EricJ

(As part of her ongoing vigilant campaign to avenge....something I said, probably that K-spam joke: ) Well, that's the strange thing about Universal monster geography--No one knows WHERE it takes place: Frankenstein isn't in Transylvania, Dracula is in Transylvania, which is full of German peasants. The Baron's castle is somewhere in Germany, which is full of cockney English peasants, who dress in Bavarian clothes. Remarkably similar to the English-moor village where the Wolfman prowls the Talbot estate...Although the English estate is close enough for Romanian gypsies to wander through. If Boris Karloff's mannered English voice comes out of the Monster, we assume it came from the English-speaking Germany of the Baron's estate. Lugosi's allowed to sound as Romanian/Hungarian as he likes, which includes shepherds who might have escaped from other countries.

Lon Jr., by the time he was pretty deep in his cups, started to get more and more creative in his stories about the Universal days, and at one point claimed he had to stunt-double for Lugosi as the monster for the majority of the scenes..."I played Frankenstein and the Wolfman in that movie!" However, that's since taken with the same grain of salt as Judy Garland's Oz-set stories. Always thought the movie had a surprising lack of Frankenstein in it, when I first saw it...Which brings up an interesting thread topic: What OTHER movies had their entire raison d'être main plot or subplot cut out by the studio at the last minute, leaving...not very much, with no particular reason to be made? Apart from Superman II, Star Trek: Insurrection, Daredevil, Creepshow II, and Smokey & the Bandit III, what more classic-era examples were there?

Huh...The need for post-Ghost plot, dialogue and canon WOULD certainly explain the unlikely casting of Lugosi as the Monster in FMtW, as more physically suited (and non-Hungarian) actors like Glenn Strange would play him in the other Universal movies, eg. Abbott & Costello. And, as the clip points out, the Ygor/Monster being blind does explain that iconic arm-stretched walk we took for granted for years.

A salute to John Alcott cinematography, and no "Beastmaster" or "Terror Train"??

Thought it was just a TV-movie pilot, didn't remember it getting episodes-- Still, why are you asking if we "remember" it, when we have YouTube?: Now, if only Fox would release the rest of Yul Brynner's 70's "Anna & the King" show, of which they only put the pilot on the "King & I" disk.

For the second time, it's not Kissinger, it's Werner "Our Germans are better than their Germans" von Braun. As for the "recommendation" to see RV, which I would never make, I would caution to look at a bit of Richard Pryor's sad last bit of "80's poor-shlub comedy" in "Moving" (1988). Not because it's a good film--which, oh, dear lord, it is not--but because I looked at the trailer for Robin Williams in "RV" and thought..."Were they trying to remake it? ? "

And the mention of McGavin for some reason reminds me of Gene Kelly's insincere uber-cynical news reporter from Inherit the Wind. Not "evil", just a lot slimier than his usual casting. (Think McGavin had the part in the Kirk Douglas TV-movie version.)

On the last Filmstruck Pick4, this was my personal pick for Funniest (or at least Favorite) Classic Movie Comedy ever made. You sit there thinking, how LONG can they keep the "Pellet with the Poison" gag going, and they keep raising the comic stakes for five unbroken minutes. And that would be if the movie didn't already have the "Knight ceremony" or the hypnotic-suggestion sword duel. It spoils you for watching other Danny Kaye movies, since his Samuel Goldwyn musicals were a bit over or underdone, and Sylvia Fine was the only one who really understood his act when they started producing projects together. As a result, I can't think of a second movie where we get as much pure, uncut Danny, without a lot of corny studio frills put in to surround him. (Which is why I put "The Inspector General" a very, very, very distant second on Kaye's list, and "Hans Christian Andersen" doesn't even crack the top five.)

Speaking of Ford, how about Harrison Ford and Cindy "Shirley" Williams showing very different screen sides in Francis Coppola's "The Conversation"?

Well, they have to, otherwise the tribute to Ira Levin would include Paramount's "Rosemary's Baby" (duh).

My favorite story of how the New Kids just aren't as hip as their parents were: Back in the early-early-early days of Blu-ray, nobody owned a player, so most of the home-theater Blu-vs.-HDDVD Internet discussions came down to gamer wars between the Playstation and X-Box owners. ("Casino Royale!" "Peter Jackson's King Kong, dood!") The good part was, if a classic came out on Blu, Playstation gamers would greedily snap it up never having heard of it, and Millennial film discussions would start over anything they'd discovered....I'd actually forgotten the last time I'd had to debate the ending of "2001". There weren't many classics, since Sony spent most of its time releasing action movies and gamer-friendly guy comedies, but Warner trotted out all of its 4K-restored classics: One time, on our birth-of-Blu forum, the thread started, "What's the funniest comedy currently on Blu-ray?" To a "man", all of the posters answered "Superbad", while a few were generous to include "Pineapple Express" as well. As the senior veteran, I pointed out that Warner had, ahem, already released "Blazing Saddles" on Blu, and half the posters, predictably, had never heard of it. They must have rushed out to see it, since the reactions were later shocked protests of "Heyyy, they're using the N-word, that's not funny!"

"Ty Cobb wanted to join us, but we couldn't stand the SOB when he was alive, so we told him to stick it, hah!"

I don't know why, but I have genuine rage issues at anyone who fooled themselves into believing that "Beauty & the Beast" is "the greatest Disney animated movie ever made", unquote. (I can think of at least five reasons people still say that in the 10's, that have absolutely nothing to do with the movie, and IMO, it sure as heck ain't the movie.) But I don't get mad...I've now found a useful outlet for karmic payback and/or closure-- I sit them down and make them watch Angela Lansbury in "The Manchurian Candidate": ? (From the director who gave us Will "Grandpa Walton" Geer's evil scientific conspiracy in "Seconds".)

Some say "No", and in Last Jedi's case, some say "Oh, HELL no... ?" And after Solo, frankly, even Disney's not sure what's next besides the Ep. IX "finale", but smart money is that whatever it is, it'll be downgraded to the new streaming service. There are very few examples of "the Franchise Killer", and you've just officially watched one. I certainly wouldn't have cast Marilyn as Lolita's mother in the Kubrick film, if that's what you mean...

It helps if you dig up either PBS's "The Battle Over Citizen Kane" documentary (on the disk?), or at least Liev Schrieber in the dramatized "RKO 281". After that, you can't take your eyes off of Welles. As for me, I think I've seen only ONE Errol Flynn movie in my life, and that the obvious one. Keep forgetting to look up The Sea Hawk at the library.

According to IMDB: And the Eric Idle character in Joe Ezsterhas' "Burn, Hollywood, Burn" is unrelated.

Wasn't that technically "Judas Booth"? (And yes, arguably better than the theatrical cut.)

So, they're not ALL about bootleg/knockoff Samsung smartphones, then?

Popeye/Ali Baba also has some of my favorite Mercer mutter-libbed Popeye-isms: "Wish there was a boardwalk on this beach...If I had some bread, I'd make a SAND-wich, if I had a witch...(stops to rest at red stoplight in the middle of the desert, stoplight turns green) C'mon, we got the green light with us..." We don't get the Mercer-voiced toons for about five more (until "King of the Mardi Gras"), but listen to a few of those, and you'll KNOW why they cast Robin Williams in the 1980 movie.

Yeah, I only knew that term from old Danger Mouse cartoons, even if Cavey was having a little too much fun with her Word-a-Day calendar. ....OHHHhhhh!! ? (Yes, I saw the 160pp. spampocalypse too, so I get it NOW, but gotta admit, given that it's usually bounced within hours, K-Spam jokes' shelf life gets shorter in a direct ratio to their specific subject matter.) On topic, it's hard to not picture Desmond Llewelyn next to the dictionary entry:

? Criterion/Filmstruck. Qatsi Trilogy (or just Koyaanis, the other two are pretty bad). NOW. If you'd said you only knew Glass for his "Mishima" score, I would have gladly given a pass, but "Dracula" is unforgivable.

Yeah, that was a brief, weird phase, when John McTiernan set out to remake all of his buddy Norman Jewison's 60's-70's classics as labors-of-love without really having a fundamental understanding of them. Of course, after that, we got the '02 "Rollerball" remake, and we'll never know what would have happened after that.

Just wait till you get to Peter Pan, next on the animated list. (For which, to be fair, Bobby retired the jersey.) And might want to go back and compare Disney's "the" Treasure Island by the time when/if you get to "Treasure Planet" from '02. Neither one can be called perfect, but the '50 version gets points just for Robert Newton as Long John Silver-- How iconic/influential was Newton?: When you go "Arr, matey" on Talk Like a Pirate Day, 90% chance you're imitating his Silver.

So, Glass is recognized for thirty-five years of work, Lin-Manuel is recognized for one hit Broadway show and a couple of Disney movies, and Cher is recognized for having a new Broadway musical to plug? (Hey, Peter Stone had one historical Broadway hit too, where's HIS lifetime Kennedy Honors?)

And they have a chicken-fight with their wheelchairs. Which I think is supposed to be dramatic, but I'm not sure.