FILM & TELEVISION REVIEW

It’s that time of year again!  Vampires, ghouls, demons, zombies, aliens, and psychos abound, that’s right–midterms!  Seriously though,  what are you going to watch on the scariest night of the year?  Here are some humble suggestions from the crypt keeper of F&TVR’s horror vault based on the type of Halloween night you wish to celebrate.

PSYCHOS

Repulsion (1965) 

Not Rated

Directed by Roman Polanski

Written by Roman Polanski & Gerard Brach

CAST: Catherine Deneuve (Carol), Ian Hendry (Michael), John Fraser (Colin), Yvonne Furneaux (Helen), Patrick Wymark (Landlord), Renee Houston (Miss Balch), Valerie Taylor (Madame Denise).This Roman Polanski thriller stars Catherine Deneuve in a tour de force performance of a young woman’s spiral into insanity with special effects that belie the 1965 vintage.  Influenced by Hitchcock’s Psycho, the film begins with Carol already out of her right mind.  The progression is slow at first and then rapid as her behavior quickly deteriorates and becomes more and more erratic finally segueing into delusions.

The methodically paced direction of Roman Polanski, the vivid black and white photography of Gilbert Taylor (Dr. Strangelove, The Omen, Star Wars: A New Hope), and Chico Hamilton’s disorienting jazz score combine to bring you a true horror in the Psycho vein.

The juxtaposition of this beautiful young woman and the insanity that ensues is terrifying.  This is a good choice for an extra creepy Halloween night.  It lacks the humor of Psycho, but is heavy on the horror.  This is a hands down classic and a dead on choice for a happy Halloween.

ZOMBIES/ALIENS

Slither (2006 Universal)

Rated R

Directed and Written by James Gunn

Cast: Don Thompson (Wally), Nathan Fillion (Bard Pardy), Michael Rooker (Grant Grant), Jennifer Copping (Margaret),  Gregg Henry (Jack Macready), Zantha Radley (Uptight Mom), Elizabeth Banks (Starla Grant), Tania Saulnier (Kylie Strutemyer), Brenda James (Brenda Gutierrez), Lorena Gale (Janene).

I’m trying to keep this article short, so Slither is kind of a trick because it allows me to do zombies and aliens with one film.  It’s sort of an Invasion of the Body Snatchers meets the Keystone cops or something like that, and that’s the treat! There is gore and laughs galore in this James Gunn gross out fromage (yes cheese) to horror and science fiction that heralds back to his days with Troma Films (Nuke’em High, The Toxic Avenger) and forward to Guardians of the Galaxy.

Nathan Fillion, Michael Rooker, Elizabeth Banks, Tania Saulnier, Gregg Henry and the entire supporting cast are excellent in this dead pan horror comedy, and there are even memorable lines!  Not for the squeamish, but if you can get past the gore–a good time will be had by all.

DEMONS

Curse of the Demon (1957 Columbia Pictures)

( Original title, Night of the Demon)

Not Rated

Directed by Jacques Tourneur

Written by Charles Bennett and Hal E. Chester

Cast: Dana Andrews (John Holden), Peggy Cummins (Joanna Harrington), Nial MacGinnis (Doctor Karswell), Maurice Denham (Professor Harrington), Athene Seyler (Mrs. Karswell).

Demons are harder to come by than most other horrors.  It seems you have to know what you’re doing to summon one.  Oh well, here’s a fine British production that worked some magic on the summoning.   Dana Andrews (Laura) and Peggy Cummins (Gun Crazy) do a fine job in what is one of the most frightening of supernatural horror films.  Jacques Tourneur’s (Cat People, I Walked With a Zombie) direction of the well written Charles Bennett  (The 39 Steps, The Man Who Knew to Much) script results in a well told story and  memorably horrifying sequences.  This is a most devilishly satisfying treat for the most diabolical of horror fans.

GHOULS

The Ghoul (1933 Gaumont)

Not Rated

Directed by T. Hayes Hunter

Written by Rupert Downing and John Hastings based on play by Leonard Hines & Frank King from a novel by King.

Cast: Boris Karloff (Professor Henry Morlant), Cedric Hardwicke (Broughton), Ernest Thesinger (Laing), Dorothy Hyson (Betty Harlon), Anthony Bushell (Ralph Morlant), Kathleen Harrison (Kaney), Harold Huth (Aga Ben Dragore), D.A. Clarke-Smith (Mahmoud), Ralph Richardson   (Nigel Hartley).

For those who may want to enjoy a more tame but still spooky Halloween, this fine cast will supply you with the means.  Boris Karloff is fittingly creepy and supported by the great Sir Cedric Hardwicke along with the ever deeply buried in the role, Ernest Thesinger (Bride of Frankenstein).  Vintage British horror for the perfectly ghoulish Halloween.

VAMPIRES

Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992 Columbia Pictures)

Rated R

Directed by Francis Ford Coppola

Screenplay by James V. Hart based on the Novel by Bram Stoker

Cast: Gary Oldman (Dracula), Winona Ryder (Mina Murray/Elisabeta), Anthony Hopkins (Professor Abraham Van Helsing), Keanu Reeves (Jonathan Harker), Richard E. Grant (Dr. Jack Seward), Cary Elwes (Lord Arthur Holmwood), Billy Campbell (Quincey P. Morris), Sadie Frost (Lucy Westenra),  Tom Waits (R.M. Renfield), Monica Bellucci (Dracula’s Bride), Michaela Bercu (Dracula’s Bride), Florina Kendrick (Dracula’s Bride).

Probably the most opulently produced of all the vampire films.  The sets and costumes star in this over the top adaptation of Stoker’s classic, but it remains a creep fest with an astonishing cast.  Gary Oldman is at the top of his game as are Anthony Hopkins and Winona Ryder is a winsome Mina and plays wonderfully with Sadie Frost’s Lucy.   Monica Bellucci, Michaela Bercu, and Florina Kendrick take the eroticism to new heights of horror as Dracula’s Brides.  Certain to liven any Halloween gathering with fond memories of good times along the Borgo Pass.

The Misfits (1961 John Huston/United Artists)

Directed by John Huston.  Screenplay by Arthur Miller.

124 minutes.

Cast:  Clark Gable (Gay Langland), Marilyn Monroe (Roslyn Taber), Montgomery Clift (Perce Howland), Thelma Ritter (Isabelle Steers), Eli Wallach (Guido), James Barton (Fletcher’s Grandfather), Kevin McCarthy (Raymond Taber).

Left: Clark Gable & Marilyn Monroe.

Below: Montgomery Clift & Marilyn Monroe.

The screenplay for The Misfits was written by Arthur Miller and based on one of his own short stories.  That is only one of the facts that makes this film such a treasure.   It was the last film of both Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe.  Not only was this the last performance for each of them but also the best either had ever given.  They were supported by a show stopping turn by Montgomery Clift.  Eli Wallach and Thelma Ritter also lend depth and humor to the somber story.

John Huston sees to it that the pathos in the drama and comedy of the piece reverberates in the black and white desert surrounding.  The black & White Photography by Russell Metty (Touch of Evil), is superb and intensifies the  isolation of the locations.  The dying breed that Gay and Pearce and Guido are part of stay stuck in time, aided and abetted by Roslyn and Isabelle, they are unable to pull themselves out of the past.

Roslyn has come to Vegas to divorce a husband that, “you could touch him but he wasn’t there.”   Isabelle talks her in into staying for a while to get over the shock of the divorce; Roslyn finds solace among Isabelle, Gay, Guido, and later Perce.  Something sparks between Gay and Roslyn much to Guido’s disdain.  This causes some friction that is lubricated for better or worse by alcohol, and eventually they meet Perce.  Perce is a daredevil of a rodeo performer with a drunken death wish.  Roslyn agrees to go on a roundup of wild horses with Gay, Guido, and Perce and everything is fine until she understands why the horses are being rounded up.

The struggle their characters are suffering through is paralleled by the struggles the actors must have been facing as they shot the film:  Gable’s bad health (he died shortly after the filming),  Monroe’s harrowing addiction that was eating away at her relationship with Miller and landed her in rehab during the shooting, and one can only guess at what demons Montgomery Clift was wrestling with as his drinking accelerated.  The film is a monument to the careers of the three leads because it allows them to do what they did best at full throttle and without Hollywood’s usual restraints.  They are able to give timeless performances that not only stand up to multiple viewings, but invoke them.  Huston was able to help the stars leave a legacy reaching a depth of poignancy that echoes their real life tragedy.

Facts/Rumors/Hearsay: 

On completion of the film Clark Gable said of Marilyn Monroe, “Christ, I’m glad this picture’s finished.  She damn near gave me a heart attack.”  A day later he had a heart attack that led to his death within two weeks.

It is said that Marilyn Monroe said to Montgomery Clift, “I’ve never met someone in worse shape than me.”

Clark Gable admired Montgomery Clift’s performance so much that he would show up on the set to watch even on days when he himself wasn’t scheduled to work.

Clark Gable insisted on doing some of his own stunts.  One of which had him dragged by a truck moving at 30 miles per hour.

Available on dvd, Blu-ray, and streaming.

Wonder Woman (2017 Warner Brothers Pictures)

Directed by Patty Jenkins

Screenplay by Allan Heinberg, Story by Zack Snyder & Allan Heinbert and Jason Fuchs.

Wonder Woman created by William Moulton Marston

Cast: Gal Gadot (Diana), Chris Pine (Steve Trevor), Connie Nelsen (Hippolyta), Robin Wright (Antiope), Danny Huston (Ludendorff), David Thewlis (Sir Patrick), Said Taghmaoui (Sameer), Ewen Bremner (Charlie), Eugene Brave Rock (The Chief), Lucy Davis (Etta), Lisa Loven Kongsli (Menalippe), Ann Wolfe (Artemis), Ann Ogbomo (Philippus).

There are a number of wonders in Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman and she is the first of them.  Wonder Woman is directed with a compassion that not only brings to life the hero that readers of the comic actually envisioned,  but avoids all of the clichés that have formed around the character over the years.   Jenkins manages to lift up the heroine to the heights of the reader’s imaginations.  She also proves unequivocally that a female lead can carry a superhero action film with dignity and grace.

The second wonder is the casting of Gal Gadot.  Both heroic and thoughtful as Diana, she stars as Wonder Woman with a propriety that belies her experience.  It is a star maker because she was the perfect choice for the part in every way, and her performance slowly builds until it explodes in the climax.  Chris Pine ably co-stars in a difficult role that he imperceptibly shifts into realization.  At times his confusion and dismay are palpable as he tries to comprehend this woman that has befriended him as he struggles with falling in love with her.

The supporting cast is large and powerful.  The men that fight alongside Wonder Woman show her deference and respect.   A group of well chosen character actors help with the already well produced period piece.  The script is well conceived and the action does reach a blazing crescendo, but it never overrides or detracts from the evolution of the story.

David Thewlis and Danny Huston are nefariously evil villains and both live up to their respective reputations.

Wonder Woman is certainly one of the ten best films of 2017, and a contender for one of the best super hero films period.  The sequel Wonder Woman 1984 is due out on November 1, 2019 and will star Kristen Wiig as Cheetah while Chris Pine returns as Steve Trevor.  Although Emma Stone is said to have turned down the role of Cheetah, Kristen Wiig was director Patty Jenkins’ first choice for the role.

Jerry Goldsmith (1929-2004)

Jerry Goldsmith was both prolific and innovative composing for television shows as diverse as Perry Mason and The Waltons and films from Breakheart Pass to Logan’s Run.  His career spanned 40 years beginning in 1957 as conductor and musical director on a number of Climax TV episodes.  He worked on many Television shows in the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s including the prestigious Playhouse 90, Thriller, The Twilight Zone, both The Man and The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. among others.   Although he continued scoring for television into the 70’s, in 1968 his score for Planet of the Apes was a major step forward and Goldsmith was nominated for an academy award which went to John Barry for The Lion in Winter.  At this stage of his career, the nod was as good as a win.  It should also be noted that Planet of the Apes was not nominated in any of the other categories.

His next film was a Jim Brown/Raquel Welch/Burt Reynolds vehicle, 100 Rifles (1969).  The score is so much better than the movie–I recommend the sound track CD because the music is that good and yes the movie is that bad.

1974’s Chinatown garnered Goldsmith another Oscar nomination, but this time the trophy went to The Godfather Part II Nino Roto and Carmine Coppola.  It is a shame because Goldsmith’s score is both elegant and accompanies the best neo-noir film ever made.  I am a fan of Roto, but Chinatown and its score are unsurpassed.

This film has everything, an incredible Robert Towne script, Roman Polanski directing and the trump card of Jerry Goldsmith’s score.  The music takes you back to the time and place that J. J. Gittes inhabits.  The music sets up one scene after another.  If you’ve never watched Chinatown, the music alone is worth the viewing.

Goldsmith was nominated for another Oscar for 1976’s The Wind and the Lion, but the award went to John Williams for Jaws.

It was for the score for 1976’s The Omen that Goldsmith won his first Academy Award.  The film won a total of four Academy Awards out of eight nominations.  It remains one of the composer’s most powerful scores which combined with an excellent cast and script couldn’t be ignored by the generally genre phobic Academy.

In 1979 Goldsmith would score the first of a film franchise that he would be associated with for the rest of his career, Star Trek: The Motion Picture.  It may well be the scores for these films that he is best remembered.  Directed by Robert Wise, Star Trek: The Motion Picture revitalized the 1960’s series and returned it to the fandom that it deserved.

Considered by many to be his most beautiful score, it was nominated for an academy award but lost to A Little Romance, a George Roy Hill film with a score by Georges Delerue.

NEXT:

The Universal Years 1943 -1944

Ilona Massey, Lon Chaney Jr., and Bela Lugosi star in the first of the Universal cross overs.  Although it seems odd today, Ilona Massey (Baroness Elsa Frankenstein) received top billing along with Patric Knowles (Dr. Frank Mannering).  She was discovered and hired by Louis B. Mayer and left the MGM after just two years as the result of a sex scandal.  Her notoriety  led to a singing career and soon on to the New York Broadway stage and then back into movies.  Considered box office gold, she did bring something special to the proceedings as she cut a sensual path through this meeting of two of Universal’s most famous monsters.

As the film begins and the liquid is poured from the test tube into the beaker and the smoke forms the title and the credits and Hans Salters’ suspenseful score rises, we know we’re in for something very special.  It is more of a B picture then the films that preceded it, but it still holds an interest due to the myriad talents that went into the production.

Once again, Lionel Atwill and Lon Chaney Jr. are back.  Atwill as the sensible Mayor of the Village, and Chaney in the role for which he is best known, the guilt ridden Laurence Talbot/Wolf Man.  This time, Bela Lugosi is the Monster and although he puts more effort into the role than Chaney did in Ghost, he still isn’t Karloff.  His growling Frankenstein is only effective because he’s attacked by the Wolf Man.  Ilona Massey (Elsa) fulfills her duty as a scream queen as Dr. Mannering is knocked to the floor and she is snatched up by the Monster.  The finale is the fight between the two beasts as the Wolf Man saves The Baroness and the people of the village blow up the bridge and the castle.  The Wolf Man and the Monster are left in the collapsing structure to await their next awakening in The House of Frankenstein.

The Universal Years 1935

The film that followed Bride was The Son of Frankenstein in 1939.  Produced and directed by Rowland V. Lee with a deliberate pace that carries the characters through the beautifully expressionistic production.  Leading a cast that includes Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Lionel Atwill, and Josephine Hutchinson is the enigmatic Basil Rathbone as Dr. Frankenstein.  Rathbone’s performance is among his best.  Lionel Atwill is at his most officious and Josephine Hutchinson as Elsa von Frankenstein is sublimely at sea in the old mansion, but she is soon shocked into reality as her husband is shown to be up to his father’s old tricks.   Boris Karloff is wonderful as always in his last portrayal of the Monster.  Special mention goes to Bela Lugosi, who as Ygor brings to life a character as vivid and terrifying as Count Dracula as he steals the show as the true monster of the piece.

Ygor first appears in an opening shot of the village as we see the name Frankenstein on the façade of a building and then pan to a broken window where we see Ygor staring out.  He will be the pivotal character as his vendetta against the men who hanged him continues with the help of the son of Frankenstein.  He had been using the Monster as a weapon up until it was hit by lightning leaving Frankenstein’s creation in a state of shock.  Ygor was unable to undo the damage to the Monster.  Now that Baron Frankenstein’s son has arrived, there is a new hope for the homicidal recluse.

Not everyone is happy that the son of the Baron Frankenstein is returning to the village.  The locals are not happy.  There is a meeting of the town council with the Mayor trying to calm everyone down, but to no avail.  Meanwhile on the train, the Frankenstein family is looking forward to returning to the old homestead.  The townspeople meet the family at the station and make their feelings be known quite clearly as Baron Wolf von Frankenstein begins to fumble through a speech he has prepared.  The villagers are not prepared to hear it.  He is presented the things that the mayor had promised to deliver to him from his father as the crowd disperses leaving him standing in the rain.

Arriving at the very German Expressionist influenced mansion set, the Baron becomes more excited about arriving there.  He doesn’t seem phased by the cold reception of the villagers.  His wife Elsa displays her dismay even as she tells him that she is also excited to be there.  His manservant explains that in hiring the staff, he had to go outside of the village, because none of the locals wanted anything to do with working at the Frankenstein home.

When he opens the box that his father left for him, he reads a letter from his father, and he seems to be swayed into thinking that his father was not a mad man but a genius.  Just at that moment–we see Ygor spying through a rain sheathed window backlighted by flashing lightning.

There you have the set up.  The Baron does not intend to continue his father’s work, but then he meets Ygor.  This is one of the best entries in the Universal series in the period from 1939 to 1948.  The talented cast, exceptional script, and the high production values combine to make this one of the best post Whale entries.

Bernard Herrmann (1911-1975)

“Alfred Hitchcock only finishes a picture 60 percent, I have to finish it for him.”  Bernard Herrmann

Although Bernard Herrmann will forever be most strongly associated with Alfred Hitchcock, he came to Hollywood when asked by Orson Welles.  He had worked with Welles in radio scoring a great many of CBS’s radio broadcasts of The Mercury Theater in the 1930’s, including the notorious War of the Worlds.  Herrmann composed the score for Citizen Kane (1941) which was his first film score and was nominated for an academy award.  He also scored The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941) for which he was again nominated but this time won the Oscar.

Herrmann’s musical path was different from most other composers, which may be the reason he eventually became considered to be difficult, and why he had an eleven year collaboration with Alfred Hitchcock.  He had a bad temper, and he was insistent on doing things his way.  Hitchcock gave him the freedom he didn’t always find with other directors.  The films he worked on were eclectic and offered him the kind of challenges that enabled him develop his unique style.  In 1951, Herrmann wrote the score for The Day the Earth Stood Still.  The piece is brilliantly written for two theremins, piano, and a horn section, which created a hauntingly futuristic sound.  The Day the Earth Stood Still is one of those movies where the music lingers in memory long after the details of the film fade.

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

Hermann also did wonderful fantasy scores, and the combination of his music and the genius of Ray Harryhausen make The 7th Voyage of Sinbad a classic of the genre.  His score sweeps you back to the days of Jinn and Persian Nights.

Then, in 1963 he scored what is considered by many Ray Harryhausen’s best effort, Jason and the Argonauts.  Its booming and majestic score is the perfect sound for such an epic.  It not only gave the feel of the time and place, but foreshadowed events while building suspense as Harryhausen’s Dynamation  astonished audiences.

Jason and the Argonauts (1963)

Cape Fear (1962) based on the John D. McDonald novel, The Executioners was full tilt horror/suspense with the maniac more than convincingly portrayed by Robert Mitchum.  The film stars Gregory Peck, Polly Bergen, and Martin Balsam.  Mitchum is Max Cady, and ex-con that lawyer Peck put behind bars and is now out and looking for revenge.  This was a perfect assignment for a composer that had written so many scores for the Master of Suspense.

Robert Mitchum & Polly Bergen in Cape Fear (1962)

Even with the diversity of his career, it is true that many of the scores he did for Hitchcock are the best remembered due to their beauty, uniqueness and the popularity of the films.  The first film Herrmann scored for Hitchcock was the remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956).  The next was the offbeat, The Trouble with Harry (1955).  The score is as lyrical as the scenic shots of the New England autumn.  Not one of Hitchcock’s most popular films, but certainly one of his best.  It is a subtle black comedy and Herrmann’s score accentuates both the suspense and playfully, the humor.   Herrmann’s next score for Hitchcock was The Wrong Man (1956), and is beautifully haunting.

Kim Novak in Vertigo (1958)

In 1958 Hitchcock would release one of his most famous films, Vertigo.  Initially thought a failure, it is now considered Hitchcock’s and Herrmann’s masterpiece.  The score set the stage for the powerful collaboration that will follow.  The music conveyed the shattered heroes loss and underscored the desperation of Scotty (James Stewart) to re-create Madeleine (Kim Novak).

Stung by the poor reception of Vertigo, Hitchcock fell back on his strong suit with North by Northwest (1959) starring Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint.  The script by Ernest Lehman and Music by Bernard Herrmann combined with the master’s touch that heralded back to his British films, The 39 Steps and The Lady Vanishes, was a huge success.  Herrmann’s score was as much a masterwork as the film that it accompanied.  What came next, not even Hitchcock could have foreseen.

Anthony Perkins & Janet Leigh in Psycho (1960)

In 1960 Psycho was released.  No other film score has ever had such an impact on the audience.  It is impossible to imagine Psycho without Herrmann’s score.  The two are joined as with no other film.  The ‘all strings’ choice that Herrmann made was brilliant even though partly necessitated by budget limitations for what is a low budget black and white film.   Herrmann called it a ‘black and white’ score.   In this case, the freedom Hitchcock gave him did have a immense impact on the finished film.  Herrmann has said that director’s don’t know music and that Hitchcock wanted a ‘jazz score’ with no music in the famous shower scene, but Herrmann had written a piece for it anyway.  When Hitchcock finally admitted that the scene did need music, Herrmann had just what the director needed.  Hitchcock admitted the importance of this when he doubled Herrmann’s fee for the film.

On The Birds (1963), there is no music score and Herrmann worked as a sound consultant creating atonal electronic sound effects in place of music.  Once again making a remarkably important contribution to the finished film.

Rod Taylor, Tippi Hedren & Jessica Tandy in The Birds (1963)

The next film that Herrmann scored for Hitchcock was Marnie (1964).  This would turn out to be the last film the composer would score for Hitchcock.  The studio blamed the failure of the film on Herrmann’s score, but that was nonsense.  The film had a number of problems and the cause may have been the firing of the screenwriter, Evan Hunter (who had also scripted The Birds) over a disagreement about the rape scene.  Hunter felt that it was out of character for Mark (Sean Connery) and he was probably right.  Hunter was an exceptional writer and there is little doubt that a better film would have resulted if he had been allowed to complete the screenplay.

Unfortunately, during the making of Topaz (1969), Herrmann had a falling out with Hitchcock and was dismissed.  The studio (in the form of Lew Wasserman) advised Hitchcock against using Herrmann’s score because it was too old fashioned.  Hitchcock attempted to get Herrmann to reconsider the scoring, but Herrmann would never agree to bend to trends.  The two were never to work together again.

Herrmann also wrote music for television.  Composing and conducting for a number of popular shows including, most notably:  Have Gun – Will Travel (1957-61 composer), The Twilight Zone (1959-63 as both composer & conductor),  Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1963-65), and Lost n Space (1965-68 composer).

Herrmann’s last films were Obsession and Taxi Driver both released in 1976.  He’d come into vouge again with young film-makers including Brian DePalma and Martin Scorsese.  Bernard Herrmann died just after completing the score for Taxi Driver in 1975.