This week on SVENGOOLIE...

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moira finnie
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

Post by moira finnie »

I keep hoping I'll see an entire movie on this program but haven't been able to due to sleep/life/my laughingly hectic social life. I actually like Abbott & Costello sometimes and love Boris. Wish I'd seen this one coming.

Here's an article from Chicago Time Out about Svengoolie's recovery from his recent heart attack (and illustrated with a picture of Rich Koz out of his makeup). I'm hoping he'll be okay soon and back making lame jokes once again:
http://tinyurl.com/b93pbnr
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

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The truth is, I dozed off before the end of the movie. I didn't mention that in my post because, well, does it really matter?
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

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HOUSE OF ****ing FRANKENSTEIN! Nice. I like the "House" movies. Three monsters (and a hunchback) for the price of one. It must have been a marketing department's dream. The target audience being ten years old, as I was when I first enjoyed these movies. Are they as literary as their excellent predecessors? No. They're episodic, almost token stories. "Here's the Dracula segment. We'll have Wolfman in about 15 minutes!" But it's all so cute! It makes me feel like a kid again.

Boris plays the mad scientist in this one. Plays it extremely well. At his wild-eyed best. J. Carrol Smashed is his deformed assistant. Mr. Caradine the famed blood-sucker. The bartender from the Long Branch turns up as Frank. If anybody but Lon Chaney played Larry Talbot, I think I'd scream! I can't tell you anything you don't already know. It provided me, and I hope others, with a pleasant 90 minutes on a Saturday night. I've seen this movie five times. The next time it's on, I'll probably watch it again!

I hope we're invited to HOUSE OF DRACULA soon. More of same!
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

Post by Jezebel38 »

Hi Red - just wanted to let you know I enjoy reading your posts on the Svengoolie broadcasts. I've been tuning in at 10:00 pm PST just for some giggles (really - I find him quite entertaining) and the start of the films but generally switch off after less than an hour. So I appreciate your letting me know what I missed!
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moira finnie
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

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Red,
I second Jezebel's appreciation. This is one of my favorite threads and it is fun to see how cheesy and entertaining you make these movies sound--even if we all fall asleep halfway through these.

I saw the part of House of Frankie last night when Dr. Niemann (the divine Boris Karloff, who never needed a coherent story or good direction to give a fine performance) and poor ol' starved-for-a-date Daniel (J. Carrol Naish) were able to break out of their prison/asylum thanks to one of Providence's little jokes during a bad storm. What a remarkably minute part George Zucco had in this movie when he showed up as Lampini, who just happened to have Dracula's skeleton in tow. By far, however, my favorite part in this movie was the gypsy vixen played by Elena Verdugo (What would Dr. Welby say!?). I was fascinated by her hair.
Image

BTW, if anyone wants to see this disjointed but somehow very filling mulligan stew of a monster movie, it is here:

[youtube][/youtube]
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

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"House of Frankenstein" doesn't get a lot of respect, but I have always loved it. When I was in elementary school, my friends and I turned it into a play. I had the Karloff/mad scientist role even if I was taller than the guy who played the Frankenstein monster.

Now that I'm an adult, I have a CD with the "House of Frankenstein" soundtrack on it. I play it on long drives.
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

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just happened to have Dracula's skeleton in tow

Interesting that Drac materializes fully dressed. The skeleton doesn't have clothes on!

Now that I'm an adult

Really? We don't get a lot of that around here!
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

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OMG! I'm led to believe next week's feature is TARANTULA. This Jack Arnold B classic is one of the better "Big Bug" movies. This is a good one! Of course, I believe it was on a few months ago. I'm not sure.
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

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Open channel D...This is Mr. Waverly. Napolean and Ilya are away on assignment. The giant TARANTULA that has been terrorizing this desert community will be confronted at 9:00 PM CST on Saturday. Dr. John Agar has called in the Air Force, and Flight Commander Eastwood is on the way! Feel lucky, bug?
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

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RedRiver wrote:Open channel D...This is Mr. Waverly. Napolean and Ilya are away on assignment. The giant TARANTULA that has been terrorizing this desert community will be confronted at 9:00 PM CST on Saturday. Dr. John Agar has called in the Air Force, and Flight Commander Eastwood is on the way! Feel lucky, bug?
:wink:

I am going to try to stay awake for this epic, which can be seen in its glorious entirety here as well (in case we fall asleep again!). Too bad they can't rent Aracnophobia (1990) to make it a double feature.

None of these bug pics can touch Them! (1954). Why? Is it simply the absence of Sandy Descher, James Whitmore and Edmund Gwenn?
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

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Moira, if I may say, TARANTULA is second only to THEM in the 50s Big Bug department. The back story featuring Leo G. Carroll`s theories and reasons for experimentation is interesting - as are the personal consequences - and everything from cast to direction to atmosphere is top-notch for the genre and the period. I`d dare say that TARANTULA is second only to CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON as U-I`s greatest 50s sci-fi film. John Agar said that, despite its (for the time) rather miniscule budget, TARANTULA was one of the top box office grossers for the year (1955).
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moira finnie
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

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I watched the first few minutes of Tarantula, Stone, and was amused at the echoes of Them!, so I will probably enjoy this movie. I love Leo G. Carroll in anything too.
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

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Is it simply the absence of Sandy Descher, James Whitmore and Edmund Gwenn?

I think it's the absence of solid, sophisticated suspense. THEM is about what you DON'T see. Most of the others go for the shock. At this time of year, I expect Edmund Gwenn to recommend the ants go to Macy's if they don't find what they're looking for at Gimbel's!
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

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RedRiver wrote:Is it simply the absence of Sandy Descher, James Whitmore and Edmund Gwenn?

I think it's the absence of solid, sophisticated suspense. THEM is about what you DON'T see. Most of the others go for the shock. At this time of year, I expect Edmund Gwenn to recommend the ants go to Macy's if they don't find what they're looking for at Gimbel's!
Good one, Red! :D :wink:
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Re: This week on SVENGOOLIE...

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A most enjoyable Bug Movie! Good characters, good story. As Western Guy suggested, the subplot of Mr. Waverly's experiments, and the deterioration he suffers as a result, is actually scarier than the main story. It's really creepy! Hearkening back to the character actor thread, our friend Mr. Drysdale turns up as a bug expert. "Miss Hathaway! Where's my toupee?" Raymond Bailey is always good, and usually not silly. These old actors were more versatile than most people realize.

I love the look and feel of the very small town that drives this desert community. The stores, the funeral parlor (no shortage of business in the horror genre). The quiet streets offer plenty of parking for the enormous sedans everybody drove in those days. Gas was 20 cents a gallon!

The story and atmosphere are reminiscent of another, inferior, Bug Movie. I thought it was called THE GIANT SPIDER. IMDB lists it as EARTH VS. THE SPIDER. Whatever the title, it's nowhere near as good as last night's offering. The Bert I. Gordon "teenagers vs. authorities" format is neither creative nor exciting. Still, it's cute in a harmless way. I enjoyed it as a child. In the long run, that's what movies such as these are for!

Next week: "Sssss!" I know this one was on a few months ago. I also remember what I said about it. I don't do reptiles! I'll probably skip this one!
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