The Growing-Up of Emma Peel: Part Six

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Be Very Quiet--Tom & Jerry are 'Rabid Hunters'

Rabid Hunters (1932)

Starring: Anonymous Voice Actors

Directors: John Foster and George Stallings

Rating: Six of Ten Stars

Tom and Jerry (together with their faithful hound and horse) go hunting.

"Rabid Hunters" is an slightly-above-average entry in the Tom and Jerry series. It starts a bit slow, the music is generally unremarkable (except for the variations on the predictable use of "A-Hunting We Will Go"), and a few of the gag sequences go on for too long, but at about the halfway mark, all weakness is left behind and the cartoon careens with ever-increasing zaniness toward its conclusion and a nonsensical but very funny plot-twist.

In what could be a drawback or a plus, depending on your tastes, "Rabid Hunters" is one of the episodes in this series that feels like it was squarely directed at kids. The gags, while amusing for the most part, are accurately described as juvenile with no double meanings or commentary beyond what is right there on the screen  It's another example of the inconsistent tone of the series, with some episodes being directed squarely at kids and others at a more adult audience. The straight-forwardness of the jokes here doesn't hurt anything, but they are a sign of the overall lack of thought given to who the Tom & Jerry cartoons were made for.

One interesting detail in "Rabid Hunters" is the rabbit who turns the tables on Tom & Jerry in the second half of the film. He may seem familiar to those who have seen early Bugs Bunny cartoons--or even later ones. An assumption might be made that the Van Beuren Team was "borrowing" from others yet again (as they did when Mickey and Minnie Mouse and Felix the Cat clones appeared in some of their efforts), but this may be an instance where they were borrowed from, since "Rabid Hunters" predates the first appearance of Bugs Bunny by roughly seven years.

Take a few minutes to check out Tom & Jerry on the prowl, right here from this very post! 

Christmas is Coming!

Jane Russell is helping us decorate our Christmas tree here at Shades of Gray this year. How are your Christmas decorations coming along?

Happy birthday, Georges Méliès!

On December 8 in 1861, Georges Méliès, the father of movie special effects and first person to make sci-fi and fantasy films, was born. Join me in celebration by enjoying this 1901 masterpiece of sci-fi/fantasy and dark humor.


The Man with the Rubber Head (1901)
Starring: Georges Méliès
Director: Georges Méliès
Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

A scientist creates a living, inflatable copy of his head. Why? Because he can!

"The Man with the Rubber Head" probably had audiences in 1901 gaping open-mouthed and then oooo-ing and aaah-ing and laughing. Even now, nearly 120 years later, this goofy little special effects spectacle  is very entertaining. (Interestingly, the only thing that doesn't work for me is the make-up job on the scientist's assistant. There doesn't seem to be a reason for him or her to be wearing such an obvious mask.)

I encourage you to take a couple minutes and enjoy the silent movie madness of Méliès, right here!

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

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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.