[crashryan]

Actually the cataclysm at the end of King of the Rocket Men was from a feature called Deluge, made in 1933. I've never seen the movie. I read in Wikipedia that it was thought lost until Forry Ackerman turned up an Italian-dubbed print in the early 1980s. The tidal wave destruction stuff is on YouTube. Some of the Schufftan shots are rather obvious, but there are nice moments, including the final shot where the hero stands on a tiny islet surrounded by the remains of New York.

The serial's last chapter did have one of the great moments in Lydecker Brothers effects: the sequence where Rocket Man dives at full speed toward the house where the bad guys are holed up...the instant "he" hits the French doors, we cut inside as Dave Sharpe comes crashing through them, rolls, and springs to his feet. It was cut so perfectly that I was impressed all over again when I saw it forty years later.

[profh0011]

Okay, that explains it.  I was astonished both by the events themselves, and by the visuals, not believing they'd actually DO that, and that Republic would sprig for the budget for it.

Someone else online said they were expecting a last-minute reprieve, and was shocked when they ACTUALLY had half of New York WIPED OUT.  Whoa!  And then, in the next scene, the Mayor is going on about how "his administration" saved the day, and they'll rebuild New York, as if nothing that bad happened.  (In fact, Rocketman's appearance didn't make that much of a difference.)

I agree about the sequence of him coming in thru the wnidow.  DAMN, this thing was exciting!

I'm mainly bothered by the extreme lack of common sense with regard to security on a high-profile research outfit doing work for the government where people are people bumped off one by one, vital inventions are being stolen, and they've got ONE Fed on the scene, and HE gets kidnapped in Chapter 10. By the time they'd narrowed down the suspects to only 2, I'd have thought the only sensible thing to do would be to have BOTH of them locked up until things were cleared up. 

BATMAN (1943) had similar problems where the hero was very lax when ti came to keeping his identity a secret.  Plus, there were so many times when the whole case could have been wrapped up much earlier than it was, but wasn't.  (I love it anyway, and wish they'd done a sequel with the same cast.)

After this, it makes sense any sequel the stakes would have to be upped.  It's so bizarre that they replaced the cast and re-named ALL the characters in the 2nd film, though the dilaogue makes it clear that it IS a sequel, even though the films acts like it isn't!

I'll be watching that next...

[crashryan]

Prof, you're right about continuity sloppiness. Of course the individual episodes were meant to be seen a week apart, and I think the studio saved effort by assuming the kids wouldn't remember details from one chapter to the next. Especially cheated cliffhangers. Columbia was terrible about rewriting last week's Big Finish when they showed how the hero escaped doom.

There's another thing that always bothered me in serials: the willingness of human henchmen to help an alien invader. You get somebody like Retik the Moon Menace hiring muggs in suits to do his dirty work. He tells them repeatedly that he's going to destroy their home planet but they never bat an eyelash. Didn't they ever ask each other, "If this guy blows up the earth where does that leave US?"

He might at least  have promised to resettle them on the Moon with a bevy of kidnapped earth babes or something like that.

[profh0011]

Someone made a joke about how many cliffhangers had "missing" bits which were suddenly revealed in the flashbacks.  In "ROCKETMEN" I was practically laughing about how obvious it was.  Every time a car would go off a cliff, I'd figure, next time we'd see them jump out before it went over.  The one exception-- which surprised me!!-- was when that car went over the cliff in the MIDDLE of a chapter! But that one hit water, not ground, and the characters were seen swimming to shore.

[profh0011]

"the willingness of human henchmen to help an alien invader"

A factor that also turned up in Kirby's "Fourth World" with "Intergang".  Some of those guys had to know upper-management were extra-terrestrial, didn't they?

One of the stories I'm working on involves this angle, with the Earth help not realizing the extent of the alien's plans.  Once it comes out, the guy winds up double-crossing his employer.

[profh0011]

By the way, one of the funniest bits in BATMAN (1943) is when Dr. Daka comes to believe there may be an entire organization of "Batmen" fighting them, since several of them must have gotten killed by now.  This idea was actually re-used when Adam West turned up on THE HOLLYWOOD PALACE when Milton Berle was hosting (playing Superman).

[crashryan]

The car-over-cliff thing reminds me of a time years ago when I was drawing storyboards for a striving indy action-film writer/director. He'd had one modestly successful low-budget actioner and spent years trying to get another made. He'd written a "the-mob-captured-my-family" feature. At the time there was some public outcry over the level of violence in action films (THOSE were the days). He addressed this by having plenty of car crashes, explosions, etc. without anyone being killed. In my favorite scene two hoods are chasing the hero; he outsmarts them and they drive over a cliff. As they climb out of the wreckage one hood says, "I'm sure glad we were wearing our seat belts!"

[Captain Audio]

In "the Rocketeer"
The gangsters all turned against the guy they'd been working for when it became a matter of patriotism. New York mob families did help the FBI in securing the docks and rooting out NAZI sympathizers.

The best portrayal of a criminal involved in a sci fi story was "Baby Doll Loring", a hitman hired by Blackie DuQuesne in the Sky Lark stories.

The criminals helping the Moon men were of the pyschopathic killer type, Baby Face Nelson types.
Like the Joker "some men just want to see the world burn".
IIRC the leader of that gang was played by the actor who later played the Lone Ranger on TV.

In the comics Batman once had Alfred take his place for awhile when he was wounded. They rigged a thickly muscle padded suit with spring assisted boots so the elderly Alfred walked with some spring in his step.

[jimmm kelly]

By the way, one of the funniest bits in BATMAN (1943) is when Dr. Daka comes to believe there may be an entire organization of "Batmen" fighting them, since several of them must have gotten killed by now. 

There was a Batman story that turned on the same idea--with the Brotherhood of Batmen--in DETECTIVE COMICS No. 222 (August '55), It was called "The Great Batman Swindle"--written by Bill Finger; art by Dick Sprang and Charles Paris. A darn good story.

[profh0011]

"the leader of that gang was played by the actor who later played the Lone Ranger on TV."

Yes, there's no missing Clayton Moore's voice!!

I had seen the COMMANDO CODY tv series way back in the late 60s, but not since.  I was thrilled to finally see his other appearance, but after one episode, I felt something was wrong, and read up on those films.  That's when I decided to go back and watch KING OF THE ROCKETMEN first.  As far as I'm concerned, RADAR MEN is a sequel.  It almost had to have been planned as such!

My feeling on this was strengthened when I read how ZOMBIES OF THE STRATOSPHERE was planned as a direcvt sequel to RADAR MEN, but then they changed the hero's name at the last minute (even though both films had the same cast).  I mean... what was going on at that studio??

[profh0011]

When I was a kid, and most of the years since, the only serials they ever ran on Philly stations were the 3 FLASH GORDONs (usually in the wrong order!) and BUCK ROGERS.  When I started to find out how many serials there were from back then, I lamented that nobody had had the idea of running ALL of them as a single package.  You could schedule one chapter each weekday (M-F) and run for years without reruns!

TCM finally did have this idea, but they linmited it to one chapter each Saturday morning.  A friend of mine started watching BATMAN recently, then complained that several weeks in as row, it wasn't on when it was supposed to be.....

My set-up here at home makes it rather uncomfortable to be watching in my chair in front of the computer (and I have to keep making sure I'm sitting up straight to avoid recurrance of a lower-back problem-- which flamed up again last night). But I'm thrilled to finally be seeing so much of this stuff. 

[crashryan]

When I got out of college in the early 70s I was living in the Bay Area. For some reason local TV stations were showing tons of serials, especially the great Republics. What a treat! The Rocket Man serials, Daredevils of the Red Circle (dynamite!), Spy Smasher, Dr Satan, Masked Marvel, Crimson Ghost, and on and on and on. They also showed a few non-Republic serials, notably Flash Gordon, but the Republics were the tops. It was a Golden Age.

[profh0011]

3 chapters into RADAR MEN FROM THE MOON now.  Theyh have the most creative ideas about what it's like on the moon...!!

I think I prefer the actor who played the lead in KING OF THE ROCKETMEN.  He seemed to have more personality, somehow.

[Captain Audio]

In "Zombies of the Stratosphere" Leonard Nimoy has his first screen role as one of the Zombies.
Nimoy said in an interview that when they got to the location to start filming the crate with all the ray guns was missing. They went to a pawn shop in the nearest town and bought a bunch of old .38 police revolvers. He said he felt kind of odd invading the earth with a .38 revolver.

Also in "Radar Men from the Moon" Clayton Moore broke the hero's (George Wallace) nose in a fight scene.

IIRC Clayton Moore's nose looked a bit odd in that film, perhaps from a previous injury. I wonder if the Lone Ranger mask and heavy make up when he was impersonating various characters ala sherlock holmes may have covered up that injury. Looked to me like it was something that would require plastic surgery to fix.

[profh0011]

At the "MMMS" board, someone started a thread, "Your top 5 favorite movies".  I replied...

How can anyone possibly narrow down such a list to only 5?

That said, for many years, I used to have a top 4... but it occurs to me just this minute that that list has probably changed of late, as there are certain movies I've taken to watching over and over without ever getting tired of them.  And others I simply love a HELL of a lot, even if I don't actually watch them that often.

Oh, what the hell.  Completely off the top of my head, in no particular order...

EVIL UNDER THE SUN  (1982)
THE BIG SLEEP  (1978)
THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD  (1973)
PIT AND THE PENDULUM  (1961)
2010  (1984)

[narfstar]

I do not prioritize. My tastes chance almost at any time.

[jimmm kelly]

I watched THE COURT JESTER again a few weeks ago, which got me on a Danny Kaye movie watching kick which I'm still on.

But I also just watched THE MARK OF ZORRO with Tyrone Power and Basil Rathbone--a great movie in itself, but now I think I have to watch all Basil Rathbone sword-fighting movies, if only to appreciate all the references in the sword fighting scene between Kaye and Rathbone in THE COURT JESTER (that movie uses the candle bit from THE MARK OF ZORRO, with a slight upgrade).

And that's just one track to follow thanks to THE COURT JESTER. This movie has so many references to other movies. I just love it.

[Captain Audio]

Basil Rathbone was possibly the best real life swordsman of all the actors, with Cornel Wilde second.
Rathbone said Erol Flynn would taunt him while they were filming a fight scene saying you may be the greatest swordsman of all but I will always win because I am the star. Then run him through.

[jimmm kelly]

The latest Danny Kaye movie I was watching is KNOCK ON WOOD (1954). Like a lot of the lesser Kaye movies, it features a few stand out scenes strung together with rather mediocre stuff. Although this one was co-written by Melvin Frank and Norman Panama (they also co-directed it) and shows signs of the sparkling wit that would come through in their script for THE COURT JESTER (1955). The big scene in this one is the ballet sequence which is laugh out loud funny.

The movie seems to have been shot in Hollywood, with exteriors in London, England. As I was watching it, I became aware of sight gags that also appear in A HARD DAY'S NIGHT. It's possible these gags are totally unrelated, although the British setting is a clear link between the two. I strongly suspect that someone on A HARD DAY'S NIGHT had seen this earlier movie and wanted to do some of the same bits.

One Danny Kaye movie that is terribly underrated is A SONG IS BORN (1948). Mainly because it's not much of a Danny Kaye movie--he doesn't sing or dance or do a lot of broad comedy--he's relatively understated in the movie. That happens to fit the character, given this was a colour, musical remake of BALL OF FIRE--with Kaye playing the same role as Gary Cooper in the original. So Kaye's acting is Cooperesque.

But that's a good thing, because often Kaye can upstage the other performers in a movie. In this one, he lets the other supporting actors, singers and musicians share the spotlight. The original movie had some fine performances by great character actors. Likewise this one. But adding to the star power and making this movie exponentially greater are the musicians and singers all gathered together to make beautiful music and tell the story of jazz. Louis Armstrong, Lionel Hampton, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Charlie Barnet, Mel Powell, the Page Cavanaugh Trio, the Golden Gate Quartette, the Samba Kings and Virginia Mayo.

The director of both movies was Howard Hawks and the dialogue is often word for word the same (based on a story by Billy Wilder and Thomas Monroe). In interviews, Hawks seemed to have little respect for the remake. Which is unfortunate. Hawks is one of my favourite directors and this movie belongs in his list of great accomplishments. It's sad that Americans don't really appreciate their culture. Every school child should see this movie just to hear the greatness of American jazz music. The movie is a national treasure.

The one performer who appears in both the original and the remake is Mary Field playing Miss Totten. She looks virtually the same in both movies. As if Miss Totten might be supporting several such institutions on behalf of her late father. In the second movie, Mary Field is given more to do and is allowed to ham it up--there are no small parts, only small actors--and Mary Field shows that she can be big when the part calls for it.

[profh0011]

I had a serious problem this morning with my old computer (the one I do all my art on) resulting in me having to do OTHER stuff today, and plan to take it in for service tomorrow.  So since my nerves sufered such a jolt, it was time to dig out one of the PERRENNIAL FAVES.  Two, actually!

THE BIG SLEEP  (1946)

And for tomorrow...

THE BIG SLEEP  (1978)

...which I love even more!!

[profh0011]

TONIGHT'S MOVIE:

"You don't want money?"

"Oh sure. All I itch for is money. I'm so greedy that for fifty pounds a day plus expenses on the day I work, I risk my future, the hatred of the cops, of Eddie Mars and his pals, I dodge bullets and put up with slaps and say "Thank you very much. If you have any further trouble please call me: I'll just put my card here on the table." I do all that for a few pounds. And maybe just a little bit to protect what little pride a sick and broken old man has in his family, so that he can believe his blood is not poisoned. That his little girls - though they may be a trifle wild - are not perverts and killers."

[Captain Audio]

I'd like to see "the Dain Curse" again.

Just watched "the Devil Rides Out" and Gene Roddenberry's "Spectre" pilot film.
The wealthy are so easily suspected of evil.

[profh0011]

I just started watching QUATERMASS AND THE PIT (1958) for the first time!  My God, it's over 3 hours long, and the picture quality is superb.  Plus, after decades of watching so many English TV shows and movies, I know so many actors in this, including Andre Morell as the Professor ("Dr. Watson" in Hammer's "HOUND"), Cec Linder as the archeologist ("Felix" in "GOLDFINGER"), Michael Ripper as one of the bomb squad guys (countless Hammer films), etc.

After this, I plan to watch the 1967 Hammer version, which I haven't seen since abouit 1970.

[profh0011]

QUATERMASS AND THE PIT  (1967)

I first saw the film around 1970 (on TV), and hadn't seen it since. I was delighted to find it online, and was about to watch it after all these years, when found the TV version was also online. I'm so glad I watched that first!

Considering the TV serial was 3-1/2 hours long, I was never bored. That's GOOD WRITING! By comparison, when I started watching the film tonight, it reminded me of the comparison between a novel and a feature film (I'm thinking the book "DRACULA" and the BBC version with Louis Jourdan). We're talking one FAST-PACED, densely-plotted piece of work!

The feature looked like it might have been Hammer's biggest-budgeted film, with the large cast, sets, props, effects... it was also much more "visual", especially the climax. On the other hand, I'd say ALL of the characters were "better-drawn" on the TV version. I think it was a shame the feature eliminated the friendship between Roney & Quatermass that in the TV version had existed before the story started. It made Roney's sacrifice at the end all the more tragic in the TV version.

I think BOTH versions were magnificent, in their own different ways. I do think the one way the feature film could have been MUCH better would have been if it had featured the stars of the TV version-- Andre Morell & Cec Linder, as BOTH of them were MUCH more charismatic actors than the film actors.

[profh0011]

LONGSTREET:  "The Way Of The Intercepting Fist"

I hadn't seen this since it was first-run!!  I'd completely forgotten that Peter Mark Richman was a regular on this show. Or that Louis Gossett was in it. Plus a number of other more obscure character actors I recognize from countless other shows, like Bruce Kirby (he played the truck driver who takes a bribe to avoid worse alternatives).

The last words of advice Bruce Lee gives were exactly what he said in an interview.  I found out many years later, those words also turned up in ENTER THE DRAGON... in a long sequence near the beginning that was WISELY cut from that film.  All the story points that were cut turned up later in the film, as the story was revealed a bit at a time.  Leaving that sequence in would have been redundant, and insulting to the audience's intelligence.  Also, it would have slowed down the beginning of the film terribly.  (I hope the actual theatrical version is still available... I'd hate to think something that deserved to be cut would be forcibly reinstated on all future prints.)

I remember this being a nice show... but I also remember getting bored with it after about a year.  I think I kept hoping Lee Sun would have become a recurring character (which he didn't).