Swithin

Ingagi (1930) Well, I have seen it at last. Although it is presented as a documentary about the explorer Sir Hubert Winstead, it's really all a fake, and was the subject of a court case in its day. Much of the footage has been purloined from other films shot in Africa, and some of the footage was actually shot in Los Angeles (you can tell). However, taken as a fiction film, it has some interesting moments. The restored print looks good, the tinted shots are attractive, and some of the animals are cute. (Some are not so cute.) The authentic African footage is well presented, even if it has been lifted from other films. There is a very cute lemur; and an especially vicious crocodile "that has developed a taste for dark meat." After a while, it wears thin and becomes boring: we've seen much of that footage, better presented, in other movies. The famously shocking bits don't appear until more than one hour into this 82-minute film. They have to do with women and gorillas. Evidently, there is a tribe that sacrifices women to the gorillas (Ingagi); but other women don't get sacrificed to them... "One had a child hugged to her breast, a strange-looking child, seemingly more ape than human." It is said that this film inspired King Kong, which rose, a few years later, from the ashes of the failure of Ingagi. The first all-black horror film, Son of Ingagi (1940), which you can find on YouTube, has nothing to do with this film. Ingagi was thought to be a lost film, but there are a couple of prints at the Library of Congress, from which the restored version was made. The DVD has a few extras, including one about the restoration.

More films with connections to Harold Rome musicals. I Can Get It for You Wholesale (1951) Fanny (1961)

When I think of horror movies that have characters without faces, I think more along these lines, though Mona was no fiend: "Would you go, if you looked like THIS?!!!!!"

I'll check this movie out, not sure if I've seen it. I do remember a shower scene in C.H.U.D.!

On Svengoolie tomorrow, May 15, 2021:

J. Carroll Naish was in Anthony Adverse with Joseph Crehan.

Right on all counts, Fausterlitz, and the thread is yours! Use it wisely -- please don't pass, even if you can't set another one immediately!

This couple had success in early television but first had rich careers in film. She appeared in a popular series of films and also introduced an Oscar-winning song (one of my personal favorite Oscar winners). She was nominated for an Oscar for her final film. The television series he was in was based on a popular series of movies. His second wife was his co-star in the television series. Name the couple, her film series, the song referred to, and her final film. Name his second wife, and their television series. Name their actress daughter.

Angela Lansbury was in Gaslight with Dame May Whitty.

I haven't seen Macabre in quite a while, but I remember it being kind of lame. I guess my favorites of his horror period are Mr. Sardonicus and The Tingler, but I'd like to see some of Castle's 1940s/early 50s films. Quite a diverse lot. One of his earlier films which I've never seen -- Slaves of Babylon -- features Maurice Schwartz, who founded the Yiddish theater in NYC! He plays the prophet Daniel. It also features Julie Newmar in the role of dancer-assassin.

Ratboy (1986) Next: Many homes

Did you like the movie? I recorded it, but can't decide whether to watch it or not. Good cast, and Tay Garnett's films on shipboard (first scene) are generally promising.

In NYC, we had Shock Theater (with Zacherley), and, a few years later, Chiller Theater. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shock_Theater https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiller_Theatre_(1961_TV_series)

I met Carol Lawrence a few years ago. She was lovely, and fun, and amazing at 84!

My cable company's online description of From Hell It Came: "Wooden acting marks this lumbering tale about a monster tree stump whose bite is worse than its bark."

The Chosen is a wonderful movie, evocative of Jewish New York after World War II. I think of it as sort of a Jewish Brideshead Revisited, with an Orthodox (i.e. more liberal) boy and a Hasidic boy. I wish I remembered the scene in question; I do remember Rod Steiger dancing, but not the specifics mentioned. One of Steiger's great performances, and Maximilian Schell was great as well, as the fathers of the boys. (Steiger was Oscar-nominated for a previous performance as a Jewish character in The Pawnbroker.)

Well that about covers it, Lavender! Tovarich the musical was not a huge success -- it ran for just under a year -- but it has a nice score. The thread is yours! Maria Montez and Jean-Pierre Aumont

The woman the husband dated actually married royalty. The wife's dual role consisted of one good sister, one evil.

I love those Mummy sequels, although I still think one of the greatest tragedies is the death-by-Mummy of Tante Berthe, played by Ann Codee in The Mummy's Curse. And after she opened the film so well with that rousing song!

The concept of the homunculi was current in the 19th century (and earlier) and probably inspired Mary Shelley, so their place in the movie makes sense. There's also an in-joke. Charles Laughton had played Henry VIII and was kept apart from Elsa Lanchester a few years earlier, hence the poor king homunculus trying to approach the queen.

I've seen dozens of films numerous times, but the one film I've seen most in movie theaters is Harold and Maude. I first saw it the year it was released, at the Loew's Paradise in the Bronx. I was hooked. I went back again and again and am convinced that I was the original cult member. When it formally achieved cult status a few years later, it was revived, and I went back to see it some more, in the Bronx and Manhattan. I even took friends to see it, dragging them to such far away places as Brooklyn Heights. I have the book, and whilst working on a project with Garson Kanin, I got his wife, Ruth Gordon, to sign it for me.

Slightly off topic, but clergy are almost always depicted negatively in Shakspeare's plays. One of very few exceptions to that rule is the Bishop of Carlisle in Richard II. "O, if you raise this house against this house, It will the woefullest division prove That ever fell upon this cursed earth. Prevent it, resist it, let it not be so, Lest child, child's children, cry against you woe!"

In the interests of moving this along... This couple were not born in America. After a rich theater and film career in his home country, he, a Jew, fled the Nazis, coming to America where he continued his career. He went back to Europe to fight and received two important medals for his valour. He later dated an actress who became connected with royalty. The wife made one of those movies where she plays two sisters. One of the sisters asks the other for something, with one of the most famous lines ever (related to a snake)! She also received awards in her home country. In fact, there's an airport named for her. As an actress, she had a title related to royalty. Who are this couple? What is the film where the wife plays a dual role? What is the famous line? What is the Broadway musical in which the husband acted with a two-Oscar-winning actress? Who is the famous actress that he dated? And what was the rather colorful title by which the wife was known?

On Svengoolie tomorrow, May 8, 2021: An old friend returns, from that great year, 1957.

The Snake Woman (1961) Next: Odd next door neighbor