Today on my last day off I drove over to Simi Valley to see the Chumash caves for the first time in four years. I had a lot of fun, and it's pretty awe-inspiring to sit down in the caves, next to the cylindrical bowls carved into the sandstone by the Chumash many centuries ago. Local archaeologists say between 2000-5000 years. So it kind of blows your mind to sit there and imagine their presence in the cave. I also felt like apologizing to them for modern humans, because some idiot had used the last few of his remaining brain cells to paint graffiti all over the side of the cave. May the Great Spirit look down upon him with disfavor.
While I was there, I hiked partway up the Chumash Trail, which goes way back into the Simi Hills. The first (and only other) time I tried this trail was in Summer 2014. That time I got halfway up but had to stop because it's really steep and I wasn't yet an experienced hiker. Today it was a lot easier, but there really isn't much to see except beige colored, dried out hillsides, so I only went in about a half mile and then came back. Also, I had another reason for going to Simi today. A while back, somebody gave me a gift card for a movie chain that has no theaters in the Valley. The closest one is in Simi, and because I don't go there very often except for occasional hikes, I've had this gift card since about 2013 and had only used it for one movie, "Nightcrawler", also back in 2014. I still had fifteen bucks on the card, so since I wasn't working today I figured I'd go back to the same theater after my Chumash visit, to see "First Man", which I did and it was really great.
It's not quite the type of Mega Space Movie I was expecting, although there is a lot of Space Action, and the sections of the film that depict the Gemini and Apollo missions of Neil Armstrong are incredible, showing the most amazing - and harrowing - recreations of those flights that could be achieved in a dramatic depiction. You really feel what it must have been like to be inside the capsules with the astronauts, and you have a whole new appreciation for how tough they were, because for the first time, as far as I know, a director has paid attention to the physical aspects of rocket propulsion; the extreme buffeting, the G-forces, the blackout-inducing gyroscopic malfunctions that send a capsule spinning out of control. Watching the terror of the near-catastrophies the astronauts had to deal with gives you a perspective on just how difficult it was to get to the Moon.
The film is 50% about Neil Armstrong the man, and about his relationship with his family. This is also the film's emotional core. Armstrong was known to the public as a quiet, almost silent man. After his NASA career ended he almost never gave an interview and was more or less out of the public eye for the rest of his life. He is played exactly this way in the movie by Ryan Gosling, who does a good job of capturing Armstrong's reticence. Gosling shows Armstrong's personality only from the inside. Everything is held in, little to no emotion is expressed, and yet you can see the courage in his eyes, and you can see how much he wants to be chosen for the Apollo program. You can also see why the NASA bosses selected him to captain Apollo 11, the first mission to land on the Moon. Gus Grissom had been tagged to be the first man initially, but he was tragically killed in the fire onboard Apollo One, during a flight test. All of us who were kids back then remember the horror of that fire.
Armstrong is not shown to be a great pilot, not in comparison with other astronauts. He makes mistakes that almost get him grounded, and yet......he has a determination and dead serious demeanor that the bosses seem to like. Also, he is a top-notch engineer, a guy who can solve in-flight problems quickly. This gives him the edge to be The First.
I won't tell you any more about the story. Much of it is prominent world history anyway. The guy went to the Moon, and was the First Man to set foot on it. I - and millions of others - watched it happen. Neil Armstrong was like a rock star to kids my age, but he really didn't want to be.
The publicity for the movie reveals a major plot point that I was not previously aware of, nor I doubt was the majority of the general public. I will not mention this point, and you may already know of it if you are following the movie's release.
Neil Armstrong was a family man, an old fashioned do-your-job-and go-home kind of guy. Some of the other astronauts had bigger personalities and egos. Armstrong kept all his feelings inside, but his drive to succeed was stronger than all the others, driven perhaps in part by loss and hidden heartbreak.
There is a brief scene in the movie that I disagree with. It's not even a full scene, really, just a 30 second shot. I won't tell you when it comes, but I feel that the director took way too much dramatic licence to include it. I almost feel that it's an insult to Neil Armstrong to include this shot, because it blatantly didn't happen.
The shot in question doesn't detract from the quality of the movie, which is as much a family drama as it is a space film, and by "family" I include the families of all the astronauts.
But I just feel that if the director, a very young man of the new generation who did a great job on the film but was not alive at the time of Apollo 11, if he had known the true postwar stoicism that produced men like Neil Armstrong (and Gus Grissom, et al), he would never have included such a "well meaning" but entirely manipulative and deluded shot of dramatic fiction.
Most importantly, the shot is unfair to the memory of Neil Armstrong.
Nonetheless, two Humongous Thumbs Up for "First Man", carried by Ryan Gosling's determined portrayal and enriched by a wide supporting cast, most notably Claire Foy who plays his wife Janet, and the actor who plays Ed White, the first American to walk in space who is also the Armstrong's neighbor and close friend.
I don't go to many movies at the theater these days (and they showed 20 minutes of CGI movie previews beforehand, almost all comic book stuff), but "First Man" was well worth it. It's not precisely a Space Movie in the way of "Gravity" or another similar spectacle, but as far as the historical space missions that are recreated, you will never see a more accurate depiction. This is mindboggling stuff, showing what many consider to be the greatest technological achievement of the human race, landing a man on the Moon.
See it if you are so inclined.
I will be back at Pearl's tomorrow, and will see you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Wednesday, October 17, 2018
Tuesday, October 16, 2018
"The Unknown" (1927) starring Lon Chaney and Joan Crawford, directed by Tod Browning
Tonight I did not watch a cheesy science fiction movie, although I promise to make it up to you in the near future, perhaps even tomorrow. What I did watch instead was pretty interesting, a silent film from 1927 called "The Unknown" starring Lon Chaney and a young Joan Crawford. Lon Chaney (or Lon Chaney Sr. to differentiate him from his son, Lon Chaney Jr.) was known as The Man Of A Thousand Faces, for his ability to create memorable characters through the use of makeup and prosthetics, which he applied himself. He was his own makeup man, and a very talented one at that. He was also known as The King Of Horror, because before there was Boris Karloff as "Frankenstein" or Bela Lugosi as "Dracula", there was Lon Chaney as "The Phantom Of The Opera" and as "Quasimodo" in "The Hunchback Of Notre Dame". He played many other roles, too. IMDB lists 162 credits, quite a few considering that Cheney only lived to be 47 years old. Some of those movies were horror and many more may not have been, but almost all of them were silent. Cheney only made one sound picture before he died in 1930. And he was the first Horror Star.
I have only gotten into silent films in the last ten years or so, and have only become a lasting fan since about 2014. Now I love Silents (capital S), my favorites being in the German Expressionist Horror genre. I haven't seen a lot of Silent Movies, I'd guess somewhere around 25 (and I promise to build that number), but I have seen epics like "Ben Hur" and Fritz Lang's "Dr. Mabuse : Der Spieler" and "Die Nibelungen", and quite a few others. Maybe I should raise my estimate to about 35 films, but no matter.
The thing is, or was, that I had never seen any Lon Chaney films. I've seen Lon Jr. in a ton of stuff, and he's always been the Lon Chaney that I knew, as "The Wolfman" or in the "Inner Sanctum" movies. Lon Jr. was great, too, but I had never seen his Dad, who was said to be The King. I mean, I've seen film clips of "Phantom" or "Hunchback", and stills from many of his famous roles, which I would not be able to name, but I know the faces.
But what happened was, since it is October and we are closing in on Halloween, my favorite holiday, I was in need of horror movies to watch. I am always on the lookout for unseen films of any genre, and last week I found "Spider Baby" starring Lon Jr. That film was such a blast that I looked for more Jr. but couldn't find any movies with him that I hadn't seen. So then I thought, "what about his Dad"? And that led me to "The Lon Chaney Collection", discovered in the library database. The two dvd set arrived today at Northridge Libe and I watched "The Unknown" this evening. It was my first Lon Chaney movie ever, and I can see why he is held in such high regard. He has such an expressive face, an unusual face, rugged yet vulnerable, with deep dark eyes that can express mania or go shiny while holding back tears, all in the same scene.
In "The Unknown", he plays Alonzo, an armless knife-thrower in a traveling circus. He is in love with Joan Crawford, the daughter of the circus owner. She acts as his target in the knife-throwing act (which he does with his feet), and this is a different Joan Crawford than you are accustomed to seeing, because she is only 21 here and she looks more natural and less sculpted than she would later appear when she became a star. In fact I did not recognise her and was unaware it was she until I looked up the credits later on.
Alonzo has no arms, and he loves Joan, his beautiful target, who has come to detest men because, in her words, "they all want to paw me". She confides in Alonzo and trusts him because he has no "paws", no hands or arms. He mistakes her sharing for something more, but she doesn't love him, which begins to drive him mad. Wanting to remain close to her, Alonzo then sets Joan up with the circus strongman, certain that he will "put his paws" all over her, and one more rival will be eliminated.
But the strongman has a sensitive soul, and Alonzo's plan backfires. Joan Crawford falls for the strongman's heart, and then his muscles too. He has kept his hands off her until she was ready, and now they are to be married. Alonzo is crushed, and Lon Chaney plays this to the hilt. You cannot take your eyes off him in these scenes. Remember that in silents, the face had to tell the story. There was no dialogue. Boy, could Lon Chaney use his face.
Now, something is up with Alonzo the knife-thrower, besides the fact that he is obsessed with Joan Crawford, and that he has tried to trick her into rejecting the circus strongman.
That is all I will say. It's a short film, listed on IMDB at 63 minutes but the version I saw was only 50 minutes long. Perhaps footage was lost over the years. Though short, it is a complete story, and gives you a crash course in the greatness of Lon Chaney, and also of director Tod Browning, who went on to make "Dracula" four years later, just after Chaney died. Browning and James Whale were the great artistic visionaries of early horror cinema. Their work for Universal in creating an atmosphere and establishing Horror as a franchise will never be surpassed.
But yeah, Lon Chaney. It took performers of great expression to make cinema catch on with the public. Imagine if movies, this new technique of moving pictures, had come out with amateur actors or stories that were not well written or produced or art directed. The motion picture industry would never have gotten off the ground. So it was performers from the stage who made it happen, actors like Cheney and Crawford, who was also a dancer, who had already been performing in front of live audiences before they learned how to act in front of a camera. The history of cinema is an interesting subject, and it is fun to go back and watch the actors who laid the foundation for what became the art form of the 20th Century.
Two Thumbs Up for "The Unknown" which I think could be considered a Horror Film, weird as it is.
I have a couple more Lon Chaneys to come.
This aft, I did get up to O'Melveny for a nice hike. Nothing fancy, just the usual trail.
See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
I have only gotten into silent films in the last ten years or so, and have only become a lasting fan since about 2014. Now I love Silents (capital S), my favorites being in the German Expressionist Horror genre. I haven't seen a lot of Silent Movies, I'd guess somewhere around 25 (and I promise to build that number), but I have seen epics like "Ben Hur" and Fritz Lang's "Dr. Mabuse : Der Spieler" and "Die Nibelungen", and quite a few others. Maybe I should raise my estimate to about 35 films, but no matter.
The thing is, or was, that I had never seen any Lon Chaney films. I've seen Lon Jr. in a ton of stuff, and he's always been the Lon Chaney that I knew, as "The Wolfman" or in the "Inner Sanctum" movies. Lon Jr. was great, too, but I had never seen his Dad, who was said to be The King. I mean, I've seen film clips of "Phantom" or "Hunchback", and stills from many of his famous roles, which I would not be able to name, but I know the faces.
But what happened was, since it is October and we are closing in on Halloween, my favorite holiday, I was in need of horror movies to watch. I am always on the lookout for unseen films of any genre, and last week I found "Spider Baby" starring Lon Jr. That film was such a blast that I looked for more Jr. but couldn't find any movies with him that I hadn't seen. So then I thought, "what about his Dad"? And that led me to "The Lon Chaney Collection", discovered in the library database. The two dvd set arrived today at Northridge Libe and I watched "The Unknown" this evening. It was my first Lon Chaney movie ever, and I can see why he is held in such high regard. He has such an expressive face, an unusual face, rugged yet vulnerable, with deep dark eyes that can express mania or go shiny while holding back tears, all in the same scene.
In "The Unknown", he plays Alonzo, an armless knife-thrower in a traveling circus. He is in love with Joan Crawford, the daughter of the circus owner. She acts as his target in the knife-throwing act (which he does with his feet), and this is a different Joan Crawford than you are accustomed to seeing, because she is only 21 here and she looks more natural and less sculpted than she would later appear when she became a star. In fact I did not recognise her and was unaware it was she until I looked up the credits later on.
Alonzo has no arms, and he loves Joan, his beautiful target, who has come to detest men because, in her words, "they all want to paw me". She confides in Alonzo and trusts him because he has no "paws", no hands or arms. He mistakes her sharing for something more, but she doesn't love him, which begins to drive him mad. Wanting to remain close to her, Alonzo then sets Joan up with the circus strongman, certain that he will "put his paws" all over her, and one more rival will be eliminated.
But the strongman has a sensitive soul, and Alonzo's plan backfires. Joan Crawford falls for the strongman's heart, and then his muscles too. He has kept his hands off her until she was ready, and now they are to be married. Alonzo is crushed, and Lon Chaney plays this to the hilt. You cannot take your eyes off him in these scenes. Remember that in silents, the face had to tell the story. There was no dialogue. Boy, could Lon Chaney use his face.
Now, something is up with Alonzo the knife-thrower, besides the fact that he is obsessed with Joan Crawford, and that he has tried to trick her into rejecting the circus strongman.
That is all I will say. It's a short film, listed on IMDB at 63 minutes but the version I saw was only 50 minutes long. Perhaps footage was lost over the years. Though short, it is a complete story, and gives you a crash course in the greatness of Lon Chaney, and also of director Tod Browning, who went on to make "Dracula" four years later, just after Chaney died. Browning and James Whale were the great artistic visionaries of early horror cinema. Their work for Universal in creating an atmosphere and establishing Horror as a franchise will never be surpassed.
But yeah, Lon Chaney. It took performers of great expression to make cinema catch on with the public. Imagine if movies, this new technique of moving pictures, had come out with amateur actors or stories that were not well written or produced or art directed. The motion picture industry would never have gotten off the ground. So it was performers from the stage who made it happen, actors like Cheney and Crawford, who was also a dancer, who had already been performing in front of live audiences before they learned how to act in front of a camera. The history of cinema is an interesting subject, and it is fun to go back and watch the actors who laid the foundation for what became the art form of the 20th Century.
Two Thumbs Up for "The Unknown" which I think could be considered a Horror Film, weird as it is.
I have a couple more Lon Chaneys to come.
This aft, I did get up to O'Melveny for a nice hike. Nothing fancy, just the usual trail.
See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Monday, October 15, 2018
"The Time Travelers" + Ib & Ub + Vilmos + SB + Myspace
Okay, I did indeed watch yet another Cheesy Sci-Fi Movie from my four pack, and this one really was cheesy, extra cheesy in fact, like a special order at Del Taco. It was called "The Time Travelers" (1964) and was directed by the same guy who made "The Angry Red Planet" which we saw last night. His name is Ib Melchior, and not only is that an awesome name, but I think it would have been great if he could have made a film with the legendary Disney animator Ub Iwerks, because then you could have had Ib and Ub in the same movie. How amazing would that have been, and could you imagine their first meeting?
"Hello Ub, I'm Ib".
"Nice to meet you Ib, I'm Ub".
If Ib Melchior and Ub Iwerks had made a movie together, they could have put that meeting in the bonus material of the dvd, and it would have ruled.
But alas, they never met, so we have to console ourselves now with two of the flicks that Mr. Melchior did leave us with, one that was Pretty Doggone Good ("Angry Red Planet") and one that was Pretty Doggone Bad But Still Had Redeeming Qualities ("The Time Travelers").
Once again, some scientists (three this time, two men and a woman) are on a mission. They are again operating in a roomy laboratory with plenty of reel-to-reel computers, floor space, and circuitry. They are powering up their system to dangerous voltage levels in order to open up a Time Portal, 48 hours in the past. Suddenly a rectangular opening appears on the wall - a window to the recent past! But something is wrong. The entire onscreen panorama looks like dead ground, barren like Mars or the Alabama Hills.
During these proceedings, a clerk has entered the lab. He is there by the order of the unspecified company's president, who has tasked him with telling the scientists that they are using too much electricity. The company cannot afford it (must be a fly-by-night time portal enterprise), but while he is waiting for the scientists to wrap up their experiment and turn the machines off, he instead witnesses the Opening Of The Portal, which in true Ib Melchior fashion actually looks pretty cool, like a 46" flat screen tv.
Ib isn't the best with scripts, but he's pretty good with special effects, especially for the early 1960s.
Well anyway, this nitwit clerk, played by a guy named Steven Franken, whose face you have seen a thousand times, does something really dumb; he jumps through the Time Portal into the Barren World, which as it turns out has been obliterated by nuclear war. We learn this through some oft-seen but still shocking stock footage from Bikini Atoll.
How did this happen, and how could it have happened 48 hours ago, in the past? Well, as it turns out, the scientists are not looking at the past. What they are seeing on the giant flat screen is the future, about 107 years worth (give or take). What happened is similar to the mistake that was made the other night in "Beyond The Time Barrier". Remember when the rocket pilot made a slight wrong turn and went Beyond The Time Barrier? Well tonight, the scientists cranked the voltage too high and instead of opening a Time Portal to the past, they opened one into the future, and they saw that the Earth had been destroyed.
But that's not important for now, because the nitwit clerk has jumped through the portal! He can't get back, and so first one scientist also jumps through to try and rescue him. Then another scientist jumps through to save those two. Finally, the last scientist jumps through the Time Portal to save all the others, and now all four of them are trapped in the mountains outside Barstow (um....I mean "in the future"), and the Time Portal is collapsing. Now they cannot get back.
Things happen fast once the Portal closes. Mutants quickly appear at the crest of the ridge and haul ass over the side. They are tall and skinny and have bald heads, and are very hyper, just like the Mutants in "Beyond The Time Barrier", which was directed by Edgar G. Ulmer. Maybe director Melchior saw that film and copied Ulmer's Mutants, or maybe Mutants have a universally recognized standard, where if you've seen one Mutant, you've seen 'em all. Anyhow, they sure seem to be aggressive, perpetually upset about something.
I am not gonna tell you too much more about "The Time Travelers" because I am falling asleep - it is Sunday night after all - but I will finish by saying that instead of making a really scary time travel movie, Ib Melchior turns around and places the scientists underground, where the last survivors of the human race are ensconced. They include an eccentric European scientist with a blonde comb over, an a-hole captain in a Ziggy Stardust suit, and a Playboy babe. With the help of some SAG extras they are constructing androids to help them build a rocket to get the hell out of Dodge, because the Earth is toast. A conflict arises because all The Time Travelers want is to get back home to their own time, but the Undergrounders won't help them, and the Mutants are about to break through the walls and can't be stopped as always.
"The Time Travelers" was not easy to sit through, but it wasn't that hard, either. I've seen worse low-budget sci-fi, and this one had a lot of charm, some comic relief, some 1960s style sexy romance, and some very colorful sets in the underground control rooms, colors that looked like technological jewels.
An interesting credit was listed at the beginning of the film : Cinematography by William Zsigmond.
I thought, "It's gotta be him", and so after the movie ended I checked him on IMDB. Sure enough, it was Vilmos Zsigmond, who early in his career was still using the Americanized version of his name.
Vilmos Zsigmond went on thirteen years later to shoot one of the greatest science-fiction films ever made, "Close Encounters Of The Third Kind" by Steven Spielberg. That film was also known for it's colorful special effects. Maybe Spielberg saw "The Time Travelers", too.
Zsigmond went on to be known as one of the greatest cinematographers in the history of motion pictures.
I will give "The Time Travelers" one single, but very strong, Thumb Up for the positive qualities I have mentioned above. It's super cheesy, the story is unfocused, and yet if you are an old time sci-fi fan you must see it because of it's value as an artifact. ////
Elizabeth, if you still read this thing, I was glad to see you back on FB today, even in just a "memory" post. You mentioned Myspace, and you know, it's funny because Myspace is now considered something long gone and forgotten, and decidedly uncool, a word you used in the opposite way to describe not having had a Myspace page. Not many people would describe Myspace now as having once been cool, but I think it was. I liked Myspace, and I wrote a ton of stuff there, and the reason I liked it was because it was one-on-one. There wasn't a newsfeed with a ton of spam, and there wasn't a multitude of people posting their emotions all day long. Myspace was set up so that you had your own page, which you could customise, and if you wanted to interact, you could look at another person's page - one page at a time. It was one on one, Facebook without the chaos.
Of course, FB took over quickly for exactly that reason, because it allowed social chaos. And you can alleviate it somewhat by blocking stuff, etc. And we have had a lot of fun on FB over the years, no doubt. But Myspace was the original, and I think it was pretty cool, too, despite the uncool reputation it has unfairly been labeled with in recent years.
I am glad you posted and hope all is well. :):)
We had good singing in church this morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
"Hello Ub, I'm Ib".
"Nice to meet you Ib, I'm Ub".
If Ib Melchior and Ub Iwerks had made a movie together, they could have put that meeting in the bonus material of the dvd, and it would have ruled.
But alas, they never met, so we have to console ourselves now with two of the flicks that Mr. Melchior did leave us with, one that was Pretty Doggone Good ("Angry Red Planet") and one that was Pretty Doggone Bad But Still Had Redeeming Qualities ("The Time Travelers").
Once again, some scientists (three this time, two men and a woman) are on a mission. They are again operating in a roomy laboratory with plenty of reel-to-reel computers, floor space, and circuitry. They are powering up their system to dangerous voltage levels in order to open up a Time Portal, 48 hours in the past. Suddenly a rectangular opening appears on the wall - a window to the recent past! But something is wrong. The entire onscreen panorama looks like dead ground, barren like Mars or the Alabama Hills.
During these proceedings, a clerk has entered the lab. He is there by the order of the unspecified company's president, who has tasked him with telling the scientists that they are using too much electricity. The company cannot afford it (must be a fly-by-night time portal enterprise), but while he is waiting for the scientists to wrap up their experiment and turn the machines off, he instead witnesses the Opening Of The Portal, which in true Ib Melchior fashion actually looks pretty cool, like a 46" flat screen tv.
Ib isn't the best with scripts, but he's pretty good with special effects, especially for the early 1960s.
Well anyway, this nitwit clerk, played by a guy named Steven Franken, whose face you have seen a thousand times, does something really dumb; he jumps through the Time Portal into the Barren World, which as it turns out has been obliterated by nuclear war. We learn this through some oft-seen but still shocking stock footage from Bikini Atoll.
How did this happen, and how could it have happened 48 hours ago, in the past? Well, as it turns out, the scientists are not looking at the past. What they are seeing on the giant flat screen is the future, about 107 years worth (give or take). What happened is similar to the mistake that was made the other night in "Beyond The Time Barrier". Remember when the rocket pilot made a slight wrong turn and went Beyond The Time Barrier? Well tonight, the scientists cranked the voltage too high and instead of opening a Time Portal to the past, they opened one into the future, and they saw that the Earth had been destroyed.
But that's not important for now, because the nitwit clerk has jumped through the portal! He can't get back, and so first one scientist also jumps through to try and rescue him. Then another scientist jumps through to save those two. Finally, the last scientist jumps through the Time Portal to save all the others, and now all four of them are trapped in the mountains outside Barstow (um....I mean "in the future"), and the Time Portal is collapsing. Now they cannot get back.
Things happen fast once the Portal closes. Mutants quickly appear at the crest of the ridge and haul ass over the side. They are tall and skinny and have bald heads, and are very hyper, just like the Mutants in "Beyond The Time Barrier", which was directed by Edgar G. Ulmer. Maybe director Melchior saw that film and copied Ulmer's Mutants, or maybe Mutants have a universally recognized standard, where if you've seen one Mutant, you've seen 'em all. Anyhow, they sure seem to be aggressive, perpetually upset about something.
I am not gonna tell you too much more about "The Time Travelers" because I am falling asleep - it is Sunday night after all - but I will finish by saying that instead of making a really scary time travel movie, Ib Melchior turns around and places the scientists underground, where the last survivors of the human race are ensconced. They include an eccentric European scientist with a blonde comb over, an a-hole captain in a Ziggy Stardust suit, and a Playboy babe. With the help of some SAG extras they are constructing androids to help them build a rocket to get the hell out of Dodge, because the Earth is toast. A conflict arises because all The Time Travelers want is to get back home to their own time, but the Undergrounders won't help them, and the Mutants are about to break through the walls and can't be stopped as always.
"The Time Travelers" was not easy to sit through, but it wasn't that hard, either. I've seen worse low-budget sci-fi, and this one had a lot of charm, some comic relief, some 1960s style sexy romance, and some very colorful sets in the underground control rooms, colors that looked like technological jewels.
An interesting credit was listed at the beginning of the film : Cinematography by William Zsigmond.
I thought, "It's gotta be him", and so after the movie ended I checked him on IMDB. Sure enough, it was Vilmos Zsigmond, who early in his career was still using the Americanized version of his name.
Vilmos Zsigmond went on thirteen years later to shoot one of the greatest science-fiction films ever made, "Close Encounters Of The Third Kind" by Steven Spielberg. That film was also known for it's colorful special effects. Maybe Spielberg saw "The Time Travelers", too.
Zsigmond went on to be known as one of the greatest cinematographers in the history of motion pictures.
I will give "The Time Travelers" one single, but very strong, Thumb Up for the positive qualities I have mentioned above. It's super cheesy, the story is unfocused, and yet if you are an old time sci-fi fan you must see it because of it's value as an artifact. ////
Elizabeth, if you still read this thing, I was glad to see you back on FB today, even in just a "memory" post. You mentioned Myspace, and you know, it's funny because Myspace is now considered something long gone and forgotten, and decidedly uncool, a word you used in the opposite way to describe not having had a Myspace page. Not many people would describe Myspace now as having once been cool, but I think it was. I liked Myspace, and I wrote a ton of stuff there, and the reason I liked it was because it was one-on-one. There wasn't a newsfeed with a ton of spam, and there wasn't a multitude of people posting their emotions all day long. Myspace was set up so that you had your own page, which you could customise, and if you wanted to interact, you could look at another person's page - one page at a time. It was one on one, Facebook without the chaos.
Of course, FB took over quickly for exactly that reason, because it allowed social chaos. And you can alleviate it somewhat by blocking stuff, etc. And we have had a lot of fun on FB over the years, no doubt. But Myspace was the original, and I think it was pretty cool, too, despite the uncool reputation it has unfairly been labeled with in recent years.
I am glad you posted and hope all is well. :):)
We had good singing in church this morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Sunday, October 14, 2018
Doug Pinnick at Harmon/Kardon + "The Angry Red Planet" (with classic special effects)
Something a little different today. I went over to the Harmon/Kardon building on Roscoe and Balboa to see Doug Pinnick play a half-hour set with his band. Doug is of course the bassist and lead vocalist for King's X. He had announced on Facebook this morning that he would be playing as part of a Guitar Center promotion billed as "Harman Live". The larger objective was to draw musicians and fans to check out Harman gear, like a mini NAMM. They had the gear booths inside, the stage was outside. I got there just a few minutes before Doug was to go on, so I didn't go in the building, and I was right up against the stage when he did play, as you can tell if you saw the close-up photo I posted on FB tonight.
It was a lot of fun. There were perhaps 75 to 100 people milling around the stage area in the parking lot. Many of them had come to see Parliment Funkadelic, who were headlining. I came to see Doug, who played several Jimi covers, a heavy version of "Ain't No Sunshine" by Bill Withers, and a Poundhound song to open. His band was really great, and included a fantastic guitar player I had never heard of before, a guy named Rafael Moreira, who according to Wiki does a lot of television and session work. He was on fire, and Doug was great as always. The Harmon/Kardon building, which used to be more like a campus until a recent shopping development was built there, was formerly the site of JBL Systems in the 1980s (JBL made great speakers) and before that, in the 1960s, it was very famous as the site of RCA.
So that was a nice thing for today, a free concert by Doug, even if a short one. After the show I went out to Santa Susana for a two mile hike. No climbing cause the ground was muddy after last night's rain. I just stayed on the main trail and headed back when the sun went behind the mountains.
So........whataya think I did tonight? You guessed it! I watched another "classic" (or possibly not) science-fiction movie from my four film collection.
I know I'm the world's most boring guy, but if you're reading this ("you" being the General or Specific You) then you're stuck with me and we're in this together, and I promise - but will not guarantee - to be less boring in the future. But for now we forge ahead. :)
Tonight's movie was called "The Angry Red Planet" (1959), another great title that hints at things to come, just as "Beyond The Time Barrier" did last night. In "Angry Red", four astronauts are on their way to Mars, aboard one of those 1950s sci-fi movie rockets that looks like a rocket on the outside but inside has a capsule that's as big as a living room, with walls of computer equipment and plenty of floor space. The captain (Gerald Mohr), a macho Humphrey Bogart lookalike, spends much of the first 20 minutes trying to make inroads to the heart of the crew's red-headed biologist, played by Nora Hayden. The film starts with Cool Air Force Stuff just like "Time Barrier" did last night, but then succumbs to scenes of trivial banter inside the space capsule, initiated by Mohr toward Hayden. Mohr is such a hairy chested hard guy that you get the feeling he's as impressed with himself in real life as he is in the film. The cast is rounded out with two more astronauts : a Brooklyn wise guy who is in charge of security, and a goateed scientist, because in the 1950s it helped you to be taken seriously as a scientist if you had a goatee. Kinda the opposite of now. :)
Just when you are thinking that this movie is destined for Schlockville, the rocket arrives on The Angry Red Planet, and everything turns around in a hurry. Looking out the spaceship's portals, all the crew can see is red. The sky, the ground, the plants, everything is red. (wait a minute......the plants?). Yep, plants on Mars. In fact, it looks like a regular jungle out there.
But the Redness is what counts, because now that our four astronauts are on Mars, everything is going to be depicted in something called Cinemagic, which looks like someone put a red filter over the camera and then partially solarised the negative. Actually, the Cinemagic scenes look pretty cool to be honest, and the special effects are of the kind that would have scared the bejesus out of you, had you seen this movie as an eight year old kid. All of the Mars scenes in the film are really good, even cheesily good, because of the Cinemagic effects. One reviewer said that the Blu-Ray looks amazing, and I am tempted to buy it because the FX are that good.
But wait! I don't own a Blu-Ray player! Holy smokes, Ad. You almost jumped the gun.
Okay, so scratch that. But you probably do own one, because you (being again the General or Specific You) are more technically up-to-date than I am. So it is you who should purchase the Blu-Ray of "The Angry Red Planet", just so you can see the Mars scenes in all their Cinemagic glory. I think they are even better than the more realistic (but not half as effective) scenes in a modern Mars movie like "The Martian". And who knows, maybe "The Angry Red Planet" is the more realistic of the two.
Lord knows, Mars has a lot to be pissed about. It's probably got high blood pressure and that's why it's so red. If you go there, it may be best not to swagger around with your shirt open and your chest hair showing, ala Captain Mohr, because there is a nebulous three-eyed dude running the joint. He is in no mood to deal with Earthlings, as he makes clear in his arrival speech, and what's more, he controls a Giant Blob that lives in the Martian lake. One signal from Three-Eyes to The Blob and you are done, no matter how many drama classes you have taken back in New York.
This is the Real Thing you are dealing with on "The Angry Red Planet", and because the special effects signify the seriousness of the situation, I am going to give the movie two thumbs up, despite the aforementioned Gerald Mohr Factor and accompanying dialogue.
It's not an overall classic like "Earth vs. The Flying Saucers", but you still need to see this film for the Mars scenes, which - though slightly cheesy - are one of a kind.
That's all I know for tonight, and I've gotta get up in a few hours for church, so I'll see you there in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
It was a lot of fun. There were perhaps 75 to 100 people milling around the stage area in the parking lot. Many of them had come to see Parliment Funkadelic, who were headlining. I came to see Doug, who played several Jimi covers, a heavy version of "Ain't No Sunshine" by Bill Withers, and a Poundhound song to open. His band was really great, and included a fantastic guitar player I had never heard of before, a guy named Rafael Moreira, who according to Wiki does a lot of television and session work. He was on fire, and Doug was great as always. The Harmon/Kardon building, which used to be more like a campus until a recent shopping development was built there, was formerly the site of JBL Systems in the 1980s (JBL made great speakers) and before that, in the 1960s, it was very famous as the site of RCA.
So that was a nice thing for today, a free concert by Doug, even if a short one. After the show I went out to Santa Susana for a two mile hike. No climbing cause the ground was muddy after last night's rain. I just stayed on the main trail and headed back when the sun went behind the mountains.
So........whataya think I did tonight? You guessed it! I watched another "classic" (or possibly not) science-fiction movie from my four film collection.
I know I'm the world's most boring guy, but if you're reading this ("you" being the General or Specific You) then you're stuck with me and we're in this together, and I promise - but will not guarantee - to be less boring in the future. But for now we forge ahead. :)
Tonight's movie was called "The Angry Red Planet" (1959), another great title that hints at things to come, just as "Beyond The Time Barrier" did last night. In "Angry Red", four astronauts are on their way to Mars, aboard one of those 1950s sci-fi movie rockets that looks like a rocket on the outside but inside has a capsule that's as big as a living room, with walls of computer equipment and plenty of floor space. The captain (Gerald Mohr), a macho Humphrey Bogart lookalike, spends much of the first 20 minutes trying to make inroads to the heart of the crew's red-headed biologist, played by Nora Hayden. The film starts with Cool Air Force Stuff just like "Time Barrier" did last night, but then succumbs to scenes of trivial banter inside the space capsule, initiated by Mohr toward Hayden. Mohr is such a hairy chested hard guy that you get the feeling he's as impressed with himself in real life as he is in the film. The cast is rounded out with two more astronauts : a Brooklyn wise guy who is in charge of security, and a goateed scientist, because in the 1950s it helped you to be taken seriously as a scientist if you had a goatee. Kinda the opposite of now. :)
Just when you are thinking that this movie is destined for Schlockville, the rocket arrives on The Angry Red Planet, and everything turns around in a hurry. Looking out the spaceship's portals, all the crew can see is red. The sky, the ground, the plants, everything is red. (wait a minute......the plants?). Yep, plants on Mars. In fact, it looks like a regular jungle out there.
But the Redness is what counts, because now that our four astronauts are on Mars, everything is going to be depicted in something called Cinemagic, which looks like someone put a red filter over the camera and then partially solarised the negative. Actually, the Cinemagic scenes look pretty cool to be honest, and the special effects are of the kind that would have scared the bejesus out of you, had you seen this movie as an eight year old kid. All of the Mars scenes in the film are really good, even cheesily good, because of the Cinemagic effects. One reviewer said that the Blu-Ray looks amazing, and I am tempted to buy it because the FX are that good.
But wait! I don't own a Blu-Ray player! Holy smokes, Ad. You almost jumped the gun.
Okay, so scratch that. But you probably do own one, because you (being again the General or Specific You) are more technically up-to-date than I am. So it is you who should purchase the Blu-Ray of "The Angry Red Planet", just so you can see the Mars scenes in all their Cinemagic glory. I think they are even better than the more realistic (but not half as effective) scenes in a modern Mars movie like "The Martian". And who knows, maybe "The Angry Red Planet" is the more realistic of the two.
Lord knows, Mars has a lot to be pissed about. It's probably got high blood pressure and that's why it's so red. If you go there, it may be best not to swagger around with your shirt open and your chest hair showing, ala Captain Mohr, because there is a nebulous three-eyed dude running the joint. He is in no mood to deal with Earthlings, as he makes clear in his arrival speech, and what's more, he controls a Giant Blob that lives in the Martian lake. One signal from Three-Eyes to The Blob and you are done, no matter how many drama classes you have taken back in New York.
This is the Real Thing you are dealing with on "The Angry Red Planet", and because the special effects signify the seriousness of the situation, I am going to give the movie two thumbs up, despite the aforementioned Gerald Mohr Factor and accompanying dialogue.
It's not an overall classic like "Earth vs. The Flying Saucers", but you still need to see this film for the Mars scenes, which - though slightly cheesy - are one of a kind.
That's all I know for tonight, and I've gotta get up in a few hours for church, so I'll see you there in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Saturday, October 13, 2018
"Beyond The Time Barrier" + The Time Domain as per Col. Bearden
I'm writing from home tonight, off work as mentioned in last night's blog. We had a freak thunderstorm a few hours ago, which cut short my usual walk, but earlier in the evening I did go over to my photographic perch on the roof of the CSUN parking garage to snap a few pix of the sunset. We hadn't had a good one all Summer because there was never a cloud in the sky (and no chemtrails, either), but this afternoon when I got home from Pearl's I saw the clouds approaching and thought there might be a chance for some photos, one of which I posted on FB, and another on my Flickr account. I love taking photos, and I need a new cam because my Linux has a dust smudge on the sensor, and I have to work every photograph around it. I try to hide the smudge in a dark area in any given photo, but it isn't always possible and anyway I am tired of doing it. So, a new cam is in my future in the new year.
And hopefully some new road trips to take pics at places I haven't been to.
Tonight on the Movie Parade, I watched a science fiction "classic" (well, not really) called "Beyond The Time Barrier" (1960). The imposing sci-fi title helps to save the film from C or D-grade movie status, and so does some awesome Air Force stock footage of the takeoff and flight of an F-102 fighter jet, posing as a rocket craft called the "X-80". Me being an X-15 fan, I was loving the first 10 minutes of the film, which makes use of a miniature F-102 to take the rocket plane scenario into space. The craft is supposed to fly to 500,000 feet, and the special FX are pretty good for a low budget movie. The pilot has flown to the desired altitude and is now approaching the speed of Mach 17 or some such, and what happens is that he makes a wrong turn, and at that speed it takes him Beyond The Time Barrier, fulfilling the promise of the title, which is very important.
I think that - besides fulfilling the promise of your movie title - that if you are going to fly an X-80, that you'd better keep both hands on the steering wheel so you don't make a wrong turn, because if you do you will have gone Beyond The Time Barrier, and if that happens - good luck to you. :)
At any rate, for the first 10 or fifteen minutes, I thought I may have stumbled upon a heretofore unknown sci-fi classic. It had Air Force footage, it was shot in black and white (a must for early science fiction), and it had a serious plot, ala the mission of the test pilot, who ultimately breaks through the Time Barrier. I have been reading this book for several months now called "Free Energy From The Vaccum" by Col. Thom Bearden, all about electrodynamics and how electrical systems interact with what Bearden calls the "time domain". We know that time is a dimension, as part of spacetime (Einstein's fourth dimension). Col. Bearden says that electromagnetic energy comes from the time domain, which is a physical thing. Time is physical, and it contains highly compacted energy.
Don't listen to me, just read the book because it's a life changer. It's 900 pages long, and quite a slog if you don't have a degree in electromagnetic engineering, but holy smokes is it ever a mindblower. It has taken me nearly four months to read because I only tackled about 7 or 8 pages per day. I wanted to comprehend everything I was reading, which is very technically oriented, and I am now near the finish line and will call it one of the greatest books I have ever read.
And because of it, I had a head start on the theory of going Beyond The Time Barrier. But then, when the pilot makes his wrong turn, instead of more awesome Air Force weird stuff, the movie turns into a set piece, and a level of "Plan 9 From Outer Space" is aspired to.
Well, perhaps things don't get that bad (or good), but it looks like someone on the production team fell in love with a location called the Dallas Fairgrounds. You might not expect that Dallas, Texas would be the place where 1960s "futuristic" architecture could be encountered, but I guess that some sophistication slipped through the cracks because the fairground set looks like something out of "Star Trek". The set is used as an underground "Citadel" where the pilot is taken, when he lands the X-80 sixty four years in the future, in 2024.
This means that he hasn't landed yet in our time, but in the movie, he's there.
The people who have captured him after he lands are victims of a worldwide plague, caused by cosmic rays that broke though the ozone layer because of too much atomic testing. These people live in the underground Citadel, besieged by Mutants with bald heads. They are on the verge of being depopulated, and so they want the pilot, who is healthy and not afflicted with plague, to be the sire of a new human race. In this regard, the Citadel leaders introduce him to a beautiful young deaf mute played by Darlene Tompkins (who was in "Blue Hawaii" with Elvis).
While it would be hard to turn down this offer, the pilot remains stoic in his insistence that he be released so that he can attempt a return flight to his own year of 1960 (a good year if I do say so myself). He gives a solemn promise that, if successful in his return to the past, he will make every attempt to prevent the future plague from happening.
"Beyond The Time Barrier" starts off in classic B&W/Air Force sci-fi fashion, then detours into socio/theatrical weirdness for the middle 45 minutes. The midsection of the movie has the feel of experimental theater, when everyone was exploring themes of the human psyche via the sci-fi format, in shows like "Outer Limits". The acting ranges from okay to pretty bad, though director Edgar G. Ulmer does keep things moving.
But the story does rally at the end, in the final 15 minutes, when the test pilot does make his return flight. I am revealing a lot of plot and giving spoilers, but in this case I have to, or you will never be compelled to see this movie, which I feel you need to do.
I can't give it Two Thumbs Up, and yet One Thumb is not enough. It is cheesy to be sure, but there's also that jet footage at the beginning and the end, and that romance in the middle.
Plus, there's that title.
At the end of the day, you know you have to see any movie called "Beyond The Time Barrier". Sci-Fi fits the Halloween paradigm, so you're good on that score, and anyway.....there's Mutants.
You can't go wrong with Mutants, right?
You of course agree, and so all is well. :)
I will see you in the morning after a sleep-in. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
And hopefully some new road trips to take pics at places I haven't been to.
Tonight on the Movie Parade, I watched a science fiction "classic" (well, not really) called "Beyond The Time Barrier" (1960). The imposing sci-fi title helps to save the film from C or D-grade movie status, and so does some awesome Air Force stock footage of the takeoff and flight of an F-102 fighter jet, posing as a rocket craft called the "X-80". Me being an X-15 fan, I was loving the first 10 minutes of the film, which makes use of a miniature F-102 to take the rocket plane scenario into space. The craft is supposed to fly to 500,000 feet, and the special FX are pretty good for a low budget movie. The pilot has flown to the desired altitude and is now approaching the speed of Mach 17 or some such, and what happens is that he makes a wrong turn, and at that speed it takes him Beyond The Time Barrier, fulfilling the promise of the title, which is very important.
I think that - besides fulfilling the promise of your movie title - that if you are going to fly an X-80, that you'd better keep both hands on the steering wheel so you don't make a wrong turn, because if you do you will have gone Beyond The Time Barrier, and if that happens - good luck to you. :)
At any rate, for the first 10 or fifteen minutes, I thought I may have stumbled upon a heretofore unknown sci-fi classic. It had Air Force footage, it was shot in black and white (a must for early science fiction), and it had a serious plot, ala the mission of the test pilot, who ultimately breaks through the Time Barrier. I have been reading this book for several months now called "Free Energy From The Vaccum" by Col. Thom Bearden, all about electrodynamics and how electrical systems interact with what Bearden calls the "time domain". We know that time is a dimension, as part of spacetime (Einstein's fourth dimension). Col. Bearden says that electromagnetic energy comes from the time domain, which is a physical thing. Time is physical, and it contains highly compacted energy.
Don't listen to me, just read the book because it's a life changer. It's 900 pages long, and quite a slog if you don't have a degree in electromagnetic engineering, but holy smokes is it ever a mindblower. It has taken me nearly four months to read because I only tackled about 7 or 8 pages per day. I wanted to comprehend everything I was reading, which is very technically oriented, and I am now near the finish line and will call it one of the greatest books I have ever read.
And because of it, I had a head start on the theory of going Beyond The Time Barrier. But then, when the pilot makes his wrong turn, instead of more awesome Air Force weird stuff, the movie turns into a set piece, and a level of "Plan 9 From Outer Space" is aspired to.
Well, perhaps things don't get that bad (or good), but it looks like someone on the production team fell in love with a location called the Dallas Fairgrounds. You might not expect that Dallas, Texas would be the place where 1960s "futuristic" architecture could be encountered, but I guess that some sophistication slipped through the cracks because the fairground set looks like something out of "Star Trek". The set is used as an underground "Citadel" where the pilot is taken, when he lands the X-80 sixty four years in the future, in 2024.
This means that he hasn't landed yet in our time, but in the movie, he's there.
The people who have captured him after he lands are victims of a worldwide plague, caused by cosmic rays that broke though the ozone layer because of too much atomic testing. These people live in the underground Citadel, besieged by Mutants with bald heads. They are on the verge of being depopulated, and so they want the pilot, who is healthy and not afflicted with plague, to be the sire of a new human race. In this regard, the Citadel leaders introduce him to a beautiful young deaf mute played by Darlene Tompkins (who was in "Blue Hawaii" with Elvis).
While it would be hard to turn down this offer, the pilot remains stoic in his insistence that he be released so that he can attempt a return flight to his own year of 1960 (a good year if I do say so myself). He gives a solemn promise that, if successful in his return to the past, he will make every attempt to prevent the future plague from happening.
"Beyond The Time Barrier" starts off in classic B&W/Air Force sci-fi fashion, then detours into socio/theatrical weirdness for the middle 45 minutes. The midsection of the movie has the feel of experimental theater, when everyone was exploring themes of the human psyche via the sci-fi format, in shows like "Outer Limits". The acting ranges from okay to pretty bad, though director Edgar G. Ulmer does keep things moving.
But the story does rally at the end, in the final 15 minutes, when the test pilot does make his return flight. I am revealing a lot of plot and giving spoilers, but in this case I have to, or you will never be compelled to see this movie, which I feel you need to do.
I can't give it Two Thumbs Up, and yet One Thumb is not enough. It is cheesy to be sure, but there's also that jet footage at the beginning and the end, and that romance in the middle.
Plus, there's that title.
At the end of the day, you know you have to see any movie called "Beyond The Time Barrier". Sci-Fi fits the Halloween paradigm, so you're good on that score, and anyway.....there's Mutants.
You can't go wrong with Mutants, right?
You of course agree, and so all is well. :)
I will see you in the morning after a sleep-in. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Friday, October 12, 2018
"Chandu The Magician" with Bela Lugosi + Disneyland Won't Wait Much Longer
Tonight's film was "Chandu The Magician" (1932), a fun horror/fantasy starring Edmund Lowe as an American magician who has become a Yogi after studying Hindu mysticism in India. As a Yogi (and I am very tempted to make a cartoon reference here, but I won't), he has learned the power of hypnotism to control men's minds. He learned other tricks as well, such as how to bring his spirit out of his body so that it appears to an enemy as his ghost. This comes in handy when Chandu is confronted by Bela Lugosi's thugs as he chases the madman down. Bela plays "Roxor", a crazed megalomaniac who seeks control of a Death Ray invented by American scientist "Robert Regent". He kidnaps Regent and holds him hostage in his Rock Palace abode, a mansion/laboratory set into the side of a high granite wall.
"Chandu" in real life is Frank Chandler, a friend of the Death Ray inventor and his family. As Chandu, with his new mesmeric ability, he can help to free Robert Regent, who has refused to give the evil Roxor any information about The Ray, even when his family is lured to Roxor's Palace and captured to be used as bait.
Enter Chandu, wearing a jeweled turban, who just happens to be visiting the area to look up his old flame Princess Nadji (played by Irene Ware).
An "Indiana Jones" style adventure ensues, as Chandu and the Princess set out to rescue the scientist Regent and his family, and in the process to stop Roxor from getting his hands on the Death Ray.
The movie owes it's success to Lugosi's high energy performance and the art direction of William Cameron Menzies, an early Hollywood genius who later created the sets for "Gone With The Wind". The laboratory he designed for this film, and the artillery-sized Death Ray, replete with large glass vacuum bulb and ringed transducers, looks like the ultimate Mad Scientist workshop, and gives Bela Lugosi a chance to tear into humanity as Roxor is about to realize his dream of world domination.
The sets and miniatures are amazing for 1932. What makes "Chandu" so entertaining is it's combination of styles. It's a horror movie, but also an adventure into exotic Eastern culture, but then it's also a fantasy with all kinds of mystical elements pre-Harry Potter.
It's purely for fun. I acquired it this week as part of a three movie set called "Fox Horror Classics Volume 2", which I ordered from Amazon. I already had "Volume 1" of this series from years ago, so because it is October I figured it was high time I ordered "Volume 2".
Now I need to order "The Return Of Chandu", which became a weekly serial in theaters. Serials were episodic, like a TV show at the movies, and in this one they turned around and made Bela Lugosi the good guy. They cast him as Chandu in "Return", because in the original movie, the star Edmund Lowe was not seen as having much charisma, which is a fairly accurate assessment. But yeah! - I've gotta get the "Return Of Chandu" because of Bela Lugosi, who I think was one of Hollywood's greatest movie stars. He did exactly what was expected of him, and in doing so he created indelible characters of cinematic horror.
To compare, try finding an actor now who could remotely pull off Lugosi's natural style. Even if you got a technically brilliant RADA-trained Englishman, it still wouldn't work, because Bela was doing Bela, and he had an irreplicable voice and face and body. That is what makes a star, among other things.
Well anyway, I am probably jabbering. I am kind of on a Work Treadmill right now, where all I do is my job and then take a break in the evening to watch a movie. I know it must be boring to read about movies day after day, but that's my life at the moment.
Tomorrow night I will be at home, off work for a few days. I have contemplated going to Disneyland, because it is Halloweentime there, but I would have to go by myself, and Disneyland is the one place that you absolutely positively cannot go by yourself.
Can you?
I mean, it would be horrible, but on the other hand I haven't been to D-Land since October 2011, and I am gonna die if I don't go soon, and my sister Vickie (my former Disneyland partner) is never gonna go again, she just isn't interested. So I have no one to go with, but if I don't go soon, it won't be good.
And yet to go alone might be terrible.
At some point I will have to go, because Disneyland won't take no for an answer, not from me anyway.
See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
"Chandu" in real life is Frank Chandler, a friend of the Death Ray inventor and his family. As Chandu, with his new mesmeric ability, he can help to free Robert Regent, who has refused to give the evil Roxor any information about The Ray, even when his family is lured to Roxor's Palace and captured to be used as bait.
Enter Chandu, wearing a jeweled turban, who just happens to be visiting the area to look up his old flame Princess Nadji (played by Irene Ware).
An "Indiana Jones" style adventure ensues, as Chandu and the Princess set out to rescue the scientist Regent and his family, and in the process to stop Roxor from getting his hands on the Death Ray.
The movie owes it's success to Lugosi's high energy performance and the art direction of William Cameron Menzies, an early Hollywood genius who later created the sets for "Gone With The Wind". The laboratory he designed for this film, and the artillery-sized Death Ray, replete with large glass vacuum bulb and ringed transducers, looks like the ultimate Mad Scientist workshop, and gives Bela Lugosi a chance to tear into humanity as Roxor is about to realize his dream of world domination.
The sets and miniatures are amazing for 1932. What makes "Chandu" so entertaining is it's combination of styles. It's a horror movie, but also an adventure into exotic Eastern culture, but then it's also a fantasy with all kinds of mystical elements pre-Harry Potter.
It's purely for fun. I acquired it this week as part of a three movie set called "Fox Horror Classics Volume 2", which I ordered from Amazon. I already had "Volume 1" of this series from years ago, so because it is October I figured it was high time I ordered "Volume 2".
Now I need to order "The Return Of Chandu", which became a weekly serial in theaters. Serials were episodic, like a TV show at the movies, and in this one they turned around and made Bela Lugosi the good guy. They cast him as Chandu in "Return", because in the original movie, the star Edmund Lowe was not seen as having much charisma, which is a fairly accurate assessment. But yeah! - I've gotta get the "Return Of Chandu" because of Bela Lugosi, who I think was one of Hollywood's greatest movie stars. He did exactly what was expected of him, and in doing so he created indelible characters of cinematic horror.
To compare, try finding an actor now who could remotely pull off Lugosi's natural style. Even if you got a technically brilliant RADA-trained Englishman, it still wouldn't work, because Bela was doing Bela, and he had an irreplicable voice and face and body. That is what makes a star, among other things.
Well anyway, I am probably jabbering. I am kind of on a Work Treadmill right now, where all I do is my job and then take a break in the evening to watch a movie. I know it must be boring to read about movies day after day, but that's my life at the moment.
Tomorrow night I will be at home, off work for a few days. I have contemplated going to Disneyland, because it is Halloweentime there, but I would have to go by myself, and Disneyland is the one place that you absolutely positively cannot go by yourself.
Can you?
I mean, it would be horrible, but on the other hand I haven't been to D-Land since October 2011, and I am gonna die if I don't go soon, and my sister Vickie (my former Disneyland partner) is never gonna go again, she just isn't interested. So I have no one to go with, but if I don't go soon, it won't be good.
And yet to go alone might be terrible.
At some point I will have to go, because Disneyland won't take no for an answer, not from me anyway.
See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Thursday, October 11, 2018
"Sadie", an excellent new film, at CSUN tonight
Tonight I went back to the Cinematheque at CSUN to see a new movie that opens this Friday in select theaters. It's an Indie film called "Sadie" (2018), about a thirteen year old girl who lives with her Mom in a trailer park outside Seattle. Her Dad, who she worships, is a soldier stationed in Afghanistan. As the movie opens, she is reading (in voiceover) a letter she is about to send him, expressing her hope that he will soon be able to return home. It seems that her father is in no hurry to do that, however, because although he had promised his wife and Sadie that he would be back when his previous tour was over, he went and re-upped anyway. His wife understands that he isn't in a hurry to return home because he is addicted to soldiering and also, he has fallen out of love with her during his time away. He still writes regularly to his daughter Sadie, though, and she rationalizes his broken promises of return by saying that his country needs him more than his family does. In identifying with her distant Dad, she has developed a military complex of her own, dressing in a green fatigue jacket and pulling her long hair up into a knit cap.
Sadie's mother is lonely. She works as a nurse and comes home to her alienated daughter, knowing her husband isn't going to return home, even when he comes back to America. But then a new tenant moves into the trailer park, a smiling but rough around the edges auto mechanic played by an actor named John Gallagher Jr., whose face you will recognize from various TV shows and movie parts over the past ten years. He is excellent as the newcomer into Sadie's Mom's life. We learn his back story and how he developed an addiction to painkillers. Sadie hates him for moving in on her Mom, who tries to explain the adult complexities of a broken marriage. Sadie only knows her Dad's letters. He loves her, so he must love her Mom too. Oh how hard is the passage from adolescent belief in what should be true to the gradual adult knowledge in what actually is true.
Kids know more than adults do when it comes to matters of the heart, because they aren't yet broken.
But when they become so, they try to fix the break, rather then resign themselves to it.
This is what Sadie tries to do. She sees Gallagher's character "Cyrus" for part of what he is : a guy moving on her Mom while her Dad is away. But what she doesn't see is that Cyrus knows her Mom has given up on the marriage. "Sadie" the movie has realistic characters. No one is a complete victim or bad guy. But Sadie sees things in black and white, and in identifying with her Dad, she develops a soldier's methodology for getting rid of those she considers her enemies. She does this to save her family, a child's most basic foundation of stability.
"Sadie" is one of the best independent films I have seen in recent years, reminiscent of the films of Kelly Reichardt, who also works out of the Pacific Northwest. "Sadie" was directed by Megan Griffiths, who I was not previously aware of, but she has a more polished technique than Reichardt, who uses non-professional actors in some roles, and whose films have a rawer look. "Sadie" is slicker, in a good way, meaning that it looks like an Indie film but plays like a major release because of the way it is shot and edited, and it's locations and lighting, but most of all because of it's cast and writing. Besides being a character study, it has the qualities of a thriller. Griffiths wrote the story, which feels like real life, with tweaked dialogue to make the characters stand out. Comic moments are provided by an 11 year old actor named Keith L. Williams, who steals every scene he is in. He is Sadie's best friend and neighbor "Francis", from an African-American family living in the trailer next door. Francis is a chubby nerd and a shrimp, and is a perfect foil to Sadie's taller, stoic stick figure.
The actors are all first rate, and the chemistry between them makes this story feel like real life.
This is a movie where I do not want to reveal much plot, but I will say "see it because it's really good"!
And I don't say that about very many Indie films, or even many new films in general.
"Sadie" is played by a young actress named Sophia Mitri Schloss. Her Mom is played by Melanie Lynskey, who I had not previously heard of but who is a New Zealand actress who has been in many well known movies. She got her start with Peter Jackson in "Heavenly Creatures".
Two Very Big Thumbs Up for "Sadie". Here's hoping that more independent films with have this level of quality, and attention to story and character.
That's all I know for tonight. See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Sadie's mother is lonely. She works as a nurse and comes home to her alienated daughter, knowing her husband isn't going to return home, even when he comes back to America. But then a new tenant moves into the trailer park, a smiling but rough around the edges auto mechanic played by an actor named John Gallagher Jr., whose face you will recognize from various TV shows and movie parts over the past ten years. He is excellent as the newcomer into Sadie's Mom's life. We learn his back story and how he developed an addiction to painkillers. Sadie hates him for moving in on her Mom, who tries to explain the adult complexities of a broken marriage. Sadie only knows her Dad's letters. He loves her, so he must love her Mom too. Oh how hard is the passage from adolescent belief in what should be true to the gradual adult knowledge in what actually is true.
Kids know more than adults do when it comes to matters of the heart, because they aren't yet broken.
But when they become so, they try to fix the break, rather then resign themselves to it.
This is what Sadie tries to do. She sees Gallagher's character "Cyrus" for part of what he is : a guy moving on her Mom while her Dad is away. But what she doesn't see is that Cyrus knows her Mom has given up on the marriage. "Sadie" the movie has realistic characters. No one is a complete victim or bad guy. But Sadie sees things in black and white, and in identifying with her Dad, she develops a soldier's methodology for getting rid of those she considers her enemies. She does this to save her family, a child's most basic foundation of stability.
"Sadie" is one of the best independent films I have seen in recent years, reminiscent of the films of Kelly Reichardt, who also works out of the Pacific Northwest. "Sadie" was directed by Megan Griffiths, who I was not previously aware of, but she has a more polished technique than Reichardt, who uses non-professional actors in some roles, and whose films have a rawer look. "Sadie" is slicker, in a good way, meaning that it looks like an Indie film but plays like a major release because of the way it is shot and edited, and it's locations and lighting, but most of all because of it's cast and writing. Besides being a character study, it has the qualities of a thriller. Griffiths wrote the story, which feels like real life, with tweaked dialogue to make the characters stand out. Comic moments are provided by an 11 year old actor named Keith L. Williams, who steals every scene he is in. He is Sadie's best friend and neighbor "Francis", from an African-American family living in the trailer next door. Francis is a chubby nerd and a shrimp, and is a perfect foil to Sadie's taller, stoic stick figure.
The actors are all first rate, and the chemistry between them makes this story feel like real life.
This is a movie where I do not want to reveal much plot, but I will say "see it because it's really good"!
And I don't say that about very many Indie films, or even many new films in general.
"Sadie" is played by a young actress named Sophia Mitri Schloss. Her Mom is played by Melanie Lynskey, who I had not previously heard of but who is a New Zealand actress who has been in many well known movies. She got her start with Peter Jackson in "Heavenly Creatures".
Two Very Big Thumbs Up for "Sadie". Here's hoping that more independent films with have this level of quality, and attention to story and character.
That's all I know for tonight. See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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