scsu1975

Today using IE the films are hesitating like they did on Firefox. So I switched to Firefox and the films are not hesitating. Oh well ...

Tor studied weeks to master his dialogue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLI3iQtDJIA

(the restoration of this thread continues) Creature with the Atom Brain (1955) Directed by Edward L. Cahn (originally posted here: http://forums.tcm.com/index.php?/topic/27065-creature-with-the-atom-brain-1955/) Decent 50s sci-fi, with Richard Denning (neatly coiffed as always) playing a police doctor tracking down who, or what, is bumping off several important people. Michael Granger plays mobster Frank Buchanan. Granger enlists the aid of a German scientist (is there any other kind) Dr. Wilhelm Steigg, played by Gregory Gay. Steigg is a specialist in "amygdale stimulation," and has discovered a method for re-animating corpses by pumping some weird fluid into their veins, transplanting some weird stuff into their brains, and turning the eyeballs into miniature televisions. Naturally, he has done this for the good of mankind, but Buchanan has other ideas ... like using the creatures to knock off his enemies. The film starts to fall apart when Homicide Captain Dave Harris (John Launer) is turned into a creature, yet it takes the cast members quite awhile to notice the scars running around his forehead. The rest of the cast is rather unusual ..."Killer" Karl Davis, Charles Horvath, and Dick Crockett turn up as creatures. Tris Coffin plays the D.A., and the always useful Pierre Watkin plays the Mayor of the city. However, my favorite character is Radio Broadcaster Dick Cutting. Folks, you just can't make this stuff up. The film runs around 70 minutes and has some production value. Denning gives it his best shot, despite having to wear a ridiculous flat hat. However, Granger takes the fashion prize, wearing the worst-fitting suit since Frank Gerstle. "Look Doc, you can mess with the brains and the eyes, but don't touch these." Michael Ross (right) misunderstands when Tris Coffin tells him to "take the wheel." In this unused scene from Fantastic Voyage, two scientists investigate a patient with Irritable Bowel Syndrome. John Launer brags in front of the boys. "That's the worst set of hair plugs I've ever seen." Another Town Hall meeting is disrupted.

I agree about Nolan's fashions. They were hysterical. I also agree that Donahue gives a pretty good performance in an uncharacteristic-type role. He wasn't just a pretty face. He should have had more roles like this. And yes, Heatherton could certainly act (and she sang and danced pretty well too). I did some newspaper research and found that the climax was filmed at the Del Monte Sand Plant in California, which was in the Moss Beach area. Apparently sand was mined from Moss Beach and shipped to the plant. Not sure what was done at the plant; perhaps purifying or washing out stuff.

YES! Watch for the scene in Scream Blacula Scream in which two street guys (can't say thugs anymore) tell Blacula they are going to kick his a** if he doesn't hand over his "bread."

I will leave the thread open.

#2 is Kate Nelligan, #4 is Barbara Shelley, #6 is Veronica Carlson, #8 is Lupita Tovar, #10 is Helen Chandler, all of whom had the bite put on them by Dracula.

My Blood Runs Cold (1965) TCM Movies On Demand (which seems to be working again) Ok suspense yarn with Troy Donahue trying to convince Joey Heatherton that she is his reincarnated lover from about 100 years ago. Heatherton’s father (Barry Sullivan) is pretty suspicious, while her aunt (Jeanette Nolan) seems to know a lot that the others don’t. The ending is a little too unsatisfying, but what the hell … at least we get some shots of Heatherton in a couple of bathing suits and a teddy. The location photography is pretty good too. William Conrad produced and directed, and that’s his voice in the opening credits reading a verse from Lord Byron. He can also be heard as the voice of a helicopter pilot.

(the restoration of this thread continues) Monster from Green Hell (1957) Directed by Kenneth G. Crane (originally posted here: http://forums.tcm.com/index.php?/topic/26434-monster-from-green-hell-1958/) This movie entertained me as a kid... but it stinks now. It's hard to imagine that a giant bug movie could be boring ... cheap, perhaps, poorly acted, perhaps, but not boring. Well, this one is boring. Jim Davis and Robert Griffin are working out of a laboratory that appears to be in Monument Valley. I'm sure the Native Americans were thrilled about this. Anyway, these two clowns send some wasps into space, while we are treated to a typical Albert Glasser headache-inducing opening theme. The rocket crash-lands in Africa, and the wasps are exposed to radiation. Naturally, they grow to about the size of Orson Welles. Vladimir Sokoloff, not playing a Mexican for a change, portrays a scientist who goes off to investigate rumors about giant monsters. Adios, Vladimir. Meanwhile, Davis and Griffin arrive and wander aimlessly through the jungle for about thirty minutes of movie time, twenty of which is footage from Stanley and Livingstone. Boring. In the tight shots, we can see binoculars around the neck of Davis. In the long shots, the binoculars are gone, probably because Davis has changed into Spencer Tracy's stand-in. Their Arab guide is played by Eduardo Ciannelli, who specializes in cooking Ziti Allah Dente. Barbara Turner, who plays Sokoloff's daughter, comes along for the ride. Turner has the personality of a box of hair. The wasps knock off a couple of natives onscreen, and several offscreen. They also scare animals and kill one snake. On occasion, they sound like Rodney Dangerfield passing gas in Caddyshack. In the exciting climax, Davis & Co. look on as the wasps are incinerated in a volcano. Stupefying. "Nature has a way of correcting its own mistakes," concludes Griffin. Unfortunately, the same does not apply to filmmakers. Jock Ewing welcomes J.R. into the world. Jim Davis looks on with skepticism as Robert Griffin tries to sell him a cattle ranch named "Southfork" in the north of Africa. Hey, didn't I see this scene in Stanley and Livingstone ? To combat insomnia, Jim Davis counts natives. "Ayatollah you I'ma no good for thisa part." Hey, didn't I see this scene in Stanley and Livingstone ? "You're gonna need a bigger can of Raid." Vladimir Sokoloff, as Charlie Chan, Jungle Doctor, finally calls out Mantan Moreland. Orson Buggy.

A few items I noticed the past few days: 1. The movies seem to be working again, but when I run them in Firefox, they are hesitating. The sound continues, but the picture freezes for a few moments. This is constant throughout the film. I thought this might be an issue with my laptop (it's 7 years old!!) but now I believe this is an issue with Firefox, because I ran the same film on Internet Explorer and had no issues. I will keep using IE if the problem persists with Firefox. 2. I usually connect my laptop to my tv via hdmi cable, so I can take advantage of the bigger screen, and also the sound system I have connected to the tv. For at least a week or so I was not getting any sound (on both Firefox and IE) except through my PC speakers. This had to be a TCM issue, because if I played a youtube video, the sound went through my television with no problem. Now the sound issue appears to have been fixed.

(the restoration of this thread continues) Robot Monster (1953) Directed by Phil Tucker (originally posted here: http://forums.tcm.com/index.php?/topic/25371-robot-monster-1953/) Without a doubt, one of the worst movies ever made. An alien in a gorilla suit and space helmet ("Ro-Man") destroys the population of the earth, but somehow manages to leave eight alive. Idiot. Since we never see two of the survivors, there are basically six left alive, or, as we call them, the cast. George Nader, who somehow survived this brilliant career move, plays opposite Claudia Barrett, whose best role was that of "Miss Mud Turtle" in an Abbott and Costello TV episode. John Mylong plays the Professor; with his Austrian accent, the least he could have done was spout some Nazi diatribe. Here, he does not know his *** from a hole in the ground. There is dinosaur stock footage from One Million B.C., and lots of shots (way too many) of Ro-Man wandering around trying to decide how to kill the survivors. There is also some kind of bubble machine. The dialogue is stupefying and nonsensical, especially during the exchanges between Ro-Man and his superior, "Great Guidance": Ro-Man: "Fact eight. My pulse has been reduced to plus zero zero." Great Guidance: "Reject. Error." The film gets considerably worse (if that's possible) when Ro-Man begins to have Hu-Man feelings and waxes philosophical: "I cannot, yet I must. How do you calculate that? At what point on the graph do must and cannot meet? Yet I must, but I cannot." Holy crap. A rare still of Buster Crabbe's first screen test. Lawrence Welk sued Ro-Man over use of this bubble machine. "We switched to high-def for this crap?" The film is 66 minutes long. You figure this out. Bigfoot makes a cameo appearance. Claudia Barrett tries to convince George Nader to go straight. (It didn't work.) Barrett and Nader team up in a handicap match against Gorilla Monsoon.

Man-Made Monster (1941) youtube (but for how long?) One of the best of the Universal 1940s horror flicks, moving rapidly along at just under an hour. Lon Chaney stars as sideshow entertainer whose act features him working with electricity. When he is the only survivor of a bus crash where the other passengers are electrocuted, scientist Samuel S. Hinds invites him to participate in a few experiments to determine his immunity to electricity. So far so good. Hinds has an associate, played by Lionel Atwill. Now you know something will go wrong. Atwill has the idea that he can create a species of beings powered by electricity, and Chaney is his perfect subject. Pretty soon Chaney is glowing like Chernobyl and kills Hinds. Chaney is sentenced to die in the electric chair, but the execution does not go as planned. This is my favorite Chaney film. He gives a very relaxed performance early on as just a simple, likable, trusting soul, before the **** hits the fan. Atwill, as usual, is superb as a nutjob, and the supporting cast is fine as well. A bonus is Hans J. Salter’s score, which features his themes that were used over and over in many other Universal films. There is also a very touching relationship between Chaney and Hinds’ dog, which runs throughout the film. Highly recommended.

Witchcraft (1964) FXM Retro Decent little thriller about a witch who is resurrected when a land developer plows up a cemetery. Lon Chaney (as a descendant of the witch) is top-billed, but plays more of a supporting role. When he is onscreen, he yells a lot. He is the only one in the cast who doesn’t speak with a British accent, which is probably a good thing. The rest of the cast does a fair job, with Yvette Reeves creepy (and somewhat sexy) as the witch. The film is predictable, and could have used a higher body count. The finale is well-staged. I had not heard of this film, but it is definitely worth a look. Mr. Bill goes for a car ride.

(the restoration of this thread continues) The Phantom Planet (1961) (originally posted here: http://forums.tcm.com/index.php?/topic/25636-the-phantom-planet-1961/) A near-miss, this opus stars Dean Fredericks, who looks like a guy I went to high school with, Anthony Dexter, who looks like Bronxgirl's cousin Bennett from Yonkers, Dolores Faith, who looks like Elizabeth Taylor, Coleen Gray, who looks great, and silent film legend Francis X. Bushman, who looks dead. Set in 1980, two astronauts are sent on a mission to discover what happened to a previous spaceship. One of the characters exits quickly, while the other (Fredericks) is forced to land on a giant Chicken McNugget inhabited by teenie weenie people, led by Bushman. The atmosphere shrinks Fredericks down to their size, and he promptly gets in trouble by wrestling one of the inhabitants. Coleen Gray eyes Fredericks like he is a filet mignon, much to the consternation of Dexter. The inevitable duel occurs between Fredericks and Dexter, as they fight over who looks worse without a shirt on. Meanwhile, the mute Dolores Faith also wants Fredericks. (Once you see Fredericks, you may wonder why any of these women want him.) Richard Kiel is dressed up in a monster suit. The asteroid is under attack by his fellow Solarites. Eventually, things work out and Fredericks is restored to normal size, without the help of any pharmaceuticals. This film had possibilities, but is done in by cheapness. Also, no one acts. Most of the cast seem to be waiting for their cues. Bushman appears to be reading from cue cards. Maybe he needed some organ music to get him in the mood. His character is named Sessom, which is almost "Moses" spelled backwards. He ain't no Chuck Heston, but he does manage to destroy the invading Solarites with his anti-gravity beam. Fredericks is cranky throughout, and threatens to "hang one on" Dexter. See if you can count how many times Fredericks crosses his arms. As a leading man, he is horrible. Gray and Faith are cute, however. The less said about Dexter, the better. The ending is pretty well done, although I am getting really tired of seeing "The Beginning" at the end. Opening narration by Marvin Miller. Presumably, no one handed him a check for a million bucks. Paul Lynde somehow becomes a Colonel (don't ask, don't tell). Another tough break for Gary Lockwood. "OK, so maybe they're not Japanese, but they'd still be great in Mothra." Dean Fredericks and Anthony Dexter play on a weightless teeter-totter. Fredericks hears Richard Burton's footsteps. Richard Kiel does the hula. Francis X. Bushman shows off his Mr. T. starter kit.

A classic in every sense of the word. As I once wrote, if that is indeed Tor strangling the woman at the beginning of the film, he is not disfigured yet, so here he is strangling somebody, then landing in the desert, then becoming disfigured, then strangling people, then ... Oh, and the script is sensational. "Flag on the moon ... how did it get there?" W T F? Had Moses spent most of his time eating on Mt. Sinai, he would have come down from the mountain looking like this:

Wood is responsible for such hard-hitting dialog, such as: Cop: "Pretty bad, huh?" Doctor: "Pretty bad." Fourteen seconds later: Reporter: "Another one, huh?" Cop: "Pretty bad one this time. How about it, Doc?" Doctor: "Pretty bad." This dame learned how to erase a blackboard from four rows back.

It appears than any film set to expire on October 11 or earlier will load on the TCM on Demand website. (I use Firefox.) Anything scheduled to expire after that will not load. I think the same issue exists if I use Internet Explorer.

Jane Adams was a lovely-looking lady. Formerly known as Poni Adams, she apparently got some help changing her first name:

(the restoration of this thread continues) Mesa of Lost Women (1953) (originally posted here: http://forums.tcm.com/index.php?/topic/27278-mesa-of-lost-women-1953/) The worst thing about this film (and trust me, there are plenty of things from which to choose) is the absolutely horrible music score, and I use the phrase loosely. The credit is given to Hoyt Curtin. The score consists of a Spanish guitar and a piano, with the same themes played over and over and over and over. I kept expecting to see Buddy Greco or some flamenco dancers. This was worse than being waterboarded while having to listen to Keith Olbermann. Now on to the rest of the film. The narration is provided by Lyle Talbot. Strike one. The main character is a mad scientist played by Jackie Coogan. Strike two. The film bogs down immediately and becomes an extreme bore for most of its 67 minutes. "Grab some bench," as baseball announcer Ken "Hawk" Harrelson would say. Chris-Pin Martin and some other guy who is only onscreen for a few minutes discover Robert Knapp and Paula Hill (yeah, I never heard of them either) wandering around the desert. Martin is wasted in a small role ... he is named "Pepe," which shows no imagination. If the writers had named him something like "Pants de Leon," then they'd be on to something. Anyway, Knapp mutters something about giant spiders in the desert. If he had seen giant ants and waited another year, this could have been the plot for a more famous movie. Now Knapp begins his story, except there is one problem. We have to sit through am earlier story before we get to Knapp's story. Jackie Coogan is almost unrecognizable as Dr. Aranya, which apparently is Spanish for "spider." He is conducting experiments on women and spiders, with mixed results. He has worse results with men - they become midgets. Into this junior high school science laboratory comes Dr. Leland Masterson, played by Harmon Stevens (yeah, I never heard of him either). Coogan seems surprised when Dr. Masterson doesn't approve of the experiments, so after five minutes, Masterson is down for the count and ends up in an insane asylum. He escapes, and, incredibly, now carries a gun and a lot of money. He stumbles into a cantina, where he meets two people who are about to fly off and get married. He shoots a dancer (Tandra Quinn - yeah, I never heard of her either), who happens to be one of Coogan's "spider chicks," then "convinces" the couple to take him to their plane. The pilot, played by Robert Knapp (yeah, I never heard of him either - oh wait, he was the guy in the desert), is rightly perturbed, but takes on this new passenger. The plane promptly crashes in the middle of nowhere ... well, actually, not far from Coogan's funhouse. For the next 30 minutes, we get 'talk talk talk,' as FredCDobbs would say. The future bride (Paula Hill - are you getting all the connections now???) develops the hots for Knapp, which is no surprise since the future groom is much older and not very good-looking. The old guy gets bumped off by a spider on steroids. Eventually, the rest of the cast end up in Coogan's laboratory, where a now-sane Dr. Masterson saves the day. Tandra Quinn is worth watching only because she has great looks. She has no lines, slinks around, does her dance for about 5 minutes, all to the accompaniment of the horrid music score. Her character is named Tarantella - hey, "Tarantella," do you get it? Do ya??? "I am not opening my eyes again until you fix your damn belt!" Jackie Coogan shows off his new glasses, courtesy of LensBlasters. "The plane! The plane!" Morticia discovers the cure for H1N1, while Paul Henreid looks on. Henry Silva approaches Jackie Coogan with "I ask for job." The late tv journalist Howard K. Smith falls off the wagon. Alright, maybe I can watch 67 minutes of this.

#1 Jeff Richards #4 Karen Sharpe #7 Mark Damon

(the restoration of this thread continues) Day the World Ended (1955) (originally posted here: http://forums.tcm.com/index.php?/topic/25504-day-the-world-ended-1955/) Decent sci-fi from Roger Corman, about a few survivors of a nuclear holocaust. Paul Birch plays a scientist holed up in a house with his daughter, Lori Nelson. Touch (Mike) Connors, pre-Mannix, and Adele Jergens, post-menopausal, crash the party. Rugged Richard Denning arrives shortly afterwards, carrying the slowly-mutating Paul Dubov, who inexplicably has a Moe Howard haircut. The last to arrive is Raymond Hatton, along with his mule. I am not counting the three-eyed creature as part of the cast, although it is played by Paul Blaisdell, special effects "genius." Jonathan Haze, a member of Corman's stock players, has a quick bit as another mutation. Nelson pines for her lost love, played by Roger Corman (that's Corman in the photograph we keep seeing). However, she quickly gets interested in Denning. Meanwhile, Connors also wants a piece of the action, much to the dismay of Jergens. Denning and Connors have a few fist fights, and Jergens pretends to strip. Not good. While all this conflict is going on, Dubov continues to mutate and Hatton makes booze. There are some interesting ideas in this movie. The three-eyed creature seems to be able to communicate with Nelson ... hmmm, might he be someone she knows? Dubov must eat contaminated food to survive. Birch wants the women to get pregnant so they can re-populate the earth. And the purifying rain saves the day. At the end (which is "The Beginning"), two survive. Guess who. Chet Huntley narrates. David Brinkley was unavailable. Mike Connors attemps to shoot off his finger. Adele Jergens is not amused. Raymond Hatton and Lori Nelson are astounded when Hatton's mule starts talking. Connors tells Nelson that really is a gun in his pocket. Jergens is not amused. Too many Stooges stunts have taken their toll on Moe. Jergens shows off her placekicking skills. Connors is not amused. Hugh Griffith has a cameo. Nelson and Denning in a failed screentest for The Quiet Man. Joe Mannix shows he has a lot to learn about the private eye business.

#3 is Diana Canova, daughter of Judy Canova #4 is Lorna Luft, daughter of Judy Garland

Oh, some really famous faces here ... good ones! #9 is Woody Strode ... during his playing days.

(the restoration of this thread continues) Killers From Space (1954) Directed by F. Lee Wilder (originally posted here: http://forums.tcm.com/index.php?/topic/25186-killers-from-space-1954/page-2) Definitely the worst of the Peter Graves 1950s sci-fi movies, done in by extreme cheapness. Graves plays a scientist who is flying above an atomic blast in a jet with call sign "Tar Baby Two" (I am not making this up). His plane crashes, but his body is nowhere to be found. A few minutes later (in movie time), he shows up at the airbase looking a bit disheveled, and has a strange scar on his chest. He seems to be in good health, except for the fact that he sees floating eyeballs on occasion. Under a truth drug, he reveals he was captured by aliens, each of whom looks like Marty Feldman. Naturally, their planet, Astron Delta, is dying, so they need to take over the earth. There are a few familiar faces in the cast, like Frank Gerstle, who plays another scientist and wears a suit designed for a gorilla. Coleman Francis, who directed the classic Beast of Yucca Flats, has a bit role. In the exciting climax, Graves takes over a power plant in his pajamas. How a power plant got his pajamas, I'll never know. Maverick and Goose, horsing around. Frank Gerstle arm-wrestles Barbara Bestar, while James Seay and Dwight Eisenhower look on. This is what's meant by "keeping your eyes on the road." "I think the hamburger is done." Every alien kid's nightmare: "Spaceship X leaves Astron Delta at noon, at a speed of warp 5. Two hours later, Spaceship Y leaves Astron Delta, at warp 9. How long before ... ?" Ben Stein cleaned up selling a lifetime supply of Visine to this guy. Peter Graves tells a young Wilford Brimley "There WAS a vibration!" This movie will self-destruct in five seconds. You know, if you are seeing this out your window, there is a pretty good chance your *** is toast.

71 years ago in hisTORy October 19, 1946, Ogden, Utah: In a battle of walking condominiums, the 356-pound Super Swedish Angel (aka Tor Johnson) takes on the 640-pound Martin “The Blimp” Levy at Ogden High School. The Blimp takes the first fall but the Swede takes the second fall with a belly butt and body press (don’t ask what this crap is). However, The Blimp takes the third fall and the match. No word if the school’s gymnasium needed repairs after this.