The Silver Screen Oasis

Hooray! Svengoolie's choice this week is BLACK FRIDAY. Boris, Bela and yet another brain transplant story! This is not my favorite movie. There are better macabre thrillers. But I love this type of horror film. And it's not something we see every day. I'm so glad scare fare such as this hasn't been totally forgotten!

Karloff: "I had to give him a brain trahnsplahntation!"

Lugosi (as a gangster!): "The money's in d' oven, Red, d' money's in d' oven!"

Hey, that's good, Joe. Siodmak should have written the dialogue that way into his script.

SPOILER ALERT (for those who haven't seen the film):

It's a fun flick that certainly doesn't wear out its welcome, though the ending is rather implausible. Didn't daughter Jean stand up for her father in court and tell the jury that Dr. Sovac's killing of Cannon/Kingsley was in self defense - no matter whose body was lying on the floor? After all,whoever it was tried to viciously strangle the girl. Daddy merely came to the rescue.

My favorite line: Lugosi to his rather ragtag henchmen: "Red Cannon now belongs to the history of crime - past tense."

Okay...it's Halloween. Snowing (first measurable snowfall on Halloween in Chicago since records started being kept in 1873). Wind gusts up to 69 mph. Lake Shore Drive closed due to waves. Four-and-a-half hour delays at O'Hare (okay, right, that's normal). But...

By unanimous resolution of the Illinois General Assembly, today is also HONORARY SVENGOOLIE DAY! And some people thing our legislature is clueless....

Rich Koz was interviewed on WBEZ (local NPR station). How's he spending tonight?

"I'm going to the Bulls home opener against the Cavs. I hope to hit LeBron James with a rubber chicken."

Atta boy, Sven!

"Like."

I like BLACK FRIDAY! It's exactly what I expect from a "misguided scientist goes to the chair for experiments gone wrong" thriller! The gangsters are hard and cynical. The women gentle and supportive. Boris is...BORIS! The man never learns! I thought I had seen this one before, and I probably had. But I didn't remember any of the story. It's hard to distinguish between the various Karloff excursions into this creepy theme. My memory being refreshed, BLACK FRIDAY is a fine examle of this storyline.

Dare I ask what Svengoolie means by "Boris and Barney" month? I have a feeling we'll be seeing THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN soon! Is it too late to "nip it in the bud"?

Don't know about the Barney (maybe he misspelled Blarney?), but Boris is up next in one of his especially well-crafted roles, The Mummy. (Or did he misspell The Mommy?)

I'd almost forgotten the old Svengoolie thread. But it deserves mention that HOUSE OF HORRORS is on this weekend. Our old friend Rondo Hatton as The Creeper! My brother would never forgive an oversight of this camp classic!

I will be watching it this weekend because the sounds of my new TV is far better than my old one and the signal is whole lot sharper than before. I like HOUSE OF HORRORS too.

Holy cow! WEIRD WOMAN is on next week. I haven't seen this, but apparently, it's an Inner Sanctum mystery with Lon Chaney, Jr. If there's anything more appealing on TV next Saturday night, I'd like to know what it is. I don't know about anybody else, but this is my Must See TV!

As for yesterday's program, can you NOT love Rondo Hatton as The Creeper? When it comes to the minor, maybe even mindless, horror fare from Universal, you can't beat HOUSE OF HORRORS. Mr. H is grotesque and sinister. His master, wicked and spineless. The "girl reporter," in this case an art critic, is bold and flippant, right out of George S. Kaufman. The movie is full of shadows and dark alleys, and innocent ladies who lack the good sense to stay away from such places! These moments provide more than a little suspense in this delightful, if arguably forgettable thriller.

My brother loved to hear Rondo say, "Stop screamin'." The man gets to the point!

And now...WEIRD WOMAN!

I had never seen WEIRD WOMAN. Not bad! Manipulative ex-lovers, jealous teenagers, stalwart and stodgy Lon. Not to mention voodoo, curses, and jungle superstition! No big surprises. Not something I'd watch over and over. But old-fashioned and satisfying. I believe this is my second Inner Sanctum movie. I'd like to see more!

Next week: THE LEECH WOMAN!

I loved all of the old Universal B's and Weird Woman was perhaps the best of the Inner Sanctum series. It was the first film version of Fritz Leiber's "Conjure Wife." Having said that, however, I have to admit that the second film version may be even better. The 1962 US/British co-production was called Burn, Witch, Burn here in the states. The star was, of all people, Janet Blair and she is fantastic in it. If you get a chance, be sure to check it out. (The British title is Night of the Eagle.)
Brian

CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN was watchable Saturday. Don't run right out and buy a copy. But Saturday night, nothing to do...I can handle it! John Carradine is a mad scientist (What? Who would have thought?); turns ape into Acquanetta. (Long story.) Milburn Stone gives up a thriving Dodge City medical practice to become a lion tamer (Not kidding!). And Evelyn's Ankles are once again present as the feisty girlfriend! Directed by Edward Dmytryk? I didn't know this. But that's what I read!

I wonder what's on tonight.