Saturday, October 2, 2010
Get Down Goblin!
Here's a black-and-white music video from the "so bad it's good [or at least amusing]" category, presented in anticipation of Halloween. Love it or hate it, you may find yourself humming song's refrain after you've watched it.
Friday, October 1, 2010
A rarely thought-of Halloween classic
October is here, and ghosts and goblins and creepy crawlies will soon be showing up all over the place. I'll be celebrating the Month of Monsters with reviews of some of the very best Creature Features to ever grace the silver screen all this month at Terror Titans--click here to check them out--and with a special series of Halloween-themed images on Picture Perfect Wednesdays, here.
However, I'm kicking it all off with one of the best yet often-overlooked Halloween-themed pictures I'm aware of.
Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
Starring: Cary Grant, Jane Adair, Josephine Hull, Peter Lorre, Raymond Massey, Pricilla Lane, and John Alexander
Director: Frank Capra
Rating: Nine of Ten Stars
It's October 31, and on the very day celebrity theatre critic Mortimor Brewster (Grant) is to secretly marry his fiance (Lane), everything that can go wrong does go wrong. He discovers his spinster aunts (Adair and Hull) are serial killers who have been murdering lonely old men out of what they consider kindness, and that his uncle (Alexander), who believes he is Teddy Roosevelt, has been burying the bodies of in the Panama Canal he is burying in the basement. To make matters even worse, Mortimor's homicidal brother (Massey) shows up, along his unscrupulous plastic surgeon (Lorre) partner-in-crime.
"Arsenic and Old Lace" is one of the best comedies ever made. It's a dark screwball comedy that's driven by its sharp, witty dialogue and characters so loveable you forgive them for being insane serial killers.
Technically, the film is also a masterpiece of direction and staging. The multi-layered routines that take place at several points in the film are gut-busting hilarious, with the one where Grant is describing a bad play he once reviewed to Lorre, while the action of the plot he is relating unfolds behind him. It's even more spectacular the way the film hits the ground running and never stops to catch its breath until the final, snicker-worthy scene. It also doesn't let the audience catch their breath, but keeps viewers giggling and laughing as the film's pace grows more and more frenetic.
Everyone in the cast is perfect, with the interplay between Grant and the two murderous little old ladies--with Grant becoming increasingly agitated and panicky, and Adair & Hull growing increasingly confused because they see nothing wrong in what they do--being particularly hilarious. In fact, Grant's comic timing was probably never more perfect than in this film, and that even includes the one I rank as my favorite comedy starring him, "Bringing Up Baby".
Special mention also needs to go to Lorre, who mumbles his way through his part with hilarious, drunken obliviousness; and to Massey, who manages to be funny and menacing at the same time, in his Boris Karloff-spoofing role.
With its October 31 setting, its dark subject matter, its intelligent script, its perfect staging, and top-notch performances by some great actors, "Arsenic and Old Lace" is great Halloween viewing no matter what sort of movies you're into. (I don't think it makes for good party viewing/background noise, as it's a film that deserves and requires your attention, but it's a definate must-see.)
However, I'm kicking it all off with one of the best yet often-overlooked Halloween-themed pictures I'm aware of.
Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
Starring: Cary Grant, Jane Adair, Josephine Hull, Peter Lorre, Raymond Massey, Pricilla Lane, and John Alexander
Director: Frank Capra
Rating: Nine of Ten Stars
It's October 31, and on the very day celebrity theatre critic Mortimor Brewster (Grant) is to secretly marry his fiance (Lane), everything that can go wrong does go wrong. He discovers his spinster aunts (Adair and Hull) are serial killers who have been murdering lonely old men out of what they consider kindness, and that his uncle (Alexander), who believes he is Teddy Roosevelt, has been burying the bodies of in the Panama Canal he is burying in the basement. To make matters even worse, Mortimor's homicidal brother (Massey) shows up, along his unscrupulous plastic surgeon (Lorre) partner-in-crime.
"Arsenic and Old Lace" is one of the best comedies ever made. It's a dark screwball comedy that's driven by its sharp, witty dialogue and characters so loveable you forgive them for being insane serial killers.
Technically, the film is also a masterpiece of direction and staging. The multi-layered routines that take place at several points in the film are gut-busting hilarious, with the one where Grant is describing a bad play he once reviewed to Lorre, while the action of the plot he is relating unfolds behind him. It's even more spectacular the way the film hits the ground running and never stops to catch its breath until the final, snicker-worthy scene. It also doesn't let the audience catch their breath, but keeps viewers giggling and laughing as the film's pace grows more and more frenetic.
Everyone in the cast is perfect, with the interplay between Grant and the two murderous little old ladies--with Grant becoming increasingly agitated and panicky, and Adair & Hull growing increasingly confused because they see nothing wrong in what they do--being particularly hilarious. In fact, Grant's comic timing was probably never more perfect than in this film, and that even includes the one I rank as my favorite comedy starring him, "Bringing Up Baby".
Special mention also needs to go to Lorre, who mumbles his way through his part with hilarious, drunken obliviousness; and to Massey, who manages to be funny and menacing at the same time, in his Boris Karloff-spoofing role.
With its October 31 setting, its dark subject matter, its intelligent script, its perfect staging, and top-notch performances by some great actors, "Arsenic and Old Lace" is great Halloween viewing no matter what sort of movies you're into. (I don't think it makes for good party viewing/background noise, as it's a film that deserves and requires your attention, but it's a definate must-see.)
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Picture Perfect Wednesday: Gloria Stuart
Gloria Stuart was one of the untold number of talented actresses who came close to stardom, but who never got that perfect part to launch from. She appeared in a couple dozen movies in the 1930s and 1940s, mostly from Twentieth Century-Fox and Universal Pictures before leaving the film business to return to stage acting and, later, a successful career as an artist. She returned to screen fame late in life when she had a role in James Cameron's mega-hit "Titanic."
Born on July 4, 1910, Stuart passed away on September 26, 2010. Matthew Coniam posted a nice farewell to her at Movietone News.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Hitchcock revisits early style in 'Stage Fright'
Stage Fright (1950)
Starring: Jane Wyman, Richard Todd, Michael Wilding, Marlene Dietrich, and Alastair Sim
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars
A flighty acting student (Wyman) tries to help a friend she thinks she's in love with (Todd) when it looks like he is being drawn into a murder cover-up by a manipulative diva (Dietrich). Things get even more complicated when she realizes she is actually in love with the police detective working to solve the murder (Wilding) and when she comes to fear that her friend was more than just an innocent bystander in the murder plot.
Although made in 1950, "Stage Fright" feels more like the movies Hitchcock made in the 1930s like "Young and Innocent" rather than his other films from around this same time, such as "Strangers on a Train". Maybe it's because of the English setting and characters, but for some reason, the mix of humor-to-suspense, the pacing of the story, and even the outcome, gives the film a tone that Hitchcock will never again use. Perhaps, as is suggested on the DVD commentary track, this film was Hitchcock's "goodbye" to England and that early part of his career, even if it came roughly a decade after his relocation to Hollywood. Everything I found so pleasant, charming, and oh-so-early-20th-century British about Hitchcock's early films are present in this
Some viewers may not like the quaintness of the film's characters, most of whom feel like they belong in an Agatha Christie novel, or perhaps even a detective novel directed at teenaged girls what with the central character been an independent-minded, if a naive and prone to over-romanticising everything, girl who is out to do the right thing, her way. (Although as far as that goes, this may well be one of the more "girl-friendly" mystery movies I've come across.)
However, it is that very quaint, old-fashioned nature of so many of the movies characters that make the villains seem all that more evil and twisted when their natures and motives come to light. The character played by Richard Todd--our young heroine's original love interest--seems all the more terrifying and threatening when his full psychopathic nature comes to light because he is surrounded by such otherwise gentle and fundementally well-mannered people. It is one of the most intense scenes in any Hitchcock film.
Another thing that works far better than it has a right to is the insta-romance featured in this picture. I've complained about this plot device in many films before--the one where characters meet and instantly fall in love because supposedly their Fated to be True Loves but in reality it's Dictated By Plot Needs--but here it actually works. Maybe I can buy into the sudden and complete romance between our heroine and the police detective because of the old-fashioned atmosphere that permeates the film, or maybe it's because of the clumsy and realistic way their relationship gets its start, but it was for once one I could buy into, and one that I found myself caring about when it looked like it was going to fall apart.
It could also be that I buy into the insta-romance because Jane Wyman's Eve and MIchael Wilding's "Ordinary" Smith are so likable both in the way they are acted and the way they are written that even my cynic's heart gave way to well-wishes and romantic impulses. The characters are charming and the actors have great on-screen charisma. Wyman and Wilding make perhaps one of the best couples to ever grace a Hitchcock film.
There is really only one downside to "Stage Fright", and it's one that critics and Hitchcock himself has slammed it for. The film opens with a "flashback" that we later learn isn't entirely true. Hithcock reportedly stated that he later regretted starting the movie that way, and critics have commented that a film should never include a flashback that's a lie. Personally, it didn't bother me that much, although I would have liked there to have been a clue or two that demonstrated the lie before it is explained to us so that I might have figured it out on my own, but perhaps my perspective is informed by the fact that I've sat through entire movies that turned out to be lies, such as "The Usual Suspects."
If you love the early Hitchcock movies, you need to check out "Stage Fright". Like so many of his British pictures, this is a sorely under-appreciated effort.
Starring: Jane Wyman, Richard Todd, Michael Wilding, Marlene Dietrich, and Alastair Sim
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars
A flighty acting student (Wyman) tries to help a friend she thinks she's in love with (Todd) when it looks like he is being drawn into a murder cover-up by a manipulative diva (Dietrich). Things get even more complicated when she realizes she is actually in love with the police detective working to solve the murder (Wilding) and when she comes to fear that her friend was more than just an innocent bystander in the murder plot.
Although made in 1950, "Stage Fright" feels more like the movies Hitchcock made in the 1930s like "Young and Innocent" rather than his other films from around this same time, such as "Strangers on a Train". Maybe it's because of the English setting and characters, but for some reason, the mix of humor-to-suspense, the pacing of the story, and even the outcome, gives the film a tone that Hitchcock will never again use. Perhaps, as is suggested on the DVD commentary track, this film was Hitchcock's "goodbye" to England and that early part of his career, even if it came roughly a decade after his relocation to Hollywood. Everything I found so pleasant, charming, and oh-so-early-20th-century British about Hitchcock's early films are present in this
Some viewers may not like the quaintness of the film's characters, most of whom feel like they belong in an Agatha Christie novel, or perhaps even a detective novel directed at teenaged girls what with the central character been an independent-minded, if a naive and prone to over-romanticising everything, girl who is out to do the right thing, her way. (Although as far as that goes, this may well be one of the more "girl-friendly" mystery movies I've come across.)
However, it is that very quaint, old-fashioned nature of so many of the movies characters that make the villains seem all that more evil and twisted when their natures and motives come to light. The character played by Richard Todd--our young heroine's original love interest--seems all the more terrifying and threatening when his full psychopathic nature comes to light because he is surrounded by such otherwise gentle and fundementally well-mannered people. It is one of the most intense scenes in any Hitchcock film.
Another thing that works far better than it has a right to is the insta-romance featured in this picture. I've complained about this plot device in many films before--the one where characters meet and instantly fall in love because supposedly their Fated to be True Loves but in reality it's Dictated By Plot Needs--but here it actually works. Maybe I can buy into the sudden and complete romance between our heroine and the police detective because of the old-fashioned atmosphere that permeates the film, or maybe it's because of the clumsy and realistic way their relationship gets its start, but it was for once one I could buy into, and one that I found myself caring about when it looked like it was going to fall apart.
It could also be that I buy into the insta-romance because Jane Wyman's Eve and MIchael Wilding's "Ordinary" Smith are so likable both in the way they are acted and the way they are written that even my cynic's heart gave way to well-wishes and romantic impulses. The characters are charming and the actors have great on-screen charisma. Wyman and Wilding make perhaps one of the best couples to ever grace a Hitchcock film.
There is really only one downside to "Stage Fright", and it's one that critics and Hitchcock himself has slammed it for. The film opens with a "flashback" that we later learn isn't entirely true. Hithcock reportedly stated that he later regretted starting the movie that way, and critics have commented that a film should never include a flashback that's a lie. Personally, it didn't bother me that much, although I would have liked there to have been a clue or two that demonstrated the lie before it is explained to us so that I might have figured it out on my own, but perhaps my perspective is informed by the fact that I've sat through entire movies that turned out to be lies, such as "The Usual Suspects."
If you love the early Hitchcock movies, you need to check out "Stage Fright". Like so many of his British pictures, this is a sorely under-appreciated effort.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Mohammed Monday: Women's Rights
Here's another dreaded cartoon of blasphemy. It originally appeared at Jesus and Mo.
The long-running "Jesus and Mo" cartoon strips have been collected in book form. Click here to see the listings at Amazon.com
.
If you would like to submit an original Mohammed cartoon to appear in this space, email it to me as a jpg or gif attachment. Your contribution will be as anonymous or as attributed as you choose.
(This week's post is dedicated to Imam Anwar al-Awlaki,
without whom this special series would never have happened.)
without whom this special series would never have happened.)
The long-running "Jesus and Mo" cartoon strips have been collected in book form. Click here to see the listings at Amazon.com
.If you would like to submit an original Mohammed cartoon to appear in this space, email it to me as a jpg or gif attachment. Your contribution will be as anonymous or as attributed as you choose.
Friday, September 24, 2010
'Midnight Limited' is a train of mystery
Midnight Limited (1940)
Starring: Marjorie Reyolds, John King, and George Cleveland
Director: Howard Bretherton
Rating: Three of Ten Stars
A "phantom bandit" is robbing passengers on the overnight night train from Albany to Montreal and then vanishing without a trace. Rail company detective (King) teams with the only person to get a look at the bandit's face (Reynolds) in hopes of bringing him to justice.
Poor John King. The man did have some talent for acting, but it seems like he always was cast against female co-stars who are so energetic they overwhelm him and make him look like a bump on a log when they share scenes. Such was the case in "Half a Sinner" and it happens to him again in "Midnight Limited". King isn't exactly bad, but he can't hold his own against the strong screen presence and powerful personality of Marjorie Reynolds.
King's drab personality stands out even more, because this is a badly done, boring movie. From the sets, to the sound effects (the Midnight Limited must be a marvel in train technology... never before has the world known such a quiet, stable train! All the cars must be mounted on Serta matresses!), to the poorly written dialogue and uneven pacing of the script, there really is nothing here that's done well. Except perhaps the running time. At just over an hour, "Midnight Limited" is dull but not tortorous to sit through.
Only the presense of the always delightful Reynolds and the mysterious drunk played with great flair by George Cleveland make this film watchable.
Starring: Marjorie Reyolds, John King, and George Cleveland
Director: Howard Bretherton
Rating: Three of Ten Stars
A "phantom bandit" is robbing passengers on the overnight night train from Albany to Montreal and then vanishing without a trace. Rail company detective (King) teams with the only person to get a look at the bandit's face (Reynolds) in hopes of bringing him to justice.
Poor John King. The man did have some talent for acting, but it seems like he always was cast against female co-stars who are so energetic they overwhelm him and make him look like a bump on a log when they share scenes. Such was the case in "Half a Sinner" and it happens to him again in "Midnight Limited". King isn't exactly bad, but he can't hold his own against the strong screen presence and powerful personality of Marjorie Reynolds.
King's drab personality stands out even more, because this is a badly done, boring movie. From the sets, to the sound effects (the Midnight Limited must be a marvel in train technology... never before has the world known such a quiet, stable train! All the cars must be mounted on Serta matresses!), to the poorly written dialogue and uneven pacing of the script, there really is nothing here that's done well. Except perhaps the running time. At just over an hour, "Midnight Limited" is dull but not tortorous to sit through.
Only the presense of the always delightful Reynolds and the mysterious drunk played with great flair by George Cleveland make this film watchable.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Picture Perfect Wednesday: Anna May Wong
Born in 1905, Anna May Wong (aka Liu-Tsong Wong) was the first Chinese-American movie star. Born to parents who ran a laundry service, her dreams of being an actress overcame both the disapproval of her conservative family and the deeply ingrained racism of the emerging film industry.
Although her name was a big draw with the public during the late silent movie period, and made she made a successful transition to talkies and became an even bigger star, Wong became frustrated with the racist attitudes of Hollywood that kept her from playing truly choice roles. She started making films both in Europe and the United States, thus also becoming the first international Chinese American movie star.
In 1935, Wong traveled to her ancestral homeland of China where she once again discovered that she was once again popular with movie-goers, but treated with disdain by the Chinese film community and even the very government. Once again, she ran head-long into institutional racism, this time from her "own people."
Wong wrote, "It's a pretty sad situation to be rejected by Chinese because I'm 'too American' and by American producers because they prefer other races to act Chinese parts."
In the late 1930s, Wong finally got her chance to play the non-stereotypical roles she had been desperate for her entire career. Paramount featured her in a string of B-movies that let her "play against type" and portray Chinese women who were successful business people or doctors.
As Japanese aggression spread across the Pacific and the facts about their brutality in occupied China came to light, Wong devoted her fame and fortune to assisting Chinese refugees and related causes. During the 1940s, she appeared only in a few movies, but they were all geared toward the war effort against Japan.
In 1952, Wong had her first and only major television role, starring in "The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong." a short-lived detective show for a long-defunct network. No copies of the episodes, scripts, or promotional materials for the program are known to exist. That series was also her final major acting job, as her health began to rapidly deteriorate afterwards, due to a number of ailments brought on by smoking, drinking, and chronic depression. She passed away in 1961 from a heart attack.
Anna May Wong was honored in 1960 with a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame, and an award named after her--the Anna May Wong Award of Excellence--is given out yearly at the Asian-American Arts Awards.
For more about Anna May Wong, check out this interesting website.
You can click here for more pictures of Anna May Wong at Cinema Steve, as well as information about how she may or may not have been the cause of earthquakes in the 1929 and 1942.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Making 'The Most Dangerous Game' Boring
Bloodlust (1961)
Starring: Wilton Graff, Robert Reed, June Kenney, Joan Lora, Eugene Persson, and Lilyan Chauvin
Director: Ralph Brooks
Rating: Two of Ten Stars
A homicidal madman (Graff) traps two young couples (Reed, Kenney, Lora, and Persson) on his private island and hunts them for sport... and for future display in his trophy room.
A "The Most Dangerous Game"-like riff (or maybe just rip-off) that is sapped of all excitement, tension, and horror by lackluster production values, weak wooden acting, awful dialogue, and an unbelievably stupid script. (Four strapping young people just stand there and listen to Graff as he tells them he's going to hunt them and kill them. Why didn't they just knock him on the head just then and there? More to the point, why would someone like Graff's character who likes hunting people because they're more dangerous prey than animals even WANT to hunt four people so passive they stand there while he gives a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong speech about how he's going to kill them?)
If I'm to be charitable, I would suggest that this script may have been written for a 12-page comic book story for "House of Mystery"--it would explain the speeches that go on forever, as word balloons ever seem to be as verbose on the page than if you read them out loud--but someone decided it would make more money as a movie. And so, they conned, um, CONVINCED Cincegrafik into producing it.
A far more real answer is that the screen writer and director on this project both show a distinct lack of talent.
While there are a few glimmers of something interesting now and then--Graff goes a passable Vincent Price imitation, and has a few almost funny lines... and the revelation of what's in the trophy room is creepy--but any developing potential is quickly squandered through a combination of bad acting and bad script-writing.
This is one movie to just take a pass on. It's so dull that even the "Mystery Science Theater" version is only mildly amusing, teetering on the brink between a Five and a Six rating. (Although, the 'bots do say everything you'll think to yourself if you don't heed my advice. This movie isn't so "bad it's good", it's just bad.)
Starring: Wilton Graff, Robert Reed, June Kenney, Joan Lora, Eugene Persson, and Lilyan Chauvin
Director: Ralph Brooks
Rating: Two of Ten Stars
A homicidal madman (Graff) traps two young couples (Reed, Kenney, Lora, and Persson) on his private island and hunts them for sport... and for future display in his trophy room.
A "The Most Dangerous Game"-like riff (or maybe just rip-off) that is sapped of all excitement, tension, and horror by lackluster production values, weak wooden acting, awful dialogue, and an unbelievably stupid script. (Four strapping young people just stand there and listen to Graff as he tells them he's going to hunt them and kill them. Why didn't they just knock him on the head just then and there? More to the point, why would someone like Graff's character who likes hunting people because they're more dangerous prey than animals even WANT to hunt four people so passive they stand there while he gives a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong speech about how he's going to kill them?)
If I'm to be charitable, I would suggest that this script may have been written for a 12-page comic book story for "House of Mystery"--it would explain the speeches that go on forever, as word balloons ever seem to be as verbose on the page than if you read them out loud--but someone decided it would make more money as a movie. And so, they conned, um, CONVINCED Cincegrafik into producing it.
A far more real answer is that the screen writer and director on this project both show a distinct lack of talent.
While there are a few glimmers of something interesting now and then--Graff goes a passable Vincent Price imitation, and has a few almost funny lines... and the revelation of what's in the trophy room is creepy--but any developing potential is quickly squandered through a combination of bad acting and bad script-writing.
This is one movie to just take a pass on. It's so dull that even the "Mystery Science Theater" version is only mildly amusing, teetering on the brink between a Five and a Six rating. (Although, the 'bots do say everything you'll think to yourself if you don't heed my advice. This movie isn't so "bad it's good", it's just bad.)
Monday, September 20, 2010
Welcome to the first Mohammed Monday
I explained the "why" of this here and here. I've been raging about Muslim assholes who think they can bully and threaten anyone who doesn't subscribe to their world-view and bizarre ideas of what is and isn't idolatry and blasphemy for some two decades now. I won't be stopping any time soon... unless I'm "disappeared" like artist Molly Norris.
The inaugural Mohammed Mondays cartoon is by South African editorial cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro, created as a commentary on "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day".
And if you're so inclined, you can spare me any mealy-mouthed lectures about the "moderate Muslims." I've been watching these fatwa-issuing freaks get bolder and more mainstream and more violent for the past twenty years. I've been watching Western media get more and more timid in the face of their threats. If the "moderate Muslims" haven't done anything to stop them by now, they're not going to.
If you feel inclined to submit a cartoon for inclusion in a future Mohammed Mondays post, you can send it as an attachment to the email address in my profile. But please know that I won't put up any cartoons that depict Mohammed as a pig or a pile of dung or any such thing. I may not buy into the idol-worshiping beliefs of what the news tells me are all Muslims, but I also don't feel the need to pass along stupid stuff like that. (Oh, and a further requirement is that the cartoon must be in black-and-white... although I would imagine that probably didn't need to be said, given the nature of this blog.)
The inaugural Mohammed Mondays cartoon is by South African editorial cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro, created as a commentary on "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day".
And if you're so inclined, you can spare me any mealy-mouthed lectures about the "moderate Muslims." I've been watching these fatwa-issuing freaks get bolder and more mainstream and more violent for the past twenty years. I've been watching Western media get more and more timid in the face of their threats. If the "moderate Muslims" haven't done anything to stop them by now, they're not going to.
If you feel inclined to submit a cartoon for inclusion in a future Mohammed Mondays post, you can send it as an attachment to the email address in my profile. But please know that I won't put up any cartoons that depict Mohammed as a pig or a pile of dung or any such thing. I may not buy into the idol-worshiping beliefs of what the news tells me are all Muslims, but I also don't feel the need to pass along stupid stuff like that. (Oh, and a further requirement is that the cartoon must be in black-and-white... although I would imagine that probably didn't need to be said, given the nature of this blog.)
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