The Ghost of Frankenstein

The Ghost of Frankenstein is a 1942 monster movie starring Lon Chaney, Jr. as the monster and Bela Lugosi as Igor. Also in this are Cedric Hardwicke, Ralph Bellamy who was in The Wolf Man with Chaney, Lionel Atwill and Evelyn Ankers (who was also in The Wolf Man).

1000 Misspent Hours says it "manages to deliver a reasonably satisfying monster movie experience." Moria calls it "a sad comedown after three excellent predecessors." The New York Times says, "Aren't there enough monsters loose in this world without that horrendous ruffian mauling and crushing actors? For that, as a matter of fact, is about all he does in this film".

The Phantom Creeps

The Phantom Creeps is a 1939 horror serial, re-released to theaters in 1949. It stars Bela Lugosi, who sports a beard. Lugosi is right to distrust the government. He wants to be Master of The Universe, and the government will just get in his way.

TCM has an overview. Reviews are scarce.

The Man They Could Not Hang

The Man They Could Not Hang is a 1939 Boris Karloff horror film.

The New York Times likes Karloff. AMCTV has an overview.

The Ape Man

The Ape Man is a 1943 horror film starring Bela Lugosi.

Moria gives it one star and calls it "one of the numerous Z-budget mad scientist cheapies that Bela Lugosi made a career out of during the 1940s." 1000 Misspent Hours gives this a negative review, literally, giving it negative 3 stars and closes by saying, "no fan of Bela Lugosi at his most debased should miss it."

Time Runner

Time Runner (no wikipedia entry) is a 1993 film starring Mark Hamill. It does not appear to be available on DVD, and the VHS is, of course, out of print.

Youtube has parts of this online. This is not the entire film, but it does a coherent job of presenting the part of the movie that features Mark Hamill and takes place in The Past (our 1990's present). Half of the movie, though, is completely omitted here. It does a violence to the film, so that it's hard to tell if the film is really that bad or if it's just been butchered. Part 1:

part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8

EW gave it a C-. io9 calls this "the low point of his [Hamill's] post-Star Wars career." This site gives an ongoing description of the complete movie as it's being watched.

The Old Dark House (1932)

The Old Dark House is a 1932 horror film directed by James Whale and starring Boris Karloff, Melvyn Douglas, Charles Laughton, Ernest Thesiger and Raymond Massey. I like this one, no matter what the reviewers say. I like the spirit of the thing.

Moria says that "Whale creates a Gothic mood that permeates the whole film." 1000 Misspent Hours is harsh: "The Old Dark House stinks like 10,000 dead fish in August." The New York Times speaks well of the cast and director. Variety's mixed review is here.

The Bat (1926)

The Bat is a 1926 silent directed by Roland West and starring Jewel Carmen in her last film. West remade the film in 1930, and it was remade again in 1959 with Vincent Price and Agnes Moorehead.

1000 Misspent Hours says, "it’s one of the earliest movies of its type that still survives" and that West strikes a

workable balance between (actual) horror and (mostly notional) humor, while giving his new movie a striking and memorable look that incorporates many of the innovations of the German Expressionists. It goes wrong in places, to be sure, but The Bat holds up astonishingly well across the ages.

Weird Wild Realm says, "For years this silent film was presumed forever lost, until a single copy in excellent condition resurfaced" and adds

Its influence on the Old Dark House motif in cinema cannot be overstated, whether for good or bad. It may also be an unacknowledged but primary influence on the gothic look of Bob Kane's original Batman comics, & even the familiar Bat Signal is present in this film!

Variety says, "it is interesting every minute of the way."

Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932)

Murders in the Rue Morgue is a 1932 film adaptation of the Poe story. The story can be read online. This film is directed by Robert Florey and stars Bela Lugosi.

Moria calls it "one of the formative films in the great 1930s Golden Age of mad scientist films." 1000 Misspent Hours doesn't like it at all. The New York Times is negative, saying "The entire production suffers from an overzealous effort at terrorization, and the cast, inspired by the general hysteria, succumbs to the temptation to overact"

10/7/2009: NeedCoffee.com is hosting some Halloween movies this month and has this film featured today.

Anatomy of a Psycho

Today is the first day of October, and my effort to see more horror films gets a renewal this month. This was the first one on my list, so I'm starting with it. Anatomy of a Psycho is (reportedly) a 1961 crime drama/horror film directed by Boris Petroff and starring Ronnie Burns. This turns out not to be a horror movie. Not even close. And it's slow. And boring. I didn't watch all of it, skipping bits here and there. Yawn.

TCM has an overview, as does AMC. 1000 Misspent Hours gives it 1 star. (Hey, at least it got a star. They give some movies negative stars.) They warn against it, saying

For despite having been promoted as the horror movie it sounds like not only by its original producers, but by a succession of subsequent distributors as well... it is instead an appallingly dull juvenile delinquent film in the style of the mid 1950’s.

My Body's a Zombie For You

My Body's a Zombie For You is a Dead Man's Bones song. They have a myspace page where you can listen to the album.



HT: NPR, who titles their article "Halloween Arrives Early".

Polanski comment

Of all the comments I've seen on the current Polanski situation, this one from The Kind of Face You Hate struck me most:

no amount of commentary will convince anyone that if Polanski wasn't an acclaimed film director... but rather, say, a priest, no one in Hollywood would be lining up to sign petitions demanding his release.

The Boston Globe makes the same point, asking, "What if Polanski were an abusive priest?" and quoting several ministers and other commentators who feel the same way.

And Salon.com says, "Drugging and raping a child, then leaving the country before you can be sentenced for it, is behavior our society should not tolerate, no matter how famous, wealthy or well-connected you are," and asks this:

Roman Polanski raped a child. Let's just start right there, because that's the detail that tends to get neglected when we start discussing whether it was fair for the bail-jumping director to be arrested at age 76, after 32 years in "exile" (which in this case means owning multiple homes in Europe, continuing to work as a director, marrying and fathering two children, even winning an Oscar, but never -- poor baby -- being able to return to the U.S.). Let's keep in mind that Roman Polanski gave a 13-year-old girl a Quaalude and champagne, then raped her,
...
Can we do that? Can we take a moment to think about all that, and about the fact that Polanski pled guilty to unlawful sex with a minor, before we start talking about what a victim he is?

The LA Times writer has this:

...a petition calling for Polanski to be freed immediately.

What, because he won an Oscar? Would they speak up for a sex offender who hadn't?

To hear these people tell it, you'd think Polanski was the victim rather than the teenager.

And then there's Woody Allen, who has signed the petition too.

Woody Allen?

10/6/2009: /film has a link to a NYTimes overview.

11/2/2009: Bright Lights Film Journal asks, "What's on trial?"

Happy Birthday, Phantom Tollbooth!

The Britannica Blog, who says the book was "first published in September 1961," reports:

Juster taught his young readers to question authority, to question generally, to read and inquire, and certainly to leave a kindly mark on the world.
...
Not quite half a century old and showing no signs of age, The Phantom Tollbooth well deserves its status as a literary classic. It’s not bad reading for kids, either.

I've loved Norton Juster's book The Phantom Tollbooth since I first discovered it all those decades ago, and a hardback copy holds a permanent place on my bookshelves. You can read excerpts here. It's been made into a film, which is not available on DVD, is online at youtube in 14 parts. part 1:

part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10, part 11, part 12, part 13, part 14

Moria gives the film 4 stars and closes by saying, "The film was unfortunately not a success and was little seen in its time. It has however slowly developed a reputation through tv release." The Guardian puts the book #1 in its "book lover's guide to building a brilliant children's library". Another Guardian reviewer says, "The Phantom Tollbooth is a spry allegory and a call to attention. It lodged in my imagination from the first childhood reading; returning to it now ... I find it oddly inspiring." Steven Wu says it's a dazzling book for children, "But adults who have had the misfortune of never reading The Phantom Tollbooth will likely find it a charming tale--but nothing more."

Favorite 1920's Horror Films

The Vault of Horror lists their top 10:

1. Nosferatu (1922)
2. Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (1920)
3. The Golem (1920)
4. The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
5. Faust (1926)
6. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
7. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923)
8. Haxan (1922)
9. Dr. Mabuse (1922)
10. The Man Who Laughs (1928)

I've linked to my own posts if I have them.

I like this list. I'd love to see the last 2 but just haven't gotten to them yet.

All the Single Ladies video fun

a baby gets in on the fun:



Before that there was Joe Jonas' lame attempt:


and the hysterical SNL skit with Justin Timberlake:
Justin/Beyonce single ladies


and the original, which prompted so much creative play:

Beyonce - Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It) [Official Video]
Uploaded by Yannicklord. - Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.

American Girl

American Girl is a 1977 song by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers:



This song is on the list of 500 Songs that shaped Rock and Roll from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.

Asashoryu wins Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament

The Japan Times reports he "pulled off the improbable to claim his 24th Emperor's Cup at the Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament on Sunday."

Here is a video report, including Asashoryu's victory on Day 15, the final day of the tournament:

Their Eyes Were Watching God

I looked over my shelves in search of a book from the banned classics list that I hadn't already read, and all I could find were Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston and Ulysses by James Joyce. I picked the Hurston book to read in observance of Banned Books Week.

from Wikipedia:

Their Eyes Were Watching God is a 1937 novel and the best-known work by African American writer Zora Neale Hurston. Set in central and southern Florida in the early 20th century, the novel garnered attention and controversy at the time of its publication, and has come to be regarded as a seminal work in both African American literature and women's literature. Time included the novel in its TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005.

There are several reviews from the time of the book's publication here.

Turkish Star Wars

Turkish Star Wars is the commonly used way of referring to the 1982 Turkish film Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam (The Man Who Saves the World). I didn't make it through the entire film. The film is just as bad as you may have heard it is. The subtitles are bizarre:

And with all their power they initiated relentless struggle and effort to find immortality and sustain continuous life. In this era earth nations, civilizations, races and religions ceased to be separate nations and did become one entity. Only one earthly life form and tribe consisted the humans of the earth in galaxy age. Earth was facing the danger of extinction as a result of a crazy nuclear armament. Earth had avoided such dangers a couple of times before; not single force had been able to destroy the earth. However, in some cases earth had been disintegrated into parts. Parts which fragmented off from the earth had become meteor rocks in space. On some planets life was still going on.

The mind boggles.

Rotten Tomatoes has links to only 2 reviews.

A Mind to Murder

A Mind to Murder is the 2nd novel in the Adam Dalgliesh mystery series by P.D. James. I have several more of these in my tbr stack.

from the back of the book:

When the administrative head of the Steen Psychiatric Clinic is found dead with a chisel in her heart, Superintendent Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard is called in to investigate. Dalgliesh must analyze the deep-seated anxieties and thwarted desires of patients and staff alike to determine which of their unresolved conflicts resulted in murder.

With "discernment, depth, and craftsmanship," wrote the Chicago Daily News, A Mind to Murder "is a superbly satisfying mystery."

I've also read these other books from the series:

#1 Cover Her Face
#5 The Black Tower
#7 A Taste for Death
#10 A Certain Justice
#11 Death in Holy Orders

Buried Deep

Buried Deep is 4th in the Retrieval Artist series by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. I read the third in this series recently and enjoyed it so much I jumped straight into the only other one I had here. I was not disappointed. I guess I'll have to order the first 2 used online, since they seem to be out of print and I can't find them used locally.

The game of Go is mentioned on page 302: ""Go was a game of strategy. It suited the devious mind."

from the back of the book:

Forensic anthropologist Aisha Costard has been summoned to Mars to examine skeletal remains recently discovered beneath a building erected by the Disty aliens. The bones belong to a human woman who vanished thirty years ago with her children. She is believed to have been one of the Disappeared, outlaws wanted for crimes against alien civilizations.

To investigate the mystery of the skeleton, Aisha turns to Retrieval Artist Miles Flint. Following the trail back three decades and seeking the whereabouts of the victim's missing children, Miles discovers a deadly secret that could threaten the stability of the entire solar system...

SFRevu closes their review with this: "Buried Deep is an exciting, intricately plotted, fast-paced novel. You'll find it difficult to put down. Highly recommended for both fans of the Retrieval Artist series and newcomers."