I Just Watched...

[Allhallowsday]

ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT'S ME, MARGARET (2023) Great job with an important little book. Boys had the same questions and anxieties. However, we did not have JUDY BLUME.

[CinemaInternational]

ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT'S ME, MARGARET (2023) Great job with an important little book. Boys had the same questions and anxieties. However, we did not have JUDY BLUME.

That was a wonderful film, one of the three best films I have seen from the decade so far. I'd argue that it was the best film about young adolescence since A Little Romance in 1979.

[Allhallowsday]

...That was a wonderful film, one of the three best films I have seen from the decade so far. I'd argue that it was the best film about young adolescence since A Little Romance in 1979.

I love A LITTLE ROMANCE too, but MARGARET is superior.

[Andree]

I think I vaguely remember that episode now, at least that Bobby Troup was in it. (unless he was in another one) I'll watch out for it!

Yeah, Bobby played the beatnik piano player with the hard to fathom monologues. I think
he was in a couple other episodes, maybe the one where James Drury played the jazz
band leader. Perry informs the bride's surprised father that Drury is not a bum but makes
a good living playing music. With FETV showing so many PM episodes daily they are in a
pretty quick rotation.

[Hibi]

I think I vaguely remember that episode now, at least that Bobby Troup was in it. (unless he was in another one) I'll watch out for it!

Yeah, Bobby played the beatnik piano player with the hard to fathom monologues. I think
he was in a couple other episodes, maybe the one where James Drury played the jazz
band leader. Perry informs the bride's surprised father that Drury is not a bum but makes
a good living playing music. With FETV showing so many PM episodes daily they are in a
pretty quick rotation.

I think there were a handful of jazz nightclub type episodes. Unsure which one I'm remembering. Yeah, suddenly Perry is on 3 or 4 cable channels now with marathons on wknds on one of them. And starting earlier on weeknights too.

[Bronxgirl48]

Who else enjoyed the cheapjack Monogram WWII propaganda "thriller" I ESCAPED FROM THE GESTAPO? Dean Jagger (when he still had hair, but it was probably a rug) plays a forger unwittingly involved with a drab bunch of B-movie Nazi saboteurs in hard g "Los Angle-eez" headed by John Carradine. We know the group is foreign because they don't, er, I mean do not, speak with contractions. The motley crew is holed up in a room attached to an amusement arcade where average Americans are strolling around eating cotton candy, oblivious to what is going on behind their patriotic backs.

While all the humdrum "intrigue" is going on, there are some half-hearted but not unwelcome stylistic noir flourishes. These unfortunately cannot elevate the entire production into anything other than a tepid exploitative bargain basement programmer.

Interesting dialogue: "Mendelssohn! I haven't heard him since the Reichstag fire"

I saw it on the schedule and recorded it! (haven't watched it yet) Didn't know it was Monogram. LOL! So I know it'll be bad going in....

Yes, Monogram can certainly be counted on to deliver the tacky goods, be it The East Side Kids with Bela Lugosi, skulking gorillas, bare-bones haunted houses, shuffling zombies, or snooze-inducing Nazi agents. But of course these are the most fun to watch as far as I'm concerned.

[Swithin]

Who else enjoyed the cheapjack Monogram WWII propaganda "thriller" I ESCAPED FROM THE GESTAPO? Dean Jagger (when he still had hair, but it was probably a rug) plays a forger unwittingly involved with a drab bunch of B-movie Nazi saboteurs in hard g "Los Angle-eez" headed by John Carradine. We know the group is foreign because they don't, er, I mean do not, speak with contractions. The motley crew is holed up in a room attached to an amusement arcade where average Americans are strolling around eating cotton candy, oblivious to what is going on behind their patriotic backs.

While all the humdrum "intrigue" is going on, there are some half-hearted but not unwelcome stylistic noir flourishes. These unfortunately cannot elevate the entire production into anything other than a tepid exploitative bargain basement programmer.

Interesting dialogue: "Mendelssohn! I haven't heard him since the Reichstag fire"

I saw it on the schedule and recorded it! (haven't watched it yet) Didn't know it was Monogram. LOL! So I know it'll be bad going in....

Yes, Monogram can certainly be counted on to deliver the tacky goods, be it The East Side Kids with Bela Lugosi, skulking gorillas, bare-bones haunted houses, shuffling zombies, or snooze-inducing Nazi agents. But of course these are the most fun to watch as far as I'm concerned.

Monogram of sainted memory produced one of the great films of all time, the first film I ever bought on video, even before I had a VCR! I'm talking about the Academy Award-nominated King of the Zombies (1941), a film which I can watch again and again. The film includes Madame Sul-Te-Wan, the first Black actor ever to sign a contract with a major studio; and Leigh Whipper, the first Black actor to join Actors Equity, and one of the founders of the Negro Actors Guild of America.

Madame Sul-Te-Wan's role of Tahama, the Cook and High Priestess, is one of the great roles in the history of the movies!


Madame Sul-Te-Wan (left); Mantan Moreland (tasting Tahama's brew); and Marguerite Whitten

[Bronxgirl48]

KING OF THE ZOMBIES! Swithin, you speak to my heart! Haven't seen that one in ages! Maybe it's on YouTube.

[Andree]

I think there were a handful of jazz nightclub type episodes. Unsure which one I'm remembering. Yeah, suddenly Perry is on 3 or 4 cable channels now with marathons on wknds on one of them. And starting earlier on weeknights too.

Yeah, I just noticed tonight that PM is also on another channel in addition to FETV.
One I always get a kick out of is from the later seasons. A skinny English kid who can
barely carry a tune and has all the charisma of a pin cushion is being groomed to be a
pop star. So hilariously untalented you feel sorry for him.

FETV does show the one color episode. It's basically an updated version of Oliver
Twist.

[txfilmfan]

I think there were a handful of jazz nightclub type episodes. Unsure which one I'm remembering. Yeah, suddenly Perry is on 3 or 4 cable channels now with marathons on wknds on one of them. And starting earlier on weeknights too.

Yeah, I just noticed tonight that PM is also on another channel in addition to FETV.
One I always get a kick out of is from the later seasons. A skinny English kid who can
barely carry a tune and has all the charisma of a pin cushion is being groomed to be a
pop star. So hilariously untalented you feel sorry for him.

FETV does show the one color episode. It's basically an updated version of Oliver
Twist.

I've seen the color episode on MeTV too, as it's the only channel on which I've ever watched PM. The distributor withheld the color episode from the syndication package for many years, for some reason.

[Allhallowsday]

edit

(I too often find my posts repeated...)

[Allhallowsday]

...Monogram of sainted memory produced one of the great films of all time, the first film I ever bought on video, even before I had a VCR! I'm talking about the Academy Award-nominated King of the Zombies (1941), a film which I can watch again and again. The film includes Madame Sul-Te-Wan, the first Black actor ever to sign a contract with a major studio; and Leigh Whipper, the first Black actor to join Actors Equity, and one of the founders of the Negro Actors Guild of America.

Madame Sul-Te-Wan's role of Tahama, the Cook and High Priestess, is one of the great roles in the history of the movies!

Madame Sul-Te-Wan (left); Mantan Moreland (tasting Tahama's brew); and Marguerite Whitten

Life is full of coincidence and serendipity. Last night, I was talking to my Bad Movies forum friend in a rehab in Michigan...and he was praising KING OF THE ZOMBIES ...

[Hibi]

Who else enjoyed the cheapjack Monogram WWII propaganda "thriller" I ESCAPED FROM THE GESTAPO? Dean Jagger (when he still had hair, but it was probably a rug) plays a forger unwittingly involved with a drab bunch of B-movie Nazi saboteurs in hard g "Los Angle-eez" headed by John Carradine. We know the group is foreign because they don't, er, I mean do not, speak with contractions. The motley crew is holed up in a room attached to an amusement arcade where average Americans are strolling around eating cotton candy, oblivious to what is going on behind their patriotic backs.

While all the humdrum "intrigue" is going on, there are some half-hearted but not unwelcome stylistic noir flourishes. These unfortunately cannot elevate the entire production into anything other than a tepid exploitative bargain basement programmer.

Interesting dialogue: "Mendelssohn! I haven't heard him since the Reichstag fire"

I saw it on the schedule and recorded it! (haven't watched it yet) Didn't know it was Monogram. LOL! So I know it'll be bad going in....

Yes, Monogram can certainly be counted on to deliver the tacky goods, be it The East Side Kids with Bela Lugosi, skulking gorillas, bare-bones haunted houses, shuffling zombies, or snooze-inducing Nazi agents. But of course these are the most fun to watch as far as I'm concerned.

Once in awhile they aren't half bad. Some of the bad ones are at least entertaining.

[Hibi]

I think there were a handful of jazz nightclub type episodes. Unsure which one I'm remembering. Yeah, suddenly Perry is on 3 or 4 cable channels now with marathons on wknds on one of them. And starting earlier on weeknights too.

Yeah, I just noticed tonight that PM is also on another channel in addition to FETV.
One I always get a kick out of is from the later seasons. A skinny English kid who can
barely carry a tune and has all the charisma of a pin cushion is being groomed to be a
pop star. So hilariously untalented you feel sorry for him.

FETV does show the one color episode. It's basically an updated version of Oliver
Twist.

LOL. That one is really bad! (The wannabe rock star). I'm not sure I get FETV. I'll need to check the schedule.

[Allhallowsday]

To my own amazement, I sat thru on TCM most of 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY ...