jameselliot

October 23, 2003

I have Street of Shadows on DVD through NetworkonAir. It would be a good movie for Noir Alley. The harmonica soundtrack is really unique.

MeTV is notorious for heavy cutting. More cuts, more ads. Even Perry Mason is not spared. Peacock is currently showing Son and other Universal horror classics.

I agree it has its moments and I like it overall. Casting Lugosi as the blind Monster (with Ygor's brain from Ghost) seemed like a fit, but it doesn't work for me even though Eddie Parker doubled for Bela. Plus the movie was tampered with in post production and left loose ends. Lugosi's dialog was cut. The model of the castle looked really cheap. The Monster burned in the lab at the end of Ghost. How'd he wind up in an ice cave? The villagers trusting Mannering and Baroness Frankenstein is a ridiculous plot device. What happened to Maleeva? She disappears before the last reel. Blowing up the

Rock Hudson was a big smoker. Sammy Davis Jr was a fiend. Hollywood did a fine job promoting cigarettes.

Cobb vs Robert Taylor in Party Girl was an interesting contrast.

“He’s boldly going where other people have gone before. He's a guinea pig, 90 years old and it's important to find out what happens. So 90 years old is going to show a great deal more on the wear and tear on the human body, so he'll be a good specimen to study. Although he's not the fittest specimen of 90 years old, so he'll be a specimen that's unfit!"

O'Brien knows it's over so his non-stop hysteria and paranoia worked for me. The scene of him running in the street out of sheer panic over the diagnosis was one of many powerful moments, like the drug store scene with insane Neville Brand. The remake was another reason not to remake classic movies.

I'm a Tubi fan. They show some really wacky 'underground' movies, compared to TCM's pathetic Underground programming. I liked that "gas station" analogy. They also have rare, high brow movies such as Corridor of Mirrors.

Son is the last of the "upper class" Universal Frankensteins. The series became lower-cost programmers starting with Ghost of, Meets The Wolfman, House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula. I don't include A&C Meet Frankenstein as part of the saga.

Blue Horizon knew Shatner would draw major amounts of attention. He seemed in awe after he landed and I was glad for him. Of course, George 'Sulu' Takei had to P on his parade on social media.

When I went to Bruce Lee and Sonny Chiba movies, half the audience would scream at the screen. "Look out, Bruce!" "Kill the m............!" And so on.

The Third Secret is a good British noir. It's been shown on TCM a few times.

He starred in an Italian western called Kill Them All and Come Back Alone that I liked very much.

I was amazed they didn't get injured shooting that fight.