This week on SVENGOOLIE...

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Rita Hayworth
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

Post by Rita Hayworth »

I watch Tarantula at my friend house last night because his television has better reception for ME Television than mine because he uses a Satellite Dish ... I use Cable. Tarantula and Them are my Number 1 and 2 of the big bugs movies that came out during that era of where SCIENCE FICTION MOVIES was KING. To me, it is one of those ultimate bug movies - ever made! :)
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

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Ssssss!
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moira finnie
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

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I loved the parts of Tarantula when Leo G. Carroll's beetled brows got bigger, and bigger and bigger. Despite all this, Leo was the best thing in the movie, though it is a mystery to me why he and his doomed scientific colleagues thought that there was any advantage to be had in making bigger humans (wouldn't bigger humans require more food, thus creating more scarcity of food in the future and undercutting any progress these agronomist-biologists hoped to make combating hunger? And what was the point of making bigger spiders when stuff like bigger cows might prove to be much more useful, no? Oops, sorry. Logic interrupted my train of thought).

Professor Leo: Before
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Professor Leo: After
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

Post by moira finnie »

Of course, if they made bigger cows that got away from the lab, Tarantula might have been called something catchy like Bossie! or Elsie! or Heifer! or Black Angus! or maybe Bovine!
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

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It would be hard to market The Tarantu-Burger!
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

Post by Western Guy »

My God, Moira, you ARE a Movie Morlock -- trying to find a logical explanation for desert experimentations in a 50s sci-fi starring John Agar!

And just what was that house doing out there in the middle of the Arizona desert?
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

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Apparently, there is a recent (if not current) horror movie about cows called either "Branded" or "Mad Cow." Supposedly, it tries to be an anti-McDonald's film. (The movie was not produced in the United States.) From what I've read, under either title, this is a no-talent cheapie to avoid.
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

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Much like the food at a certain burger venue.
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Post by Western Guy »

. . . And don`t forget the Marc Lawrence horror classic PIGS. Apparently when this film was released, one of the gimmicks to entice patrons to the theater was to give away bacon! Marc said that idea completely backfired. I can see why.
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

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I hope somebody enjoyed Svengoolie's program last night. Not being a snake person, I watched our friend Boris on another channel. The incredibly cheap THE APE was on the local public access outlet. This weekend feature not only shows bad movies, even the copies are of poor quality. With that in mind, I'm pretty sure THE APE would be laughable in even the best circumstances!

Boris is once again the mad doctor, looking frail and elderly, even for him. The movie is from 1940. Was Karloff THAT old? Or was this is a make-up job? Committed to curing polio, especially that of a young lady who reminds him of his late daughter, Doctor Boris will go to any lengths to obtain human spinal fluid. Even if it means taking advantage of an escaped circus ape ravaging the countryside!

The movie is pretty bad. The actor, however, is quite good. The depth in those dark, soulful eyes, the eerie interpretation of the words, this is some fine theatrics for a B minus movie. The more I see of "civilized Boris," doctor instead of monster, the more I appreciate this talented performer. He's fine in HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, Svengoolie's feature a few weeks ago. THE MAN THEY COULD NOT HANG and BLACK FRIDAY further illustrate this point.

He's excellent in some Val Lewton chillers, as well as SCARFACE and THE LOST PATROL. But that doesn't back up my "civilized" theory. Those characters are pretty out of control!
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

Post by MikeBSG »

I think "The Man They Could Not Hang" is simply terrific, and while "Black Friday" has problems, I seem to like it a lot more than most people. I'd far rather watch "Black Friday" than either version of "The Raven."
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

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Next week: ABBOTT AND COSTELLO GO TO MARS! What can I say?
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

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RedRiver wrote:Next week: ABBOTT AND COSTELLO GO TO MARS! What can I say?
Hey, it's Christmas. If we were ten years old again we might be psyched for this one. Besides, I can't help cutting the guy slack while he recovers from his recent illness. Hope he's back with more good stuff later.
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

Post by Western Guy »

A lot of people have had problems with Karloff's gangster Gaffney in SCARFACE. While they agreed that visually he made an impressive hood, once he opened his mouth and delivered tough guy dialogue in that English accent with the pronounced lisp, that destroyed all credibility to the characterization. I'd argue the point: My aunt and uncle lived in Chicago during the 20s and did business with florist Dion O'Banion, and I remember my aunt telling this gangster-salivating lad back in 1970 Phoenix that O'Banion spoke with a thick Irish brogue. Karloff's, shall we say "exotic" gangster was a nice, refreshing change from da "dese", dose" and "dem" mobsters.

But Moira: Bud and Lou NEVER go to Mars. They end up on Venus. All I can say is ol' Bud must have been piloting. :wink:
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

Post by RedRiver »

I'm not a purist. If it's entertaining, and not simply ridiculous, I'm along for the ride. A friend of mine takes issue with dialect. "These people would have accents. This guy wouldn't even speak English." Yes, but...it's an American movie. It's more fun if you, you know, understand it!
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