TomJH

"tomorrow we go forth a free nation where every man shall reap what he has sown and bow no knee except in prayer... . . . unless you work for Donald Trump. In that case, a little knee bending will help you keep your job (at least, for a little while).

Son of Dracula (1943) I watched this atmospheric entry in Universal's horror cycle from the war years the other day, surprisingly only the studio's second vampire film following the success of Dracula 13 years before. SPOILER ALERT for those who haven't seen the film: I like this film but I've always been struck by the nosiness of the small town American residents and their nervy intrusiveness into the life of this strange looking dude who calls himself Count Alucard after he arrives in their small Deep South (Louisiana?) town. I mean, come on, you've got home spun Frank Craven (stepping right out of Our Town) getting so curious about the Count that he walks into his home and starts prying in the guy's bedroom (actually breaking the lock on his luggage to peer inside) then wandering into the basement, where he's peaking into a coffin. When the Count then appears at the top of the stairs he inquires as to what Craven is doing in his basement and politely, if firmly, asks him to leave. I don't know about you but I think I would be a little more assertive with any intruder I found like that in my home. I might even call the cops. It's really easy to identify with the Count here. Yeh, he's an outsider and he looks a little strange (okay, he's a lot strange) and he likes his privacy but, really, these small town yokels are the ones who largely intrude upon him. Of course Craven notices early what happens if he spells the name Alucard backwards for the biggest none surprise in the film. But Craven's pushiness is nothing compared to Robert Paige, who plays the boy friend of Louise Allbritton who suddenly marries the Count and has him move into her home with her. Paige shows up at her home and is shocked when she tells him she just married Alucard. Paige, hardly lacking in nerve, then walks up to Alucard and orders him, newly married and on his honeymoon or not, to get out of town. The Count is understandably rather perturbed by Paige's in-your-face demands (and on his honeymoon night yet!) and grabs him by the throat, pushing him to the ground. Paige, a 2nd Amendmenter if ever there was one, then pulls out a gun and shoots Alucard. The bullets go right through him but Louise Allbritton, standing behind him, falls to the ground, looking pretty dead. Paige then empties his gun into Alucard with no effect as the Count just gives him a nasty glare saying, "You just shot my wife. Now why did you do that?" Or, at least, that is how you might interpret his expression. Later in the film, without going into any details, Paige turns pyromaniac, burning a coffin as well, as incredibly, setting a bedroom on fire in a mansion. Nobody seems to be bothered by the fact that this jerk just set a house on fire. They all stand around and watch. Despite all of this Son of Dracula, more than capably directed by Robert Siodmak, has quite a lot going for it. Hulking Lon Chaney Jr. might not be ideal casting as the Count but he gives it a game try. Universal in those days seemed to be casting Chaney in all the horror roles, the Wolf Man, Frankenstein's Monster, the Mummy and now it was his turn to be Count Alucard, or Dracula, or whoever he is. Despite the film's title, by the way, I don't recall any indication in the screenplay that his character actually is the son of the old blood sucker. One interesting aspect of the film is Louise Allbritton's character. This was the only female in any of Universal's Dracula films who has an obsession with the supernatural and wants to become Lady Dracula or, at least, one of the undead. All the others encountering the Fanged One in these films went out screaming. Albritton, however, wants immortality and, as the film proceeds, she tries to talk Paige into accompanying her on it as, it turns out, she seems to be manipulating Count Alucard in order to get entry into the Undead Club (at least that's how I interpreted the screenplay). Poor Count Alucard, I wonder if he was unlucky with cards, as well. Also poor Evelyn Ankers. Does anyone even remember she was in this film? Two years before she was leading lady to Chaney in The Wolf Man. But now, in Son of Dracula, she's largely wasted in a nothing role as Allbritton's "normal" sister who worries about Sis and her relations with this Alucard character. One of the most distinguishing features of Son of Dracula is its moody black and white photography. One of the most memorable moments in the film is when Allbritton goes down to a swamp. We see a coffin rise to the top of the waters, with some mist coming from it which transforms itself into Count Alucard, or Dracula. The coffin, now with Dracula standing on top of it, then slowly moves across the swampy waters towards Allbritton, who waits for him on the shore. With the expressions on their faces they look exactly like lovers meeting at a private rendezvous. 2.5 put of 4

Mike Mazurki's Moose in MURDER MY SWEET is pretty psychopathic compared to Jack O'Halloran who makes the big guy curiously sympathetic in the Mitchum film. Raymond Chandler didn't like Dick Powell as Marlowe, but Powell's Marlowe (even if he isn't as physically imposing as some others who have played the role) captures the insolence of the private eye and he has a great dry throwaway delivery of sharp one liners. Powell is one of my favourite Marlowes though that takes nothing away from either Bogart or Mitchum, both of whom seem more natural fits in the role. But Powell, unlike the other two, had the monumental task of having to battle against his screen crooner persona making his performance in the 1944 film all that more impressive to me.

Actually John Barrymore is surprisingly effective in the conventional role of leading man in RASPUTIN AND THE EMPRESS, with his performance turning border line hysterical in the assassination scene. Lionel takes the film, of course, with the showy role of the "mad monk." The versatility of John as an actor was such that he could have played either Rasputin or the leading man role based on Prince Felix Yusupov. Lionel has fun chewing up the scenery and he makes the most of his scenes. He was a great character actor but it's only character parts he could play. He simply didn't have his brother's looks and ability to be a romantic lead or don the makeup (which, I suspect, John preferred to do) for a character role. John may have been denied the opportunity to play Rasputin (to make way in the film for his brother) but at least his Svengali gives us a good idea of what might have been. Quite frankly, I'd take his Svengali (in which he incorporates humour with the villainy) any day over Lionel's plotting, licentious monk.

David Shire's great, wondrous score for Farewell My Lovely sets the mood for the entire film. Lonely nights in the big city personified. It's a little surprising, though, that the film only utilizes this main theme under the film's opening and closing titles. Robert Mitchum is a great older Marlowe, tired with a touch of melancholy about his appearance, but still, in his own beat up way, Chandler's knight of the streets, a guy who will take two grand inside his breast pocket up some old hotel stairs to a widow and her little boy living in an apartment at the top of them.

I haven't done any research to support my theory about general interest in Lugosi being greater. It's a gut feeling based on observation of comments and articles. It will be interesting, Antonia, if you do find there are fewer Karloff biographies in existence. Karloff certainly had some great highlights in his film career, most of them in the '30s, moreso, I feel, than Bela.

Well as the years rolled by Aunt Velma actually starting sporting some hair on her upper lip and the resemblance became even more startling. Just joking. Actually I couldn't quite understand why she was so upset about being compared to Errol. Yeh, I know he's a guy and she wasn't and all that. Still, it's better than being told she looked like Maria Ouspenkaya.

I had an Aunt Velma who, when she was a young girl, was told that she looked exactly like Errol Flynn in Captain Blood. She didn't like being told that for some reason.

There is a very nice looking copy of Try and Get Me on You Tube.

I read Farewell My Lovely too long ago to recall. I don't know the answer to your question. I'm stumped as to an answer. Can't tell you. Nope, I have no idea. If there's anything else I can not help you with, please let me know.

I read Farewell My Lovely (along with most of the other Marlowe novels) back in the '70s. Chandler became a favourite of mine, particularly for his dialogue though there were some descriptive passages (the opening paragraph of Red Wind, a short story, stood out) that were sheer poetry. It was never the story lines that I cared about. They were merely a framework for the rest. I recall enjoying most of them, including FML. But now, when I have difficulty recalling them, it's almost as if I never read them at all. Fortunately I still have the books kicking around here so I can correct that. Here's the Red Wind opener: There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge.

Ghost Breakers is one of my favourite comedy horror films. But it's uncomfortable to me whenever Bob Hope's cracks a joke in reference to Willie Best's skin colour (which happens around five times in the film). I asked a black friend of mine to share the film with me (she had loved Hope's Cat and the Canary the day before, a film without racial jokes, so I thought she'd like this one too). She walked out on Ghost Breakers at about the two thirds point right after Hope had made another skin colour joke about Best.

So what? I was focusing on no station when I made my comment, just her name when I listened to an audio of her on You Tube. There's room for doubt about the lady's comment no matter who she works for. But her political affiliations were not on my mind since I didn't know them.

I didn't know which network Morris was on when I made my comment so your observation of partisanship doesn't apply to me.

This isn't exactly what you're talking about, Dargo, because there is no sociopath but how about Bonnie and Clyde? Bonnie is bored and listless until she meets the excitement of Clyde. In any event it's highly doubtful that her life would have ended the way it did if she hadn't had that fateful encounter.

I'm not a basketball fan so the death of Kobe Bryant doesn't have the same impact upon me that it does on so many others. Having said that I appreciate the love and respect that so many are expressing for him and it is, of course, tragic that nine people died under such circumstances. Bryant was such a young man and to lose his daughter in the crash only makes the loss that much more devastating for his family. I have also listened to the clip of Alison Morris for which she is being so castigated with some calling for her to be fired. When I read that she uttered the N word I was initially angered and felt the same way. However, after hearing the clip (she claims she stuttered and accidentally placed an N on Lakers) I really can't tell if she said the N word or "Nakers" and wonder why so many others are so outraged when I think there may actually be room for doubt. I know nothing about Morris so have to ask if the commentator is known to have made any racially disparaging comments or implications in the past. If the answer is no shouldn't she be allowed the benefit of the doubt in this instance?

I enjoyed Try and Get Me but I agree with those who said it felt like two different films cobbled together. Having said that the scenes in the jailhouse at the end were still very powerful (all the more so with the knowledge that the film is based on a real 1933 event). I also thought that Lloyd Bridges was a great psycho. But one part of the film that had me shaking my head in disbelief is when Frank Lovejoy's character, after initially participating as the get away driver in a series of petty ante convenience store holdups, is suddenly involved in a kidnapping. I can believe that Bridges would do it because he's a wild unpredictable guy and we don't really know what he's about until he does it (including acts of violence), but Lovejoy is established as a family man just doing these relatively small crimes out of desperation to bring in some money for his wife and kid that he loves. He's not a hardened criminal and a loon like Bridges. Why would he agree to being involved in a kidnapping which is a major capital offence and could draw major years in the slammer away from his family? Sure his counterpart in real life agreed to it but the screenplay of this film doesn't in any way prepare us for this act on his part. When I saw that they were going to kidnap that kid I was shocked and shouted, "Kidnap? Lovejoy, are you nuts?" With Bridges I didn't have to ask about the nuts part because I already knew the answer.

Lovely film with some truly beautiful photography. It reminds me of the time I was tramping through some woods and came across a doe with a fawn feeding off her. Just feet away stood a second fawn watching them. It was amazing that they allowed me to be so close, perhaps 100 feet (I guess they didn't hear me). I watched them transfixed, realizing at the time that this was a unique moment for me, feeling privileged to share it with the three animals. I stood perfectly still for about three minutes watching, just me, three deer and about a thousand mosquitoes landing on me. Finally I couldn't stand it any longer and I took a slap at the blood suckers. The deer were gone in five seconds but the mosquitoes remained. Still, for about three minutes, I shared that moment with those deer.

Lauren Bacall is not my physical type but that doesn't prevent me from seeing that she was still a strikingly attractive woman (of the model variety) who would appeal to many others. Humphrey Bogart was a bit of a mug, particularly as he aged, but I can see why some women would find him attractive as Rick in Casablanca, for example, or Marlowe in The Big Sleep. It goes beyond just physical appearance, though, as I suspect it would involve an attraction to his character's insolence towards authority figures, as well as the worldly cynicism and street smarts he exuded as a mature male who has seen much of life.

Yes, I heard that William T. Orr didn't win too many popularity contests on the Warners lot. "Well, as my old Pappy used to say, "When it comes to money, William T. Orr is tighter than a buzzard's azz in a nosedive."

I certainly enjoyed the first Support film, Support Your Local Sheriff, with James Garner's impish tongue-in-cheek delivery and reactions. That man was a marvel. Another good Garner western but of a far different kind was Hour of the Gun in which he was a grim Wyatt Earp out for revenge.

Another impressive Jerome Moross western score was for The Proud Rebel, maybe not quite the celebrated classic that The Big Country music is but still very impressive. The Proud Rebel is a lovely little western that is largely character motivated, as well as being Alan Ladd's last good film. Moross's music beautifully captures the drama as well as sensitivity to be found in this film.

Errol Flynn sure was fortunate to be at the studio that had Max Steiner to musically support his horse operas. I'm a little surprised that They Died With Their Boots On is missing from your CD cover as it has some of Steiner's best work, as well. Many an ordinary western (like Dallas) seems just that much better than it really is thanks to the sound of Max on the soundtrack. A little remembered Flynn western like Rocky Mountain benefits immeasurably by Steiner's contribution to the soundtrack. I noticed that your CD cover is an image of Errol from this good little film, Ray.

I rather suspect that more film buffs today are interested in the life of Lugosi than they are of Karloff, who had the more successful career of the two. I see far more comments on these boards about Bela than I do of Boris. And I think that's because, while Karloff's career had its ups and downs, his own life was pretty stable (at least that's the impression that I have). Lugosi, on the other hand, with his spotty career including the ignominy of his final films with Ed Wood and, in particular, his drug addiction, can be seen as a tragic figure. And tragic lives trump stable lives every time when it comes to interest, even if that interest is of a slightly morbid variety, at times. I would bet a small sum of money, without researching it first, that there are more biographies about Lugosi than there are of Karloff.

I just like the idea of an ending in which Sam gets the girl. Of course, Rick gets stuck with Carl in a skimpy outfit but that provides us with a message: Life isn't perfect. "Isn't perfect!?! It SUCKS!"