Last night, we went on an adventure with our old pal Buster Crabbe, into the heart of Africa in "Jungle Man"(1941). Buster plays "Dr. Robert Hammond", on a mission to find a cure for the dreaded Malaka disease, which has reached the epidemic stage and is decimating the local tribesmen. He has a serum awaiting delivery from America and believes it will be the magic bullet. Meanwhile, on an oceanliner at sea, young "Betty Graham" (the stunning Sheila Darcy from "Terry and the Pirates") complains to her Dad, the "Rev. James Graham" (Charles Middleton) that they do the same thing every vacation. "We go on a cruise, sit on deck, play shuffleboard and go home. Can't we do something else this year?" Dad asks for suggestions, and when she reads a headline about an expedition into the City of the Dead in Africa, where the ship is heading anyway, she wants to go. A colleague tells Dad that no one has ever returned from the City, but that makes it all the more challenging to Betty. Dad can't say no to her, so the next thing you know, they're in Africa and part of the safari.
Once we get to the jungle, we're treated to stock footage shots of lions and tigers but not bears, oh my! (what'd ya expect? There aren't bears in the jungle, c'mon). There's also big ol' boa constrictors, 20 or 30 feet long, and monkeys, too, but the safari leader doesn't want Betty coming to the City of the Dead because "it's no place for a woman." She insists, however, and on the way she meets Buster Crabbe. Because this is a low- budget PRC flick, and because they have Sheila Darcy, now's the time to fill ten minutes with Sheila walking around in a sarong. Buster likes her, but his priority is medicine, and now he's dismayed to learn that the cargo ship bringing the Malaka serum has sunk off the coast. To make matters worse, the headhunting Kobi tribe is on the attack, and here I had to laugh and cheer, because of the legendary Kobi the Dog who was my right hand man at Pearl's. I had a whole mythology constructed around Kobi, that he was in fact not a small white Bischon but actually a ferocious Doberman Pinscher. So when they brought out the deadly Kobi tribe in the movie, I pictured a tribe of Kobedogs running amok and terrorizing everyone in sight, including the lions and tigers.
The safari presses on to the City of the Dead, and the leader catches Malaka. Heroic Buster tries to save him, and the members of the peaceful tribes, by swimming out to the offshore shipwreck where the Malaka serum is underwater. Sharks are in the area and have recently chewed a rescue team to ribbons. Cue stock footage of Makos. But this is a chance to show Buster Crabbe in his element - he was an Olympic swimmer (one of the greatest ever), and with his shirt off, he is one buff honcho. So naturally, he swims, dives and brings back the serum, outrunning the toothy Mako sharks who'd like to have him for a snack.
He doesn't make it back in time to save the safari leader, but the serum works on Sheila Darcy who has come down with Malaka in the meantime. The tribesmen are cured also and Buster's medical mission is successful. He doesn't take advantage of Sheila's gratitude, though, giving her only a Sleeping Beauty kiss at the end. We mentioned Frances Rafferty the other day, and it must be noted that Sheila Darcy gives her a run for her money. I mean, good grief Charlie Brown. We do get to see the City of the Dead, and it resembles Angkor Wat, but not much happens there except the rampage of the Kobedog tribe, which is over very quickly. Plotwise, "Jungle Man" is not one of the more cohesive films in recent memory, but it still gets Two Big Thumbs Up because it's fun and because of.......well, c'mon, because of Sheila Darcy. We aren't trying to kid anyone here, although we genuinely like Buster Crabbe, too. Ignore the 3.6 rating on IMDB (trust me; ignore it) and watch "Jungle Man" in spite of the less-than perfect picture. You'll be glad you did, and if you want to see Sheila Darcy in a better production, watch her as The Dragon Lady in the fantastic serial "Terry and the Pirates", which we mentioned a few blogs ago. I'm now 14 episodes in with one more to go. The whole thing is just shy of five hours long and it's incredible, Two Huge Thumbs Up in every respect with an awesome cast including William Tracy, Dick Curtis and Charles King. Don't miss it, the picture is razor sharp. ////
The previous night we found an absolute gem of a Depression-era movie called "In Love with Life"(1934), made by a studio called Invincible Pictures Corporation. The look resembles a Poverty Row production but with lots of inventiveness and heart, which is often missing even in the best PRC releases. As it opens, "Professor John Applegate" (Onslow Stevens) is being let go by his University. They can't afford to keep him on staff and, needing a job, he accepts an invitation to meet with a millionaire, hoping it will lead to a grant for writing or research. Instead, to his surprise and initial dismay, the rich man, "Mr. Morley" (Claude Gillingwater), wants him as a tutor for his grandson (Dickie Moore), who has come to live with him under tragic circumstances. It's the height of the Depression, and the boy's mother is broke. Mr. Morley is her father but they are estranged because she eloped years ago with a young man he didn't like. The guy turned out to be no-good, just like her father warned, so she's come back to try and reconcile with her Dad, in hopes that he will help her and her son. But he tells her in no uncertain terms to get lost and never come back. "You deserted me when I needed you, and you ran off with your lover. Now you have the nerve to come asking for my help." He agrees to take in her son, and raise him in wealth, with every need provided for, so long as his daughter (Lila Lee) never shows her face again.
Old man Morley is certainly a crab apple, unforgiving and remorseless, but his daughter is destitute, and he is her son's only hope, so she agrees to let him take the boy and she leaves broken-hearted.
This is one of those spiritual movies where fate steps in and the Scrooge character is forced to show a soft side. Morley shows it right away, if curmudgeonly, to the boy, who observes him and says: "Grandpa, you must have lost someone too, to feel the way you feel, so you know what it's like for me to lose my mom". His tutor the Professor intervenes, and when he is given carte blanche to look after the boy in the daytime, and spend whatever money is required for his needs, he takes him to a children's restaurant/nightclub, which is like a fantasy world for little kids. There's a floor show featuring a five year old Betty Boop, followed by a troupe of child performers called The Meglin Kiddies who do a dance number. There's kid food and desserts on the menu, and there's a wishing well where the young patrons can make wishes, by telephone, to a Wish Fulfilling Fairy Godmother, who is stationed in a back room unseen. Well, unbeknownst to the little boy, the Professor has arranged for his Mom to have a job back there, as one of the Fairy Godmothers. The benefit for both is that it's a way for Mom to hear her son's voice, because she's been forbidden by Grandpa Morley to ever see him again. A warning: you'd better own stock in Kleenex when this scene rolls around. By now, the Professor is in love with Mom and wants to marry her, but she wants to wait because she still needs to reconcile with her Dad.
Grandpa Morley won't budge, though. He does love the boy but won't talk to his daughter, no matter how much she pleads through notes delivered by the Professor. Morley makes excuses: "She abandoned me once and that's that. I never want to hear from her again!" But now the date is October 29, 1929 and the stock market is about to crash. Morley loses all his money. He loses the bank he owns, his mansion, everything. But he's still got his grandson, and by now the boy loves him. But he also wishes his Mom was part of the family. Yet Grandpa still won't budge. He's hurting from Mom's long-ago "desertion" and won't give up his pride. But when he goes broke, he gets sick too. Finally, when he's bedridden and needs someone to take care of him, his daughter comes pleading one last time. Now you'd better own the Kleenex company or you'll be toast. It's a beautiful scene of reconciliation, pre-Code and realistic. Onslow Stevens is effective as the bookish Professor, who takes the boy under his wing and arranges for him to reconnect with his mother, while Lila Lee in that role pulls out all the emotional stops. Two Huge Thumbs Up. I think that if a movie like this were released now, not remade but in it's original form and with the right publicity, it would be huge. Simply put, it's as great as movies get, end of story. I can't recommend it highly enough, and the picture is very good. ////
That's all for this evening. The passing of Jean Luc Godard takes me back to September 2009 and the first semester of the CSUN Cinematheque, which I attended for 9 years and was one of the charter members. Professor Tim said he started the Cinematheque after hearing more than one film student ask, "who is Jean Luc Godard"? I shant get into the subject of history (cinematic or otherwise) and today's educational culture, but for instance I have never taken a film class and I was aware of Godard, just from following movies, since I was about 16 years old. I won't pretend I was a huge fan. I have "Breathless", "Masculine/Feminine" and "Alphaville" on dvd. I think I started coming to the Cinematheque after the second or third week of the Godard retrospective, so I saw about 14 of the 16 films screened, and my favorites, besides the dvds mentioned, were "Les Caribiners" and "Band Aparte". I didn't care much if Godard was some kind of political or cinematic rebel (in fact, I rebel when any artist poses as "cool") but I liked his movies because a lot of them were fun, and many were entirely different because they made no sense, plotwise. But that was Godard's point, I think, just having fun with the format, and in that way they were darn good movies. If nothing else they were highly original. The Godard retrospective was our first at CSUN, and we went on to do 17 more over the next 8 1/2 years. I was proud of the fact that Professor Tim did a Robert Bresson season at my suggestion. The professor hadn't seen much Bresson, who I think is the greatest French filmmaker of all time (and one of the greatest directors ever, period). So it was an amazing run we had, with our little film family of regulars who would come every Thursday night, from 2009 -2018, when we got cancelled because of Cancel Culture. It turned out that Professor Tim wasn't adhering to the required "quota" of directors, gender and otherwise, no matter if the desired directors even existed let alone had a body of work worthy of a retrospective. Would Jean Luc Godard have approved, considering that Cancel Culture comes from the Far Left Wing? I think not. I think he'd have protested the decision just as we did, and would have lampooned the University in a movie. Well, anyhow......
My blogging music is Gong "Angel's Egg", late night is Mahler by Bernstein. I hope you are having a good week and I send you Tons of Love as always. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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