This week on SVENGOOLIE...

Western Guy
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

Post by Western Guy »

THE MOLE PEOPLE was one of the reasons John Agar never renewed his U-I contract. He admitted his nose got a little out of joint when Rock Hudson came onto the subterranean set and in a rather condescending tone asked Agar what he had gotten himself into.

John later said he might have made a mistake but at the time wanted a guarantee that if he re-signed he wouldn`t be used exclusively for sci-fi projects - not when fellow studio contractees Hudson, Tony Curtis, Jeff Chandler, etc. were being given a wide variety of roles. The U-I executive Jim Pratt said no promise could be given, John walked . . . and he next found himself in DAUGHTER OF DR. JEKYLL. From there, it was pretty much all downhill career-wise.
RedRiver
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

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I had never seen DR. CYCLOPS before. I enjoyed it, more or less. It's not one I'll watch again and again. It's pretty cornball, pretty predictable. But a silly fantasy is always fun! Some story elements are exactly like the much better INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN. Or I guess it's the other way around. "Cyclops" predates the Jack Arnold classic by seventeen years. One would expect similarities. But both films feature animal threats from cat to crocodile. (Are there really bears in the jungle?) Both find the tiny characters engineering ways in and out of rooms. Manipulating or manufacturing weapons with which to protect themselves.

While "Shrinking Man" is thoughtful to the point of spiritual, "Cyclops" is mere fun and games. It's all for melodramatic laughs, and succeeds on that level. But while I've seen "Shrinking" half a dozen times, one appointment with the doctor will almost certainly be enough!

Next week's feature is THE DEADLY MANTIS. Yet another "big bug movie." Yet another "not really good, but lots of fun!"
Western Guy
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

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Guaranteed, RedRiver, that if John Agar had re-signed the U-I contract he would have been in THE DEADLY MANTIS. And probably THE LAND UNKNOWN, MONSTER ON THE CAMPUS, and conceivably may have played Eric Fleming's role of the gun-toting minister in CURSE OF THE UNDEAD. Horrors, he might even have replaced John Bromfield for CURUCU, BEAST OF THE AMAZON.

The mind boggles.
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

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This is a special news bulletin. Reports of a DEADLY MANTIS headed toward your city have been confirmed. This giant, flying insect destroys buildings, scares women and lives on a diet of character actors. Exercise extreme caution. The mantis is expected to arrive Saturday night at 9:00 CST, at a location called ME TV. This is not a drill!
Western Guy
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

Post by Western Guy »

And I've gotta keep an eye open for that supposed Tonka stamp on the bottom of the bus the Mantis attacks.
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moira finnie
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

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I just got my Svengoolie newsletter (honest, there is such a thing), and after Deadly Mantis this Saturday, here's the rest of October:

OCT 13
Batman (1966- Adam West!)
Huh?

OCT 20
This Island Earth (1955)
[youtube][/youtube]
Rex Reason! Jeff Morrow as Mr. Big Forehead! Credible Scientific Jargon! What a thrill. I haven't seen this epic in decades.

OCT 27
The Werewolf of London (1935)
[youtube][/youtube]
Who knew that there was such a word as "werewolfery"? Or that Warner Oland would misquote Oscar Wilde? See what you learn by watching trailers?
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RedRiver
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

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Not bad. THIS ISLAND EARTH was on a few months ago. But I'm sure some missed it. Some consider WEREWOLF OF LONDON the most sophisticated werewolf movie. I prefer the Larry Talbot adventures. But Henry Hull's foray into full moon territory is fun. BATMAN? Well, Svengoolie loves camp!
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intothenitrate
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

Post by intothenitrate »

I saw Batman '66 when it came out and I was six. It was a pretty thrilling event. It almost started to dawn on me that they weren't being completely serious, but I remained earnest.
"Immorality may be fun, but it isn't fun enough to take the place of one hundred percent virtue and three square meals a day."
Goodnight Basington
Western Guy
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

Post by Western Guy »

Yeah, would love to see someone apply for a job and be asked what was your last position: "Werewolfery."

Somehow, though, Warner Oland pulls it off.
RedRiver
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

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I love Big Bug movies! Such ridiculous fun. DEADLY MANTIS is not bad. It's not to be taken seriously, but it's not at all insulting. It's actually pretty scary! The mantis peeking in the window as the characters go about their business, oblivious. Soldiers running for their lives as the monster bears down upon them. I like that the story focuses on people and process more than action. That makes it more believable and more suspenseful as well.

They sure pulled out the 1950's TV stars for this one. Paul Drake and Peter Gunn! Who knew private detectives could go up against a giant insect? Unfortunately, I fell asleep just before the climax. But I've seen it before. The important thing is the final score. Heroes 1/Bug 0!
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moira finnie
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

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Svengoolie worked its magic on me again last Saturday and I slipped away into the land of nod pretty quickly. Fortunately I was able to view Deadly Mantis despite "someone" in my household erasing it so she could record episodes of that @#^*&%@ "What Not to Wear" for the umpteenth time. I found The Deadly Mantis on youtube in a couple of versions, including one from MST3K, whose commentators described the leading lady with one of those now-lost character names, Marg (Alix Talton) as "a budget Rosalind Russell," which made me laugh so hard I had to hit pause. Does anyone call their daughter Marg, Gertrude or Olga anymore? These names are pretty unfashionable now, I guess.

Okay, as the movie gets going, I can accept a previously unknown volcano suddenly melting the ice-bound prehistoric giant praying mantis in the Arctic. And I can buy that in prehistoric times a praying mantis was longer than the length of a football field. But near the North Pole, and especially when flying aloft and snagging those tasty airmen inside the C-47 in mid-flight, doesn't the mantis get frostbitten or at least a bit chilly? Luckily, a "small" tip of a claw of the creature is left behind.

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Soon, of course, we see worried brass and later eggheads analyzing the big claw found at the site of the plane crash (where no bodies are found by Peter Gunn Craig Stevens). Before you can say "Them!" we are whisked to the plush offices of The Museum of Natural History brainiac played by...Paul Drake William Hopper. Bill is joined there by a cute colleagued played by news hen Alix Talton who reminds us repeatedly (Hopper, looking a bit bored with her repeated wisecracks) that she is "a real newshound." Her insistence on her legitimacy makes me wonder what kind of faux pas she may have perpetrated in a newsroom to earn her a coveted berth as the Lois Lane of the Paleontology set? This post doesn't even look like a lateral career move.

Back in the frozen North, the mantis wreaks havoc in an Inuit village, though the stock footage showing the men hopping in their kayaks and heading out to sea when the bug shows up seems kind of counter-productive to protecting hearth and igloo. Long story short, after blaring headlines report the mayhem, Bill and Alix head for Greenland to meet Craig to investigate further after the scientist concludes that this claw thingy is part of an insect and he's big. Strangely, the guys up North at Craig Stevens' Weather Station "Early Warning System" listening post have apparently been on duty a little too long. Are they on constant watch, hunting for more clues about this monster, or at least working on the engines of their planes? No, it's rock around the clock time!
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Above: Amusements in the Arctic Circle between bug attacks.

They dance with each other when not bug-hunting or changing their anti-freeze in an early implementation of "don't ask, don't tell." One airman seems particularly atwitter when he learns that "a female woman" is going to be on hand, though I suspect that he has little or no idea what to do with one.
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Above: A worried but excited airman learns that a "female woman" is going to be on base.

When Alix shows up, naturally wearing a dress, despite the frigid climate, their tongues hang out like overly polite but secretly horny Tex Avery wolves in air force uniform and stammer out an invitation to her to cut a rug. She is strangely flattered and leads the goof balls on a bit, though she has clearly set her cap for Col. Craig Stevens. Bill Hopper doesn't seem to mind a bit. (He's probably dreaming about Della "Hey, beautiful!" Street, who makes Alix look all wet).
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The most exciting thing that happens after this is when dip stick Alix wanders around the base looking for an old copy of Vogue or something to read. Babbling on while the air force officer and the investigative paleontologist ignore her, she fails to notice two giant bug eyes looking at her through the window. Finally, we see and hear why this actress was hired for this role. She's a screamer. The base is pretty much devastated but not after two brave souls hurl everything they've got at the buggy.
Image

When the big mantis finally starts to catch on that the pickin's are slim in the far North, he starts to head south and that means Washington, DC. The best scenes of the movie show the Mantis flying past the nation's Capitol and landing on the Washington Monument for a snack of two frozen with fear Park Rangers.
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While all this is going on, for some inexplicable reason Alix and Craig are driving around the Beltway in a dense fog, stopping occasionally to make out! After the mantis tosses a bus and eats the people inside like tic tacs, they stumble on the scene of the crime, but don't seem surprised or moved by the sight of mayhem before them.

Turning his attentions elsewhere, Manty (I was getting fond of him now) heads for the Big Apple, and almost nails a tasty morsel when he and fighter pilot Craig Stevens collide midair. Stevens, being the nimble lad he is, ejects just in time (the MST3K theater guys said his ejected seat looks like a Barcalounger). I kept wondering what part of NYC Craig's ejected seat landed in, but we were not privy to his arrival on terra firma. I like to think he landed on a mime or at least one of those "the end is near" guys who clutter up the sidewalk. Next thing, Manty goes into survival mode, since he is somewhat hurt by the collision with the jet. Where does he go? The Lincoln Tunnel, where else? This is it, Mantis. You tangled traffic, you ate some poor commuters in their cars, and you got Craig steamed. Wearing hazmat suits, Stevens and his minions creep forward into the tunnel, tossing some kind of fiery bombs at the mantis until he croaks. Of course, once Alix and her brownie camera enter the tunnel to photograph the now still corpse, the filmmakers tip their hand and reveal that they are educated shlockmeisters, since they inject a memorable moment from the end of Diabolique (1955), but I don't want to ruin that good movie for anyone.
Image
Above: Manty tries to cop a feel when Marg comes in to do her job.

I liked The Deadly Mantis a lot. I just wish I had a nice dog to watch it with me too, Red. Next week Batman The Movie. Oh, well, they can't all be classics.
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

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I like the movie too, Moira, but your review is better! We both keep falling asleep on Svengoolie. In my time zone, it's only nine o'clock! How pathetic is that? Love the footage of the canoeing natives hightailing it out of there. It's so obviously inserted it looks like something from AIRPLANE. New Yorkers would run around screaming, while authorities insructed them to "Remain Calm! Return to your homes!" These people are like, **** this! Where's my fur hat?

A worried but excited airman learns that a "female woman" is going to be on base.

That actor spent a large portion of his career hawking Miller High Life. He should have gotten out more!
RedRiver
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

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I passed on BATMAN. Only one thing to say. "Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb!"
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moira finnie
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

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I felt as though I had already given considerable time in my childhood to this one, so it wasn't on my dance card last night either.

All systems are go for This Island Earth next week, however. Was Rex Reason as terrible an actor as I suspect?
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intothenitrate
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

Post by intothenitrate »

RedRiver wrote:I passed on BATMAN. Only one thing to say. "Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb!"
Good one.
"Immorality may be fun, but it isn't fun enough to take the place of one hundred percent virtue and three square meals a day."
Goodnight Basington
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