Films That Matter
By the Skin of Your Teeth
Originally meant to be a satire... though of a film very few have ever seen nowadays, the Norman Z. McLeod western comedy The Paleface (1948), written by Frank Tashlin about 1929's Virginian, infuriated the man in how it was directed (as a more generic spoof of the western)... but funnily enough, despite the screenwriter’s opinion, until Blazing Saddles (1974) came out, it was the highest grossing western parody of all-time and spawned a sequel in Son of Paleface (1952), while it was also remade as the Don Knotts vehicle The Shakiest Gun in the West (1968). After government agents tasked with tracking down an illegal gun smuggling ring turn up dead, the infamous Calamity Jane (Jane Russell) is secretly broken out of jail by Gov. Johnson (Charles Trowbridge) with the hope that she will take a pardon for going undercover to get to the bottom of this rebel-rousing (similar to rabble-rousing) gang in the frontier land.
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No Man is an Island
Island of Lost SoulsOctober 28, 2016Adapting H.G. Wells’ novel "The Island of Doctor Moreau" for the screen, Paramount’s 1932 film Island of Lost Souls is not nearly as well known as the Universal horror pictures that were released around the same time (Dracula, Frankenstein, The Invisible Man), though it most definitely should be. Though H.G. Wells despised the picture and its overt horror elements (which he felt got in the way of the true message of his book), it has become known as the premier adaptation of the classic novel – though it was banned three times in Britain for its depiction of vivisection. Adapted by Waldemar Young and Philip Wylie, and directed by Erle C. Kenton (The Ghost of Frankenstein, House of Frankenstein, House of Dracula), the cautionary tale follows shipwrecked survivor Edward Parker (Richard Arlen) as he is picked up by a trading vessel. Treated by a dour doctor, Montgomery (Arthur Hohl), the newly resuscitated man discovers an odd array of animals on the ship.
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Creature Feature
Creature from the Black LagoonOctober 23, 2016The last of the great monsters to come out of Universal’s iconic horror era – that ran from the 1920s through the 1950s (following in the footsteps of Dracula, Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, The Wolf Man, as well as many others), The Creature from the Black Lagoon has captured the hearts and minds of people over the past six plus decades. Seen as being a forebear to films which have people dealing with some sort of unknown or super-animalistic type creature (think Alien, Predator or Jaws), director Jack Arnold’s 1954 horror flick developed the formula for this style of films success. Set in the heart of the Amazon, the leader of a geology expedition, Dr. Carl Maia (Antonio Moreno), stumbles upon an earthshattering discovery.
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Star Pick with Keir Dullea
Train in VainBrief EncounterOctober 18, 2016Whilst attending Trekonderoga, the Ticonderoga comic convention that is all things Star Trek, on August 13th, 2016, I was fortunate enough to be able to interview Keir Dullea. Best known for taking on the starring role of Dr. Dave Bowman in Stanley Kubrick’s iconic space epic 2001: A Space Odyssey – he reprised the character for the film’s 1984 sequel 2010: The Year We Made Contact. Dullea has played a variety of intriguing roles over his six plus decades in the industry, getting his first lead role in 1962's David and Lisa, the actor then went on to star in 1964's The Thin Red Line, Otto Preminger’s 1965 mystery Bunny Lake is Missing, 1974's Black Christmas (often considered to be the genesis of the slasher horror film genre), and Robert De Niro’s 2006 flick The Good Shepherd, to name but a few of his film credits. The man actually highlighted a small Canadian film that he made back in 1973, titled Paperback Hero (also known as Last of the Big Guns), as being the favourite film he has worked on to this point.
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Soul Survivor?
FaustOctober 16, 2016Iconic German director F.W. Murnau is often considered to be one of the most influential filmmakers of the silent film era. Creating the first ever vampire movie, Nosferatu (a perfect example of German Expressionism) in 1922 and Sunrise (sometimes considered to be the best silent film drama of all-time – and the first motion picture he made in America) in 1927, a perhaps slightly lesser known movie (of his) that is equally as impressive is 1926's Faust: A German Folk Legend. Revolving around the age old struggle of good versus evil, the tale begins with the demon Mephisto (Emil Jannings) debating with an Archangel (Werner Fuetterer) about the nature of human beings. The agent of darkness believes that he will be able to corrupt the righteous, wise old sage Faust (Gösta Ekman). The two agree that, if Mephisto succeeds, the Devil will be given rule over the Earth.
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Go Go Godzilla
GodzillaOctober 13, 2016From a modern perspective, it may not be immediately recognizable that the classic 1954 monster movie Godzilla was, in many ways, a product of its time. Highlighting the anxiety of the nuclear age at the height of The Cold War, the gargantuan reptile first appears after a hydrogen bomb test in the middle of the ocean. Even this occurrence that starts off the film is based on reality, as the United States tested a giant nuclear weapon on March 1st, 1954, under the code name Castle Bravo. Fishermen, who were outside of the radius, were hit by the fallout from the blast, being covered with copious amounts of coral and radioactive ash. One man died following the event, creating an onslaught of international press that questioned these tests (though, other articles impugned the men on the vessel, suggesting that they were spies).
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Star Pick with Mike MacDonald
Young Frankenstein Never Grows OldYoung FrankensteinOctober 4, 2016I recently sat down with famed comedian Mike MacDonald, who has had much success touring North America over the past several decades. The popular comic has done it all, including performances of his stand up on Late Night with David Letterman, The Arsenio Hall Show, having comedy specials on Showtime and the CBC, as well as being a staple at the ‘Just For Laughs’ comedy festival in Montreal. He has even starred in a few movies. After his sidesplitting performance at The Port Theatre in Cornwall, Ontario (on August 19th, 2016), the funnyman was kind enough to sit down with me, telling me about some of his favourite films. He immediately referenced the parody as being his preferred type of motion picture. He eloquently and succinctly highlighted a key aspect in creating a successful parody: "when you want to piss on something, it is good for a two or three minute sketch. But to parody something for ninety minutes, you have to love the subject".
