This week on SVENGOOLIE...

[RedRiver]

So we have to choose between skin cancer and vitamin deficiency. No wonder we're so confused! If I REALLY want to pay attention to a movie, I have to get the video. Then after I sleep through the second act, I can rewind. Broadcast TV is simply "nothing else to do".

[RedRiver]

So next week is THE BOY WHO CRIED WEREWOLF? I think that's the title. I don't remember that one.

[knitwit45]

I tried 2 different times to watch Svengoolie, but had to turn the channel both times. The problem wasn't Svengoolie (who is a true doofus) but the commercials..both times I was sucker punched by horrific ads for abused animals. I burst into tears over the first one, and a month later, even tho I had the remote button firmly in hand, got hit with another one...that one I still haven't been able to shake. So my time with the entire "ME" channel is over. I can live with 10 minutes of film and 15 minutes of ads, but not the kind that seem to be favored by this channel. Hope you guys have better luck!

[moira finnie]

Oh, I know the guilt trip commercial you mean, Nan. I have to look away, and hit my remote immediately when that one comes on the air. The Me-TV channel features that kind of commercial, Alex Trebek selling burial plots life insurance, or late at night, some arcane device to help guys in the sack.

I find most of their programming is better DVRed so you can zap through the commercials completely. You sound as though you have a higher tolerance for Svengoolie himself than I do.

Red, I think THE BOY WHO CRIED WEREWOLF is a 1973 movie with Kerwin Matthews who goes all fuzzy and furry when he gets bitten on a camping trip, (why couldn't they get something good with Matthews like Jason and the Argonauts?)

[moira finnie]

A schedule for the dog days of August on me-tv:

August 4
The Boy Who Cried Werewolf (1973-Nathan Juran)
Kerwin Matthews, Robert Wilke

Synopsis: Little Richie Bridgestone (whose parents are divorced) goes to spend the weekend with his father at his secluded mountain cabin, and witnesses his father being attacked by 'a creature' that the boy recognizes as a werewolf. He spends the rest of the film trying to convince his mother, and his therapist that his father is now a werewolf.

This movie, directed by the same guy who made the original cheese classic, The Attack of the 50-Foot Woman, sounds as though it might be good if you are in a group and alcohol is involved, but those of us who are lone wolves (so to speak) might want to see if it is fun. The production company seems to have paired this with SSSS (the snake flick with Strother Martin) when preparing a trailer.
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August 11
The Creature Walks Among Us (1956-John Sherwood)
Rex Reason, Jeff Morrow
It looks as though another of the Black Lagoon's brethren is on the prowl looking for a hot date.
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August 18
The Mummy (1932-Karl Freund)
Boris Karloff, Zita Johann
The original, the best, and between this movie and Mad Love, what a talented squirrel Karl Freund must have been, eh? Karloff was wonderful--sad, sinister, and seriously in need of moisturizer. Mrs. John Houseman at the time, New York stage actress Zita Johannn, only made a few movies. She hated Hollywood and wasn't too wild about Houseman, if you can believe John's memoirs and Gregory Mank's books, but boy, did she have "a presence." David Manners plays Mr. Wonderful with his usual ineffectual and gentlemanly restraint.
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August 25
The Ghost Breakers (1940-George Marshall)
Bob Hope, Paulette Goddard, Willie Best, Paul Lukas, Richard Carlson.
Synopsis: A radio broadcaster, his quaking manservant and an heiress investigate the mystery of a haunted castle in Cuba.

Very funny at moments, with some good chills for the susceptible. Bob Hope was still honing his slightly dim but very funny, cowardly, romantically eager screen personality in movies like this and the "Road To..." series that began that same year with Crosby. Hope's way with a line was already very deft--look for the scene with Richard Carlson explaining what a zombie is to Hope and Goddard and don't miss Bob's reply. [It's funny no matter what your politics]. The dated racist stereotyping is often painful to witness, but at least Willie Best was getting a paycheck and was a central presence in the film who made it work.
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[RedRiver]

Thanks for this exciting info, Moira! Cinemaven and I have just been discussing the ace of bandages, THE MUMMY, on another thread! "Blackie Lagoon" is always a treat on a Saturday night. And Bob "Somebody needs to oil that ghost" Hope is funny in the dated but witty GHOST BREAKERS. The hot days of August will be cooled with some fun monster movies, thanks to the annoying but likeable Svengoolie!

[moira finnie]

I didn't see the whole movie, but The Boy Who Cried Werewolf (1973-Nathan Juran) was pretty good. As usual the child is the only one who really knows what is going on in this community (see Invaders from Mars for another example of this tendency). The movie even included an entertaining bunch of hippie/Jesus freaks/stoners hanging out in the woods. They were rattled out of their stupor by Kerwin Matthews' agonized Wolf man. Matthews' really went to town portraying this man's transformation, literally chewing the scenery and rolling around on the ground quite a bit, (the makeup folks made him look quite a bit like a lost dog I once knew, with shaggy fur and a long snout, so I was instantly on his side).

The production was cheap but the story and the acting weren't bad, probably in part due to Juran's direction. For once, flinty-eyed Robert Wilke got to play a guy on the right side of the law--though he should have believed the kid's warnings. The last time I saw Wilke play a character with a scosh of sympathy he went down with the ship and Captain Nemo in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954). That's a long time between decent (well, sort of) characters.

[RedRiver]

I did enjoy this wolf's tale, but can't be as kind as you have been. This is fun BECAUSE of its shortcomings, not in spite of...The cheap, amateur quality of the photography (and pretty much everything else) is laughable. So laugh! The early 70's stereotypes were cardboard cut-outs even then. Now they're The Flintstones! The guy in the trailer looked like Starsky or Hutch. I can never remember which is which! The story is fun in a superficial, sensational way. But pretty bad on closer examination.

If anybody really cares, this is a ********SPOILER********

I was bothered by the cavalier treatment of the familial connection. It made for a good plot device, the child reporting his father as a werewolf. Nobody believing him. (The thrilling THE WINDOW being another example of that theme.) But once it became clear the boy's story was true, nobody cared. "Dude! You were right. Step aside while we shoot your father 109 times and IMPALE him before your eyes!" The mother didn't even get worked up. Lawrence Talbot and his father face a similar dilemna in THE wolfman movie. But that film handles it with sensitivity and respect. Nobody even pats this kid on the head!

[moira finnie]

Red, you clearly saw far more of this movie than I did. The 15 minutes or so of this movie kept me amused, though I wasn't able to watch more. Maybe you were sending me psychic messages that said "...don't waste your time, Moira...believe me, these characters aren't worth it..." all of which lulled me back to snoozeville.

[RedRiver]

This from a woman who stays up to watch ROUTE 66!

[moira finnie]

This from a woman who stays up to watch ROUTE 66!

Ah, no, Red. The DVR is my friend. I try not to be awake at 3am, though sometimes the Sandman skips my house, or I drink any iced tea after 4pm.

[RedRiver]

Speaking of tea, I heard Lt. Tragg use the word on PERRY MASON last night. Let's just say he wasn't talking about Lipton! That Tragg. What a hep cat!

[moira finnie]

Speaking of tea, I heard Lt. Tragg use the word on PERRY MASON last night. Let's just say he wasn't talking about Lipton! That Tragg. What a hep cat!

Oh, that scamp Ray Collins! Was that the episode with Frankie Laine as the washed-up comedian and Walter Burke as his loyal dogs-body? I saw part of that one the other night before hitting the hay.

[RedRiver]

Dig, man. That's the one!

[RedRiver]

This weekend...BLACKIE LAGOON!