Firearms Friday with Cyd Charisse

Be very, very quiet... Cyd is hunting bunny rabbits!

Born in 1922, Cyd Charisse was one of the greatest female dancers to ever grace the silver screen. A classically trained ballerina, she rose to fame during the 1950s, but as the popularity of big-budget musicals faded, so did her career. She continued working sporadically in film and on television, in everything from bit parts to second- and third-billed supporting roles, until shortly before her death in 2008.

'Joint Wipers' is fun but not great

Joint Wipers (1932)
Starring: Anonymous Voice Actors (but there aren't many spoken lines)
Directors: John Foster and George Stallings
Rating: Five of Ten Stars

Tom and Jerry are plumbers who are better at singing and dancing than fixing leaky pipes.

"Joint Wipers" is a so-so entry in the very uneven Tom and Jerry series. The animation is fluid and inventive, the situations are fairly bizarre and amusing, but there aren't any WOW! moments like there are in some of the others, and it doesn't have outstanding music like in "Piano Tooners" and "Redskin Blues". It's fun few minutes, but it's not much more than that. Further, and this is perhaps because this entry isn't as wild as others, some of the sequences drag a bit.

But don't just take my word for whether this cartoon is funny or not. Check it out for yourself, below, and let me know whether you agree or disagree with my take on it!

Wonder Woman Wednesday

Wonder Woman is spending this Picture Perfect Wednesday with friends and frienemies.

By Jose Luis Garcia Lopez

By George Perez

By John Byrne

By Ben Dunn

Musical Monday with Pink

The only French cinema we've reviewed around here have been really old silent movies, so in order to make up for that, here's a fabulously strange music video featuring Pink and fake French cinema main title credits. (And as strange as the video is, it still manages to tell a story! So it's almost like watching a real French movie!)


Blow Me (One Last Kiss) (2012)
Starring: Pink, Alexander Ercheverria, and Sebastian de la Forza
Director: Dave Meyers
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars
(One reason we haven't covered much from the French around here is that we write about movies, and the French don't make movies... they make cinemah.)

Witness the birth of cinematic genres with 'Fantômas: In the Shadow of the Guillotine'

Fantômas: In the Shadow of the Guillotine (1913)
Starring: René Navarre, Edmund Breon, Renée Carl, André Volbert, and Jane Faber
Director: Louis Feuillade
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

Inspector Juve (Breon) finally captures the coldblooded, murderous master theif Fantômas (Navarre) and sees him given the death sentence. Can the villain with a thousand faces pull off one more impossible escape and cheat Death itself?

If you love movies, there are some films you should watch just because of the important place they occupy in the development of film. That is especially true these days when so many classic and important films are available from so many different sources, conveniently and cheaply (or even free).

Among the movies I've felt I really should watch are the silent thrillers from Louis Feuillade, because they are, without exageration, the foundation for everything that followed in that film genre. Although I've had complete DVD collections of both Feuillade's "Fantômas" and "The Vampires" series sitting in my "To Be Watched" pile for quite some time, I put off watching them because I have generally not enjoyed feature-length silent films dramas and thrillers. However, since I recently watched and loved "Seven Footprints to Satan" and "Nevada", I thought I'd finally get around to plugging a hole in my film history education.

I almost wish I hadn't waited this long to see "Fantômas: In the Shadow of the Guillotine", because it's a really good movie that's help up well. Also, as someone who loves detective films, horror movies, and crime dramas, it was fascinating to see how the elements that make up those genres appearance in their infancy... and how little has changed over the past century of cinematic story-telling.

Despite having many of the hallmarks and flaws of one of these early films--a static camera and actors that over-emote to a ridiculous degree--Feuillade keeps things moving with such a rapid pace that these problems don't become too annoying. Possibly due to this rapid pace, Feuillade mostly avoids the thing that kills my interest in many of these early dramas/thrillers--scenes that drag on and on and on, while the actors mill about, overacting. There are only two scenes in the film that go on a little longer than is good, and I think that I may have felt that way about one of them because I knew where the scene was going and I was eager for it to get there so I could enjoy the pay-off.)

The only real complaint I can mount about this thoroughly enjoyable film is that the relationship between Fantômas and a woman who provides him assistance is too murky for the film's own good. She may be his long-time lover, she may related to him and his criminal enterprises in some other way... but it's never explained. The only thing we know for sure is that Fantômas murdered her husband and that the name of an identity he was using was included in the husband's address book. That may even have been Fantômas's actual identity for all the audience knows. It could be that the movie-goers of 1913 knew all about the connection between the two characters, because this film was an adaptation of a hugely popular novel of the day, and director Feuillade could just have assume that the audience already knew how the two characters were tied to each other. Still--it annoys me when this assumption is made with adaptations of properties I'm familiar with, so even if this was the case, it kept me from giving this film Seven Stars (on my Ten Star scale).

If you have an interest in the history of film and where genre conventions come from, or if you just want to enjoy a fast-paced, old-timey crime drama, I think you'll find watching "Fantômas: In the Shadow of the Guillotine" is time well spent.

'Secret of the Blue Room' is a lesser effort from the Golden Age of Universal Horror flicks

Secret of the Blue Room (1933)
Starring: Paul Lukas, Gloria Stuart, Lionel Atwilll, Edward Arnold, William Janney, Onslow Stevens, and Robert Barrat
Director: Kurt Neumann
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

On the night Irene (Stuart) turns 21, three men hoping to marry her (Janney, Lukas, and Stevens) agree to prove their bravery and worthiness of her hand by each spending successive nights in the supposedly haunted Blue Room of her castle home. Their actions seem to awaken a deadly curse that has been dormant since shortly after Irene's birth... a curse that has already claimed three lives and will soon claim more.

"Secret of the Blue Room" is a locked room mystery crossed with the "dark old house" sub-genre of thrillers/horror that flourished during the 1930s and into the mid-1940s--and it was filmed on the same sets used for the 1932 film of the same genre "The Old Dark House.". It was made during what was a Golden Age for Universal and horror films, although it is one of the lesser efforts.

While this is a far more workman-like picture than "Frankenstein" or "The Invisible Man" or "Werewolf of London", I have a hard time judging how much of what seems flawed in this picture is a result of the passage of time, and how much is weakness that was present from the beginning. This kind of story has been told and retold so many times since 1933, so it could be that what was effective then is less so now.

From a story perspective, the film suffers from the mystery at its core not being much of  a mystery. I had the broad strokes of the story figured out once the three suitors agreed to prove their courage by braving the possibility of death by sleeping in a cursed room. When Bad Things started happening, I was proven right... and although attempts were made at misdirection--a creepy stranger who is somehow in cahoots with the shady butler; the lord of the manor (played by Lionel Atwill) obviously trying to hide something; and a sleazy chauffeur and the nosy maid who may or may not be up to something--none really presented anything close to an alternate explanation to the mysterious events in the Blue Room. Although everything played out in a predictable fashion, the film at least unfolded at a rapid pace, and features such an excellent cast of actors that it wasn't dull. I felt the climactic chase and running gun-battle in a secret basement under the castle went on a bit too long, but otherwise I felt the pacing was spot on.

When it comes to the films cast, I feel like they all gave excellent performances. I particularly enjoyed Paul Lukas, who at the beginning of the film felt to me like a poor man's Bela Lugosi, but by the end I wanted to see what might be in store next for his character. On the other hand, I enjoyed Gloria Stuart from the beginning, but became disappointed  as the film wore on. It wasn't that she gave a bad performance, she just wasn't as good as she was in "The Old Dark House", where she basically outshone all the other cast members. Here, she has less to do from the outset and she fades into the background as the movie continues. This film is a prime example of why Stuart's film career never really got off the ground; she just didn't get enough interesting roles to play.

Speaking of Paul Lukas and Gloria Stuart, as much as I liked them in the film, their characters have a very creepy relationship. As mentioned above, the film opens on a young lady's 21st birthday... and there are four men in attendance: Her father (Lionel Atwill), a would-be suitor her age, a would-be suitor five or ten years older (Oslow Stevens), and a would-be suitor old enough to be her father (Paul Lukas). It's slightly gross to think of Lukas's character wanting to marry and bed a woman less than half his age... and for her father to be sitting right there and approving of the idea. It tainted the character--who is otherwise honorable and heroic--for me, and the movie in general.

"Secret of the Blue Room" is an adequate picture that I think hasn't weathered the passage of time as well as others in the same genre. If you like "it was a dark and stormy night"-type mysteries, I think you'll enjoy it... but at the same time, you should now there are better entries in the genre out there. (You can click on the Old Dark House tag at the bottom of this post to see my reviews of some of them.)

Meet our official Master of Ceremonies

For all of 2020, Bebe Daniels will serve as the Shades of Gray Master of Ceremonies. She will oversee our observations and celebrations of each major holiday during this year. Please be nice to her... but if you find any of our observances lacking, be sure to let her know!

Here is the official calendar of holidays that will be recognized here at Shades of Gray during 2020. Some will be recognized with a single post, some will receive several. (Others not on this may also be snuck it as celebratory moods strike us!)

Febuary: Valentine's Day
March: St. Patrick's Day
April: Easter
May: Cinco de Mayo and Memorial Day
June: Flag Day
July: U.S. Independence Day and Nude Day
August: National Watermelon Day
September: Labor Day
October: Halloween
November: Thanksgiving
December: Christmas and New Years


Click here to see a selection of past observances, or click on hoidays with links above to see specific celebrations

Musical Monday with Gin Wigmore

Gin Wigmore is a genre-defying performer whose sound has touches of rock, ragtime, blues, and more. She's almost the musical equivalent of this blog. She's here today to get your week started right with a song and some photos. (Despite the shirt, Wigmore is anything but Mickey Mouse!)

Betty Boop at her most nightmarish?

Ha! Ha! Ha! (1934)
Starring: Mae Questel (voice of Betty Boop)
Director; Dave Fleischer
Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

Betty and Koko escape the cartoon world, and when Koko develops a toothache from eating real-world candy, Betty tries her hand at dentistry. Surreal horror ensues.

"Ha! Ha! Ha!" is a fantastic bit of craftsmanship that sees cartoon characters roaming in and interacting with the real world, or real cars and other objects transforming into cartoons through a mixture of animation and standard film. It's a great deal of fun watch the cartoon world interact with the real one as seamlessly as it occurs in this picture.. at least until it turns nightmarish and terrifying.

It seems like I've been creeped out by cartoons from the 1930s a lot lately--"The Rocketeers", for example, contains the most horrific scene I've witnessed in just about anything--but "Ha! Ha! Ha!" is another one that I found to be an example of surrealistic horror on a Junji Ito level, with the world undergoing bizarre changes that may well ultimately lead to madness for all of humanity. It's not so much what's in this short film, but what isn't that keeps my imagination working once it's over... and it's not happy place that I find myself imagining.

But why don't you take a few minutes to watch this masterpiece of surreal humor and horror via the embedded YouTube video below. I'd also love to hear your take on it.

Firearms Friday with Elke Sommer

Born in 1940, German actress Elke Sommer spent some of her teenage years in England, and since she was fluid in both German and English, she thought about training for a career as a diplomatic translator, but upon winning a beauty contest while vacationing in Italy, she turned firmly toward modeling and acting instead.

During the 1960s and into the 1970s, Sommer was a reigning European sex symbol and she soon conquered America as well. She appeared in all manner of films--from light farces and sex comedies, to thrillers and gory horror films; from low-budget quickies, to big-budget blockbusters--and all manner parts. As the 1970s came to a close and her screen career began to cool, Sommer found success on television. She also turned to writing and painting, and she has been enjoying success as a gallery artist for more than 40 years now. She continues to take a film role every now and then, and she is currently filming the forthcoming sci-fi film "PhonY".

'The Vampire's Ghost' stumbles at the end

The Vampire's Ghost (1945)
Starring: John Abbott, Charles Gordon, Grant Withers, Peggy Stewart, Adele Mara, Roy Barcroft, Martin Wilkins, and Emmett Vogan
Director: Lesley Selander
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

An isolated trading post in Africa becomes the latest hunting ground of a world-weary vampire (Abbott).

"The Vampire's Ghost" is an interesting film that I think managed to transcend its quick-cash-grab roots. According to an interview given by screenwriter Leigh Brackett, this production was launched in response to Universal's successful revival of its 1930s horror characters--the Mummy, Dracula, and Frankenstein--and the popularity of their new kid, the Wolf Man. Tone- and style-wise, the film occupies a middle-ground between Val Lewton's atmospheric, psychological chillers from RKO and the pulp-fictiony, supernatural dramas of Universal's monster revivals.

Long-time horror fans will enjoy this movie for its unusual African setting and its swirling mix of European vampire lore and more "exotic" superstitions and beliefs. Fans with a narrower love of vampire movies will appreciate the villain of the story, the vampire Webb Fallon, is portrayed with more personality and a different flavor than is typical of films from this period. While Fallon is indisputably a monster, his main defining characteristic is not cartoonish, cape-swirling menace but rather a sort of jaded fatigue at having seen everything that's unfolding around him happen dozens upon dozens of times in the past. From his casually telling the hero where to look for information on how to destroy a vampire, to the air of resignation when he discovers attempts to take advantage of him and thus he feels obligated to exact revenge.

The supporting characters are mostly the stock figures you'd expect in a film like this, with a fairly bland young couple (Charles Gordon and Peggy Stewart) targeted as victims of the vampire, superstitious locals (foremost among these portrayed by Martin Wilkins), a devout cleric who is key to defeating the monster (Grant Withers), and so on. These stock characters are borrowed both from the standard gothic vampire story and from the jungle action/adventure tales that usually take place in this film's setting... but, as with the character of Webb Fallon, there are a few touches that allow them to be more interesting than what they might otherwise have been. It also helps that they are all portrayed by excellent actors. I've so far failed to mention Adele Mara who brings some random (and slightly goofy) sexiness to the picture while also, ultimately portraying one of the films more sympathetic characters, because jealousy plus a lack of understanding of what Webb Fallon truly is gets her into a whole lot of trouble.

Another fascinating aspect of the film is the notion that a vampire is weak in the presence of the power of God--whether a believer is waving religious symbol in its face or not. One of the more enjoyable scenes in the whole film is watching Fallon dealing with the devout Father Gilcrist and how simply being touched by him, and being in his general vicinity, drains Fallon's energy.

Unfortunately, this mostly interesting movie loses its way during its climax and ultimately ends on a disappointing, somewhat hollow ending where Webb Fallon dies off camera (while delivering a line that's  clearly looped from a scene earlier in the film) and some plot-threads that were set up very dramatically are left dangling without resolution. The botched ending cost the film a full star on my 0-10 star rating scale.

If you like classic horror movies, I think you'll mostly enjoy "The Vampire's Ghost". It really is an interesting and well-done film up to final minutes.

Picture Perfect Wednesday with Lily Gao

Lily Gao is a Canadian model and actress who has most recently been seen as the would-be U.N. Secretary General in the latest episodes of the sci-fi series "The Expanse" on Amazon Prime. (That's a show that's outside the scope of this blog, but I strongly recommend watching all four seasons of it. It just keeps getting better and better.)

Today, Ms. Gao is here to demonstrate the unifying theme at Shades of Gray.

Musical Monday with John Legend

Here at Shades of Gray, we first became aware of John Legend during the "controversy" surrounding his "updated" cover of the classic tune "Baby, It's Cold Outside." Like so much during the Era of Outrage, we can't decide if Legend was doing a spoof or being serious, and whether any of the folks running for the fainting couch were really as hysterical as they came across, or just playing for their 15 seconds in the spotlight.

Holiday shananigans aside, Legend has a number of pretty songs in his catalog, and we're kicking off the week with one them. It also features a stylish video, which you can watch below.
If this pretty love song is new to you, as it was to us, we hope you enjoy it!

'The Garage' at 100 years

The Garage (1920)
Starring: Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Buster Keaton, Harry McCoy, Molly Malone, and Dan Crimmins
Director: Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

Fatty and Buster (Arbuckle and Keaton) have a particularly chaotic workday at the combination gas station/firehouse where they work.

I am making this post exactly 100 years after "The Garage" was first released. Is it still worth watching today?

The answer to that question is an emphatic "YES!"

When this film was made, Buster Keaton had been a supporting player in short films directed by and starring Roscoe "Fatty Arbuckle" for three years; Arbuckle had given Keaton his break in film, and the two had become close friends. It was clear to both that it was time for Keaton to strike out on his own, and with this film, viewers got a taste of what Keaton would soon deliver once he struck out on his own. Keaton is the co-star of this film with Arbuckle, and he even gets some of the funnier solo bits and he is the driver of a couple of the better routines.

Story-wise, the film also holds together nicely, with the gags and stunts feeding smoothly into each other, as well as arising from, or prompting, plot-furthering character interaction. The presence of a female character who is both very much her own master and not the love interest or would-be love interest of either of the main characters also enhances the film, because it is a nice change from the common pattern in so many of these short films.

This fast-paced film can literally be described as provide a laugh-a-minute... but don't just take my word for it. I encourage you to take a little less than half an hour out of your day to enjoy a comedy that had stood the test of 100 years, and which will still amuse 100 years from now: it's embedded below via YouTube.

An important anniversary in world history

In December of 2020, it will be 400 years since the Pilgrims arrived in North America, landing somewhere near Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts. As the year unfolds, you will undoubtedly see an ever-increasing number of articles about the good ship Mayflower and its 102 freedom-seeking passengers (and the shrillness will probably be ever-increasing as well), I thought I'd get ahead of the game with this post.

Here's Debbie Reynolds, reinacting the historic moment when the Pilgrims made landfall in America...

The Love Quarterly: Shawl of the Babushka

During the mid-1920s and early 1930s, Bessie Love was a popular movie star. Away from the adoring public, however, she led a secret life as the superhero Love Bug and defended Earth against supernatural evil. During her adventures, she collected a number of magical treasures. One of these was the shawl of the babushka. In this post, we reveal another of Bessie's secret adventures while describing this unique magical item in terms of the d20 System roleplaying rules.


THE SHAWL OF THE BABUSHKA
In 1946, Bessie Love (in her guise of the Love Bug) battled Baba Yaga to save children abducted from a village in eastern Ukraine. At the end of that adventure, she walked away with a shawl that Baba Yaga had woven and enchanted for her most loyal servants. At one time, 13 of these were known to exist; two were destroyed during the encounter that Love had with Baba Yaga and three witches, but ten more may still exist. The secret to making this item is known only to Baba Yaga
   The shawl of the babushka is a triangular piece of cloth that is roughly 3 feet wide and 7 feet in length. If subjected to detect magic, it radiates faint transmutation magic.
    The fabric is a red so deep that it is almost black. It is embroidered with flowery patterns in bright yellow and blue and green, but if those patterns are carefully studied (1d6+2 rounds) and a successful Knowledge (Arcane) skill check is rolled (DC20), it becomes apparent that mystic symbols of demonic origin are concealed in harmless-seeming floral motif. The purpose of the symbols isn't clear. (Only high-ranking demonlords and Baba Yaga herself know the meaning of the symbols, but see below for more.)

Powers of the Shawl of the Babushka
When worn, a shawl of the babushka grants the following protections and powers to its wearer:
   *Immunity to normal hot- and cold-weather conditions. The wearer is comfortable in the hottest and coldest places on Earth.
   *Immunity to be located by any magical means, except through the personal and direct actions of a god.
   * +4 bonus to saving throws made to resist damage from elemental magic.
   * Use charm person as a spell-like ability at 20th-level effectiveness twice per day.
   There is one final power that is not revealed by identify or anything short of a wish spell. It can only be explained by Baba Yaga, a demonlord, or learned through experimentation.
   * Become one of three different human females: A plump and friendly-seeming old woman; a bent, boney, hag-like old woman; and an extremely attractive young woman. Although the character using this ability retains all of his or her own statistics, levels, and class abilities, this transformation does not register as a magical one; for as long as the character wears the shawl, he or she is the woman that he or she has chosen to be. Aside from a vague similarity in facial features (Spot check of DC18 for anyone to notice), there is nothing else to give away the character's transformation. The transformation remains in effect until the character is no longer wearing the shawl.
   The transformation is brought about with a successful Willpower saving throw (DC12) and a full round action. Until the character realizes that there are three different forms that can be adopted, the woman that he or she changes into is rolled randomly on the following table:

Random Shawl Transformation (Roll 1d6)
1-2: Plump Old Woman
3-4: Withered Old Woman
5-6: Beautiful Young Woman


Drawbacks of the Shawl of the Babushka
The shawl of the babushka is a magic item made by Baba Yaga specifically for her most loyal human minions, typically witches. Wearers to whom she has gifted it wouldn't necessarily view these effects as "drawbacks".
   * Whenever the character uses the charm person spell-like ability, the GM rolls 2d6+1. On a roll of 4 or 13, Baba Yaga gains the ability to see and hear everything the character does for an hour, even if the shawl is immediately removed. She also knows exactly where the character is located.
   * Whenever the character transforms into one of the female forms, the GM rolls 2d6+1. On a result of 13, the character is physically replaced by a succubus for 1d4+2 hours. While the character is trapped in the demonic plane, no harm will befall him or her, but he will be warned against trying to cross Baba Yaga, as well as being offered the opportunity to gain the Chosen feat as a bonus, or otherwise makes offers to tempt the character to serve them. (Even if the character refuses all offers, the demons will always be cordial and polite to the temporarily planeshifted character; they will even happily explain everything about the shawl and its powers.
   The interaction with the demon generally takes place in a richly appointed, parlor with comfortable couches and easy chairs. If the character is rude or aggressive, the demons try to remain friendly and polite but they will leave him or her alone if the character persists. If the character attacks them, he or she is immediately transported to a sweltering, dark void for the duration to the swap.


  
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All text in this post is presented under the Open Game License and may be reproduced in accordance to its terms. Copyright 2020 Steve Miller.

Musical Monday with MØ

Welcome to another Musical Monday Morning at Shades of Gray!

This week's selection is by MØ, a Danish singer/songwriter who has been steadily growing in popularity in Scandinavia since the early 2010s, and even poked her head out into the rest of world with songs appearing in the Billboard 100 and UK top pop charts in 2017. (Click here to read more.)

Firearms Friday with Alexis Smith

It's the beginning of  a new year, and the beginning of a new post series! Every other Friday, there'll be a picture or two of a weapons-brandishing actress or model in this space.

Alexis Smith was a dancer-turned-actress whose career in movies and on television spanned more than 40 years. She is perhaps best remembered for "Day and Night (1946), "Undercover Girl" (1957), and a recurring role on the TV series "Dallas" during the 1984 and 1990 seasons.

'Rocketeers' is something of a misfire

Tom and Jerry: Rocketeers (1932)
Starring: Anonymous Voice Actors
Directors: John Foster and George Rufle
Rating: Five of Ten Stars

Tom and Jerry build an experimental rocket intending to go to the Moon. After the rocket misfires, out heroes instead find themselves exploring a strange world at the bottom of the sea and frolicking with mermaids.

The title made me excited for this one, and I hoped I was in for surreal sci-fi weirdness similar to "Astronomeous" or "The '?' Motorist". Instead... well, let's just say I was disappointed. This Tom and Jerry installment has the crisp, fluid animation that I so love in this series, as well as a hefty amount of the cartoon physics and physical transformations that I love in many of the cartoons from the late 1920s and early 1930s, but I just couldn't enjoy this one.

I can't really point to something that made me cringe or that I found boring--I just wasn't engaged with the one I the way I've been with some of the other "Tom and Jerry" installments. Maybe it's because I can't watch it through th eyes of a 6 year-old, and so I couldn't get past the notion of Tom and Jerry surviving, not to mention singing and dancing and playing the piano, on the bottom of the ocean as easily as they would on land. Maybe it's because the music wasn't as good in this one as in some of the others. I don't know... I just couldn't get into this one the way I did with "The Piano Tooners", for example.

That said... "Rocketeers" did contain both the most horrific scene I've ever encountered in a cartoon, as well as one of the cutest. The first involves Tom and Jerry merging into a single, singing creature, while the second is them dancing and singing with mermaids. The unbridled insanity of cartoons from the late 1920s and early 1930s is both the stuff of dreams and nightmares...

Why don't you take a few minutes out of your day and check out "Rocketeers" for yourself? I've embedded it below for your convience and viewing pleasure. I would also love to hear your opinions!

The Epic Tales of Buster & Sybil!

Looking for something a little different to build a couple "movie nights" or "watch parties" out of? Permit us to suggest watching the five films that Buster Keaton and Sybil Seely made together between 1920 and 1922. Don't watch them in the order they were made, but but the order in which they combine to form two different story arcs that relate The Epic Tales of Buster & Sybil!

TALE #1

Buster is an up-and-coming man of business, Sybil is the daughter of a prison warden, and they are in love. Upon getting married, they are gifted with an empty lot build-it-yourself house as a wedding present, and its construction proves to be the first test of their marriage. Several years and two sons later, Buster builds a boat in the garage and then sets out to take the family on a cruise.

   This epic is told in three parts. Click on the links to each film, as well as my comments.
   Convict 13 (1920)
   One Week (1920)
   The Boat (1921)

TALE #2

Buster woos a farmer's daughter. After being wed on the run, the two move to Alaska to make a new life. But Buster's dark side emerges, and this marriage is not a happy one...

   This epic consists of the book-end films from Keaton's and Seely's collaborations: The very first film they made together, and the very last.
   The Scarecrow (1920)
   The Frozen North (1922)


All five films can be found online (as is obvious from the posts linked to above), or, in DVD or Blu-Ray collections like the one that we've linked to below. The ones found on disc are generally sourced from better quality--and there's no risk of the link I provide in the posts becoming invalid.

Happy New Year! Welcome to the '20s!

Like Janet Leigh, we're bursting into the New Year with joy and excitement!

And we hope you'll join us in sharing a toast with Vera Ellen!

It may be a New Year, but we'll be up the same old stuff here at Shades of Gray, as we launch into the second decade of this blog's existence!

The New Year is creeping up on us...

... and Lilyan Tashman is NOT looking forward to it being the '20s again!

Musical Monday with Ghostly Kisses

"Ghostly Kisses" is the name under which singer/songwriter Margaux Sauvé releases her music. The video below's got beautiful music and arresting visuals... just what you need to get the last Monday of 2019 off to a good start!

Touch (2019)
Starring: Margaux Sauvé and Chelsea Keefer
Director: Eddie Grams
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

'An All-American Toothache' is agreeable nonsense

An All American Toothache (1936)
Starring: Thelma Todd, Patsy Kelly, Mickey Daniels, Johnny Arthur, and Duke York
Director: Gus Meins
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

Thelma (Todd) tricks her co-worker Patsy (Kelly) into having her wisdom tooth pulled by an incompetent dental student (Daniels) who also happens to be the star player of the local college football team--but who will be barred from the big game if he doesn't show himself proficient in his field of study.

"An All-American Toothache" is one of the better films that Thelma Todd and Patsy Kelly made together. It's not the funniest, it's not the sweetest, nor is it the cleverest... but it is perhaps the best-structured and tone-consistent of them all. It delivers a complete story--with a beginning, a middle, and end--and while that story is complete nonsense, it is steeped in the nonsense from beginning to end, embraces the nonsense, and the characters even say "yeah, this makes no sense, but let's go with it!"

The main cast all have their moment in the spotlight, and they all play well with and off each other. Thelma Todd is once again relegated mostly to the role of "straight man" while Patsy Kelly gets to play the fool, but there isn't the sense of underlying contempt from Todd toward Kelly's character that tainted other films. This picture also benefits from the fact that instead of featuring several ill-conceived, badly rehearsed slapstick routines--something that plagued the Todd-headlined films even when she was teamed with ZaSu Pitts in the early stages of the series. Instead, it contains one single all-out brawl between dental students and the football team, with Thelma, Patsy, and a professor caught up in the melee.

"An All-American Toothache" would be the last film Thelma Todd and Patsy Kelly would make together. Todd's life was tragically cut short in December of 1935, and it wasn't released until after her demise. It's also the very last film Todd can be considered appearing in. She had a large role in the Laurel & Hardy feature film "The Bohemian Girl", but producer Roach had her scenes cut and reshot because of her death. (If he had been able to foresee the morbid obsession with Todd's mysterious passing that continues to the very day, he might have left the film as it was.)

Mythos Madness: The Balls of Yog-Sogoth

This may or may not be the first post in an irregular series (which will also appear at the NUELOW Games blog) detailing mysteries of Lovecraft's Elder Gods Universe in terms of the d20 System roleplaying game.


THE BALLS OF YOG-SOGOTH
The Balls of Yog-Sogoth are a pair of perfect spheres of a smooth, white, semi-translucent crystaline substance. One can be comfortably cradled in the palm of an average adult male human's hand. Each glows softly with a white light that originates from the orb's center. Legend holds that the balls were dropped from the elder god Yog-Sogoth itself, and so they are highly sought after by the cults devoted to the various aspects of the entity. No one really knows their true origin, however.


A cultist handling a Ball of Yog-Sogoth

POWERS OF THE BALLS OF YOG-SOGOTH
If subjected to a detect magic spell, the Balls of Yog-Sogoth radiate faint alteration and divination magic. No other magic short of a wish spell will reveal any additional information about the mysterious spheres. Seekers of knowledge must discover the power of the balls through their own experimentation, or by recovering and reading sacred scrolls possessed and jealously guarded by obscure cults, or perhaps an Immortal or two.
   To use the Balls of Yog-Sogoth, a user must old them in their hands. The balls function in different ways, depending on whether a user is handling one or two of them.
    One Ball: While cradling a single of Yog-Sogoth's balls, the character will receive a mental image of a magical item that is in his or her possession, or in the possession of a friend or ally. The charcter comes to know everything about the item as if he or she had cast an identify spell upon it. It takes 1d6 rounds for the vision to materalize. Once the user has realized this use of a ball, he or she can mentally picture specific items and gain information as if he or she had cast identify upon them.
   Drawback: For each item past the first that the user identifies within a 72-hour period, there is an increasing chance (10% on the second item, 30% on the third item, 50% on the fourth item, 70% on the fifth item, 90% on each additional items) that the user will collapse into a deep coma that lasts 1d6+1 days. Upon regaining consciousness, the character must roll a Fortitude save (DC18) or feel weakened to the point of suffering a -4 penalty to Strength and Constitution scores for 24 hours.
   Two Balls: While holding one of Yog-Sogoth's balls in each hand, the character can either envision a historical figure well-known contemporary figure, or someone with whom the character is personally acquainted, be it a friend or foe. After concentrating on the mental image of the person for 1d6+1 rounds, the character receives one of the following vividly detailed visions, as if he or she was present for the events and experienced them as the person did. (Roll 1d6 to determine which kind of vision.)

   1. The happiest moment of the person's childhood.
   2. The proudest moment of their youth.
   3. Their greatest achievement during their lifetime.
   4. The place the person felt most comfortable/spent most of their
        leisure time (if dead); where the person will be in exactly one day
        (if alive).
   5. The place where the person spent/spends the most time with the person
        they loved/love the most, as well as who that person is.
   6. The single event or secret that the person wants to keep hidden forever.

   Drawback: If the user tries to have more than one vision within a 72-hour period, there is an increasing chance (10% on the second vision, 30% on the third vision, 50% on the fourth vision, 70% on the fifth vision, 90% on each additional vision) that the user will collapse into a deep coma that lasts 1d6+1 days. Upon regaining consciousness, the character must roll a Fortitude save (DC18) or feel weakened to the point of suffering a -4 penalty to Strength and Constitution scores for 24 hours.
   Each additional vision within the 72-hour period is determined randomly, just like the first. If the same scene is rolled more than once, the user sees it from a different angle, perhaps even experiencing the scene as someone else did/does. Each reiteration reveals new details.

--

All text in this post is released under the Open Game License and may be reproduced in accordance with its terms. Copyright 2019 Steve Miller. (If you find this material useful or interesting, please purchase some of our actual products. It will encourage us to make more!)

'Preto Branco' is a stylish modern silent movie

The other day, I made a post in which I embedded a silent movie made in 1914. Just for the heck of it, here's a silent movie that was produced and released in 2014, one hundred years later!


Preto Branco (aka "Black/White") (2014)
Starring: Inês Cândido and João Teles
Director: Magdalena Traguil
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

A young woman escapes an abusive relationships in a permanent fashion.

"Preto Branco" is a brief, thoroughly modern silent movie. It's a stylish, straight-forward bit of filmmaking that uses the black-and-white media effectively, as well as communicates everything through action and scene framing. (Okay... there is one sound effect here, but I think it fall into the same category as a musical score.)

The only complaint I can mount is that I would have liked to see a little more effects work in the aftermath of the film's climactic violence. The act itself, though, was portrayed perfectly. (I have a couple additional minor quibbles, but they amount to nothing more than nitpicks.)
Why don't you take a few minutes to watch "Preto Branco" right now? I've embedded it below for your viewing pleasure!

Wonder Woman Wednesday

Wonder Woman offers you well-wishes and a toast, as we here at Shades of Gray hopes everyone out there is having the happiest of Christmases!

By Ramona Fradon

Christmas is here...

... and Santa's Helpers once again deployed across the world to help him keep his busy schedule! This year, Christmas was saved in part by:

Muriel Evans

Mary Martin

Virginia Grey

'Caught in a Cabaret' is a fun little film

Caught in a Cabaret (1914)
Starring: Charlie Chaplin, Mabel Normand, Edgar Kennedy, Harry McCoy, and Minta Durfee
Director: Mabel Normand
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

A waiter at a low-class joint (Chaplin) comes to the aid and defense of a wealthy young woman (Normand) when her cowardly boyfriend (McCoy) doesn't. Romance subsequently blossoms, but will the jealous ex-boyfriend find a way to tear them apart?

"Caught in a Cabaret" is a fun little film that's marred by predictability. The moment Charlie Chaplin's character lies about who he is and what is social standing is--he claims to be a foreign ambassador--you know that eventually the truth will out and our hero will be in trouble. Nonetheless, the rest of the film is so artfully executed that the preordained ending. The scenes in the cabaret--whether it's the crowded hall full of customers and performers, or the back-room with the bickering employees and their slapstick battles--are excellently staged and beautifully framed. The cabaret's common room more than once takes on the feeling of an animated 19th century painting.

The only thing that keeps this film from getting a Seven on my 0-10 scale is that an important plot element of the first half of the film seems to be just dropped for no reason and with no explanation. (It's entirely possible that a piece of the film is missing, but it seemed really odd to me that Chaplin's dog just vanishes at one point...)

Aside from that one (major) flaw, "Caught in a Cabaret" is an excellent early Chaplin film, and a fine example of Mabel Normand's deft directorial touch. I invite you to take a few moments and watch this great little film right now!

Christmas is almost here...

… and Loretta Young found a spot here at Shades of Gray that hadn't been decorated yet.

If you're not done decorating for Christmas yet, you better get to it!

'After the Dance' feels incomplete

After the Dance (1935)
Starring: George Murphy, Nancy Carroll, Thelma Todd, and Wyrley Birch
Director: Leo Bulgakov
Rating: Five of Ten Stars

An innocent song-and-dance man (Murphy) is sent to prison for manslaughter after his shady partner (Todd) refuses to clear his name. A series of events prompts his escape from prison, and he finds an opportunity to rebuild his life and show business career with a new partner (Carroll). All is going well until the woman who sent him to prison re-enters his life.

"After the Dance" is a strangely constructed movie that feels like it is missing large chunks. It starts in medias res with our hero already having accidentally killed a man while defending his dance parter. We get no introduction to any of the involved characters, and the way he gets jammed up for the murder comes out of left field and is never explained. It's like five or ten minutes of opening scenes and establishing who the characters are is missing.

Similarly, as the movie is reaching its climax, the hero's past catches up with him, and the evil vixen from the movie's beginning once again ruins his life, we once again have the feeling that we've missed parts of the film. Not only does the movie not such much end but stop, it does so without ever explaining fully why Thelma Todd's character is such an evil bitch, because the film's instigating event is never explained in any detail.

It's a sad fact of Thelma Todd's career that most of her main dramatic roles of the talkie era took place in films that either had weak scripts (such as "Corsair"), have come down to us in modern times in a state butchered by censors or damaged by the passage of time (such as "Cheating Blondes"), or which is mysteriously flawed like "After the Dance". Given when it was released--at a time when Hollywood's move toward self-censorship had gained full steam and the censors were hacking and slashing, left and right and center--and the pristine condition of the print used to make the DVD I watched, I'm guessing that the incomplete nature of the story here is the fault of censorship. So... yet again, we are left with Todd giving a fine performance in a flawed vehicle. Once again, we can only imagine what she might have become as an actress if her life hadn't been tragically cut short in December of 1935. We will never know what she might have brought us if she had played more dramatic roles as she grew as an actress. ("After the Dance" was one of the last films she made.)

Todd isn't the only actor in this film who gives a performance better than it seems to have deserved. Everyone shines in their parts, and this could have been an excellent film if it had only been complete. George Murphy isn't the most charismatic actor, nor the lightest-of-foot dancer, but he's good enough... and what he lacks, Nancy Carroll more than makes up for with her energy and grace. They make the song and dance numbers that anchor the film very enjoyable.