Princesses of Mars, Part 35

On this last day of the month originally named for Mars, the Roman god of war, we turn our eyes to Mars, the planet named for the Roman god of war, and the princesses that dwell there.

Actually, we're just going to be checking in with one princess today--Dejah Thoris--as she hangs out with her prince, John Carter. And we've got an all-star line-up of artists capturing the couple's epic likeness!

Musical Monday with Elton John

Elton John has been writing (and co-writing with long-time collaborator Berne Taupin) beautiful and/or energetic pop songs since the late 1960s. He was supposed to be doing his retirement tour in 2020, but the Covid-19 bullshit put a stop to it. John didn't even get to finish the very first concert of the tour, as he lost his voice due to what was diagnosed as walking pneumonia.

John has written and performed some of our all-time favorite songs here at Shades of Gray, including "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding", "Candle in the Wind", "Rocket Man", and "I'm Still Standing". To get your week off to a good start, we bring you John straight from 1970 and the original video for "Your Song".

The grace and majesty of Kendo

Kendo Combat (1897)
Starring: A Bunch of Guys With Wooden Swords
Director: Gabriel Vayre
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

"Kendo Combat" is one of the first known films made of Japan. It was one of several slice-of-life mini documentaries that an associate of the Luminaire brothers made on their behalf, as part of their pioneering efforts to advance the art of filmmaking.

I've embedded it below, for your viewing pleasure. It's a record of what appears to be fast-moving chaos. It looks fun, but I'd hate to be hit with one of those swords if not wearing the proper gear! (For me, watching this film gave me a better understanding of some aspects of Japanese comic book creator Rumiko Takahashi's work...)

The Avengers Dossier, Page Six

It's time for another brief look at a supporting player in a Season Four episode of "The Avengers".

GORDON JACKSON

In "Castle De'Ath" Gordon Jackson portrayed Lord Ian, a gruff Scotsman and master of a remote estate that was the center of many mysteries.

Gordon Jackson was born in 1923 and raised in Glasgow, Scotland. From his first acting job as a young teen on radio and for the rest of his career, he made no effort to affect any accents other than his native Scottish (unlike so many other actors hailing from the various corners of the United Kingdom, such as Ireland or Wales). This did not prove to be a limitation, as he made the leap to film at the age of 20 and spent the next four decades portraying a range of characters.

Jackson is perhaps best remembered for his television roles as Hudson the Butler in "Upstairs, Downstairs" (1971 - 1975) and as George Cowley, the hard-as-stone government agent in "The Professionals" (1977 - 1983), as well as for his roles in films like "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines" (1965), "The Night of the Generals" (1967), "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" (1969), "Madame Sin" (1972), and "Sherlock Holmes and the Masks of Death" (1984). Jackson was also a well-respected Shakespearean actor, and he regularly appeared on London stage productions even while maintaining his busy film and TV schedule.

Jackson worked right up until shortly before his death in 1990.

'Bad Boy' will give you a good time

Bad Boy (1925)
Starring: Charley Chase, Martha Sleeper, Hardee Kirkland, Charles Force, Noah Young, and Eddie Borden
Director: Leo McCarey
Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

Jimmie (Chase), the college educated son of a self-made man (Kirkland), tries to fit in among the working class in order to learn the family business and keep the affections of the woman he loves (Sleeper). His efforts become complicated when he is mistaken for an infamous gangster.

"Bad Boy" is, like most Charley Chase films, a carefully constructed bit of comedy where the main character is carefully established and the situations he finds himself in almost always end up happening due to either a flaw he possesses or a goal he desperately wants to achieve. Further, each gag and joke feeds and builds into one another with a precision and purpose that would make an engineer proud.

In this particular film, it's our hero's desire to please everyone that gets him into trouble or embarrassing situations. First, he tries to fit in with the iron workers at his father's mill, then he tries to please his mother by taking part in a dance performance at a garden party that ends up embarrassing him in front of his girlfriend; and then, while trying to behave like a manly man to win her back, he ends up earning the ire of all the patrons at a nightclub and triggers the brawl that serves as the film's climax.

The film is further ordered by its three very distinct locations--the steel mill, the garden party, and the dance club. In this, the film even manages to fall neatly into the traditional three-act structure, despite being just around 18 minutes in length. It may even go a little further than that, actually. In some ways, the action in each location unfolds almost like a story unto itself, with each featuring a beginning, a middle, and an end. Although each segment could stand perfectly fine on its own, they all feed into each other and combine to not only establish Charley Chase's character as a likable and decent guy who just doesn't fit in easily anywhere. Further, over the course of the film, the supporting characters of the parents, and even the girlfriend, develop in ways that make them more compelling than such figures usually are in these short comedies... and because of the clean breaks between the locations, it's a pleasant surprise to see character development continue across them.

The version of "Bad Boy" that I watched (and which is embedded for easy viewing below) also benefitted from an actual musical score, written by Maurice Saylor and performed by his Snark Ensemble. It's a perfect example of how big a difference it makes when the music is synchronized to what's happening on screen instead of just some random piano music or jazz tune being slapped onto the film.

On this Picture Perfect Wednesday...

 ... Brigitte Bardot has grown sick of winter coats...

... and she's flung open all the windows and doors here at Shades of Gray to let Spring in!

A collection of clever and funny short comics

Stark Plug Book(.com) (Rolling Tire Productions, 2017)

Art and Writing: Chap

Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

Experience fragments from the life of a comic book character who, at one point, decides to quit his job to star in a newspaper strip.

"Stark Plug Book(.com)" is a collection of stories of varying lengths by Steven Chappell (aka Chap). The look of the art reminded me mostly of Gilbert Sheldon (best known for the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers), but the tone of the humor was generally more genteel, as well as more surreal, than Gilbert's work, as is even evident from the book's cover. 

The material presented is as much about the experience of reading comics and the act of creating stories and art, as it is about chronicling Stark and his surroundings, something which becomes increasingly clear as you read. There's even a page that makes fun of the "classified ad"-style encouragements for kids to order toys and other items that used to be commonplace in comic books. There's even a "contest" that involves finding all the airplanes in the book.

Stark Plug and his dog are the main characters in the book, with Stark's chatty coworkers, his mean boss, and a street musician named Bernie the Banjo Bum making up the main supporting cast. I found Bernie to be the most amusing character here, even outshining Stark himself. (The supporting characters mostly drop out during Stark's turn starring in a newspaper strip, but they are back afterwards.) 

Humor-wise, there is a little bit of everything--social commentary, along with commentary on social commentary; sit-com style comedy; self-referential and fourth-wall shattering jokes and situations that both illuminate and poke fun at artistic creation and processes and comic book story-telling techniques; observations on the nature of art; and metaphysical musings in satirical wrappings. The blurb on the cover announces that this book is "nice alternative to television"... and that is truth in advertising!

I ordered my copy of "Stark Plug Book(.com) directly from the creator at www.starkplugbook.com. To my surprise and joy, my package included several little bits of the merchandise that I thought was just humorous fictions on the amusing "classified ad" page I mentioned earlier. So--I was a proud owner of a Bernie the Banjo Bum guitar pick... until it went missing in my recent move. (At least I still have my sticker... and I still hold out hope that my Bernie guitar pick will resurface somewhere!)

Musical Monday with Queen

This month, it's 30 years since Queen released one of their great songs, along with one of their greatest videos in support. It's a surreal bit of film that focuses on Freddie Mercury singing and being weird, with the three other band members eventually joining in as things get REALLY strange.

The song and video feel like a light-hearted romp--and it's genuinely funny at times, in keeping with the lyrics--but it also manages to put a little attention on the very serious subject of mental illness. (The most telling moment in the video is when Mercury--the guy who says he has gone mad--tries to sit down next to friends on a couch--and they all move away. A spotlight being on him at that point is also a great touch.)

Please take a view minutes to check out this classic video and song, either to rediscover it or to experience it for the first time!

I'm Going Slightly Mad (1991)

Starring: 

Directors: Rudi Dolezal and Hannes Rossacher

Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

(In writing "I'm Going Slightly Mad", Freddie Mercury reportedly took some inspiration from his deteriorating physical and mental state from his battle with the then-mysterious illness that would eventually come to be recognized as AIDS. I knew nothing of this when I fell in love with this song, way back when.)

Tom & Jerry's Spanish Twist

A Spanish Twist (1932)
Starring: Anonymous Voice Actors

Directors: John Foster and George Stallings

Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

World-travelers Tom & Jerry find themselves in Spain where they dance the flamenco and are forced to become bullfighters after committing a cultural faux pas.

"A Spanish Twist" is one of several "Tom & Jerry" cartoons where our heroes are in a foreign land and interacting with the people who live there, such as "Jungle Jam" and "A Swiss Trick". It's not only the best example of these, but it's among the very best of all the "Tom & Jerry" episodes.

As is the case with all the really strong installments in this series, we're treated to some nice music and some kooky animation to go along with it. Here, Tom & Jerry are first entertained by a flamenco dancer, then join in the dance, and ultimately start engaging in the sort of physically impossible antics are are also common features of the strongest episodes of the series.

The real strength of "A Spanish Twist" is with its unpredictability. From the opening scene--where Tom & Jerry adrift at sea on a raft and come under attack by a slingshot-wielding octopus--through the flamenco routine and onto the bizarre bullfighting sequence, there is a steady stream of strange and unpredictable gags that keeps viewers engaged because it's impossible to know what's going to come next.

The only flaws with "A Spanish Twist" are also ones that are common to the "Tom & Jerry" series--even the best installments. There are times where the characters are running around on completely blank surfaces with empty backgrounds, and the animators really needed to have put in at least the minimal effort of a few lines here and there. Also, the bullfight sequence just sort of sputters to a close after a hilarious opening and a crazy middle section. (I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by the weak close, as the bullfight is also where the animators stopped doing scenery. This appears to be another example of a fun bunch of ideas that are not property attached to a story.)

Speaking of the bullfight, when Tom & Jerry emerged into the arena dressed as matadors, I was fully expecting to be irritated by what was going to follow and that whatever amusement I'd felt up to this point would be completely overridden. If there's one thing I find it hard to see humor in, it's animal cruelty--like what is so rampant in bullfights. However, the bullfight here is so ridiculous that I couldn't help but chuckle at it.

Although the climactic fight sequence just sort of fizzles, "A Spanish Twist" still manages to close on a high note with a denouement and final joke that may be lost on modern viewers but which was probably very funny to audiences in 1932: Tom & Jerry hear that Prohibition has been lifted in the U.S., so they rush right home for a drink! (This ending is also, in a backdoor kind of way, gives character and motivation to Tom & Jerry like almost no other moment in the series has... the pair were so desperate for a stiff drink that they went globetrotting because the U.S. went dry.)

 As always with my reviews of "Tom & Jerry", you can check out the subject for yourself. Why don't you take a moment to enjoy yourself by clicking below?

And if you disagree with my take, please let the world know by leaving a comment to this post. Heck, you can even to that if you agree!

Fantastic Friday

There will never be another comic book family and their foes who will replace the Fantastic Four as my favorites. It's been awhile since I've posted an artistic tribute to them, but I fix that with a couple fantastic Fantastic Four drawings from Claudio Castellini!

The Avengers: The Master Minds

The Master Minds (1965)

Starring: Patrick Macnee, Diana Rigg, Laurence Hardy, Bernard Archard, Patricia Haines, and Ian MacNaughton

Director: Peter Graham Scott

Rating; Nine of Ten Stars

After a cabinet minister (Hardy) is nearly killed while stealing state secrets, but claims to have no memory of attempting to do so, secret agents John Steed (Macnee) and Emma Peel (Rigg) discover his treason may be linked to his membership in RANSACK, a private club for people with exceptionally high IQs. 

"The Master Minds" is another great episode, with another clever script that deftly mixes humor and suspense, and, more importantly, makes the comic book universe within which John Steed and Mrs. Peel exist seem real. While trying to figure out what is causing elected officials and loyal government employees to turn traitor (and even murderous), they have to tread carefully because of the lurking political scandal. This sense of reality is further heightened by Steed behaving in a far more serious fashion than usual, with the scenes of Steed interacting with fellow employees of the Ministry and a government psychiatrist showing that Patick Macnee can bring an intensity to Steed that we rarely see. This more grounded, serious Steed brings a slightly darker atmosphere to this episode, and the grounding make the climactic scenes all the more intense. (All that said, it's also Steed's rebellious flippant approach to life that ends up saving him and Peel both, if in a somewhat roundabout way.)

Mrs. Peel's treatment "The Master Minds" is also interesting, as moreso than ever before, it's spelled out that she is the "total package" with even more brains than she has beauty and enough breeding to shut down lecherous men without causing a scene. In this episode, it's established that Mrs. Peel is not only smarter than Steed, but she is a literal genius. The test administered by RANSACK (which she passes easily) certifies her as such, and she even helps Steed cheat (and yet still has to falsify his results) for him to be considered for admission. 

This episode also keeps up the momentum until the very end, with an exciting and very creatively staged climax where we see Emma Peel and the mysterious figure who's using RANSACK as a vehicle to corrupt Great Britain's greatest minds in silhouette, behind a rear-projection screen upon which military footage is being shown. The only drawback is that nowhere near enough is done with this very interesting villain. In understand why the identity was kept secret until the end, but I feel like this is another one of those minor characters in "The Avengers" who deserved more screen time... and who should have made a reappearance in another episode or two.

It's St. Patty's Day!

 Since gender-flipping is all the rage these days, we here at Shades of Gray have turned St. Patrick into St. Patty. This majestic figure of revised legend stands ready to hook snakes, drop them in cages, and humanely relocate them to somewhere far away.

His nightmare is our entertainment

A Nightmare (1896)
Starring: Georges Melies and Jehanna d'Alcy
Director: Georges Melies
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

A man (Melies) has a dream that starts out pleasant enough, but quickly turns frightening and bizarre.

At just a little more than one minute in length, "A Nightmare" still manages to deliver a ton of entertainment. Like most of special effects pioneer Georges Melies' early efforts, it moves at such a breakneck pace that if you blink you'll miss some of the magic and jokes. (And even if you're paying close attention--like some guy watching it with a mind toward perhaps writing a review--there's so much non-stop activity that you're likely to miss something. I, for example, didn't notice that the room changes more than once as the dream/nightmare unfolds until I captured an image for use with this piece.

If you're interested in film history, "A Nightmare" is not only a good time, but it's also a must-see. If you're familiar with Melies' work, either through posts here or from more reputable sources, you know that he commonly tells fantastic short stories where he uses his trick photography techniques to either transport his protagonist onto other words or into dreamscapes, or to cause supernatural forces to haunt them in mundane surroundings. As far as I can tell, this film was the first time he used dreams as a narrative device and it's also the basic template for many of the fantasy-oriented short films he made over the decade or so that followed.

You should take a (literal) minute to check out this great little film. It's quite well done, considering Melies was still developing his techniques. The only thing that could have made it better was a slightly different ending--I was hoping for one of the dream characters to show up and give a little twist... but I know that's not the approach they took back then: Normalcy was almost always restored by the end of any fantasy or horror film, (One VERY amusing detail is that when the version I watched was digitized, someone felt obligated to "protect" viewers from seeing Melies' shlong in his onesie, so they pixilated his crotch area. Hilariously, the eye is now drawn to his crotch now than it probably was before.)

Musical Monday with Justin Bieber

It's probably because I'm old, but I have never understood why Justin Bieber appeals to ANYONE. His music is lame, his public persona waffles between imbicilic and obnoxious, and when he grew that mustache he looked hilarious! But... he has things I don't have--like a ton of money, a ton of adoring fans (many of whom seem to tack -atic upon their fan-status), and a photo-model wife, fellow show-business lifer Hailey Bieber (formerly Baldwin).

In January of 2021, Bieber released a love song devoted to his wife Hailey. As is the case with almost every Justin Bieber song I've heard, I can't say I loved it. The video is also a curious one. I can't quit get a read on whether it's supposed to invoke home movies (which seems likely) or if it's supposed to give us the feeling that Bieber is observing the love of his life when she's not aware he's looking.

Whichever the case, Hailey Bieber is very photo model-y throughout, having a sultry/surly air about her that she'd rather be doing anything than what THIS is. There are some rare glimpses of her seeming natural and even smiling a bit, but, all in all, I think the video misses the mark a bit; Justin may love this more than anything and anyone, but she may not feel that way about him. (The fact it's shot in the desert Southwest of the U.S. also doesn't exactly scream "flourishing romance" to me.)

Although this Bieber/Bieber video stirred some nostalgic feelings in me about time I spent some time with a girlfriend in similar locations when I was in my 20s, I find the relationship portrayed in this similar-themed John Legend video and song ("All of Me") far more appealing.

Is there a Justin Bieber fan out there who can tell me what I'm missing when it comes to his popularity? And perhaps someone can even tell me if I'm offbase in how I view the music video below.

Anyone (2021)
Starring: Hailey Bieber
Director: Joe Termini
Rating: Five of Ten Stars

Ko-Ko and Cat Videos -- 1926 style!

It's the Cats (1926/1927)

Starring: Anonymous Voice Actor

Directors: Dave Fleischer and Max Fleisher

Rating: Five of Ten Stars

After the animation studio is closed for the night, Ko-Ko the Clown and his sidekick escape from an ink bottle to put on a variety show for local kittens.

"It's the Cats" is one of many short films from the Fleischer brothers that combines live action footage with animation that starred Ko-Ko the Clown. They were always framed with Ko-Ko emerging from an ink bottle and then eventually returning back to it. The series, and for a brief time the company that produced them, were known as Out of the Inkwell. 

The typical "Out of the Inkwell" short had Ko-Ko bringing the laws of the animated world into the real one, often while interacting with his animator. Here, the only interaction between film and animation happens at the very end when Ko-Ko and his puppy assistant let mice loose for the kittens to chase as the grand finale to their show. Otherwise, all we get are shots of kittens looking at cartoon posters and sitting in chairs, supposedly watching the escaped animations performing on stage. (The kittens do cross over from the real world into the animated ones, as Ko-Ko's theatre--except for the seating--is entirely animated.)

"It's the Cats" is the most disappointing Max Fleischer cartoon from the 1920s/early 1930s that I've watched so far. It opens with a series of repetitive gags involving Ko-Ko putting up posters advertising his show to the kittens. It the proceeds with a series of so-so animated vaudeville style performances, one of which drags on for too entirely too long--a hi-dive act with some amusing visuals but that manages to overstay its welcome--and another very short bit that still manages to grow unfunny due to some looped animation. If I understand the timeline of Max Fleischer's business correctly, this cartoon was made as it was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy and had to be saved by an "angel investor" with whom neither Max or his brother Dave got along. The level of creative effort that went into making this one was probably not as high as the "Out of the Inkwell" installments the preceded it, so the overall outcome is a little lackluster. It's not bad exactly... it just pales in comparison to what came before, as well as much of what would follow in the early 1930s. (Oh... one nitpicky thing that bothered me were to toy cats used to fill chairs in the theatre. Did the Fleischers think the audience wouldn't notice?)

But you can watch "It's the Cats" below and form your own opinion--and I hope you'll share it if it's different than mine!

Trivia: There were two different versions of "It's the Cats" released. First, was a silent version in 1926. It was re-released the following year with a new title card (where the "savior" of Fleisher's operation got top billing) and synchronized music and sound. (Ko-Ko engages in some muttering that could charitably be described as spoken lines.)

The Avengers Dossier, Page Five

Continuing the mini-profiles of supporting players in Season Four episodes of "The Avengers":

ANDRE MORELL

In "Death at Bargain Prices", Andre Morell played Horatio Kane. He's an eccentric businessman who's grown embittered with society and who has withdrawn from public life and taken up residence on the top floor of a department store he owns. From here, he is overseeing his ultimate deal and money-making scheme.

Andre Morell was born in London, in 1909. He was a classically trained actress who began his professional career at the Old Vic in the early 1930s, and transitioned into television with parts in screen adaptions of classic novels and various other made-for-television movies during the late 1930s. For the next three decades, and into the 1970s, Morell was a fixture on British television, as well as a familiar face in big screen thrillers and horror films during the 1950s and 1960s from the legendary Hammer Films and other studios, His appearance along side Peter Cushing in "Cash on Demand" being a favorite here at Shades of Gray. 

Playing Horatio Kane in "Death at Bargain Prices" was Morell's second appearance on "The Avengers". He was also in the Season Three episode "The Death of a Batman" as a different character. 

Morell, who had started smoking at the age 14, passed away from lung cancer in 1978. 

Forgotten Comics: Mad Dogs

Mad Dogs #1 - #3 (Eclipse Comics, Feb - April 1992)
Writer: Chuck Dixon
Artist: Victor Toppi
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

An Assistant District Attorney tasks a burned-out detective on the verge of suicide with assembling an off-the-books task force of violent, former law enforcement officers to go outside the rules to make cases against the city's most dangerous criminals. Their first target is a brutal drug lord who is seeking to expand his operation beyond Chinatown by crushing and coopting rival Jamaican gangs and through alliances with the Mafia.

"Mad Dogs" is a brutal, bloody cop story where the line between the heroes and villains is razor thin and the moral high ground upon which the heroes of our story stand is only inches above the cesspool that the drug dealers, murderers, and gangsters they are taking on wallow. The tone and pacing is very much like the gritty Italian and American cop dramas of the 1970s and 1980s. In fact, it feels far more cinematic it its execution than most modern comics, despite the fact that many of those feel more like they're made up of storyboards than comic book panels and pages.

Writer Chuck Dixon takes a "show, don't tell" approach to almost every aspect of "Mad Dogs" as it unfolds across three action-and story-packed issues. The first issue is spent mostly introducing the soon-to-be team of former cops through flashbacks that reveal the violent incidents that got them cashiered and closes with an introduction of their soon-to-be target that illustrates exactly how vile he is. The dialog is well-crafted and, although sparse, gives each character a distinct voice. If you take the as the homage to "grindhouse" cop flicks that it is--and therefore accept the reality that governs those kinds of movies--this is an excellently done story. Heck, the script here would have made a better movie than most of the films it emulates.

Artist Victor Toppi has a style that very effectively captures the decaying urban landscape that "Mad Dogs" takes place in. He also great with action scenes, and he understands how to guide the reader's eye on a comics page with character positioning and panel layouts. He also fully understands how to use shadow and light when working in a pure pen-and-ink medium, and he is the perfect artist for the black-and-white presentation of this book. Unfortunately, Toppi is not good with faces; whenever he attempts to draw a face that isn't showing a neutral or a batshit-crazy enraged expression, he can't pull it off. When the situation calls for a character to be laughing or smiling, more often than not, the facial expression seems closer to blind, top-of-the-lungs screaming rage. It seems that Toppi is aware of this weakness and he tries to hide it with heavy shadows on the faces that are supposed to be smiling or showing amusement... which just makes them look creepy or maniacal. Over all though, the work here is excellent and it reminds me of the black-and-white comics I grew up reading while living in Europe. (Toppi was, near as I can determine, an Argentinian who worked extensively for Italian and British publishers during the late 1970s and well into the 1980s. "Mad Dogs" was his final published work before he passed away in 1992.)

According to the house ads in "Mad Dogs" #3, this series was the pilot project for several other mini-series that were going to take their cues from the "grindhouse"-type action movies and that would also be published in black-and-white. I find it interesting that Eclipse Comics would decide to start producing black-and-white materials at a time when other publishers were abandoning the format--Eclipse had been producing color books when black-and-whites were all the rage among the independent publishers. Personally, I prefer black-and-white comics over most color ones (which is partly why the NUELOW Games comics/rpg products are what they are), so I would have loved to see more high-quality b/w titles, but the follow-up titles never materialized: Eclipse ceased publishing in 1993 and were formally out of business by 1995.

Although "Mad Dogs" has its flaws, it's impressive due to the way it captures the pacing and tone--and the brutality--of the gritty cop dramas that were coming out of low-budget production houses in Italy and the United States during the 1970s and 1980. The series has never been reprinted in a collected edition.

Moping around with Hailey Bieber

We're spending some time with born-to-be-famous model Hailey Bieber (who was named Hailey Baldwin until she married Justin Bieber a couple years ago).

She doesn't seemed thrilled to be here... but maybe she'll be happier when we get together with her and her husband on the next Musical Monday?

Respecting Their Privacy

In a broadcast interview, while revealing intimate details of their personal life, Harry and Meghan said they aren't seeking public attention and value their privacy. Here at Shades of Gray, we're nothing if not accommodating.

Musical Monday with Body Count

Body Count is a rap/heavy metal fusion group fronted by Ice-T. He founded it with guitarist Ernie C. in 1990, as a vehicle for both of them to explore and express their love of heavy metal music... and to allow the rest of us to come along for the ride.

Ice-T and the band join us today with a song and a video that embodies fantasies of the sorts that we suspect any creative person who's crossed paths with an online "critic" or twit on Twitter (or maybe just negative reviewers in general) has engaged in at least once.

A word of warning in case you like visiting this blog at work: Do NOT click on this video. Very little of it is Safe For Work (or even polite company) ... but it's funny, rockin', and worth watching. 

Wait until you get home to watch it. But watch it. (I don't want Body Count to think I am discouraging anyone from enjoying their work. Please don't misunderstand guys--and I hope you think an Eight of Ten Rating is high enough. If not... can't we talk about it? Please?)

Talk Shit, Get Shot (2014)

Starring: Ice-T, Shakir Standley, and Body Count

Director: Franklin Nasso

Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

'Plane Dumb' is... well... it's complicated

Plane Dumb (1932)
Starring: F.E. Miller and Aubrey Lyles

Directors: John Foster and George Rufle

Rating: Four of Ten Stars

While trying to circumnavigate the globe in a plane, Tom & Jerry (Miller and Lyles) crash in the ocean near Africa. Disguised as black people, they hope to blend in with the natives... with predictable results.

I've been putting off reviewing "Plane Dumb" for quite some time. I decided to post about all the "Tom & Jerry" cartoons here at Shades of Gray, partly because I wasn't clear on how I would accurately describe something that's both innovative and absolutely awful at the same time; it goes in a direction that no other entries in the series go... but it is also terribly stupid and inexplicably racist in so many ways that it must have even surprised many audience members even back in 1932. 

It turns out that putting this one off was a Good Thing, because a little research and reading the excellent book by Hal Erickson about the Van Beuren productions gave me insight into how "Plane Dumb" came to be that softened by stance as a reviewer (but not necessarily as a viewer): The fact is that this cartoon didn't start out as "Tom & Jerry" cartoon goes a long way to explain a number of its flaws.

According to Erickson's book, and other sources, the Tom & Jerry cartoon we know as "Plane Dumb" actually began production as "All Wet". There is some speculation that it may have been intended as part of a series featuring animated versions of the popular African-American comedy team Miller & Lyles, but the project fell apart... most likely due to Aubrey Lyles' death shortly after voice work on "All Wet" is believed to have been completed. Not wanting effort (and money) to go to waste, Van Beuren seems to have had the existing footage and recorded dialog from Miller & Lyles combined with an ill-considered opening scene where Tom and Jerry transform themselves into two black guys.

Anyone who's seen more than one "Tom & Jerry" installment before this one--and who paid attention--will find their transformation baffling and annoying. Unlike what some commentators may lead you to believe, Tom & Jerry did actually have distinct personalities. Through all the ups and downs of inconsistent quality across the various installments, you could always count on Tom to be the more grounded and cautious (even cowardly on many occasions) of the two, while Jerry is an aggressive risk-taker whose actions often create more chaos than is good for anyone. In "Plane Dumb", however, their personalities have inexplicably changed--inexplicable until you learn that this tall and short duo were never intended to be Tom & Jerry. The personalities exhibited line up with the characters usually portrayed by Miller and Lyles, with the tall one being the aggressor and the short one being the reactor, so, given the fact these characters weren't originally Tom & Jerry. (Actually, what I am saying is not completely accurate; when it comes right down it, both Tom and Jerry are somewhat cowardly, but overall, their personalities are reversed when considered in the context of the overall series.)

Part of me wants to excuse the shift in personalities, because, back before I realized that this cartoon is a patchwork of fresh and recycled material, I thought it was something of an innovation for the series: Most "Tom & Jerry" cartoons might as well be silent films there is so little meaningful dialog--but here there are back-and-forth comedy routines, spoken jokes, and puns that tie into visual gags. It was an amazing departure for an entry in this series--which, of course, is because most of the material here didn't start out as a "Tom & Jerry" episode--but even apart from that, "Plane Dumb" is remarkable because of the nature of the dialog. 

Few cartoons were driven by spoken exchanges in the early 1930s, so it was quite remarkable that Van Beuren teamed up with a pair of comedians known for their verbal back-and-forths for what COULD have been a bit of trail-blazing. The Miller & Lyles bits are interspersed among the usual surreal, visual nonsense consumers of Van Beuren cartoons would be accustomed to, but the main driver was the dialog. 

Why Van Beuren's deal with Miller & Lyles fell apart remains unknown to me. I found a couple explanations, but nothing solid. One suggestion is that the pair were simply too busy and broke the contract, while another posited that they were unhappy with the quality Van Beuren's animators were producing, as well as the rate at which the pair was being paid. Either explanation seems plausible to me. At the end of it all, what we're left with is a cartoon that's equal parts awful and innovative... and one that has NOT aged well. The bits with Tom and Jerry stranded at sea and their battle with the creatures there is fun (even if the bit with the octopus is a bit of headscratcher), but it's mostly downhill from there... with rock-bottom being our heroes fleeing from hostile African natives who are literally spear-chuckers.

The Four Rating I'm assigning "Plane Dumb" is the lowest possible, and even that may be generous--and it's entirely because of the innovative nature of the use of dialog. It's interesting to consider if this cartoon had seemed as outrageously racist if whatever the original set-up that caused Miller & Lyles' fast-talking jokesters crash their plane in the ocean had been intact. Would it have seemed less racist?

"Plane Dumb" is the worst entry in the "Tom & Jerry" series. I can't recommend watching it, but I am embedding it below anyway, so you can form your own opinion. (And if it differs from mine, I hope you leave a comment to tell the world what it is.)

The Avengers: Castle De'Ath

Castle De'Ath (1965)

Starring: Patrick Macnee, Diana Rigg, Robert Urquhart, Gordon Jackson, and Jack Lambert

Director: James Hill

Rating: Six of Ten Stars

Two of Britain's top government agents, Steed & Mrs. Peel (Macnee and Rigg) go undercover to investigate a strange death at an isolated castle and its possible connection to a decline in the fish population off the coast of Scotland.

"Castle De'Ath" is both a great episode and a terrible episode, with the bad outweighing the good (however slightly). 

The good is that it has an excellent cast, with guest-stars Robert Urquhart and Gordon Jackson playing the pair of Scottish brothers who own the castle, and who are as different as night and day, being at the top of the list for well-deserved praise. Either one--or perhaps even both--may be behind a devilish plot to destroy Scotland and England's fishing industry. Of course, they may also just be eccentric and/or greedy; These two characters and their conflict with each other and with our heroes are the main drivers of this episode, with Urquhart and Jackson striking just the right balance between dubious and sincere, restrained and ridiculously over-the-top in their performances to keep the audience unsure as to what's truly motivating either one of them.

The usual amount of praise must also be given to Diana Rigg and Patrick Macnee. Their portrayals of their characters are a little less playful this time out, because there's limited opportunity for it; Steed and Peel are both undercover, supposedly don't know each other, and arrive at the castle at different times, so they can investigate from different angles. Interestingly, their cover-stories are reversed from the usual approach; Steed is posing as a writer and Rigg is a tourism executive with an interest in turning Castle De'Ath into an attraction. Rigg also gets to sneak through the castle in a flimsy nightgown, so that's another definite plus for the episode.

The last-minute reveal of the true identity of the villainous mastermind in the show is an exciting moment, as is the battle royal that surrounds it. In several episodes of "The Avengers", the climactic action of an episode is often dragged down by poor staging and badly rehearsed stage fighting; that is not the case here. The action is fluid and fun (well, for the viewers at least... for some of the participants in the fight, it's quite deadly), and the only complaint I can field is that I wish the final fate of one of the Brothers De'Ath was a little clearer.

Speaking of complaints, I have a major one with "Castle De'Ath"--one so big that it almost ruins the entire episode. While the script here was generally well-written and the story constructed well enough to keep the viewer guessing who the real villain in Castle De'Ath is, everything falls apart once the Big Reveal happens. It's not that things don't make sense in the context of the clues that an attentive viewer would have picked up on, it's that the villain's actions both prior to and during the events of the episode are so monumentally stupid that they were certain  to invite circumstances that would almost certainly expose himself and his co-conspirators to discovery. A somewhat smaller complaint is that some of the episode's humor felt forced--such as Steed performing a clownish Scottish dance while Peel plays miniature bagpipes--but when combined with the the botched logical underpinnings of the story, this Avengers outing only rates Six Stars.

Wonder Woman Wednesday

It's time for a few more portraits of Wonder Woman. This time around, she been posing with her sword and shield, just so we all remember that, while she seeks to bring peace and harmony to the world, she's not adverse to stabbing or bashing those who cause strife and misery.

No Doubt it's Hella Good on this Musical Monday

No Doubt is a band that's broken up, reformed, and then broken up again. Fronted by Gwen Stefani, their style has primarily been punk rock with a heavy ska vibe... but here they are doing a more pop-ish tune in and around a decommissioned ship. (Well... I hope it's decommissioned. I'd hate to put on aboard that thing!

Hella Good (2002)

Starring: Gwen Stefani and Adrian Young

Director: Mark Romanek

Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

(Trivia: The masters for the albums and singles of the early incarnations of No Doubt were destroyed along with those of hundreds of other musicians by a fire at Universal Studios in 2008.)