Sony's Own Sally Starr's Dilemma?

As I am sure you are all aware by now, Sony Pictures has decided not to release The Interview after threats from punk-ass hackers in North Korea. While I happen to whole-heartedly agree with our POTUS that Sony made the wrong choice, they were also faced with their own version of Sally Starr's Dilemma.

In case you've been living under a rock for the past month or so, let me quickly recap. The Interview is a movie starring Seth Rogen and James Franco, involving a talk-show host and his producer who are recruited by the CIA to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un while interviewing him for his first Western TV interview. And while North Korea apparently had no problem with a puppet version of Kim's father being killed in Trey Parker's and Matt Stone's Team America: World Police, a live-action satire about his son was just too much. Beloved Leader's crack team of cyber-bullies hacked Sony's internal files, revealing awkward emails from execs; personal information and SSI numbers of employees and threatening to bring about 9/11 style retribution against theaters that would dare show the film. After several theater chains decided not to exhibit the movie, Sony capitulated to the hackers' demands and pulled it's release, completely.

Personally, I am appalled that Sony gave in to these ridiculous demands, letting a tinpot dictator  quash Free Speech and Artistic Expression in a country whose First Constitutional Amendment expressly allows both. And it makes no difference whether the movie is good or bad (personally, I find most of the comedies Rogen and Franco have made together to be pretty hilarious - with the exception of Your Highness - even though they can hardly be considered "High Art"). 

At the same time, I understand Sony Picture's reluctance to be held accountable for any deaths and/or destruction which might have occurred during any screenings of the movie. It is literally a 'Damned If You Do/Damned If You Don't' situation.

Still...

Sony has paved the way for fear-mongering asshats to stop the release of any film that might be considered offensive or politically incorrect. If the Westboro Baptist Church had threatened violence against theaters showing Brokeback Mountain or Milk, would those films' studios have backed down? Unlikely. In fact, if detractors and haters had been given their way, AMC's list of the 100 Most Controversial Movies of All Time would undoubtedly not exist and we would never have seen classics like The Exorcist; A Clockwork Orange; Citizen Kane or Lolita, to name a very few.

So, where do we draw the line? Do we give into the fear of retaliation from a despotic regime of a very Third World country or do we continue to be the leaders of Free Speech and Artistic Expression? Do we let the Catholic League tell us something is obscene or do we decide for ourselves what we will or won't watch? As far as Uncle P is concerned, by giving in to these asshats, Sony has added another chip in the wall of Democracy that our forefathers fought so hard to secure. And that makes me very sad.

F*ck you, Kim Jong Un! F*ck you and anyone who tries to take away the freedoms so many Americans have fought for and died to protect. And F*ck you Sony Pictures for letting them do it!

More, anon.

Prospero

Last Words on this Topic

Okay, so maybe I was a bit premature. But I did say I'd post if something came up. And something actually has sort of blown up all over social media and I couldn't express everything I had to say about it in short bursts and comments on other people's timelines.

I'm sure you have figured out what I'm going to talk about from the the GrumpyCat meme pic I've posted to your right.

Uncle P's first experience seeing The Sound of Music was at a drive-in with Mom and my sister. I don't remember how old I was. It was certainly before the VHS boom of the late-70's and popular movies were often re-released to theatres many years after their initial runs. Mom thought we'd like it, so off the three of us went. That's almost all I really remember about it. I think I liked it. I do remember Mom telling us about a friend of hers who had left after the wedding scene (long movies often had intermissions) because she thought it was over. And unlike Mary Poppins,* it didn't make my sister cry because Mary left the Banks children. It undoubtedly had an influence on me. I have sung 'Edelweiss' for more auditions than almost any other song. And yes, it's old-school, Rogers and Hammerstein cheese. In fact, one of their cheesiest. But the film is a classic for so many reasons, Ms. Andrews' and Mr. Plummer's performances among the least of them. There is Robert Wise's amazing direction; the stunning scenery and photography; gorgeous period costumes and a score filled with songs that literally everyone in the Western world recognizes, if not knows the lyrics to. The movie is so beloved, that President Reagan rather infamously retreated from a G7 Summit which he was hosting, in order to watch it on TV.

You obviously think you know where this is going, but bear with me.

NBC presented an adaptation of the stage version of the show (in which Broadway legend Mary Martin originated the role of Maria) last Thursday. Twitter, Facebook and the blogosphere in general exploded with both negative and positive reviews, comments and what one of my Facebook friends called a "Snarknado." To be honest, I had no intention of watching it. Don't get me wrong - I've performed in my fair share of R&H shows - they are staples of high school and community theatre. I played Emile in South Pacific my senior year in high school. But give me Sondheim; Schwartz; Kander & Ebb; Rado & Ragni or Parker & Stone, anytime. Especially when it comes to a show like The Sound of Music, which is far better suited for the screen than the stage.

The night it aired, I caught about a total of 30 minutes or so, starting with "My Favorite Things." Not wanting to gawk at the the train wreck, I caught subsequent sections while moving between programs I had DVR'd earlier in the week. I witnessed unsuppressed accents; breathy singing; some really bad acting and even worse dialogue; anachronistic costumes and some pretty crappy sets.

What I did not see, was a Musical Theatre production. There was no live audience; no pauses for applause or laughter; no energy reflected back to cast to inspire them. I saw a talented singer with no acting experience thrust into an iconic role which she had no business playing. I saw some amazing actors left adrift and others taking command. And then there was Audra McDonald's stunning rendition of "Climb Every Mountain:"

Yes, so many of my theatre friends want to tout "The Sound of Music Live!" as an introduction to and inspiration for young theatre enthusiasts. And yes, it's wonderful that TV wants to bring us live performances (something NBC already does on SNL). But if you want to bring live theatre to the masses, then really shell out the bucks give them today's live theatre. I would have been glued to a live performance of Wicked or Pippin. Instead, NBC chose a 'safe' musical, did some stunt-casting and hoped Ms Underwood's fans would tune in, And while the ratings were pretty good, the criticism was less than kind, even among mainstream media. Time Magazine's review had this to say: 

"When Carrie Underwood stepped out on the (wooded, not grassy) hills and started singing, I wished the hills were alive with the sound of hungry mountain lions." Ouch!

Trust me, NO ONE believes more in the power of the Performing Arts than Uncle P.  While a poorly produced and woefully miscast production from a rag-tag company in a Podunk town may be perfectly acceptable and delightful, we expect and deserve more from a multimillion dollar production on a major TV network. 

*Speaking of Mary Poppins, I think if I only see one Holiday movie this year (though I hope to see a few), it has to be Saving Mr. Banks:

And in case you're wondering how all of this ties together, please remember that Julie Andrews won her only Oscar for playing... Mary Poppins. My dear dancer friend 'Lizard' and I were lucky enough to see her live in the Broadway production of Victor/Victoria and while she didn't quite have the range for which she was once so renowned, her stage presence alone was enough to make for an unforgettable theatrical event. That, my friends, is why so many of us hated "The Sound of Music Live!" and it's many missed opportunities.

I truly hope this isn't the last time we see such a grand experiment. I just hope it's done right, next time.

Rant over. Break starts now. Really. Unless some other idiotic thing gets stuck in my craw.  << sigh >>

More, anon (I suppose I have to go back that now, too).

Prospero

Forgotten Gems: "The Bad Seed"

Patty McCormack as Rhoda Penmark

Talk about obsessions... I don't exactly remember the first time I saw Mervyn LeRoy's 1956 thriller The Bad Seed, but I know it was Mom who introduced me to it. (Oh, yes. She had a dark side, too ). Based on the stage play by Maxwell Anderson and the novel by William March, the film explores mid-20th Century ideas about DNA and Nature Vs Nurture.

Young Rhoda Penmark (Patty McCormack, left)  is the perfect child. Smart, neat and loving, she hides a dark secret. When Rhoda's classmate, Claude Daigle is drowned at Rhoda's private school annual Spring picnic, Rhoda is suspected of killing him because he won the school's penmanship medal over her.

As Rhoda's mother Christine (Nancy Kelly) delves into her past, she comes to learn that she is the child of the infamous murderess Bessie Denker and may have passed her mother's psychopathy onto Rhoda. Henry Jones; William Hopper; Paul Fix; Elizabeth Varden and the amazing Eileen Heckart round out the stellar cast as Rhoda's family and victims, most of whom reprise their original Broadway stage roles. Jones, as the half-witted handyman Leroy and Heckart as the grieving alcoholic mother of the murdered Claude are especially good, but this is McCormack's movie and she owns every scene she's in.

Yes, it has a mid-50's camp feel about it, but The Bad Seed still has the power to be creepy and awful. Of course, having been produced under the Hayes Code, the movie couldn't be released with the  play and novel's original ending (SPOILER ALERT) and young Rhoda is struck by retributional lightning at the end, though she survives in the original versions.

I have wanted to direct a production of Anderson's play for almost 30 years, but have yet to come across a young actress capable of convincingly pulling off the role of Rhoda, while trying to justify the play's mid-century values and still holding relevance, today (though gun violence-related events in the past few years have made me rethink that).

The 1985 TV remake starring Blair Brown; Lynn Redgrave; Richard Kiley; David Ogden Stiers and openly gay actor Chad Allen doesn't hold a candle to the original.

If you are a genre film fan and have never seen this movie, you should. If you have seen it, then you know why it deserves to be seen,





Again, give me the money and I'll make a version of this story that will make you poop you pants!

Mwuahahahhahahahaha!

More, anon.
Prospero

How Does It Begin, Clarice?

Porcelain Minnie Castavet and Rosemary Woodhouse

I find it rather hard to believe that Rosemary's Baby has never appeared on any Top Ten list I've ever done. Or has it? If not, it certainly should have been on just about every one of them (maybe not musicals, though I don't think I've done a Top Ten of those, yet). 

Think what you will about Roman Polanski, he's never been shy about delving into the darker sides of life. Based on Ira Levin's novel, the movie was a sensation when it was released in 1968 and rightfully so. Perfectly cast with some of the best actors of the era (and possibly of all time) and both wittily and creepily directed, Rosemary's Baby taps into so many Psycho-Religious-Paranoid-Horrifying things all at once, that it takes multiple viewings to fully appreciate it's brilliance, even 43 years after it was first released. Ruth Gordon rightfully won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress as Minnie Castavet, the push,y elderly Satanist with a heart of coal. Mia Farrow got an infamous haircut and divorced Sinatra while making the movie.  And there are some amazing appearances from classic character actors Ralph Bellamy, Maurice Evans, Charles Grodin and Elisha Cook, Jr; as well as uncredited walk-ons/voice-overs from William Castle and Tony Curtis. 

A very amusing, anonymous Facebook friend (once known as Magnolia Thunderpussy but now going by Hilda Swandumper after the geniuses at Facebook realized Maggie T wasn't a real name) posted the photo above to a mutual friend's timeline. And I immediately coveted...

I reposted it, saying that anyone who bought me the Minnie Castavet doll would get me as a slave for one week a year for 10 years or 50 Saturdays, not to exceed two in a row. And I mean it. Yes, I have lots of 'stupid' things. I have both Mulder and Scully action figures; a Locutus action figure; a Frank-N-Furter action figure; a Norman Bates action figure; a remote controlled zombie; a zombie teddy bear and other assorted toys. But I would gladly give up a third of my collection to own a doll modeled after Ruth Gordon as Minnie Castavet. Of course, the two dolls are undoubtedly a set, though I hope the obviously inferior Mia Farrow as Rosemary doll doesn't decrease the value...

The true movie lunatics out there know exactly what I mean.

Genius.

More, anon.
Prospero

Prospero's Essential Movie Guide: Part 3

Friends of Dorothy

Now that I've gone and moved onto "talkies," let's talk about a few classics from the 30's, shall we? 

1938's Bringing Up Baby is Uncle P's favorite movie of all time, and with many a good reason. Howard Hawks' definitive madcap comedy was a flop when first released, despite Dudley Nichols and Hagar Wilde's brilliant script and performances from the era's brightest stars (Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn) at the height of their comedic prowess. Grant's hapless paleontologist and Hepburn's flighty heiress characters compliment one another perfectly. Add a dowager aunt (May Robinson); an intrepid wild game hunter (Charles Ruggles); a taunting terrier; two leopards and a befuddled local police department and you have what may very well be the funniest movie ever made (at least until Mel Brooks came along, 30 years later - but more on him, later). 

Of course, everyone talks about the "Perfect Year" for movies - 1939, which gave us two amazing films from gay director Victor Fleming (Gone With the Wind and The Wizard of Oz); probably Shirley Temple's best film, The Little Princess; Greta Garbo in Ninotchka (Garbo laughs!); Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington; Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosiland Russell and Joan Fontaine in The Women and Robert Donat & Greer Garson in Goodbye Mr. Chips.

Of course, the most famous and beloved film from that year is Fleming's version of L. Frank Baum's children's novel, "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." The stories surrounding this film are legendary and while many gay men of  'a certain age' consider it a watershed film (indeed, 'A Friend of Dorothy' became a euphemism for being gay in the 60's and 70's), I simply consider it a watershed film among the many that made me love movies as a child. Sequels and prequels to The Wizard of Oz abound, but none have found quite the niche that this film has found in the American psyche. 

In 1978 (told you I was OLD) I played the Cowardly Lion in my high school production, which featured elements (authorized by Geoffrey Holder) of the Broadway production of The Wiz, the African American version. It was probably the first time my high school director (now recognized as the best in the country) used Broadway elements in the staging of a high school musical. The Wizard of Oz is probably the most well-known and most-beloved of all musical films and will no doubt remain a classic for many centuries to come.

All of these films deserve the label "Classic" and should be seen by every cinephile and film student.

More, anon.
Prospero

Vive La Vie Boheme!

I was in high school when Queen released their signature anthem, "Bohemian Rhapsody." At the time, it was a song the headbangers didn't get; the Disco lovers despised and all the artistic kids adored. I'll let you guess into which category I fell.

In college, a group of theatre friends and I would get together at parties and thanks to our piano playing friend Micheal L., would sing this song until the neighbors called the police. 

The 1992 comedy Wayne's World used it most effectively and many of my friends and I will stop and sing along anytime it plays on the radio. 

Indiana University's Jacob School of Music's ad hoc orchestra just released this video of their sublime orchestral version of "Bohemian Rhapsody." I know that all of you who love the song as much as I do, are singing along, despite the lack of vocals:

Uncle P has been dealing with Mom's health issues and I'm frankly, exhausted. I haven't been sleeping, I'm worrying about all sorts of implications and financial fall-out this might have and I am worried that despite being moved to the ICU Step-Down unit, Mom may not make it home.

I'll try my best to keep posting this month, but can't guarantee any regularity. Stick with me. 

More, anon.

Prospero

"It's No Crime to Be Alive."

Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison

A 'Romantic Fantasy,' 1947's The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, based on the novel by R.A. Dick, tells the story of widower Lucy Muir (Gene Tierney) who moves in to an English seaside cottage which is haunted by the ghost of it's former owner, Captain Daniel Gregg (Rex Harrison). Lucy's daughter Anna (Natalie Wood) and maid Martha (Edna Best) join her, though Gregg only appears to Lucy, agreeing that Anna is "...too young for ghosts." When Lucy's investments fail, Gregg helps her out by dictating his memoirs to her. The resulting book, 'Blood and Swash' proves to be a best-seller and Lucy earns enough to keep the cottage. Of course, during the writing of the book, Lucy and Daniel fall in love. Knowing their romance is hopeless, Daniel advises Lucy to find a "real" (i.e. living) man. 

Lucy eventually goes to London to publish her book, and meets charismatic children's author Miles Fairly (George Sanders). Fairly follows Lucy to Gull Cottage and begins to woo her. Knowing he doesn't stand a chance against a living person, Captain Gregg agrees to leave Mrs. Muir alone to pursue her happiness. Lucy is later devastated to learn that Fairly is not only married with a family of his own, but has behaved similarly with other women. She soon shuts herself away at Gull Cottage with Martha. Years later, a grown Anna (Vanessa Brown) returns to Gull Cottage with her Navy Lieutenant fiance, telling her mother she knew all along about Gregg and Fairly and that Fairly has grown fat and bald and has been abandoned by his wife.  Lucy and Martha grow old together and on her death bed, Gregg appears to Lucy, lifting her youthful spirit up and the two of them disappear into the mist. The movie's original trailer can be seen here. I've embedded a fan-made homage below:

24 years later, the movie inspired a 1968 TV sitcom starring Hope Lange as 'Carolyn' Muir; Edward Mulhaire as Daniel Gregg; character actress Reta Shaw (Mary Poppins) as Martha and gay icon Charles Nelson Reilly as the Captain's wimpy descendant, Claymore. The series ran for two full seasons and was my youthful  introduction to the story.

The original film, directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, is just about as atmospheric and romantic as they come. Harrison is superb as the externally gruff Captain Gregg, whose heart is captured after death, while Tierney (best known for her Oscar nominated performance in Otto Preminger's Laura) is simply lovely. The Ghost and Mrs. Muir may not be a scary ghost movie by any means, but it is certainly worth a look for film students and lovers of old-fashioned love stories.

More, anon.
Prospero.

It Knows What Scares You

Sorry, D

I know that I've written about Tobe Hooper's Poltergeist several times. And there's a very good reason for that: it's a true modern genre classic. And I'll get to the why's and wherefores in just a minute.

First, I would like to note that Poltergeist serves as one of four movies with which I can always win a bar bet. I've seen this film so many times, you can play any scene without dialogue and I can tell you exactly what's happening on screen just by listening to the score. The other movies I can do this with are Raiders of the Lost Ark; Psycho and the original version of King Kong. I know my sister can also do this with Poltergeist; probably with Raiders... and maybe with Kong. But that's beside the point...

The Freelings are a typical suburban family of the early 1980's. Father Steven (Craig T. Nelson) is a successful realtor in Cuesta Verde, the planned California community in which they reside. Mom Diane (Jobeth Williams) is young and hip, while rebellious teenaged daughter Dana (Dominique Dunne) and her younger siblings Robbie (Oliver Robins) and Carol Anne (Heather O'Roarke) are typical kids. They all live typically messy suburban lives. A construction team installing their in-ground pool has the backyard in a tizzy, while the death of the family canary Tweety has Carol Anne wanting a canary funeral and Robby wanting to dig Tweety up after it rots.* One night, while Steven and Diane fall asleep in front of the TV, Carol Anne comes in to watch the post Anthem buzz (this was before the days of 24 hour cable) and begins talking to the "TV people." Soon, furniture in the kitchen begins to rearrange itself and Carol Anne can slide across the kitchen floor without being pushed. These seemingly harmless events soon escalate and Carol Anne is eventually captured by the "TV People" during a thunderstorm, her voice crying out from the TV for help. 

At their wits' end, the Freelings call in a team of parapsychologists, led by Dr. Lesh (Beatrice Straight) who brings her assistants Ryan (Richard Lawson) and Marty (Martin Casella). After a particularly awful night in the house in which Marty sees himself tearing off his own face, Dr. Lesh calls in diminutive psychic Tangina (Zelda Rubenstein), who sends Steven on a journey through the Other Side to rescue Carol Anne from the 'Beast' which holds her captive. Tangina declares the house 'clean,' though the horror isn't over. It is eventually discovered (after Diane spends some horrifying moments among the corpses in her unfinished pool) that Steven's boss, developer Teague (James Karen) has built Cuesta Verde on an old cemetery where he moved the headstones, but left the bodies. The Freeling's house is eventually consumed by a psychic black hole.

Tobe Hooper, best known as the writer and director of the original The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, had his undisputed best success with Poltergeist, though there are those who would argue that producer Steven Spielberg actually directed the movie. There are 'Speilbergian' touches all over the place, including his trademark close-ups and reaction shots. Of course, the performances of the (mostly) then unknown cast that make Poltergeist so good. Nelson and Williams are just terrific as the suburbanites who find themselves up against forces beyond their comprehension, while the accomplished Straight (Network) lends gravitas to the role of the bewildered parapsychologist (and I must admit to using part of her performance to inform my own performance in a college production of Equus). Add loads of foreshadowing in the brilliant script from Spielberg, Michael Grais and Mark Victor; a creepy clown doll; a terrifying tree; a ceiling crawl and amazing effects from Jeff Jarvis, Jose Abel and company, and you have the iconic ghost movie of all time. Oh, and then there's Jerry Goldsmith's aforementioned score. Genius doesn't even begin to cover how brilliantly Goldsmith was able to musically convey what's happening on screen. Can you say "Perfect Movie?"

Sadly, increasingly inferior sequels and the unfortunate deaths of several actors involved in the film and it's sequels (including young Heather O'Roarke's untimely death from an intestinal blockage and the murder of Dominique Dunne at the hands of an unstable ex) have led to a bizarre, cultish following to what should be considered one of the 80's best horror films.

Unfortunately, a completely unnecessary remake has been announced, though I (for one) am hoping the project never comes to fruition. Poltergeist remains one of the few ghost movies that scares, entertains and fascinates all at the same time. Any remake would have to prove exceptionally extraordinary to be worth seeing. Personally, I don't see that happening.

More, anon.

Prospero

Master of Suspense

Sir Anthony Hopkins as Alfred Hitchcock

Let's take a brief Ghost Break, shall we?

There are almost as many stories about the making of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho as there are analyses and commentaries on it. First, it truly is a masterpiece, despite its lurid (especially for 1960) subject matter. Imagine seeing Psycho for the first time in 1960. Not only did the director force you to arrive before the movie started by not letting anyone in after the first ten minutes (a trick that changed movie attendance forever), but the lovely leading lady is killed in the first act! And not just killed, but brutally knifed to death in the shower! By someone who turns out to be a man in women's clothing! Someone who taxidermied his own mother!

Based on the novel by Robert Bloch, which in turn was inspired by the true story of Wisconsin murderer and body snatcher Ed Gein, Psycho was unlike any movie anyone had ever made before. And it was a sensation. It was also the movie no one, including Hitch's wife Alma, wanted him to make. Of course, modern 'slasher' films make Psycho look quaint by comparison, though not even the best of them displays a tenth of its artistry. And I won't even go into Bernard Herrman's astonishing and iconic score, other than to say that everyone makes those staccato violin sounds when pretending to stab someone.

Now, in one of two competing films about the filmmaker (HBO's The Girl examines the director's relationship with the star of his other great horror classic, The Birds), director Sasha Gervasi (Anvil: The Story of Anvil) takes a look at the making of Psycho and its toll on the director and his wife in Hitchcock. Starring Sir Anthony Hopkins (The Silence of the Lambs; Magic) as Hitchcock; Dame Helen Mirren (The Queen) as Alma; Scarlett Johansson (The Avengers) as Janet Leigh; Jessica Biel (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - also inspired by Gein) as Vera Miles; James D'Arcy (the upcoming Cloud Atlas) as Anthony Perkins and Michael Wincott as Gein. Toni Collete; Ralph Macchio; Danny Huston and Wallace Langham round out the amazing cast.

Psycho's influence on film and it's fans (not to mention the horror genre) is more far-reaching than almost any other since Citizen Kane.  

Hitchcock is one fall film I will most defintely NOT be missing.

Toby Jones (most recently seen as a dwarf in Snow White and the Huntsman) takes on the role of the lecherous director with a penchant for blondes in The Girl for HBO, alongside Sienna Miller as Tippi Hedron, later this month. 

More, anon.
Prospero

Stella by Starlight

Alan Napier, Ray Milland, Gail Russell and Ruth Hussey

Long before CGI and graphic violence, Horror movies relied on atmosphere, acting and double exposures. Director Lewis Allen's 1944 film The Uninvited (an adaptation of Dorothy Macardle's novel "Uneasy Freehold") is just such a picture.

Composer Rick Fitzgerald (Ray Milland) and his sister Pamela (Ruth Hussey) find themselves enamored of the long-abandoned Windward House, on the rocky coast of Cornwall. After purchasing the house for a ridiculous price, they meet Stella (Gail Russell), the owner's granddaughter whose mother died there. When Rick and Pamela unlock a secret artist's studio, they release a malevolent spirit. The house is soon filled with moans and groans in the night; withering flowers and unexplained chills. When Stella arrives for dinner, she senses a spirit which she believes to be her mother's. The local doctor (Alan Napier - best known as Alfred on the campy 1960's "Batman" TV series) explains that Stella's father had an affair with a Spanish Gypsy named Carmel, who murdered Stella's mother by flinging her off the cliff outside the house.

While it's rather simplistic story and crude (by today's standards) special effects may not resonate with modern audiences, The Uninvited remains one of the first ghost movies that creeped out Uncle P as a child (back when dinosaurs ruled the Earth). It also features Cornelia Otis Skinner as Miss Halloway, who runs a sanitarium; a character who is obviously a 1940's version of a lesbian - stern, cold and impartial. Of course, Ray Milland appeared in several genre films including Premature Burial; Panic in the Year Zero!; X: The Man with X-Ray Eyes; Frogs and The Uncanny, among others. He's probably best known for his Oscar-winning performance as an alcoholic in Billy Wilder's The Lost Weekend.

The Uninvited was named by director Martin Scorcese as the third of 11 Scariest Horror Movies of All Time in 2009.

The song "Stella by Starlight" was written as the film's instrumental theme by Victor Young, with lyrics added two years later by Ned Washington. It has appeared in several films since then, most recently in Stanley Kubrick's highly overrated 1980 version of Stephen King's The Shining.

Again, if you've never seen The Uninvited, I recommend doing so with the lights down and someone to hold onto.

More, anon.
Prospero

If She Weighs the Same As a Duck...

"You shall bring us... a shrubbery!"

Uncle P's sister sent me this photo today. She visits as many cake sites as I do horror and movie sites, so I don't know where she found it.  It's probably the single most epic win cake of all time. Just look at it. The Black Knight; a Knight Who Says 'Ni;' the Killer Rabbit and the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, all perfectly rendered in a cake I couldn't bear to eat, but just want to bask in its glory. This was NOT an inexpensive cake and I wish I had the money it cost just to pay some bills, let alone buy an insanely amazing custom cake. To be honest, she sent it in an email titled "awesome python cake." I was was actually expecting a picture of a snake cake. Imagine my delight at being so wrong.

But this post isn't really about cake. Nor is it about how my sister and I communicate, because she knew this particular cake, in conjunction with her recent guest post, would get me to a topic I don't think I've ever fully addressed: Monty Python Movies. Oh, I may have made passing comments or comparisons or minor references here and there. But I don't think I ever posted anything devoted solely to the British insaniacs and their influence on my personal take on life. But I'm going to talk about the movies, first. And one at a time, every now and then. Starting with favorite and ending with my least. And what better place to start with the group's first feature length film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. 

Directed by the Terrys (Gilliam and Jones), and co-written by all six of them, Holy Grail is a brilliantly nonsensical take on the Arthurian legends, loaded with bad puns, repeating themes ("I'm not dead yet!") and preposterous situations in a world completely populated by morons, lunatics and cartoon monsters. Not everything works (the three-headed giant is kind of lame as is the movie's anti-climatic non-ending) but there is far more gold than pyrite in this movie and no matter how many times I've seen it or how many lines I can quote from it or how easily I can manage to work a quote into a conversation with either or both people who will get it and people who won't, it still makes me laugh like an idiot after more than 45 years. I think it's because, like Carroll, the six Pythons understood that not only was nonsense funny, it was even funnier when applied as satire.

Holy Grail covers the gamut of what every movie should include:

A Plague:



Religion:



Sex:



Logic:



"Who are you, that are so wise in the ways of science?" Genius!

Denial:



Arranged Marriage (and Musicals):



History:



(It's even funnier in Spanish!)

So many more moments and comments and quotable scenes. Too much to go on and on about. Proof that nonsense can be as funny to adults as it is to kids, especially when applied so pointedly satirical, Monty Python and the Holy Grail not only cemented the troupe's cult status (especially here in the U.S.*) but paved the way for more daring satire (if not always as successfully) in their future films.

If you don't know Python or (like many) think you hate Python, you may want to start with the Broadway Cast recording of "Spamalot," Eric Idle's musical adaptation. Yes, many things are very different from the movie and it's funnier of you know and love the movie but it's as gentle an intro to Python as you can get. Then watch Holy Grail.

Of course, the movie is also one of several very special shared movie experiences for Sis and I. And to some extent, Dad (who swears that at the matinee he attended alone, a very confused old lady got up and left after the first twenty minutes). One of the many things that bond my sister and I so closely are the movies we saw together as kids. I like to think I taught her how to watch movies. I know she helped me to remember how do that and still enjoy them. That and the fact that she loves nonsense as much as I do, helps.

*I know plenty of Brits who don't get Python or our obsession for them. Their loss.

More, anon. 

Prospero

First Zombie

In 1931, Hungarian actor Bela Lugosi became a bona-fide movie star with his performance as Dracula in Tod Browning's film of the same name. But in 1932, he starred in what many consider the first actual zombie movie, White Zombie. 

Directed by Victor and Edward Halperin, White Zombie  is set in Haiti where Madelaine (Madge Bellamy) meets with her fiance Neil (John Harron) for a romantic island wedding. They arrive at the sugar plantation of Charles Beaumont (Robert Frazer) who falls in love (well, lust) with Madeline. Beaumont soon arrives at the sugar mill run by Murder Legendre*(Lugosi). Legendre's mill is run entirely by zombies under his control, and he convinces Beaumont the only way  to win Madeline is to turn her into a zombie. Legendre gives him a potion which Beaumont slips to Madeline on her wedding day. Soon thereafter, Madeline takes ill, 'dies' and is buried, much to her new husband's consternation. Charles and Murder soon sneak into Madeline's tomb and revive her as a zombie, but Charles begins to regret his actions and begs Murder to restore her to life. Murder refuses and it soon becomes apparent that Charles is also under Murder's supernatural control. Meanwhile, Neil, haunted by ghostly visions of Madeline, seeks the help of a local missionary, Bruner (Joseph Cawthorne). Bruner and Neil arrive at Murder's cliffside castle, where Murder sends Madeline to kill Neil. Bruner intercedes and after a struggle, Beaumont and Legendre are thrown off an escarpment to their deaths, releasing Madeline from Murder's spell. 

The movie was not well-received when it was released. Critics savaged the performance of Ms Bellamy, a former Broadway and silent film star, even though she had very little actual dialog, spending most of the picture moping about silently in a trance. The Halperin brothers were sued by playwright Kenneth Webb, who claimed they had stolen the plot from his theatrical flop "Zombie" (the court ruled that Webb's dialog and plot were not infringed upon). Bellamy went on to make a handful of films, but never really recovered from vicious attacks on her performance, despite being an accomplished stage actress. Lugosi, of course, went on to become one of Hollywood's most recognizable faces, though by the late '50's was reduced to appearing in Ed Wood, Jr's "Z"-grade movies. 

Preceding Val Lewton's atmospheric I Walked with a Zombie, by 11 years, White Zombie manages to combine the traditional voodou zombi mythology with the mind-control of hypnotism popularized in earlier works such as The Cabinet of Caligari. Lugosi sports a truly demonic goatee and chews the scenery like every other horror star of the era. A lame, unofficial sequel called Revolt of the Zombies was released in 1936, though that movie lacks the atmosphere of the original and suffers from a dialog heavy script by Webb.

Like all horror movies of the era, White Zombie is truly tame by today's standards. Still,  it remains an important entry in the sub-genre and introduced the concept of the "Zombie" into the American psyche. It is also an essential part of any serious horror collector's library. Don't be confused by the 2009 movie of the same name, which has absolutely nothing to do with this film.

*Is that the most awesome character name ever, or what?

More, anon.
Prospero

"The Fly" at 25

Back to fictional Horrors then, eh?

Most of director David Cronenberg's films have dealt with horrors of the flesh. Whether it's parasitic worms; the physical manifestations of hatred; gynecological torture; living video; talking insect typewriters or bio-electric implants, he seems fascinated by the horror of corrupted flesh.

And in almost no other film is that so clearly demonstrated than his 1986 remake of the 50's Sci-Fi classic, The Fly. In the original 1958 movie, David Hedison plays a scientist intent on creating a teleportation device. On his first trip through, a common housefly is trapped in the machine with him, turning him into a fly-headed monster. Cronenberg takes that premise and elevates into something else, entirely. And today marks the 25th Anniversary of its release.

 

For those of you who've never seen it (and shame on you, if not), Jeff Goldblum plays Seth Brundle, a scientist whose severe travel sickness drives him invent a teleportation device and Geena Davis is Veronica Quaife, a reporter for a science magazine who thinks Brundle's crazy, until he demonstrates the machine for her. What starts as a professional relationship soon turns romantic and after a night of lovemaking, Seth realizes he needs to teach his machine about flesh. After successfully transporting a baboon, Seth decides to take the trip himself. As in the original, a fly is trapped in the telepod with him. But instead of creating a man with a fly's head and arm, the machine combines their DNA and creates something very different. Suddenly stronger and more aggressive (and craving sugar), Seth begins to mutate. As his "disease" progresses, his mind devolves and his relationship with Veronica deteriorates. In the film's most heartbreaking scene, Veronica visits Seth one last time, where his ramblings and appearance are too much and she flees. 

Soon, Veronica discovers she is pregnant with Seth's baby and decides to have an abortion. But Seth kidnaps her before she can and as the last vestiges of his humanity slip away, he attempts to combine the DNA of Ronnie, their baby and himself in order to effect a cure. Ronnie's douche bag boss (John Getz) comes in at the last minute to save her, and the resulting Brundlefly/Telepod monstrosity begs her to kill him in one of the most intensely emotional endings of any Science Fiction film ever made.

Goldberg and Davis both give astonishing performances in The Fly, adding to the tragedy unfolding as the movie progresses (and it helps that Goldberg was at the height of his physical prowess). The fact that they were both overlooked come awards season is criminal and evidence of the various Academies general indifference to Horror and Sci-Fi. Howard Shore's score is the perfect compliment to the tragic horror and the supporting cast (which includes a cameo by Cronenberg as an OBGYN in a dream sequence) is terrific. The Oscar and Saturn award winning effects by Chris Walas are intense and gross and wonderful. 

The movie has struck such a chord in popular culture, that Shore wrote an opera along with playwright David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly - which Cronenberg also adapted into a film). It premiered in Paris in July 2008 and was subsequently performed by the Los Angeles Opera in September of the same year.

Even with today's CGI and 3D technologies, I dare you to find a more effective, disturbing and heart-wrenching Sci-Fi/Horror movie. 25 years later and the movie still holds up, evoking both emotional responses to its tragic romance and visceral responses to its gross-out special effects.

Cronenberg has recently talked about remaking the movie again, using modern SFX technology, though I doubt he'd be able to recreate the emotional intensity of his 1986 masterpiece.

More, anon.

Prospero

Who Says Classical Musicians Can't Be Hot?

Yes, I know. The Oscar nominations were announced today. I'll get to them, eventually (you know I have plenty to say about them, too). And I have the Second Annual Ariel Awards to get to, as well. I'd look for those this coming Sunday, if I were a regular reader of mine (which I am - how narcissistic is that?).

But tonight, I want to talk about music. In particular, cellists Stjepan Hauser and Luka Sulic. That's Luka on your right. The 20-Something Croatians have made quite a splash in the Classical Music world and their mad skills on the cello have made them stars in Europe.

Personally, I had heard of neither of them until a friend posted the video below on Facebook the other day. And that's a shame. I grew up on both classic Rock 'n Roll, thanks to Mom and Classical music and opera, thanks to Dad, so my personal choices in music are eclectic, to say the least. While I can appreciate and enjoy the club music of Lady Gaga, I still get goosebumps when I hear a particularly excellent recording of Ode to Joy or The Planets. Of course, the largest part of my personal music library consists of film scores by the people I consider to be the modern Classical composers: Bernard Herrman; Max Steiner; Jerry Goldsmith; Danny Elfman; James Horner and Hans Zimmer (among many others). So, when I find artists who are able to combine modern pop/rock with classical sounds and instruments, I go into paroxysms of Musical Joy. And such is the case with this video of Hauser and Sulic playing Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal" on dueling cellos. And it doesn't hurt that they ain't hard on the eyes. 

I already shared this on Facebook, so forgive me for repeating myself, but when I come across something this exciting (to me, at least), I have to share with as many people as I can. Enjoy:

You must admit, no matter what your musical bent may be, these boys have talent. And I can't wait to hear what they have up their sleeves next.

More, anon.

Prospero