Pre-Christmas Wonder Woman Wednesday

Every year, the lovely ladies at Shades of Gray help Santa Claus with making his rounds, ensuring that all the good boys and girls out there get their gifts. This year is extra special, because Wonder Woman is also lending a hand!

Christmas is almost here...

... and Bebe Daniels has an innovative idea for those of you who haven't gotten your Chirstmas Tree decorated yet: Just dress yourself like one. It's even more festive!

Nat King Cole brings 'The Christmas Song'

Christmas is almost here. Here's a performance of "The Christmas Song" from Nat King Cole in 1961 that even fills Krampus and the Grinch with the Spirit of the Season when they hear it.

And this year, everyone can all use a little extra Christmas cheer, so we at Shades of Gray hope this classic will bring you some.

This Swiss Trick is no Swiss Miss

A Swiss Trick (1931)

Starring: Anonymous Voice Actors

Directors: John Foster and George Stallings

Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

World-travelers Tom and Jerry are stranded in Switzerland, where learn about the strange local culture and discover the side effects of eating too much Swiss cheese.

"A Swiss Trick" is one of handful of entries in the "Tom and Jerry" series that see our heroes traveling to faraway lands and meeting the people and creatures that dwell there. This one starts a bit weak--with an extended Alps-related train gag that is more repetitive than amusing--but gets funnier and more surreal as it goes. By the time we get to the end, with our heroes having angered the Swiss villagers and having learned an unpleasant secret about their much-celebrated cheese, this emerges as one of the best entries in the series. The catchy music throughout and the nutty musical routines add greatly to the entertainment value.

This is another of those Tom and Jerry cartoons that needs to be experienced, and the longer I go on the greater the chance of me spoiling something. So... why don't you grab a soda, click on the embedded video below, and lean back for seven minutes of Swiss-inspired weirdness? 

Trivia: On the day this review was originally posted--December 19, 2020--it was exactly 89 years since "A Swiss Trick" originally appeared in theatres.

The Growing-Up of Emma Peel: Part Seven

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

Before the next episode of this serial, swing by on December 24 to read a review of "The Avengers: Too Many Christmas Trees", one of the strange cases the future Emma will work as a secret agent for the British government..

'The False Magistrate' is silent end for Fantomas

The False Magistrate (1914)
Starring: René Navarre, Germaine Pelisse, Mesnery, Suzanne Le Bret, Laurent Morleas, Georges Melchior, and Edmond Breon

Director: Louis Feuillade

Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

A scheme concocted by Inspector Juve (Breon) to make sure the evil mastermind Fantomas (Navarre) is executed for his many crimes and murders goes awry, and Fantomas instead escapes the grasp of law enforcement yet again. Through a series of lucky breaks, Fantomas manages to take over the identity of an investigating magistrate and sets about committing more crimes, now under the cover of law. 

"The False Magistrate" was the last entry in the original silent movie "Fantomas" series. Sadly, it survives only in a degraded and fragmented state. Even the best available restoration features several severely damaged sequences and relies on several added intertitles that provide summaries of what happened in sections of the film that don't even exist anymore. Normally, I would not write a review of a film in this state, but there are a couple of reasons why I make an exception here.

First, I'd already declared I was going to review all five films in this series, without knowing the actual state of the final one. It was included in a set of DVDs that held all the films, and I was so impressed with the first entry in the Louis Feuillade that I couldn't imagine a reason why I wouldn't want to cover all of them.

Secondly, and far more importantly, "The False Magistrate" may actually end up as a better film for its missing pieces. Clearly, some of the elements would have been nice to have--such as the summarized scenes that establish Rose the Maid (Suzanne Le Bret) as being connected with Fantomas's gang, and just more of the gang members in general--but I am almost 100 percent certain that we're better off not having anything but highlights remaining from the plot-threads involving Juve and Fandor, because what we're left with is some of the dumbest stuff in the entire series.

While I complained about the absolutely mind-numbingly silly ending to "Fantomas vs. Fantomas" (1914), this opens with Juve embarking on something even dumber. And it isn't even silly--just dumb--and a prime example of bad writing every way you look at.

Basically, Juve lets Fantomas escape from prison by taking his place. The scheme is clever and even more cleverly executed (through the return of the fat suit used in "Juve vs. Fantomas" (1913)), but what isn't so clever is that no one notices that the party of visiting dignitaries that Juve snuck in with has one less member leaving than when they arrived; nor does any of the guards notice for weeks that someone else is in Fantomas' cell. It gets even worse, because by letting Fantomas back out into the world, Juve should be held accountable for the three murders he commits and the numerous lives he ruins during the course of this film. The less we see of Juve and Fandor in this film, the better off we probably are--although Fandor is the focus of one of the better scenes when he works with a pair of police detectives to trick and capture members of Fantomas' gang.

Setting aside the fact that the only reason there even is a story in this film beyond Fantomas's escape from prison is a series of tremendous coincidences, the fact that we get to see Fantomas engaging in a scheme that is both utterly evil and that also seems realistic. The way he uses his stolen identity as a powerful member of law enforcement to both extort the wealthy and bring renegade members of his gang firmly under his control is very fitting of is supposed criminal genius (unlike some of his activities in previous films). The gruesome way in which he punishes a disloyal gang member, and, for that matter, every murder he commits during the course of the film, also chillingly shows what a psychopath he is. 

Another strong part of "The False Magistrate" is the ending, both how Fantomas is captured and how he escapes (and, no, I don't consider it a spoiler to say that Fantomas escapes yet again... it's part of the genre). Unlike the previous three films, the ending here is nearly perfect.  

This post marks the end of "Fantomas Fridays" at Shades of Gray. But, since we have the DVD collection of Louis Feuillade's other legendary thriller series, "Les Vampires", in the To Be Watched pile, you can expect them to be replaced with "Feuillade Fridays" in the new year. We hope you'll be back!

Grampy cures the 'House Cleaning Blues'

House Cleaning Blues (1937)

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

Directors: Dave Fleischer and Dave Tendlar

Rating: Six of Ten Stars

The day after hosting a wild birthday party, Betty Boop is hung-over, short-tempered, and she very quickly becomes frustrated with trying to clean up the mess. Grampy comes to her rescue by creating and make-shift cleaning machines.

In "House Cleaning Blues", Professor Grampy once again Does His Thing and saves Betty from house-cleaning... but in the process he pretty destroys a number of expensive household items, such as a record player, a player piano, and clock, and a bicycle. There isn't anything we haven't seen in other Betty & Grampy cartoons, but unlike those, the thought of how much property was being damaged to help Betty get out of house-cleaning kept popping into my head and so maybe I didn't enjoy this one as much as I should have.

While this may not be the most innovative of Betty & Grampy outings, there's still a lot to like about it. Betty has one of the cutest melt-downs ever put into animation--a bit the folks at Fleischer liked so much they recycled some of it in "Service with a Smile" (1937). Everything about Grampy driving his roadster is hilarious--especially the way one has to wonder what it is he has on tap when he serves Betty her drink as they drive off at the end of the episode. Finally, there is plenty of high-quality animation to enjoy--with a pan-shot across the wreckage of Betty's home before Grampy goes to work that has a 3D quality to it standing out in particular. And, despite my very joy-killing cringing at the property Grampy converts, the bits with his machines operating are as well done as they always are. 

If you have a few minutes, go ahead and check out "House Cleaning Blues" by clicking below.

Christmas is Coming!

June Marlowe wants to make sure you're ready!

Musical Monday with Starcrawler

We can all agree angels and Christmas go hand-in-hand. Since the video for "She Gets Around" features an angel, it must be Christmas appropriate, right?

Starcrawler is a rock band based out of L.A. It was founded in 2015 and is fronted by rail-thin singer Arrow de Wilde. Their songs have a hard-rock edge to them with creepy undertones, and the videos that come with the singles mostly play like mini-horror films.

Check out the video for "She Gets Around" (not to mention the song itself), below. (It's not very Christmas-y, just in case you happen to be super gullible.)

You can watch more Starcrawler videos at their website by clicking here.

It's a Spider-Woman Sunday

Some portraits of the greatest Spider-Woman of all, Jessica Drew!