting the dogs get out, that the medium close-up of him showing him from the waist up shows the white border of his vest already is stained with wine, but in the longer shots it is pristine. All before the Count throws wine in his face.

> I just love the Count's hallucination scene. You gotta hand it to Lee Morgan, he has one hell of a maniacal laugh! Notice this subtlety: after Morgan's character departs, the Count, covered in cobwebs, says with relief "Yes, it was the wine", then you get nearly a repeat of the action, but this tie he is completely clean of cobwebs. An indication that he was indeed hallucinating.

> I always have to laugh and comment when, in the scene where Fallon and the Captain find the place where the dogs killed the girl survivor, the Captain says "The attack must have been violent!". Well, duh, doesn't "violent" and "attack" kinda go together as a rule?!

> So Mr. Prima Donna Fallon has to have it his way and see himself to his room after dinner. He takes the torch away from Cassandra so that now she must grope her way down a dark hallway and stairs, then he has the nerve to say "I stood alone in that horrible hall," Well, whose fault is that, Dude!

> It cracks me up every time I hear Cassandra deliver the line "I - feel - ill." But the Count's response is even more rib-tickling.

Well, I am sure I have missed a few of the things I might have listed here -- when I see the movie again (tonight at bedtime), they will come back to mind for my next post.

If anyone would like to add their observations, or discuss mine, I would be ecstatically happy. It's always good to know that there are others out there that appreciate this little coprolite.[/font]

LOL!

Thanks, I have a weird affinity for the stuff of cinematic dilettantes.

I can't explain it; I just experience it.

And, yes, my wife tolerates it out of loving kindness.

From me, thanks. I have read those interviews several times and have always wished I could have asked Mr. Boyette a few of my own questions.

Has anyone in this thread seen any of his other movies?


The Squashster

Don't know about Morgan's alleged status as a Texas Horror Host, but the fact that he was around to make 2 more movies with Boyette makes me wonder if he didn't relocate to the San Antonio area permanently.

I'll see what I can Google about it.

Squash

Having watched this film more times than I care to recount, I find that, if I view this as an amateur film (since it was Pat Boyette's first time behind a cinema camera, I would say that is a fair assessment), it is actually pretty well done.

I actually find the amateurish acting rather engaging and the dialogue a real hoot in spots.

And Ann really whallops the tar out of poor Mantis in that one scene.