CaveGirl

I think we all know what "train shots" in movies are about... It's shorthand for, uh...that intimate thing that people do occasionally even when they don't have access to Viagra. All those trains zooming in and out, in and out, in and out of tunnels and such. I mean, c'mon, like y'all thought it was really about riding the B&O to Wisconsin to visit your grandparents. Pulleeeeze! Alfred Hitchcock seems to be the master of using Lionel train sets in place of raunchy shots with his stars in flagrante delicto to save money, time and embarrassment for people like Eva Marie Saint in his movies. No Saint should have to be shown sans proper clothing on film!

The anatomy issue I enjoy most watching is when Lee Remick's clothes change from skirts to pants in one scene. Love those film flubs and lack of continuity issues!

Yeah, you would have given Ms. Alexander a rave review, right Dargo? Of course that might be because Pia Zadora is your favorite actress of all time next to Wanda Hendrix!

Cult movie heaven occurred last night on TCM with the back to back showings of "Harold and Maude", "This is Spinal Tap" and "Freaks". All have some interesting connections to smells, and of course the oddities all around us in this strange, twilight world we live in. Another interesting perspective on the three films to me is, the idea of a Forced Perspective of visuals and other types being utilized to emotionally move the audience. In HAM of course the perspective is slanted in an intellectual way referencing what is considered normal as opposed to what someone like Maude envisions as the meaning to life. Her house full of sensory stimulants like the one which features snow for one's proboscis is revelatory. In TIST, the Tapsters reference about every rock legend in the book, except the red snapper story about Led Zeppelin, to formulate a band so believable with bizarre gardening accidents that take drummers to rock and roll heaven, amps that give just that extra push to 11 for power ballads, and kilts, outrageous back stage food requests, girlfriends who don't know how to pronounce the word Dolby, and KISS face make-up. The plethora of bands and artists mocked in a gentle way include Jethro Tull, Frank Zappa, The Beatles, Dylan, The Band and the list goes on and on. The perspective is so focused and dependent on real-life incidents that the band becomes believably real to the extent, there were some who did not get the inside joke. I was not one of them being an avid reader of rock bios and Rolling Stone, but I can understand why non-aficianados of rock and roll might be fooled. In "Freaks" the Forced Perspective" operates on a quietly visceral way by starting off with the audience being exposed to entities the likes of which many may not have ever seen, but slowly changing the focus to an emotional connection with the carnie performers like Prince Randian, Johnny Eck, the Hilton Twins, Schlitzie and the Snow girls, and others like Harry Earles as Hans, and his sister, who played his girlfriend. As time progresses in the movie, with scenes trapped in Harry's small wagon compartment and Olga Baclanova trying to feed him poisoned spoonfuls in the cramped space, the freaks began to occupy the spaces which seem smaller and hence appropriately normal, and the regular sized people like Venus and the Strong Man starting to look like giants and out-sized and repugnantly horsey. As one's sympathies change with the visuals a similar interior identification with the freak participants is achieved with the audience. At least, with audiences I have been in at screenings. It's hard not to enjoy in some way the revenge factor illustrated in the evocative dark and stormy night attack in the mud, underneath the wagons as they roll along with the evil and "normal" people fleeing the freaks. Forced Perspective has been used in quite a few films, like Murnau's "Sunrise" and in Laughton's "The Night of the Hunter" but usually just in a purely visual way, but I think the visuals can also stimulate and alteration of empathy as they do in these three cult classics. I thank TCM for putting together such a bravura trio of films for our viewing pleasure.

Films that have an exotic and jungle-like terrain often seem to me to be about people’s dreams or an entry into their inner consciousness. The past week I was the proud possessor of the dvd for the 1932 version of the Richard Connell prize winning story, “The Most Dangerous Game”. Both this film and “King Kong” have similar pedigrees with Ernest Schoedsack being co-director for each, Fay Wray and Robert Armstrong starring in both, and magnificently aided by Noble Johnson, who is the native chief in King, but plays a white servant to Count Zaroff in TMDG, named Ivan. These films utilize the same jungle motif and there is a sense of déjà vu when viewing TMDG after seeing Kong so often. Entering the locale of TMDG, it starts off with a bang, with a fist extended towards the knocker of a giant baronial door, a knocker which depicts a woman being held in a gorilla-like creature’s paw, not unlike Kong’s. To knock, one must grasp the woman’s body in a horizontal way and rap, while enveloping her. Thus the whole storyline is encapsulated in this erotically filmed opening sequence. Zaroff’s island is located in the Mediterranean and is legendary to sailors as Shiptrap Island, due to many sailing vessels being wrecked there. With a thick jungle, surrounded on all sides by jagged rocks and quicksand on the S.E. corner called Death Swamp, one knows better than to accept the hospitality of the welcoming lighthouse beams which in this case do not indicate safe passage, as some seaworthy veterans fear it is a trick to lure the fledging sailor to his death. Residing in the midst of this decay and danger on a bluff, is the most prominent castle of the Russian Count Zaroff, which is decorated in a ghastly Baroque style with heads acquired though his hunting exploits and with some mounted below in the tunnel to the dogs’ quarters, those of human prey. Giant wall tapestries also illustrate the perverse nature of the Count’s exploits. The courtyard and outer vestiges of the Count’s domicile are guarded by the ferocious and fierce mastiffs he uses for hunting, now that he has taken up man as his sole game. But be forewarned, an unwitting visitor to the island is only given three hours headstart and then is hunted for three days to his death. Also master of his island domain is Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World. Kong presides over Skull Island which is S.W. of Sumatra in the Indian Ocean. On the West front, Skull Island extends in a sandy peninsula for over a mile, and is cut off by a precipice from the mainland. Rising in the center of dense vegetation is a mountain which resembles a skull, and at its foot is a lake into which flow the streams running down the slopes. The flora and fauna are of gigantic proportions due to the tropical nature of the land, and are home to dinosaurs, huge lizards, flying reptiles, snakes and vultures. A wooden wall over 130 feet in height connects both coasts and separates the peninsula and the precipice, by means of two stone pillars and a huge gatelike entrance, constructed by the ancestors of the present natives. Their deity is Kong and their native chief pays tribute to him occasionally by offering him a bride, who is bedecked in florals and given into the hands of the witch doctor and twelve men, dressed in apelike couture and furry skulls, who place the bride on Kong’s altar plate. One knows it is time to climb the high wall to view the ceremonies and acceptance of the gift, when the gong is sounded and the bar is slowly threaded through the latches. Forgetting for once the sexual undertones inherent in both these films, it is instructive to focus on the dreamlike elements in each film. Both islands appear to be from some ancient time period, and allow one to be immersed in a more primeval and primitive thought process. Reaching into the subterranean strictures of the brain, the islands perform a function that becomes cathartic, chthonic and oneiromantic. More so than modern films which brag on their special effects being so lifelike, these two films achieve greater levels of participation with the viewer enmeshed in the tale, and their more fully realized accomplishment of simulating a dream or fugue state. One other aspect which completes the dream symbiosis is that just like in dreams where things are where they should not be, to watch TMDG is to wonder why now Denham is masquerading as Ann Darrow’s brother and why is Kong not in the same jungle, that appears to lie beyond the mansion. These films create a mental diptych where one is the counterpoint to the other. Open the latched doors of the diptych and risk entering into the deeper state of your diaspora towards moral disintegration and cosmic unconsciousness. Has anyone noticed that Bruce Cabot’s facial structure with his big wide grin and gleaming teeth, looks a lot like Kong’s? By the way, for sheer diabolical power and unparalleled use of something accidental, Leslie Banks uses a war injury which paralyzed the left side of his face, to delineate Count Zaroff’s dual persona. As the Count, Banks is photographed from the left in conventional scenes, but full face during more frightening close-ups to utilize the disparity between the sides of his face as metaphors for his unhinged personality. He represents the unchallenged Id in its sheer monomania and selfish lust for power and control. And he is one of the most superb and blood curdling villains on screen, that one ever has the pleasure to observe. Favorite scenes. Denham in full view of the natives with his giant camera saying “Uh oh, I think they’ve seen us.” Kong ripping the poor lizard’s jaw open and then playing with it. The native baby, left all alone during Kong’s rampage. Kong getting his fingers hurt by Driscoll’s knife and his bemused look. All the cool birds and vultures and bats flying overhead. The idiot from the boat who climbs the tree and then Kong chews him up. Kong literally rubbing out two natives with his giant footpaw in the mud. Kong in New York pulling the woman out of bed, seeing she is not to his taste, and dropping her like a hot potato. I see I have a lot of messages here, so I'll be back later to see if anyone else posts about movies using the same sets, clothing, actors or whatever.

Maybe they were coming too close to the quick, Down?

Use "Aherne" as in Brian, in your next punning, Miss W.

Boy, that's what I like about this place. How a post can take a turn off the pike and end up at the Bates Motel so quickly. Your mother is calling you,Dargo! The one with the dessicated apple core-like head wearing that dress that Norman likes to borrow occasionally.

I liked "The Tenderfoot" because Joe E. was very forceful and masculine in it and Ginger had more brown hair than usual.

Yes, I do and I thank you for any info on such movie memorabilia as you have given us!

"mean"? No, my cousin collects bobblehead dolls and wants one of Bill Murray in "What About Bob?" He has quite a big collection and some very strange ones. I did tell him about your Sinatra post and emailed him a copy since I knew he'd be interested in your research.

Were you here in the States that far back, San Fin to remember seeing Cleo on television? I thought you had come to the United States in 2008.

OMG! Why could it not be Sylvester Stallone's mommy instead. Oh, wait...is she already dead? Sorry.

Masterful rendering, Jlewis and thanks for sharing!

Hey, Fedya don't be putting that dollface, John Lund down. We females need some male pulchritude to admire onscreen, even if it is a bit wooden. He's the male version of Hedy Lamarr to us of the movie world!

I would really love to read some of the writings of the professional critics that you are referring to, TikiSoo. Please share since there are so few that are worth reading and I'm sure the ones you know are great. I think all can appreciate ones whose reviews are "broad" and "descriptive" as you noted, and not of a too personal nature.

It might have been because of her teeth. No, not cuz they were bad but because they were so perfect. My grandma says that in every movie she was in, people would later say they were staring at her teeth, and thought they had to be false since they were so perfectly aligned. This may have blinded them to her true singing and acting talents.

Good call, Tor! I think we need a double agent to infiltrate the upper echelon of the joint, and then spill the beans without blowing their cover. Someone like Kim Philby who was the Brit's intelligence officer who was also a KGB mole.

Great post, Spence but I'm looking for the "What About Bob?" Bobblehead Doll of Bill Murray that has kept me searching Ebay for years. Any trace of that in your meanderings?

I choose not to "accept" Tiffany and others of her ilk, Helen though your reasoning is sound. I choose not to "accept" this revolting development, just as I would not have "accepted" that Louella Parsons stint as the doyenne of American columnists, would last forever. Just because she was connected to William Randolph Hearst due to her favorable reviews of the films of his mistress, might have made others "accept" her as a constant, but I still would have had hopes that her reign, just like Walter Winchell's would eventually end. Like Bartleby the Scrivener, I choose not to "accept" that which others would. Good post though, Helen!

Wonderful research, Spence! Perhaps those less flashy are not as appreciated as those who toot their own horn more?

Thanks, Spence! I am always astounded at seeing Max Schreck in his own skin. Not that scary and looks more like the brother of Irving Bacon than a Bram Stoker villain.

Obviously some are locked, like the Tiffany Vasquez one to prevent further disapproval posts from appearing, in an attempt to put out the fire, and make it appear all hunky dory. Kind of like the E-Channel constantly reporting on the Kardashians as if they have a really favorable following who think they are talented. Removed threads may be due to behaviour not unlike that of James Bulger or his cronies. Just guessing...

I forgot to thank you, TB since I watched Joe E. all day and enjoyed the one with Ginger Rogers the most!

Sweetheart, do you mean Marty Piletti? I only know that since I checked out the spelling once on IMDB. I think Marty Falletti is the guy I met playing pool with Joe Mantell in Chinatown once.