Musical Monday with Big Bad Voodoo Daddy

It's December 2020, so it may be tricky to get the Christmas Spirit going... but we're going to give a try. Here's Big Bad Voodoo Daddy with an old-timey sounding song about loving Christmas time. We hope this helps!

Happy Birthday, Paula Patton!

Born on this day in 1975, Paula Patton grew up across the street from the 20th Century Fox lot, and, according to her parents, she enjoyed playing make-believe games as a child. So... it seems she was destined for the life of an actress from the outset.

Patton made her screen debut in "Hitch" (2005) and has been splitting her time between appearing in comedies and thrillers, but she also made an excellent detour into sci-fi with the 2017 ABC limited series "Somewhere Between".

Patton's next film is currently in pre-production. With the working title of "Tibouron", it's a wilderness survival thriller about stranded campers and shark-infested rising floodwaters.

The Growing-Up of Emma Peel: Part Five

Click on the panels for larger, more easily read versions.

 

Strong ideas, weak execution, and a bad ending

Fantomas vs. Fantomas (1914)
Starring: René Navarre, Georges Melchior, Renée Carl, Edmund Breon, and Laurnt Morleas
Director: Louis Feuillade

Rating: Five of Ten Stars

With Inspector Juve (Breon) imprisoned to pacify the public who as become convinced he is the criminal mastermind Fantomas, the real Fantomas (Navarre) works to turn Paris' muggers and petty criminals into his minions and revenue stream... even while launching a scheme to monitor and manipulate police activity from the inside and to assist him in an even more nefarious plot!

"Fantomas vs. Fantomas" is the fourth film in the original silent movie adaptations of the, at the time, hugely popular series of novels revolving around the mysterious criminal mastermind Fantomas and his dogged pursuers Inspector Juve and crusading reporter Fandor… and it's a bit of a mess.

Like the previous film in the series, "The Murderous Corpse", this one has Fantomas and his foes matching wits over several over-lapping schemes, some of which are clever, but all of which end up in a big tangle that blow up into a big mess due to a mix of Fantomas' arrogance and psychopathy.

Like "The Murderous Corpse", this "Fantomas vs. Fantomas" is crammed with great story ideas, but none are executed to the fullest extent of their promise and each might have been better served as the basis for their own film, or at least given more space to develop. Juve's unjust imprisonment and Fantomas' efforts to frame him even harder provide a couple of interesting plot-points, especially since twists linked to it ends up ruining every one of Fantomas' schemes in the film. However, for long stretches of the film, Juve is completely forgotten, because so many other things have to be set up.

The same is true of Fantomas' effort to control and exploit the petty street criminals and muggers of Paris--which starts as a chance encounter when a robbery endangers one of his many false identities. As with Juve's imprisonment and Fantomas' trying to take advantage of it, this endeavor ends up not coming off as the mastermind had hoped. In this case, the failure is linked entirely to Fantomas's greed and arrogance; but it's a storyline that drops from the film for its entire middle section, with a couple of oblique, nonsensical tie-ins with Fantomas' main scheme for this film.

And this main scheme is really where the entire film should have been focused (with perhaps Juve's imprisonment or Fantomas' dealings with the street gangs serving as a subplot). Here, Fantomas is endeavoring to defraud the wealthy and powerful of France by encouraging them to contribute to a bounty fund and then faking his own capture at the hands of an American detective who is actually one of Fantomas himself in one of his many fake identities. One of the best part of the film revolves around the fund-raising ball that Fantomas forces his high society accomplice Lady Beltham (Renee Carl) to host, and which he himself attends--"disguised" as Fantomas. Also attending, and also wearing Fantomas costumes, is crusading reporter Fandor (Georges Melchior) and an undercover police officer. Both Fandor and police assumed that the arrogant Fantamas wouldn't pass up the chance to attend the ball, and that he would become enraged at the sight of someone daring to impersonate him... and they assumed correctly.

 Ultimately, the actions Fantomas takes at the charity ball end up undoing all of his schemes in this film. It was a great idea, and the dominos that fall are all cleverly lined up... but the great idea is clumsily executed and almost ruined by some truly stupid plot conveniences, one of which feels like the writers just said, "Well, we're out of space and time, so let's just do this truly dumb, utterly nonsensical thing to let Fantomas escape to menace the heroes another day!"

Truly, the final seconds of "Fantomas vs. Fantomas" are among the dumbest thing I've ever seen in an film that was supposed to be taken seriously. If this had been a comedy, it would have been perfect; here, it just comes across as lazy, moronic, and startling for all the wrong reasons. It almost ruins the entire film. (On the upside, it all but made me forget about how confusing I find the relationship between Lady Beltham and Fantomas, a point I've mentioned in two previous reviews of this series and which continues in this one.)

Perhaps in 1914 this jumble of great ideas and plot threads that culminate in pure idiocy made more sense; it's based on a novel (maybe more than one?) that viewers were almost certainly familiar with and the writers and director may have left things out because he knew this. To 21st century viewers, the result is a bit lacking, and it feels like a major drop in quality from the first "Fantomas" film and a plunge from the high point of "Juve vs. Fantomas".

 

One final note: I saw another reviewer comment that "Fantomas vs. Fantomas" is a favorite among fans of this series? How? Why? What am I missing? Feel free to enlighten by leaving a comment if you feel so inclined!

Christmas is Coming!

Fay Wray stopped by Shades of Gray to help us decorate for Christmas. Have you started putting up your decorations yet?

Happy birthday to Daniela Ruah

Daniela Ruah has starred as NCIS Special Agent and sniper Kensi Blye for 12 seasons of "NCIS Los Angeles" on CBS. She turns 37 years old today, and here are some photos (a couple of which has her taking photos) in celebration.

Betty and Grampy should be PETA mascots

A Song a Day (1936)

Starring: Mae Questel (voice of Betty Boop) and Jack Mercer (voice of Grampy)

Directors: Dave Fleischer and Dave Tendlar

Rating: Six  of Ten Stars

When Betty is overwhelmed from caring for all the patients in her animal hospital, Grampy comes up with a miracle cure.

There isn't much more story to this cartoon than what is summarized above. It's got some midly amusing jokes relating to the ailments the animals under Betty's care, some nice music, and a closing dance number (complete with the jazz hands). The best part of this installment is some very nicely done, 3D-feeling animation during the opening scenes.

"A Song  a Day" isn't the best in the Betty Boop series, but it's cute and worth the eight minutes of your life it will take to watch. And since you're already here, you should go ahead and click below to do just that!

Musical Monday with Skameleon

Skameleon is a German cover band that turns everything into two-toned ska music. Here's their version of "Wonderwall"

Happy Monday (and welcome to the beginning of the end for 2020)!

I've never been a fan of "Wonderwall" by Oasis, and it always baffled me why it was such a hit Back in the Day. That said, I really like the Skameleon cover. It's one of the songs included on their 2018 CD "Ska Makes Everything Better"... and I think it shows there's truth behind that title.

The Growing-Up of Emma Peel: Part Four

Click on the panels for larger, more easily read versions.

The Trouble with Beauty

A Very Fine Lady (1908)

Starring: Renée Carl 

Directors: Louis Feuillade and Romeo Bosetti

Rating: Six of Ten Stars

A lady (Carl) walks through town, unaware that her beauty and all the distracted men are causing chaos in her wake.

The teaser summary above pretty much sums up the entirety of "A Very Fine Lady", aside from a little bit of business at the end when the cops step into restore order in an amusing way. 

This straight-forward film has withstood the passage of time exceptionally well, with all of its jokes working as well now, more than 110 years later, than they did when the film was made. Take a few minutes to brighten your day by checking it out. 

(Heck, this film could even do with a remake--it's been a while since Benny Hill remade it on a near-weekly basis!)