Super hot since Sunday. 105 yesterday and 103 today. It's even 85 degrees as I write, at One In The Morning. Imagine that. We are even hotter than Death Valley right now, hotter than Baghdad. I am loving it of course, the Indian Summer, because soon enough the Dreaded L.A. Cold will appear and I will be in sweatshirts and jackets until April.
Tonight's movie was "The Invisible Woman" (1940), an entirely different kind of sequel to the original "Invisible Man", and really it might have been a spin-off hoping to take hold. "The Invisible Woman" is a comedy, played as farce, and it is so well done that it stands on it's own as a separate movie. The reason is the cast - you could not have a better group for this kind of screwball setup. The lead is played by Virginia Bruce, whom I was not familiar with but who has a long list of credits. She is supported by "The Great Profile" himself, John Barrymore as The Mad Scientist. Barrymore was called both a ham and a great actor. I subscribe to the latter description, and he is SO great in the movie. So is Margaret Hamilton, who will always be known as "The Wicked Witch Of The West", one of the greatest characters in all of movie history, but she could do more than that, and because she had such a great face, she was very good at comedy too. It takes very disciplined and versatile actors to pull off this kind of show, and they succeed from start to finish.
Basically, it's Invisibility From A Woman's Point Of View in the 1940s. Virginia Bruce works as a fashion model with an abusive male boss. When she sees an ad in the paper from A Mad Scientist looking for a volunteer who wants to become invisible, she immediately applies and is chosen by Barrymore as his guinea pig. Of course, the first thing she wants to do is even the score with her boss.
Hey!, I guess I'd better refine my description : You could say that it's not only Invisibility From A Woman's Point Of View In The 1940s, but also in 2017. Because the same things are still going on.
The good news is that she destroys her boss. She also makes mincemeat of three hoodlums (one is played by Shemp Howard) who are trying to steal the Invisibility Machine on orders from their Crime Boss Oscar Holmolka, a great and funny-looking Character Actor from the 30s. You could actually call him a Caricature Actor.
Finally, the Invisible Woman has to fend off the advances of charmer John Howard, who plays The Millionaire Who Is Financing The Mad Scientist. He is a Cad, but a harmless one, and so she eventually falls for him.
Rounding things out is famous comic actor Charlie Ruggles as The Butler, providing much in the way of hijinx and goofiness.
Listen : they just don't make movies like this anymore, and they couldn't if they tried because they would not be able to assemble the type of cast capable of such exacting farce, everything perfectly timed and performed. Maybe the British could still pull it off, but they would not have such unique characters as John Barrymore and Margaret Hamilton.
So once again, I must say "Here's To Old Hollywood". Man, they were the best, even when they were goofing off.
I also saw "Invisible Agent" on Sunday night, which I failed to report because I was writing about Martin Ain and Celtic Frost, but it is also a first-rate sequel to the 1933 original, this time involving the original Invisible Man's grandson, who volunteers to become Invisible in order to spy on Nazi Germany. This sequel is serious, with a script that features a lot of denunciations of fascist ideology and mockery of Hitler's SS. Some of this is played as farce also, but the film overall is a thriller. You can't beat our old buddy Sir Cedric Hardwicke as the Chief Nazi In Charge, he is ruthless as you would expect.
So, I have now finished all four of the sequels to "The Invisible Man", none of which I'd previously seen. I am grateful to the Universal Legacy Collections for making all of these films available, and I cannot recommend any and all of these dvd sets highly enough, if you love Universal Monsters, or even Classic Hollywood in general. These movies created an atmosphere, which was probably influenced by the German Expressionism of the 1920s, but the directors for Universal, beginning with James Whale, expanded upon it, and with the Studio money available they built amazing sets, hired the best lighting technicians, and just did The Works.
That's why the Universal Monster Movies are the best overall series of horror films ever made.
Since then, there are scarier movies for sure, and more realistic movies.
But none with more style, panache, atmosphere, inventiveness, talent and creativity.
I am a big supporter of The Greatest Generation, and they set the foundation for great movies, too, and all that was to come in their wake.
In other news.......Dodgers Win! It was so cool to watch the first Dodgers World Series game since 1988, more than half my lifetime ago. They will win again tomorrow night I think. I am picking Dodgers in five games.
I am currently reading "Sleeping Beauties" by Stephen King and Owen King, his son. Man, it's a page turner on order of "The Stand". I am at page 217 after four days, even with my schedule. It is absolutely un-put-downable, and like "The Invisible Woman" from 77 years earlier, is all about the Untapped Power Of The Female Half Of The Species. It's time for you to take over already.
You Go, Girls. /////
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