Universal has announced that they’ll be releasing three more Monster Legacy Collection DVD releases (this October 5th) to accompany the previous Dracula, Frankenstein and the Wolf Man sets. (I purchased this for my mother for Ma’s Day—and I bought the whole enchilada, with the little monster head busts and everything—and she loved it. I’m in the will in indelible ink, baby!)

First off is The Invisible Man—which will contain not only the 1933 film but The Invisible Man Returns (1940), The Invisible Man’s Revenge (1944), Invisible Agent (1942) and The Invisible Woman (1941). Then we have the Mummy Collection—with the 1932 Karloff original, The Mummy’s Hand (1940), The Mummy’s Tomb (1942), The Mummy’s Ghost (1944) and The Mummy’s Curse (1944). Completing the trio is a box set of the Creature From the Black Lagoon, which includes the 1954 film and its sequels Revenge of the Creature (1955—look for the Clint Eastwood cameo!) and The Creature Walks Among Us (1956).

Each of them are priced at $26.95 a pop—and I’m hoping they offer another box set with monster busts!
12:00:36 PM    comment []  trackback []  

Lileks in Bloom

Sean Daughtery pointed out on the Old-Time Radio Digest an interesting entry on James Lileks’ blog pertaining to radio and film comedy of the 1940s. I’ll give Jimmy a point or two for recognizing the greatness of Fred Allen (hey, the man’s politics may be a load of old cobblers but he does have some taste) but I’m not sure I can agree with some of his conclusions:

Watching the movie [The Big Store], I was reminded how much I don’t get the humor of the 40s. It just isn’t funny to me - at least the radio and movie humor. Aside from Fred Allen, who appears to have teleported in from another era, little from the 40s sounds funny to me. But the audiences thought it was. It’s almost as if they thought it was funny because it was supposed to be. So it was. Either they had all agreed to find certain styles, conventions, gags and set-ups as funny, regardless of whether they were funny, or these things truly were funny – but not any more.

Well, this doesn’t make Lileks a bad person—just horribly, horribly wrong. We should, therefore, say a silent prayer for a man who has clearly missed out on the high points of 1940s radio comedy: Jack Benny, Fibber McGee & Molly, Henry Morgan, Duffy’s Tavern, Phil Harris & Alice Faye, Our Miss Brooks, etc., etc., etc.
9:19:39 AM    comment []  trackback []  

“They'll do anything to keep you on their line. They pit the lifers against the new boys...the old against the young...the black against the white—anything to keep us in our place.”

Last night’s DVD movie viewing experienced a slight rain delay, which knocked out the electricity here for the third time in one week. We have a transformer here in the neighborhood that I swear goes out on cloudy days.

I chose a couple of films that I had not previously seen before, beginning with Cockfighter (1974), a 1974 drama directed by cult fave Monte Hellman. Hellman, famous for the existential Western The Shooting (1967) and quintessential “road” flick Two-Lane Blacktop, cast Warren Oates (a Hellman favorite) in the role of Frank Mansfield, a trainer of fighting cocks whose illegal profession jeopardizes his relationship with his girlfriend (Patricia Pearcy). Frank is one of Oates’ most-memorable characterizations; for most of the film he remains silent—we hear only his thoughts through narration (the reason why is explained about twenty minutes into the movie). It’s an interesting contrast to Warren’s performance as G.T.O. (“If I'm not grounded pretty soon, I'm gonna go into orbit.”) in Hellman’s Blacktop, a man who talks a literal blue streak. Cockfighter is an interesting and offbeat film, to be sure, but Mansfield’s “vow of silence” doesn’t really work for me—I never really get a feel for what motivates him to be so passionate about this brutal and bloody sport. I am glad that I watched it, though, as it has quite a reputation, but if you’re squeamish about cockfighting (the A.S.P.C.A., it goes without saying, wasn’t a fan of this film) you might want to avoid it.

Cockfighter’s screenplay was written by Charles Willeford, who wrote the novel on which the movie is based and who also has a small part in same. It was released by Roger Corman’s New World Pictures to some pretty dismal box office (the controversy killed it somewhat) so the ever-resourceful Corman retitled it Born to Kill in an effort to boost audience interest (the film is also known as Gamblin’ Man and Wild Drifter). Oates gives a great performance—the underrated actor has an uncanny knack for making bad films watchable—and is joined by an unusual cast comprised of Richard B. Schull, Harry Dean Stanton, Ed Begley, Jr., Laurie Bird (who was in Blacktop), Troy Donahue, Robert Earl Jones, Millie Perkins (she co-starred with Oates in Shooting) and Steve Railsback. I found this DVD in a cut-out bin for $3.99 (never take me into a DVD store, I always end up walking out with something) and it includes commentary by Hellman, trailers, radio spots and a great documentary on Oates’ career called Across the Border, narrated by Ned Beatty and featuring tributes from Stanton, Perkins, Peter Fonda and Ben Johnson, among many others. (It’s also crammed with interesting film clips from Oates’ performances in movies like Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia [1974] and the underrated 92 in the Shade [1975].)

I followed Cockfighter with Blue Collar (1978), a searing drama that served as screenwriter Paul Schrader’s directorial debut. Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel and Yaphet Kotto are auto workers struggling to keep their heads above water and the wolf from the door—with little success. Kotto hatches a plan for the three of them to rob their union’s safe, and though the burglary nets them only $600, it also places in their hands a notebook containing information on loan payments made by the union to corporate businesses. The trio plan to use the info to blackmail the union, but this soon spirals into a destruction of their friendship, subsequently leading to fear, betrayal and murder.

Blue Collar is a gritty, pull-no-punches film that has dated somewhat due to the decline of American unionism, but its central theme (beautifully expressed in the title of this post, a memorable bit of dialogue from Kotto’s character) still remains intact, plus it also begs the question of whether or not it’s better to have a corrupt union than no union at all. A friend of mine told me about this movie, citing it as Pryor’s best on-screen performance—and he’s 100% on the money about that, though Keitel and Kotto match him scene-for-scene all the way. The screenplay was written by Schrader and his brother Leonard, and includes a grade-A cast with Cliff DeYoung, Ed Begley, Jr. (again!), Lane Smith, Harry Bellaver, George Memmoli, Lucy Saroyan and Chip Fields (mother of Kim “Tootie” Fields). Catch this sleeper if you can.
9:08:30 AM    comment []  trackback []