PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

Friday Night Movies 868

In Search Of The Castaways 1962 Based on the Jules Verne novel of the same name, screenplay by Lowell S Hawley, directed by Robert Stevenson. Lowell and Robert both worked for Disney in the fifties and sixties. Lowell was the story editor and wrote scripts for the Disney Zorro series. That's always been one of my favorite Disney shows of the era. Robert wrote and directed films in the UK before going to Hollywood in 1939, you might have seen F.P.1. or the 1937 King Solomon's Mines.

In 1957 Robert directed his first Disney film Johnny Tremaine, he would direct 18 more films for them, including Darby O'Gill And The Little People, The Absent Minded Professor, Mary Poppins and Bedknobs And Broomsticks. Plenty of pleasurable memories watching those films when they were new, some we saw in the theaters but many were watched on one of the Disney TV programs or another. Sadly I only saw them in B&W, we didn't have color TV until I was into my twenties. The first time I saw Star Trek in color was on 16 film at an SF convention. 

In Search Of The Castaways has the children of a ship's captain appeal to the head of the shipping company to find their father. Hayley Mills and Keith Hamshere are the kids, Jack Gwillim is their father, Maurice Chevalier is the man who finds the father's note in a bottle, Wilfred Hyde White is the head of the company. It takes a while to convince Wilfred to make the trip but he goes and they have a grand adventure in South America, Australia and New Zealand.

There's plenty of action and derring do, the expedition battles nature and man. There's a giant flood, a tidal wave, a lightning storm and a volcano. George Sanders plays the smooth talking baddie who tricks Wilfred in hiring him, only to steal his ship and turn the rescue party into castaways. Some of the effects looks poor by today's standards but the models and matte paintings are still very nice. They get the job done and it's not something I would complain about. The only thing I would complain about are the songs. I started fast forwarding through them. There's a happy ending and it all looks nice and bright. I was happy to see it and will have to watch it again sometime.

The Great Spy Chase 1963 Written by Michel Audiard and Albert Simonin, directed by Georges Lautner. These are the same fellows that wrote and directed Monsieur Gangster which I just watched a short time ago. The French title of The Great Spy Chase is Les Barbouzes, french slang for spies, it was retitled for the US market. Lino Ventura appears in both films and both films are in release in the US from Olive Films. I watched the Blu-ray of The Great Spy Chase and it looks very nice. No extras though.

Bernard Sachs is a massive arms dealer, he's also a massive guy. All the spy agencies keep an eye on him. He's known to have acquired a number of patents for nuclear weapons. When he dies the spy agencies all want to get their hands on those patents, which are now in the hands of his wife.

All the spy agencies send people around to the wife's Bavarian castle to buy or steal the patents. Lino plays the spy from France, he's been assigned to take the body to the wife. Several other spies are on their trail. Things hot up at the castle as the different groups descend on the place. There's plenty of action, a massive body count, plenty of collateral damage, all slathered in barrels of slapstick. Made me laugh out loud a couple of times. Glad I picked it up.

The Sunken City - Paul Murry

I'm a big fan of the Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge stories by Carl Barks but I like plenty of other Disney artists too. I enjoyed the Paul Murry's Mickey Mouse 3 part serials from Walt Disney Comics And Stories when I was a kid and I've been a fan of his since. Between 1953 and 1962 Paul had a story in each monthly issue, from 1963 to 1972 he produced occasional stories, after that he continued to produce single stories through 1984 when he retired. He died 5 years later at age 77.

 The first 21 stories appear in the first three Disney Masters books from Paul Murry. The art is reproduced extremely well, nice solid blacks and crisp clean lines, and coloring that's like the original comics but better reproduced.he nice white pages make the art nearly pop off the page.

 

Here's a copy of the title page from a story in the 3rd volume and a copy of the title page from WDC&S 205 to compare. I've gotten spoiled by the wealth of comic book reprints and the quality of their reproduction that I often prefer reading them over the original comics that I have.

Paul Murry is the only artist to have 4 volumes in the series. So far. Lucky for some of us, there are plenty more stories to reprint. His 4th book in the Disney Masters series is The New Adventures of The Phantom Blot. It reprints all seven issues of the Gold Key comic The Phantom Blot from 1962 to 1964. Plenty more Mickey and Goofy adventures.

The Scarecrow Of Romney Marsh 1963

Back in 1963 Disney aired The Scarecrow Of Romney Marsh on Walt Disney's Wonderful World Of Color. The 3 episodes were edited down to a 98 minute movie that played the theaters in the UK.

In 2008 both versions were issued as part of the Disney Treasures collection. For some reason I missed that one and it sold out immediately. You can find them for all sorts of prices on eBay, if you're lucky you can find one for about $100, beware of  the dozens of bootlegs on eBay. They usually say DVD-r and the dvd case has no metal tin or other bits of paper that were included.

In 2019 Disney released a Blu-ray of the three episodes as part of the Disney Movie Club. The British movie and the documentary were not included. I didn't join the Disney MC, instead buying the Blu-ray from an eBay seller. I purchased it with a second Disney MC Blu-ray, In Search Of The Castaways and the two cost about $27 each delivered. If they had a few more things in the MC's offerings I might be tempted to join and quit after I fulfilled my purchase requirement.

The story is based on the books of Russell Thorndyke but toned down a good bit for Disney TV. They still provide a good entertaining story of smuggling and derring do. Patrick McGoohan plays Dr Syn, the vicar of a small coastal town, secretly he's The Scarecrow, a master smuggler and a thorn in the side of the King's Customs and Excise officers. The military is called out to catch him but he's too clever for that.

The locals are on the side of The Scarecrow, he provides cheap off shore goods without the heavy taxes that drive the prices up, and many of them work the smuggling. It takes a lot of men and horses to move a huge lot of trade goods. French Brandy is a popular good.

The English government in those days was pretty awful, if you were poor, you were fucked. A story thread that runs through the series is The Scarecrow helping people who have been pressed ganged. That's pretty much conscription into the Navy by smacking you down and kidnapping you. Perfectly legal, perfectly hideous. The Scarecrow is a hard master but fair. He helps a lot of people. In the books he's got a much more complicated and bloody history. Well worth the read. I got them all for free for my Kindle from Amazon. They are also available on Project Gutenberg.

The Blu-ray looks great, nice clear picture, great sound. I was perfectly happy watching it. I know I'll be watching these again someday.

Friday Night Movies 746

Incredibles 2 came out in 2018 but I hadn't seen it. I hadn't even picked up a copy. It's written and directed by Brad Byrd. I enjoyed it for the most part, thought it was a bit too long and I didn't like the annoying son. We all like the scene with the racoon.

I didn't care much for Space Raiders, a 1983 Roger Corman production when I first saw it in 2004. The Blu-ray looks much better than the copy I saw on YouTube but it's still not much of a movie. It's written and directed by Howard R Cohen who's also responsible for writing some crap like Deathstalker, Stryker, Vampire Hookers and The Care Bears Family. He directed 5 other films but I can't say I've watched any of the others. I won't be needing a copy of Space Raiders.

Treasure Island 1950

I was going through my old home made DVDs and decided to order a copy of Treasure Island to replace the so-so copy from TCM. It came today and I watched it this afternoon. It's fun watching poor Jim Hawkins get tricked by Long John Silver. Makes me laugh. I like Robert Newton but I'm not as fond of Bobby Driscoll as Jim. He isn't in the sequel Return To Treasure Island. I watched that recently and enjoyed it. TI is directed by Byron Haskins and he does a great job. I know I'll be watching this again sometime, though probably not so soon.

Kurt Russell - Disney 4 Movie Collection

Disney packs four of their movies in a set with a basic theme. The other themes I got were Dogs, Classics, Don Knotts and Herbie. Each of the movies comes on it's own DVD and they're $7.49 a set on Amazon. The DVDs are pretty no frills, subtitles are the only extra.

In Kurt Russell the first 3 films are set in the same college campus with Russell and his co-stars playing the same characters. Joe Flynn plays the Dean, Cesar Romero plays the baddie, and William Schallert plays the professor in two, William Windom plays the professor in the third film. Kurt plays a student in William's class, he's usually at the center of the discovery that can be used the gain some money for the school. The school is in dire need of some cash when each movie opens. The Horse In The Gray Flannel Suit is really a Dean Jones film with Kurt playing a small role. 

The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes 1969 Written by Joseph L McEveety and directed by Robert Butler. Joseph wrote all three of the Kurt Russell Disney College pictures as well as several other Disney films. He also served as an assistant director earlier in his career. Pretty much all at Disney. Robert directed a lot of popular TV shows starting in 1959. I know I have seen some of his work and will see more as I get back to those old programs. In 1969 he directed two films, both for Disney. He continued to work for them who a number of years.

Kurt gets shocked when he touches the water soaked computer. He wakes up the next day all smart and stuff. He can speed read and retain all knowledge he glances at. The computer was donated to the school by Cesar Romero and it contains evidence of his underground gambling activity. Kurt lets slip some old info from Cesar's old records. Cesar wants to shut him up and the chase is on.

Now You See Him Now You Don't 1972 Story by Robert L King, screenplay by Joseph L McEveety, directed by Robert Butler.

Kurt and pals accidentally invent an invisible spray. The dean wants to use it to win a huge grant for the school. Cesar, fresh out of jail, finds out. He can't wait to rush back into crime. He steals the spray and uses it to rob a bank. They chase him until the movie ends. There's other silly stuff in between. Sometimes the jokes are OK but other times the jokes aren't too funny. There's plenty of slapstick and people get covered with stuff quite often.

The Strongest Man In The World 1975 Screenplay by Joseph L McEveety and Herman Groves, direction by Vincent McEveety.

Kurt and his class mates invent a strength formula and the dean uses it to make money for the continuously cash strapped school. There are plenty of strength related gags and jokes. Some are fun and others aren't quite so good. All these movies rate about a 6 and that's where I put them. They really might not be that good but they have nice characters in the kids and the professor and there's a good nature about them.

The Horse In The Gray Flannel Suit 1968 Eric Hatch wrote The Year Of The Horse, the book the movie is based on, Louis Pelletier wrote the screenplay and Norman Tokar directed. Eric wrote the novel, 1101 Park Avenue, that My Man Godfrey was based on. Eric wrote the screenplay to Topper in 1937. Louis wrote a fair bit of TV and a few movies. Norman directed 93 episodes of Leave It To Beaver and smaller numbers of many other programs. He directed a good number of the live action Disney films.

Dean Jones is an advertising guy who pitches a campaign for a headache remedy. The idea is they have a horse that's named after the product, Aspercell, and when it wins prizes it advertises the product. It's kind of a lame idea and there's way too much show jumping. It's mostly a father and daughter kind of movie. There's a bit of a romance between Dean and his daughter's trainer. Kurt is the student that helps them out a bit. He's not in the movie that much. Not as much fun as the other ones but mostly because I didn't care that much for the show jumping.

All in all a nice collection that I know I will want to re-watch at some point. As I get older and more senile I'll be glad to have these simple stories and the noise will keep me awake to finish my cocoa.

That Darn Cat 1997

I had missed the 1997 Disney remake of That Darn Cat with Christina Ricci. I noticed the older version of the movie over at Netflix. I have some nostalgia for the older Disney movies but I rarely buy them unless they are a couple of bucks or less. Occasionally I Netflix the DVD of some older kids movie I saw when I was a kid, and occasionally I buy a DVD. The same time I ordered up the DVD for the 1965 That Darn Cat I ordered the newer 1997 version. Sadly they didn't show up at the same time. I've noticed that more and more Netflix DVD isn't shipping product from the local warehouse. Titles are disappearing quickly and not being replaced. I'm not really interested in joining the ranks for their streaming service.

The 1997 version of That Darn Cat changes up the story and sets in Boston and some small town of Edgefield, some 60 miles away. Christina and her family, Michael Keaton and Bess Armstrong, own that darn cat, who's called DJ. The kidnapping doesn't happen during a bank robbery, this time it's the maid of a rich business man, played by Dean Jones, who gets kidnapped. The crooks think the maid, played by Rebecca Koon, is Dean's wife, played by Dyan Cannon. The kidnappers lock the maid in a room in Edgefield and she scratches a message hell on her watch before sticking it around DJ's neck. Christina finds the watch and goes to the FBI. Doug E Doug plays the FBI agent, he's a nervous, excitable guy who has some troubles on the job. It's touch and go there but Christina helps and the baddies are caught. I definitely didn't like it as much as the older version but it's watchable. Some of the slap stick is just too much and it really drags the movie down. It gets a 4.6 on the IMDb for good reason. I wouldn't buy one for full price but I might if it was cheap enough. If it never happens I won't loose any sleep over it. It's not like I really need to see it again.

 

That Darn Cat 1965

I hadn't seen That Darn Cat for years and years. I might have seen it in the 80s when VHS was the rentin' rage. I re-watched a lot of Disney films then. When I was refilling my queue the other week I noticed that they had both versions of the film so I added them. It's not the kind of thing I would go out and buy specifically, I would pick up a DVD if I saw it for 2-3 bucks.

It's based on a novel by Gordon and Mildred Gordon, they also wrote the screenplay with Bill Walsh. The director was Robert Stevenson. Dean Jones, Hayley Mills, Dorothy Provine, Roddy McDowall, Neville Brand and Frank Gorshin make up most of the main cast. There's that darn cat too. Keep an eye out for William Demerest and Richard Deacon.

It's all about some bank robbers hold up at their apartment. They've got a hostage and it turns out that the cat wonders in. The hostage lady takes advantage to put her wrist watch on the cat, with the letters h, e, and part of an l, scratched on the back.The cat stops at Hayley's place and she figures it might be a clue to the robbery. Dean's the FBI agent put on trailing the cat, Neville and Frank are the robbers, and Dorothy is the romantic interest for Dean. Hayley has a boyfriend, Tom Lowell, who is a surfer.

It turns out to be rather long, 156 minutes, and while there's a lot of stuff doing on, it could have been neater shorter. As it is, it rambles along and spends a lot of time on characters that don't contribute much other than dubious comedy. The nosy neighbor played by Elsa Lanchester is more annoying than comical. It was fun enough and I think I made the right decision not to order one from Amazon. I'll get to the 1997 remake with Christina Ricci soon.

What I Read In September 2016

I think that 25 books for the month is probably a record for the number of books finished in a month. I read 20 in December 2015 which is fitting as it was the first full month of retirement. Possibly as many as 20 are keepers and only one of them was a book that was more art based than text based.

The Case Of The Fenced-in Woman by Erle Stanley Gardner is the 81st Perry Mason novel. It was published after Gardner died. Perry gets involved in a property dispute. The house has been divided with barded wire and then a dead body shows up.

The Clue Of The Black Flower by Carolyn Keene is the 18th Dana Girls mystery. The girls get a new mystery when a fake black orchid is stolen. Who would steal a fake flower? The Dana sisters will find out. A good read, about the same as the others.

Mr Pinkerton Finds A Body by David Frome is set in Oxford College. Mr Pinkerton finds a body and Inspector Bull comes to investigate. I've read a couple of Mr Pinkerton books before and they were ok but I found Mr P kind of annoying. Not a keeper.

The Short-Wave Mystery by Franklin W Dixon is the 24th Hardy Boys novel. A pile of stuffed toys, stolen from an estate sale, leads the Hardy brothers to a new mystery.

The Lone Ranger And The Secret Of Somber Canyon is Whitman 712 and it doesn't have a writer listed. The Big Little Book site thinks it might be Fran Striker. They list the artist as Charles Flanders. It's an unusual size for a Big Little Book, 3 7/8" x 5 1/2" x 5/8, and the illustrations are at the top of the page with text below. It was an OK story.

Killer Pizza - The Slice by Greg Taylor is a quick read but not a keeper. Some kids work for Killer Pizza which is really the front for a monster fighting organization. They get sent to New York for a special mission.

Star Trek - Faces Of Fire by Micheal Jan Friedman was OK but I'm not going to keep it. I'll never re-read it.

A Pals In Peril Tale - He Laughed With His Other Mouths by M T Anderson is a fun space romp with kids and aliens and spaceships. I'm debating keeping it.

The Mystery Of Cabin Island by Franklin W Dixon is the 8th Hardy Boys novel. The Hardy brothers join Biff and Chet for a camping trip to Cabin Island. They get right into a mystery concerning the island and a missing boy.

The Clue In The Old Album by Carolyn Keene has Nancy involved with gypsies. Being poisoned won't stop our brave heroine from solving the mystery in the old album.

Gene Autry And The Redwood Pirates by Bob Hamilton puts Gene in redwood country stopping some baddies. A good read.

Attack Of The Vampire Weenies by David Lubar is a collection of short silly stories. A fun enough read but not a keeper.

Escape From Mr Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein was a fun book about a special new library and a mystery hidden inside. There's a sequel that I'll pick up someday.

The Land Of Stories 2 - The Enchantress Returns by Chris Colfer is another good read. I'm keeping the series so far and have 3 and 4 waiting for their turn.

The Hidden Staircase by Carolyn Keene is the 2nd of the Nancy Drew novels. Nancy investigates a haunted mansion for the two old ladies that live there.

While The Clock Ticked by Franklin W Dixon has the Hardy Brothers help a guy who's been getting death threats in his safe room.

Harry Potter - The Artifact Vault is a collection of props and the like from the movies. Lots of pages of color pictures and some text. I lucked out and got the book for under half price, brand new, at Half Price Books. They take 20% off a new book and the 50% coupon makes the book really reasonable.

The Case Of The Singing Skirt by Erle Stanley Gardner is the 60th novel. Perry helps a singer at a gambling club in a sleazy town run by shady dicks. Soon someone was dead and the singer is a suspect. It was a good one, lots of running just ahead of the peace.

The Case Of The Terrified Typist by Erle Stanley Gardner is the 49th novel in the series. A young woman comes to Perry's office, types some pages and then disappears when the police come to inquire about a diamond robbery in the building.

Emil And The Detectives by Emil Kastner is one of my favorite kids books. I enjoy Emil's trip to Berlin every time I read it. I'd recommend it highly. I recently watched the BFI DVD of the 1931 German film and the 1935 British film. I like the 1964 Disney adaptation too.

The Secret Of The Old Clock by Carolyn Keene is the first of the Nancy Drew series. Nancy helps the Turner sisters recover an inheritance.

he Case Of The Angry Mourner by Erle Stanley Gardner is the 38th Perry Mason novel. A guy is killed and a mother and her daughter suspect each other. They turn to Perry for some help. I like that the novels are short and move the story along quickly. 

The Case Of The Long-Legged Models by Erle Stanley Gardner is the 55th Perry Mason novel. He juggles guns to keep a young woman from going to the death chamber.

Ulysses Moore 2 - The Long Lost Map by Pierdomenico Baccalario wasn't much to my liking. I'll be tossing it.

Summer Term At St Clare's by Enid Blyton is the 3rd novel in the St Clare's Girl School series. Each book the girls deal with new students and the trials of boarding school life.

Well, another month closer to being caught up. In my dreams anyway.

Duck Tales - Woo-oo!

You can see the first 2 part DuckTales story, really called Woo-oo, on the Disney XD YouTube Channel. This is the version of the series with David Tennant as Uncle Scrooge. I'm not a fan of the drawing style, those square heads are annoying, but it's fairly clean and well colored. Of course, I've been spoiled by Carl Barks and there's no going back after that.

The two part episode has Donald taking his nephews to see Uncle Scrooge for the first time. Donald and Scrooge haven't spoken for 10 years but he needs Scrooge to babysit the boys while he goes on a job interview with Flintheart Glomgold. He gets the job and winds up on the opposite side of Scrooge in a chase to some treasure. It brings Donald and Scrooge back together and they start treasure hunting again.

I liked the show, mostly, I didn't care much for the nephews, they have annoying personalities, Louie is almost evil. Those kids aren't anything like the cool trio of nephews in the Barks Uncle Scrooge adventures. They're more like the annoying and trouble making trio of Bark's Donald Duck 10 pagers in Walt Disney Comics And Stories but without the childlike innocence. Hopefully the new nephews will turn into right minded ducks with Uncle Scrooge teaching them how to fly right.

For those wanting to read the Barks stories that became DuckTales you can check out the new Carl Barks Library from Fantgraphics. Here's a sample story.