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[profh0011]

What we need here is a separate thread for "New" DOCTOR WHO, so people who haven't seen the latest can avoid finding out stuff they don't want to know in advance.



Last night-- again...

HOUSE OF USHER  (1960)


"Is there NO END to your horrors?"
"None-- whatsoever."



The movie and the short story each seem to follow a similar path, but are quite different, and each works very well in its own way.  It's a bit mind-boggling after seeing the film (especially as many times as I have) to realize that in the original story, the un-named narrator and Roderick are old friends!



"...the house-- itself-- is evil!"
"Roger, I can't say this line, it doesn't make any sense!"
"Vincent-- that line-- is what allows us to make the picture."
"Okay, in that case, I can MAKE it work."

[profh0011]

*********SPOILERS!!!!***********


Normally, when I watch the Roger Corman POE films (and they've become
"perrennials" for me), I tend to space them out a week apart. NOT this time.
Sunday I watched HOUSE OF USHER, last night PIT AND THE PENDULUM, and tonight, THE PREMATURE BURIAL.


Just found something interesting online... while this movie was made in 1962, it
seems ONE year earlier, the tv series THRILLER had as its 2nd episode "The Premature Burial". And according to what I've read, it has NEARLY the IDENTICAL plot as this movie!! So while Roger may hve been "recycling" plot elements from
his 2 previous POE films (and it seems just as likely parts of them were
"borrowed" from the short story this was based on), it's equally possible he may
have caught the Boris Karloff show and decided to do his own variation on THAT.


Get this-- BOTH versions feature a man who suffers from catalepsy, a scheming
woman who marries him for his money, and plans to get rid of him ASAP so she can then marry a far-less-wealthy guy she's REALLY in love with. (Sorry if that
SPOILS the Ray Milland film for anybody... I did warn you.)

[profh0011]

The last few days...

TALES OF TERROR
THE RAVEN
THE COMEDY OF TERRORS
THE HAUNTED PALACE
THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH
THE TOMB OF LIGIEA


You wouldn't believe it... but the one Jacques Tournier did was in some ways the MOST disturbing!

[profh0011]

ROCK AND ROLL HIGH SCHOOL


Day 1: "Please excuse Riff from class today, as her mother has died." --Mr. Randall


Day 2: "Please excuse me from class today, as my father has also died." --Riff Randall
"Isn't it sad when some families have to suffer so much?" --Kate Rambeau


Day 3: "Please excuse me from class today as my goldfish has ALSO died." --Riff Randall
"Well, you know they say this kind of thing always comes in threes." --Kate Rambeau


Day 4: "SO! Your parents and your goldfish died, hmm? Well I have PROOF that you LIED! Boys-- show her the EVIDENCE!" --Principal Togar
(The 2 hall monitors bring forward the goldfish bowl, with the goldfish in it.)
"HEY! He got BETTER!" --Riff Randall
"I suppose her PARENTS are still alive, too..." --Principal Togar

[josemas]

ROCK AND ROLL HIGH SCHOOL

A Roger Corman movie that I've never seen. 

I always seem to keep missing this one.

Best

Joe

[josemas]

Here's the current shows I'm following-

Well with Doctor Who on hiatus until the end of Summer I'm now catching Outcasts, The Inbetweeners (season 3), and the Syfy version of Battlestar Galactica on BBC America Saturday nights.  I'm also hoping that they squeeze in season 5 of Primeval too before the Doctor returns.

TNT just started the new season of Leverage and are also running the new series Falling Skies (I've recorded but not yet watched the first two weeks of this later) on Sunday nights.

Torchwood, Haven and Warehouse 13 should also kick in sometime next month.

Best

Joe

[narfstar]

Isn't Starz going to their own version of Torchwood also?

[profh0011]

Just watched a real masterpiece...  SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES.  First Walt Disney movie in 15 years (1983) that was really, really well-made... and in spots, SCARY AS HELL.  6 months or so later, they created the Touchstone subsidiary just to make "PG" films for the teenage market.  They tend to be better-made than their "G" films.

Jason Robards is great in this.  I think everything about every aspect of the movie is as perfect as it could be.  Ray Bradbury wrote the screenplay, and said it was the first time anybody in Holywood ever did one of his stories right.  So much of the dialogue is like poetry.

I'm surprised Jonathan Pryce hasn't done POE films.  He's one sick, scary guy!

[josemas]

I remember SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES got some pretty good reviews when it came out but didn't do much at the box office.  I'm surprised it hasn't gotten more of a push in the DVD after market to finally find its audience.

Best

Joe

[alfje]

Well with Doctor Who on hiatus until the end of Summer I'm now catching .........

Torchwood, Haven and Warehouse 13 should also kick in sometime next month.

I got the feeling 'River' will be the reason for the next spin-off from Doctor Who.
Can't wait Torchwood to start again though. 

[narfstar]

Falling Skies started out OK. Not great but pretty good

[Menticide]

Well with Doctor Who on hiatus until the end of Summer I'm now catching .........

Torchwood, Haven and Warehouse 13 should also kick in sometime next month.

I got the feeling 'River' will be the reason for the next spin-off from Doctor Who.
Can't wait Torchwood to start again though. 

I was under the impression that Torchwood was over for good. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see it return, but I thought that Children of Earth marked the end of the entire series. Then again, I might not care for Torchwood without Owen...

[profh0011]

Somehow or other I never saw SOMETHING WICKED... until it got on cable.  WOW.  Scariest film the Walt Disney company ever made.  It was a shock (and a delight) to see them finally do something that hadn't gotten "kiddie-fied" in some nauseating way.

So last night I'm reading at the IMDB, and find about half the reviews are riping it to pieces, mostly because it isn't as accurate to the novel as it coujld have been.  (And this, with Ray Bradbury having written the screenplay!)  It seems the studio did a test-audience preview, and it got bad reviews, so they held it back for an entire year while they tampered with it.  Some scenes got replaced, some extra effects were added, and the entire score was replaced.  Now, I can only go by the finished film (not having seen the earlier version OR read the book), but I've always been impressed.

Someone complained that Jason Robards was too old, and several complained that Jonathan Pryce was too YOUNG!

And then there's the guy who, on finding out that Steven Spielberg had written a script which was rejected, suggested, maybe we should have gotten THAT! (I've seen enough Spielberg films to be sure he would have included something nauseating related to the kids... In Spielberg's universe, kids are cruel and irresponsible punks whose bad behavior is always accepted as normal because, well, "they're kids".)

All I remember was, back in 1986, I got to see Ray Bradbury in person, and he said it was the first time Hollywood ever got one of his stories "right".

[josemas]

Well with Doctor Who on hiatus until the end of Summer I'm now catching .........

Torchwood, Haven and Warehouse 13 should also kick in sometime next month.

I got the feeling 'River' will be the reason for the next spin-off from Doctor Who.
Can't wait Torchwood to start again though. 

I was under the impression that Torchwood was over for good. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see it return, but I thought that Children of Earth marked the end of the entire series. Then again, I might not care for Torchwood without Owen...

I was just looking through the new TV guide and they have a write up on the new season of Torchwood.  John Barrowman and Eve Myles are back as Captain Jack and Gwen.  This season is a 10 part series subtitled Miracle Day.  Guest stars this season include Bill Pullman, C. Thomas Howell, Mare Winngham, Nana Visitor and John de Lancie.  I imagine their moving from BBC America to Starz here in the U.S. means we'll be getting it unedited now.

I still haven't seen the third season-Children of Earth yet so I'll probably be a bit lost on some of the current details.

Best

Joe

[paw broon]

Primeval series 5 has just ended here and what can I say, except try and find it.  I don't think you'll be disappointed.  Nailbiter of a finale. Who will survive? Will anyone make it through? Happy ending? Total destruction? Sting in the tail? And where has that train gone?  Oh, and will there be another series?  Some of the most disgusting monsters yet.
The Mentalist. We've finally seen the 2 part end of series.  What a jawdropper.  Is there another series?
Castle. Help! all the good stuff has finished.
Except Lewis, which is on tonight.  Think I've set the video correctly.  If not I'm in serious trouble with the wife.

[bowers]

Paw, according to the CBS website, The Mentalist will return in September. Still waiting for Primeval 5. Cheers, Bowers

[Geo (R.I.P.)]

Just watched 2012, I like the alternate ending much better then the one they used. Also checked out Prince of Persia.

Geo

[Menticide]

The Warrior's Way, I was pleasantly surprised. I will not go as far as to say that it was excellent, but it was quite good. I do feel the need to warn those of us with young children that it is very violent, but rather cartoon-ish in that sense. The neat thing about the film is that it was a brilliant blend of Alexandro Jodorowsy and Sergio Leone, kind of surprising when you consider that this is a Hollywood movie, directed by a Korean filmmaker. Overall, I do recommend it. Plus, as a die hard Chang Cheh fan, who grew up on a steady diet of Shaw Brothers' movies, it was nice to see Ti Lung as the main villain. Although, I do suspect that the Geoffrey Rush role would have been a better fit for the late David Carradine.

[josemas]

Recent Movie Night viewings-

Beggar on Horseback-1925-Paramount-4 (of 6) rls-   Edward Everett Horton had a long career in films working primarily as a supporting actor almost right up until his death in 1970.  In the 1920s he had a number of leading roles, mostly in comedies.  Unfortunately many of them are lost and some like this one only survive in incomplete form.

Dude Ranger-1934-Fox-  A George O'Brien western adaptation of a Zane Grey novel that benefits greatly from some beautiful location shooting at Zion National Park (and from the beauty of leading lady Irene Hervey).

So You Want to Be on a Jury-1955-Warner Bros-1 rl-  The guys specifically ran this Joe McDoakes comedy because I was scheduled to report for jury duty the next day.  My group was excused from duty and I didn't have to serve so I got the last laugh.

The Son of Tarzan-1920-  Continuing our new serial.  All of the silent Tarzan film adaptations that I have seen so far have been more faithful to the Burroughs stories and this is no exception.  Except for the occasional wild gesticulations (that many people think are stereotypically the norm of silent films) this serial is doing a good job of staying faithful to the Burroughs spirit.


At the theaters-

Midnight in Paris-2011-    I actually had planned to go see the new X-Men movie but when I saw that the new Woody Allen movie had opened wider and was now playing at my nearby cinema I jumped all over it.  The first Allen movie that I've seen in the theaters in about five years.  Owen Wilson plays a screenwriter vacationing in Paris with his fiancee. He's trying to finish his first serious novel and dreams of Paris in the 1920s.  One night after imbibing a bit much he finds himself taken there where he meets the likes of Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso, Cole Porter and others.  I found it delightful (although it does helps if you have a working knowledge of the popular writers, singers, artists and filmmakers of the 20s).  Wilson does a fine job playing the role that Woody himself would have essayed a few decades back.  Shot entirely in Paris.


Unsold TV pilots of the 1950s-

Here Comes Tobor-"Tobor and the Atomic Submarine"-1956-   A kid with E.S.P., a cool looking robot sidekick, some cold war buzz, and a nut job wanting to rule the world!  If they had showed this to me as am eight year old kid I would have been all over this show.

Captain Fathom-1955-  This one had the potential of being a precursor to Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea with the noted Curt Siodmak on as a co-writer/creator but it was undone by a shoddy miniature sub that looks like something I carved out of balsa wood as a Cub Scout rather than the majestic Seaview designed by the Lydecker brothers for Irwin Allen.  There's also way too much stock footage of of sea flora and fauna with the skin diving crew oooing and ahhhing at it. 

Sea Divers-1958-   This one looks like it tried to quickly climb on the success of Ziv's Sea Hunt starring Lloyd Bridges.  They figured they'd give us two divers instead of one and also added a beauty of a female sidekick who spends much of her time in swimsuits and short shorts (this last ploy worked for me).  Not bad but nothing special either.

Counterspy-1958-   Continuing our underwater themes- this pilot has much of its underwater footage shot in Florida but its really the second unit footage shot in England that helps give some authenticity to this cold war drama.  Otherwise also nothing special.


Some early live TV-

Studio One-"The Storm"-1949-  Marsha Hunt stars as a woman who begins to believe that her new husband may be a homicidal maniac.

Studio One-"Dark Possession"-1954-  Geraldine Fitzgerald stars in this Gore Vidal story about a woman receiving threatening letters accusing her of murdering her late husband.  Leslie Neilsen is in support

Kraft Television Theatre-"Patterns"-1955-  A powerful drama about the ruthlessness that sometimes goes with big time business execs.  Written by Rod Serling.  I first saw this back in the early 1980s and it still hasn't lost it's impact. 

Lights Out-"Dark Image"-1951-  The popular horror-suspense radio show first made it to television as a series of specials in 1946 and then as a regular series from 1949-1952 (for as total of 160 episodes) before it was undone by being scheduled opposite the powerhouse of I Love Lucy.  In this episode a newly-wedded woman starts seeing strange images in a mirror that formerly belonged to her husband's dead lover.

Lights Out-"The Faceless Man"-1951-  Robert Sterling has plastic surgery to fix his deformed face and then confronts the woman who previously rejected him.  This series was one of the earliest precursors of later shows like The Twilight Zone and Thriller.

General Electric Theater-"The Golden Key"-1956-  Ronald Reagan hosted (and occasionally acted in) G.E. Theatre and eventually took on producing chores.  This one stars Joe E. Brown (a popular film comedian of the 1930s and 40s) in a fairly straight role as an older former railroad man who is befriended by a young boy.

General Electric Theater-"The Honest Man"-1956-  A humorous episode starring Jack Benny.  Benny doesn't have to stretch his acting abilities too much in this one.  Zsa Zsa Gabor and Charles Bronson (as Jack's brother-in-law!) are in support.  This one was actually filmed instead of performed live.


Some odds and end on DVD-

Passport to Danger-1954-1955-(39 episodes)-  I watched 10 episodes of this cold war espionage series.  Its competently (if fairly cheaply) produced by the Hal Roach Studios but gets by mainly on the charm of its star- Cesar Romero (as diplomatic courier Stephen McQuinn)-and the occasional interesting guest star.

The National Parks: America's Best Idea-2009-PBS-(six 2 hour episodes)-  Another winning documentary series from Ken Burns and co. which traces the history and impact of America's national park system.  One thing that struck me while watching this series was how often the parks were fought against by the businessmen, politicians, and people in the states where they were created but how most of those people eventually came to not only embrace but cherish those same parks that they fought against.

Su Excelencia-1966-Posa Films-   Later Cantinflas comedy which has some humorous lines but is overlong and a bit preachy in the end.

Our Hospitality/Hospitality-1923-   Fine Buster Keaton comedy which has been reissued on DVD along with the recently rediscovered early work print (which runs considerably shorter than the final  cut) of the film.  It's very rare where we get such an opportunity to see such works from filmmakers let alone from the silent era.

The Head-1959-  Nicely atmospheric German horror film about mad scientist who keeps a head alive in his laboratory and plans further experiments along these lines.

Best

Joe

[profh0011]

This week...

THE SILENCERS   (lame)
MURDERERS' ROW   (not bad)
THE AMBUSHERS   (awful!)
THE WRECKING CREW   (pretty good)


You know your film series has a problem with the main villains are Victor Buono, Roger C. Carmel, Karl Malden, Albert Salmi & Kurt Kaszner. At least the final film had Nigel Green, a definite step up.

I'm surprised to find the guy who directed the 1st & 4th ones also did the initial 2-parter that launched THE UNTOUCHABLES (with Robert Stack).

The 1st & 2nd films contain a TON of elements that found their way afterwards into YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (a film made up entirely of bits swiped from earlier movies-- I'm not kidding). The 4th film is the only one that actually feels like a "real movie" (well, part of it anyway), and had fight chroegraphy by Bruce Lee.  The 2nd one had the BEST opening credit sequence, and a score by Lalo Schifrin-- the same year he started on MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE.  And as goofy as she was, my favorite girl in the series was in the 2nd film-- Ann-Margaret!

[narfstar]

I watched the first episode of Land of the Giants on Hulu. They have all the Irwin Allen scifi series

[Menticide]

This week...

THE SILENCERS   (lame)
MURDERERS' ROW   (not bad)
THE AMBUSHERS   (awful!)
THE WRECKING CREW   (pretty good)


You know your film series has a problem with the main villains are Victor Buono, Roger C. Carmel, Karl Malden, Albert Salmi & Kurt Kaszner. At least the final film had Nigel Green, a definite step up.

I'm surprised to find the guy who directed the 1st & 4th ones also did the initial 2-parter that launched THE UNTOUCHABLES (with Robert Stack).

The 1st & 2nd films contain a TON of elements that found their way afterwards into YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (a film made up entirely of bits swiped from earlier movies-- I'm not kidding). The 4th film is the only one that actually feels like a "real movie" (well, part of it anyway), and had fight chroegraphy by Bruce Lee.  The 2nd one had the BEST opening credit sequence, and a score by Lalo Schifrin-- the same year he started on MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE.  And as goofy as she was, my favorite girl in the series was in the 2nd film-- Ann-Margaret!

The Wrecking Crew is honestly the only Matt Helm that I really liked. I love the books, but the films mostly didn't work for me. One of the interesting aspects of that movie is the stunt team, not only did Bruce Lee work on it (as you pointed out), but the rest of the stunt team reads like a who's who of the martial arts scene at the time. Joe Lewis, Ed Parker, Mike Stone, Chuck Norris, and a whole bunch of others. Most of the big competition champions of the era.

[josemas]

I haven't seen any of the Matt Helm movies since watching them on TV in the 1970s.  I did enjoy them- probably because I've always been a fan of Dean Martin.  I also vaguely remember a Tony Franciosa TV movie and brief series from the mid 70s.

I've never read any of the Donald Hamilton books but recently checked to see which ones my library had and was surprised that they had none.  Those books used to be so common.  You'd see them everywhere.

Best

Joe

[Menticide]

Last night, the Golem (1920), absolutely brilliant. I'm not sure why, but I have a deep love for silent movies, maybe it's because the narrative is almost entirely visual, and that might also explain my love for comics.

Now (quite literally), I'm watching Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth. It always gets me thinking and coming up with new ideas, very good material for any would-be writer to contemplate...

[boox909]

I think I"m fighting off a bout of old classic horror films.

I've been watching The Vampire Bat (Lionel Atwill & Fay Wray) and thinking about digging out my Carnival of Souls, White Zombie, and the Spanish language version of Dracula.

Since I'm not reading many new comics at the moment, these films are my mind candy.  

I am going to dig out my copies of Nosferatu and Dr. Caligari...and Menticide has me chomp'n to see The Golem.