The second film with Jean DuJardin starting as Agente 117, Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath, was released in April in France, and will be coming out shortly on DVD. The first film (OSS 117: Le Caire nid d'espions) was great, and exactly my kind of movie, so I have high hopes for the new one. I just have to hunt around for a copy with English subtitles, or wait a year or so for a US version to come out...Thursday, September 17
OSS 117
The second film with Jean DuJardin starting as Agente 117, Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath, was released in April in France, and will be coming out shortly on DVD. The first film (OSS 117: Le Caire nid d'espions) was great, and exactly my kind of movie, so I have high hopes for the new one. I just have to hunt around for a copy with English subtitles, or wait a year or so for a US version to come out...
Wednesday, September 16
Halloweenies Nine-Fifteenies
Last night we watched the follow-up to House of Frankenstein, imaginatively titled House of Dracula. I actually liked it better than HoF.
In this one, both Dracula and Larry (Wolfman) Talbot end up at the castle lab of a non-mad doctor asking to be cured of their respective afflictions (though I'm not sure how sincere the Count is). We get a poignant lady hunchback nurse this time, and get spared repetition of the Wolfman rhyme. 
The best aspects are the going-mad of the benevolent doctor, thanks to an unwanted blood transfusion from Dracula, and the novel twist of having vampirism and werewolfism (is that a word?) having a biological, rather than supernatural basis--this about 10 years before Richard Matheson rewrote the rules in his novel I Am Legend (which itself has been filmed three times). Also, some good supporting performances by Lionel Atwill and Skelton Knaggs, creepy in the role of the riled-up villager.
Mr. Knaggs (from a different movie)
The weaknesses: the Frankenstein monster's superfluous role, John Carradine still not totally making it as Dracula, and a rushed ending.
In this one, both Dracula and Larry (Wolfman) Talbot end up at the castle lab of a non-mad doctor asking to be cured of their respective afflictions (though I'm not sure how sincere the Count is). We get a poignant lady hunchback nurse this time, and get spared repetition of the Wolfman rhyme. 
The best aspects are the going-mad of the benevolent doctor, thanks to an unwanted blood transfusion from Dracula, and the novel twist of having vampirism and werewolfism (is that a word?) having a biological, rather than supernatural basis--this about 10 years before Richard Matheson rewrote the rules in his novel I Am Legend (which itself has been filmed three times). Also, some good supporting performances by Lionel Atwill and Skelton Knaggs, creepy in the role of the riled-up villager.
Mr. Knaggs (from a different movie)Tuesday, September 15
TV Classics
Don't tell Beebo, but this is what she's getting for Xmas--all 2,347 episodes of this classic series, plus a talking Hawkeye action figure that says a variety of world-weary phrases.
Monday, September 14
Sunday, September 13
Deebo the Vampire
The second photo is actually the way it looked when we took his picture--he was lying in a box on his back, looking at me upside-down.
Saturday, September 12
More Halloweenies
Last night, we watched House of Frankenstein (1945), despite some strong competition from a fat bellowing pothead who was having a jam session at the apartment across the street. I wish I could record some of his fatuous roots-rockin' tunes for you, so that you could share the experience. Since it happened last night, I think we're off the hook for the rest of the weekend.
Anyway--House of Frankenstein. This is a late Universal Studios effort, released 14 years after their initial Drac/Frank films. Boris Karloff plays Dr. Niemann, who wants to continue the experiments of Henry Frankenstein. He and his handy/tragic hunchback assistant, Daniel (is that really a good hunchback name?) escape from prison and end up with Dracula's corpse in a coffin, whom they revive to do a grudge killing against a burgomeister, and then Dracula (John Carradine) is quickly dispatched by the first rays of the morning sun, after only about 30 minutes of the movie, which is a strange plotting decision. Then, the Frank-monster and the Wolfman, Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney, Jr.) are unfrozen, a gypsy girl falls in love with Larry, making the hunchback sad, the gypsy girl shoots Larry with a silver bullet, the monster throws the hunchback out a window, the villagers attack the castle, and the monster carries Dr. Niemann into quicksand. The End.
There's a lot of overt explanation of how vampires and werewolves can be killed, to set up their later deaths, and there's a lot of familiar set pieces and archetypal Universal horror characters. The next year brought House of Dracula, with the return of Carradine and Chaney, but no Boris. After that, all that was left was for the monsters to meet Abbott & Costello, since the franchise had pretty well burnt itself out (though A&C Meet F is a good movie). Would I recommend HoF? No, if you haven't seen the good Universals, yes (why not?) if you have.
Anyway--House of Frankenstein. This is a late Universal Studios effort, released 14 years after their initial Drac/Frank films. Boris Karloff plays Dr. Niemann, who wants to continue the experiments of Henry Frankenstein. He and his handy/tragic hunchback assistant, Daniel (is that really a good hunchback name?) escape from prison and end up with Dracula's corpse in a coffin, whom they revive to do a grudge killing against a burgomeister, and then Dracula (John Carradine) is quickly dispatched by the first rays of the morning sun, after only about 30 minutes of the movie, which is a strange plotting decision. Then, the Frank-monster and the Wolfman, Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney, Jr.) are unfrozen, a gypsy girl falls in love with Larry, making the hunchback sad, the gypsy girl shoots Larry with a silver bullet, the monster throws the hunchback out a window, the villagers attack the castle, and the monster carries Dr. Niemann into quicksand. The End.There's a lot of overt explanation of how vampires and werewolves can be killed, to set up their later deaths, and there's a lot of familiar set pieces and archetypal Universal horror characters. The next year brought House of Dracula, with the return of Carradine and Chaney, but no Boris. After that, all that was left was for the monsters to meet Abbott & Costello, since the franchise had pretty well burnt itself out (though A&C Meet F is a good movie). Would I recommend HoF? No, if you haven't seen the good Universals, yes (why not?) if you have.
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