This week on SVENGOOLIE...

[Rita Hayworth]

Red River ... Due credit to Moira and thanks for mentioning me. And, Moira gets all the applause for mentioning this unusual horror classic SHE WOLF of LONDON!

And, I'm looking forward watching tomorrow ... Stay Tuned for my report of this movie!

[Rita Hayworth]

She Wolf of London - 1946 Movie

When I watched this Movie on SVENGOOLIE last night - I was somewhat disappointed in this movie - according to IMDb - this movie is categorized by three genres - Crime, Horror, and Mystery. I was expecting a Horror Classic and that was pretty much a lame duck if I saw one and it was more a Mystery 1st, Crime 2nd, and Horror dead last.

To me, this movie is more a mystery because of that the beauty of this movie and that alone did not save it. I understand why they made this movie this way and the poisoned milk angle too - It's was eerily similar to Hitchcock's Suspicion and that alone makes this movie barely watchable in my own judgment. I do liked the acting this movie and the pairing of June Lockhart and Don Porter was good - but I really do not know the rest of the cast except Lloyd Corrigan who played Detective Latham in this movie and his performance was noteworthy too.

Anyway, this movie was marred by too many interruptions and I feel that this movie would had fared well and better on TCM than on SVENGOOLIE himself. Last Night, as I watched this movie - I watched it the very first time off my DVR and I was rudely interrupted by my Cable Company's announcement of an abduction notice and this took away my joy of watching this 1946 film. Anyway, I was kind of sad of the outcome of this movie and the ending that was wasn't all that cracked up to be. I'm not trying to be negative here - but I find this movie - as the title itself "THE SHE WOLF of LONDON" to be a HORROR movie and because of that notion - this movie was not period.

[moira finnie]

What a gyp!!! She-Wolf of London (1945) had a very sympathetic heroine (a terribly worried June Lockhart), some good supporting players (Dennis Hoey, Lloyd Corrigan, Sara Haden, Eily Malyon) and NO SCRIPT. If the actors had made it up as they went along things would have been more credible. The lack of a supernatural peg to hang the story on was a real disappointment. I agree, Erik. This was a bummer. Now I know why this hasn't been shown very much. Grrrr. I am mad that Svengoolie even bothered with this one. Since they were trying to show hairy monsters in Feb., and didn't mind if they were lame, why not air Trog or Harry and the Hendersons?

Next week: House of Dracula (1945)

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[Western Guy]

Saw SHE-WOLF OF LONDON many moons (no pun intended) ago on "Weirdo Theater". Really wanted to watch it because of the title and knowing it was a Universal production - and Universal never ripped audiences off with its monsters. And with the popularity of THE WOLF MAN and already a female monster with CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN, I was guaranteed this would be a goodie.

What a disappointment. A Universal cheat that would later be repeated with the infamous CURUCU, BEAST OF THE AMAZON.

[RedRiver]

********EXTREME SPOILER IF ANYBODY REALLY CARES*********

I'll play the peacemaker here. No, the movie is not very good. Do we expect artistry every week on this program? KING KONG ESCAPES is not exactly cinematic literature! I don't mind that there turns out to be no monster. Lord knows, we've seen it all before. I find the twist a little refreshing. In MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE, the killer is quite the opposite of what we expect. Yet, that's very effective. I like June. Like the old ladies; the funny looking cops.

The problem is, it's not exciting. The story trudges along. The characters follow the paces. The audience turns to the Kentucky game. (That didn't go so well either!) I was just thrilled to see a movie I had never seen before; one that, to my knowledge, Mr. Goolie had not shown before. That being my only expectation, I was not disappointed.

[Western Guy]

R.R., I just wish that durned title didn't hold so much potential.

[RedRiver]

For anyone who hasn't seen it twice this year already, HOUSE OF DRACULA will be tonight's feature. I get the House movies mixed up, but they're all great fun. Note to Dracula: Try and get to bed a little earlier!

[moira finnie]

For anyone who hasn't seen it twice this year already, HOUSE OF DRACULA will be tonight's feature. I get the House movies mixed up, but they're all great fun. Note to Dracula: Try and get to bed a little earlier!

I try to keep these movies straight by figuring out if it is House of Dracula or House of Frankenstein with the hunchback nurse and the other has the hunchback J. Carrol Naish in love with Marcus Welby's nurse or vice versa. Isn't it clearer when you think of it this way?

[RedRiver]

HOUSE OF FRANK is much better. Episodic, but exciting. DRAC is kind of talky and ponderous. "We could treat the symptoms...or we could let it run its course...if we revive the monster..." Dude! Whatever! What kind of doctor specializes in curing monsters, anyway? Is he a monstorist?

I didn't hear an announcement concerning next week's feature. But according to the website, it's BATMAN: THE MOVIE. "Thank God, you've come, Caped Crusader!"

[Rita Hayworth]

HOUSE OF FRANK is much better. Episodic, but exciting. DRAC is kind of talky and ponderous. "We could treat the symptoms...or we could let it run its course...if we revive the monster..." Dude! Whatever! What kind of doctor specializes in curing monsters, anyway? Is he a monstorist?

I didn't hear an announcement concerning next week's feature. But according to the website, it's BATMAN: THE MOVIE. "Thank God, you've come, Caped Crusader!"

I'm kind of interested in hearing what SVENGOOLIE has to say about it and thanks for heads up on this RED RIVER!

[Western Guy]

One thing for certain: HOUSE OF DRACULA is the most "rushed" of the Universal monster rallies . . . if not a strong candidate for the most "rushed" of the Universal horrors, period. Tries to pack too much into its short running time. It's tight budget also shows in the climax -


SPOILER ALERT




Lifted from GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN. So in essence, Chaney destroys . . . Chaney.

[RedRiver]

I probably won't watch the BATMAN movie tonight. But it does contain one of my favorite lines. "Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb." Now that's a bad day!

[Rita Hayworth]

I did watch BATMAN last night, and its brought back memories of being a KID again and this movie will always stands up in the test of times of being a true comic book movie - to me its a CLASSIC and I feel its one of the most ENDURING FILMS that ever made and the acting, the storylines, the plot, and the pure campy aspects will win many new viewers and reminds the old viewers like me the pure joy of being a KID again. I always LOVED this movie what made this movie great is the villains on this movie - CESAR ROMEO as the Joker, BURGESS MEREDITH as the Penguin, FRANK GORSHIN as the Riddler, and LEE MERIWETHER as the Catwoman made it BELIEVABLE as a COMIC BOOK MOVIE should be. ADAM WEST and BURT WARD will always be the CAPED CRUSADER and the BOY WONDER to me. Great Action and pure FUN for everyone that loved the DYNAMIC DUO!

[Brian McFadden]

I caught Svengoolie a few weeks ago when he was running She Wolf of London. I got a real kick out of it because I had a chance to speak with the star of the film, Don Porter, many years ago and he told me a couple of funny stories about shooting it.
Porter was under contract to Universal for several years and the studio rushed him into so many pictures that he couldn't even remember some of them. But he remembered She Wolf very well, and not very fondly. He said they used bee foggers to create the London fog, which was ok at first when the "fog" stayed around the stage floor. But it would quickly rise, get into his nostrils and make it almost impossible to get his lines out. Speaking of lines, He said he was originally supposed to sport a British accent for the film, but it was rushed into production too quickly for Universal to get him a dialogue coach. So he simply tried to hang around with Patrick Knowles, who was also on the lot, and see if he could pick up his accent. But Porter told me he finally decided "the heck with it," and just clipped a few sentences but otherwise delivered his lines in the normal way!
Brian

[moira finnie]

Hi Brian,
That's a great story about She Wolf of London. (I did have the feeling that despite the quality of the cast, that the movie was kind of rushed).


Did Don Porter have much to say about appearing in such film noirs as 711 Ocean Drive (1950), The Racket (1951) or The Turning Point (1952)? Did you have a chance to speak to him about some of the actors he shared the screen with, from Abbott and Costello to Martin and Lewis, not to mention Charlton Heston, Marjorie Main, and William Holden? How did he like working with directors such as William Dieterle, John Cromwell, and Alexander Hall?

Thanks in advance for anything you can share about his impressions.