I Just Watched...

[Allhallowsday]

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(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 ...

[Andree]

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.

I don't get MeTV but I have seen it on FETV. I laugh a bit when Perry comes back with
Della to find his car stripped. What the hell.

[CinemaInternational]

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 didn't even know that Perry Mason had done a color episode! I see it was in February 1966, very close to the end of the run. I assume that CBS cancelled it because the major networks had made a pledge that all of their shows would be broadcast in color by the fall of 1966.

[Andree]

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

Even though the kid is a no talent, the episode is pretty funny. You'll do everything the
Clete Hawley way or else. I only get DirecTV. Lately there have been ads for a channel
called FCM which runs classic movies. It's not a Fox channel, but stands for Family Classic
Movies, but it hasn't shown up yet on my TV. (FETV is 323 on DirecTV).

[Hibi]

I have Spectrum. I've not seen FETV on it, but then havent been looking. But I get plenty of Perry on other channels I have. Maybe I've seen the color episode, but it was the B&W version.

[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.

I didn't even know that Perry Mason had done a color episode! I see it was in February 1966, very close to the end of the run. I assume that CBS cancelled it because the major networks had made a pledge that all of their shows would be broadcast in color by the fall of 1966.

Yes, they were switching to color for the next season, but the series was cancelled. The color episode was a test, I guess. I wonder if they shot 2 versions?

[Hibi]

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.

I don't get MeTV but I have seen it on FETV. I laugh a bit when Perry comes back with
Della to find his car stripped. What the hell.

That was a funny scene! I loved the monster cars Perry drove.......

[CinemaInternational]

I have Spectrum. I've not seen FETV on it, but then havent been looking. But I get plenty of Perry on other channels I have. Maybe I've seen the color episode, but it was the B&W version.

I have Spectrum too, and until the last two weeks (when for budgetary reasons, I had to drastically cut back on the number of channels), I used to get FETV. In the past months, Perry was airing on three different channels on a regular basis.

And, don't worry, the cable company allowed me to keep TCM as one of 15 channels that I could hold onto in addition to the local channels, so I am happy about that.

[Hibi]

Maybe I have it and just don't know it. LOL. It's such a chore to go through the hundreds of channels on their grid.

[CinemaInternational]

Maybe I have it and just don't know it. LOL. It's such a chore to go through the hundreds of channels on their grid.

I don't know if the channels would be in the same order where you you as they are here (TCM is channel 276 here), but here, FETV was 197. I'll miss channels like it due to cutting channels, but it needed to be done. It got the cable bill cut from nearly $180 a month down to $94 a month, so a big savings.


If you ever decide to cut back a bit on cable, this is the list of channels you can pick 15 from....

[Hibi]

No mine is a different set up. TCM is channel 55. I pay around 125. It used to be 117 but they raised it a couple months ago. Thanks anyway. (I'll check just to make sure!) I would be paying a little less, but I added on a few channels (Dateline ID and something else) when I signed up as they weren't in the package they had. I used to have another cable company for years but they went streaming only last year and I didn't follow them. Way too expensive.