Sam Moffitt

WINGS – A Look Back at the 1927 Oscar Winning Best Picture

Article by Sam Moffitt

I have a personal connection to World War One combat aviation, a personal and family connection. My Uncle Millard Brooks, my maternal Grand Father’s (Eli Brook’s) brother and my mother’s uncle, (thus he was my great Uncle,) volunteered for the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) when America finally got off the fence and committed troops to what was then called The Great War or the War to End all Wars (yeah, right!)

Uncle Millard had worked in Grandpa Brook’s blacksmith shop, at the crucial time when blacksmithing (shoeing horses and other work with iron) was giving way to mechanical work (repairing the engines in Model T Fords and other early automobiles).

I’ll give you the short version of Uncle Millard’s story (he wrote many letters home, my Mother, Nell Allen, years ago collected his letters into a book, fascinating stuff.) Millard Brooks was such a good mechanic he was sent to a special school in Scotland to learn how to time the engines on the bi planes when they were first used in aerial combat. If you have ever seen the Disney animated documentary Victory Through Airpower you may have seen the problem they had with those early planes. With the machine guns mounted right behind the propeller, the propellers got shot off. It was determined, mostly through trial and error, that if the engines were timed properly, the bullets would pass between the propeller blades. It was crucial that this be done every time a plane was taken up in formation for combat use.

My Uncle Millard was one of the mechanics who timed those engines. Thus he lucked out and almost never went near the trenches, where British, French, Canadian, Belgian and finally American troops, and other countries, wallowed in mud, inhaled deadly gas and were routinely slaughtered in mass attacks that could only be called suicidal.

Yes, Uncle Millard was lucky, he spent most of his time at what were called aerodromes and was so good at his job he would time the engines for other countries’ aircraft. Some combat aviators asked for him personally before they flew into German territory. As my Uncle Charlie Brooks (Millard’s brother) stated years later “Millard Brooks was one of the men who founded the US Air Force, before it even had that name. He laid the foundation for what the Air Force would eventually become, a respected branch of the US Military in its own right, to stand with the Army, Navy and Marine Corps.’

I say all of this as introduction to my thoughts on one of the most astonishing silent films I have ever seen. How Wings escaped me all these years I do not know, but I was so excited to finally see it I have watched it three times and could watch it many more, and probably will.

I have loved silent films as long as I can remember. I grew up watching television shows that were made up of clips from silent films, Fractured Flickers, and Who’s the Funny Man? Movies like Robert Youngson’s Days of thrills and Laughter and The Great Chase and When Comedy Was King.

My sister Judy gave me a Christmas present in 1967, a book called the Parade’s Gone By written by Kevin Brownlow, a history of silent films. (One of the best gifts I ever received, thank you Judy!) I read that book cover to cover at least three times and dipped into it repeatedly and read certain chapters by habit, again and again, kept it for years. And tried to watch all the silent films I could, all my life long. And I have grieved for years that most of the silent era is gone, well over 75 per cent of the movies made up until 1928, when sound started coming in, are lost, forever.

So, I finally have made it to Wings and again, it is astonishing, the pity is that many people in this country would not bother to watch it, silent, black and white, old. They don’t know what they are missing!

The story is simplicity itself, two young men from a small Midwestern city, one working class, Jack Powell (Charles “Buddy” Rogers) and one from a wealthy family, David Armstrong (Richard Arlen) are both in love with the same young woman Sylvia Lewis (Jobyna Ralston). Sound familiar? Sounds like a cliché? Well Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, this is the movie that invented that cliché, this was the movie that set the standard for all air combat movies that were ever to be made.

But Wings’ character relationships are even more complicated. Jack’s best friend, literally the girl next door, Mary Preston (Clara Bow) is obviously madly in love with him. The doofus misses every signal she gives and instead pursues Sylvia despite the obvious heartache it causes for Mary. So instead of a simple love triangle we have a, what? A four sided triangle? A “love square” doesn’t have quite the same ring to it. It would be even more complicated if David had a crush on Mary and she ignored his signals. But, no both of these guys are crazy about Sylvia, despite the fact that Mary would obviously be more fun to hook up with.

At the very start Jack and Mary modify a run about car (a Ford?) and basically turn it into a hot rod. Mary paints a shooting star on the side. When America enters the war Jack and David both join up and volunteer for aviation school. Jack leaves the car with Mary and asks her to take care of it.

In a series of misunderstandings and coincidences, the kind that only happen in the movies, Jack takes a locket from Sylvia, with a note meant for David and thinks he has her affection. He decides that will be his good luck charm during the war. We are asked to believe that Jack never opens the locket and reads the note meant for David, through the entire war.

David is given a tiny teddy bear by his Mother, which becomes his lucky charm. At flight school they share a tent with a young Gary Cooper, in his film debut, who tells them a charm will do no good, not a rabbit’s foot, or a lucky coin, not even a Bible. When your time is up, that’s it brother. Cadet White (Cooper) then immediately gets in his plane to do some training and crashes. Cooper is on screen for not even 5 minutes but audiences were enthralled. His movie career started right here, and on rerelease Gary Cooper’s name was featured prominently in the advertising.

There is quite a bit of Wings that is silent era silly, for instance the comedy relief from El Brendel playing a “Dutchman,” although his routine after sound came in was to use a Swedish accent. The less said about his contribution to Wings, the better. And what exactly is funny about someone having a Swedish accent?

But it’s in the air that Wings really takes off and soars (I am so sorry, I could not resist!) The flying scenes truly are astonishing. The Paramount DVD has only one special feature, a making of documentary but it is invaluable. The technology was not there to film an air combat movie at that time. William Wellman and his crew had to invent the technology to get the job done. The actors had to learn to fly and cameras were mounted in front of the cockpits that the actors could run by push button. When you see Arlen or Rogers or any of the stunt and Army pilots in the cockpits, they are flying the plane. We never ever lose track of who anyone is in the air or what is happening.

Some of the pilots were Army but several were stunt pilots and the barrel rolls and spins are gut wrenching. The movie does not shy away from the horrors of war. When pilots are hit they cough up blood, one stunt pilot put his plane into a spin that everyone, on the ground and in the air, thought he could not pull out of, but he did it. The proof is in the film.

This is one war movie that managed to get one of the women to the front. Clara Bow’s character Mary, instead of sitting at home and weeping and worrying about Jack volunteers to be a Red Cross Ambulance driver, since she not only took care of Jack’s car, she learned to drive it and work on it.

I have to admit I am late to the party where Clara Bow is concerned. I did not see any of her films until I got a copy of IT, the movie that made her a star. The documentary for Wings advises us that at the time this film was made she was the biggest box office attraction worldwide, bigger than Chaplin, Keaton, Lon Chaney, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks or anyone else.

I find it amazing that modern film makers have never attempted a bio picture about her, she came to Hollywood after winning a beauty contest, overcame a horrible background and struggled with health issues, both mental and physical. In Wings her acting is often over the top silent style but damned if you can’t take your eyes off her.

Once she gets to the front and drives her ambulance she positively kills it in her Red Cross uniform. She looks infinitely more military and squared away than any of the aviators, with her garrison cap, black dress uniform, knee high lace up boots and black leather gauntlet gloves (oh be still my heart!) The only thing missing is a side arm on her hip. No, women were a long way from being in combat but the mere fact that she is a driver puts Wings years ahead of other silent films. Largely forgotten today except by history buffs like myself, women were not expected to be able to drive back then. Women were not even supposed to want to know how to drive. There were “experts” who warned that a woman could not be trusted behind the wheel of an automobile,(too emotional) and that the act of shifting gears and steering a vehicle might……damage a woman’s ability to bare children. Seriously, there was such “thinking” in those days.

The main promotional photo shows Clara with her arms around both male leads, there is no such scene in the movie. For the purposes of movie coincidence and misunderstanding the men get liberty and go into Paris for a good time. I have already praised the aerial footage in Wings but there is an amazing shot in a night club scene. The camera trucks forward THROUGH a set of tables, each with customers sitting at them. I’m damned if I can figure out how it was done, not sure I want to know, seriously, the camera goes right through the tables, not around , not over. Just as an aside, at one table sits two mannish looking women dressed in men’s clothes.

It’s here in the night club scene that Wings gets ridiculous. Mary is there and keeps trying to talk to Jack. We are asked to believe that Jack is so hammered he doesn’t even recognize Mary. Seriously? In another set of coincidences and misunderstandings Mary is sent back to the states and Jack narrowly misses getting into trouble.

When the movie gets back to the war it is incredible. The major set piece begins, the battle of Saint- Mihiel, and it is literally jaw dropping. Hundreds, if not thousands of extras run across no man’s land, while explosions go off in every direction and the planes constantly dog fight or strafe the men on the ground.

Here is where tragedy inevitably strikes. David is shot down in German territory and despite being wounded manages to steal a German plane. Jack spots David’s plane in the air, and, well, you can guess the rest. On the ground Jack learns the truth, not just about who he has shot down but who Sylvia back home was really in love with.

I would say there is a happy ending with Jack and Mary back home, seeing a shooting star, which means he can kiss the girl he loves. But Jack would, I can guarantee, carry a load of guilt the rest of this life, as well as shell shock from having survived the biggest war in history (to that point in time.)

The restoration job on Wings is incredible; I have never seen a silent film look so immaculate. The images just glow, very few scratches, dirt or splices. And the entire movie has been tinted, gold for daylight, light blue for night scenes. In the aerial combat scenes when planes catch fire the flames are animated, and colored red and yellow. Machine gun bursts are red, sound effects are added in every scene involving armaments.

At the very beginning we are treated to 8 different versions of the Paramount logo, from the current brand to the original logo for the movie, apparently in chronological order (you wouldn’t think there would be that many ways to portray a mountain!) The newly restored version has a full orchestra musical track and there is an alternate version with pipe organ music, as would have been played in most theaters in 1927.

The making of documentary is invaluable, one of the best I have ever seen. On hand is William Wellman Jr., a good film maker in his own right. We learn that Paramount had a lot riding on Wings, Wellman had only directed a few movies before he got the green light. For the aerial scenes he drove the money men crazy, having his crew stand around for days……waiting for clouds. Wellman and his cameramen knew, if there were no clouds there would not be enough perspective, the planes would just look like dots. As one film critic points out, it makes sense, seeing clouds in the background, and especially seeing the planes flying in and out the clouds makes for compelling action scenes.

Wings famously was the first movie to win the Academy award for best picture, and Wellman and almost none of the cast were at the awards. The Academy Awards were completely different in those days, winners were announced well before hand, there was no opening of envelopes, no speeches, just dinner, a few clips of the winners when they were announced, and “everybody go home!”

With a new movie about WWI recently released, Sam Mendes incredible 1917 and the recent English documentary They Shall Not Grow Old (I highly recommend both by the way) it’s only right to take a look at a movie made when the Great War was a very recent memory, for the audience and for many people involved in the making of it. Wellman himself had been a combat pilot, many of the aviators in Wings had also served. Wings was a major hit, it was the Jaws, Star Wars and Saving Private Ryan of its day. It played at the Criterion Theater in New York City for over two years! In an early wide screen process called MagnaScope (I love that name!)

For all true Movie Geeks Wings is essential!

Before You See DOWNTON ABBEY, See These Movies and Shows

Sam Moffitt’s article about movies and shows was originally posted May 15th, 2015. In honor of the new hit movie version of DOWNTON ABBEY, We Are Movie Geeks is reposting this list

By rights I should hate the English. Seriously, my background is almost entirely Scots and Irish. I grew up hearing about the troubles the English gave to the Scots and Irish, both in school and from my parents.

Yet I do not, I love the English. How can I hate a country that gave us not only Monty Python but also Benny Hill and the Carry On Films? How can I bear any ill will to a country that gave us writers of the caliber of Ramsey Campbell, Brian Aldiss, Michael Moorcock and J. G Ballard? How can anyone hate a country that not only prizes eccentric behavior but encourages it? Take Mr. Kim Newman for instance, a brilliant writer whose work appears regularly in Video WatchDog and Videoscope Mr. Newman dresses himself, has his hair and mustache styled and speaks in the manner of someone from the 19^th Century! And let us not forget Hammer Films as well as the actors that made them work, Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. And I haven’t even touched on the British Invasion music from the 1960s.

And I must mention Alfred Hitchcock, H.G. Wells, The Goon Show (especially Spike Milligan), Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, The Avengers and Boris Karloff. Boris Karloff!?!? If England’s only contribution to world culture were Boris Karloff I could forgive them anything!

All of which leads me to the subject of Downton Abbey and what to do until the Sixth and final season airs in this country. I heard and read a lot about Downton Abbey and wanted to see the series. I warned my sweetheart Radah, that if we began watching them we would be hooked, much as we got hooked on Deadwood and Carnivale and Dexter.

And of course we did, binge watching all five seasons and reveling in the plot twists and the wonderfully written and acted characters. Especially the characters of Anna and Mr. Bates and their slow to develop romance and I personally love the character of Tom Branson, a true Irishman who constantly reminds the Crawley family that their life of privilege has a price.

I gave this some thought and came up with this highly personal, opinionated and timely list of movies and television shows which bare more than a passing resemblance to Downton Abbey. My criteria was simple, there has to be a wealthy family, English or American, with major characters both upstairs and down. Which leads me straight to:

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Upstairs, Downstairs 1971-1975

I am not really playing fair here. I have to admit I never watched much of Upstairs, Downstairs. One of the most popular shows on PBS to be imported from England I saw just a bit of one episode wherein the family mourns the death of King Edward, bringing to an end the Edwardian era. But I have from reliable sources that much of Downton Abbey, including entire story lines, were inspired by Upstairs, Downstairs. It even inspired an American version on CBS which I would love to see again but seems to have vanished without a trace. Beacon Hill ran for not even a full season and detailed the life of a rich Irish family living in Boston’s Beacon Hill area. Something historians pointed out would have never happened in the 1920s era in which the show was set. Never mind, I recall the family appeared to have been inspired by the Kennedys. I have not seen these episodes since the 1970s so forgive me if my memory is not accurate. I recall a son who came back from WWI missing an arm and looking very F. Scott Fitzgerald with his Arrow collars and slicked back hair and dark rimmed eyes. I also recall the Downstairs crew had a black cook who actually had a story line for himself. The show was controversial in that the first episode had the male characters visiting a brothel, wherein all the working girls were also black. And even more historically accurate when the characters visited a speakeasy the jazz band was all black. All of this caused a bit of controversy which may have been a major factor in the show being cancelled and leaving all the storylines hanging. That and the fact that not many people watched (except me) and I loved the show and would love to see any existing episodes again. Youtube has a promotional ad for the show and that’s about it.

REMAINS OF THE DAY 1993

An elegant and authentic period piece from the prolific team of Merchant/Ivory, Remains of the Day features a brilliant performance by Anthony Hopkins as a butler in a huge English estate so devoted to his life of service he refuses to make any move to find happiness for himself. Matching him both in service and acting chops is Emma Thompson as a head maid who makes the mistake of falling in love with this “gentlemen’s gentleman”. Hopkins character is so focused on his butler duties he continues to work the day his Father dies, ignores direct insults from an upper class, arrogant twit, passes up the chance for love with Thompson’s character and cannot see that his Lordship, the always brilliant James Fox, is a Nazi sympathizer and basically not a very nice person. REMAINS OF THE DAY goes into as much detail about the workings of an English manor house as does Downton Abbey and tells a heartbreaking story of a life that is basically wasted.

Laurence Olivier (Maxim de Winter). and Joan Fontaine (Mrs. de Winter).

REBECCA 1940

Alfred Hitchcock’s first American movie is a wonderful adaptation of a Daphne Du Maurier novel wherein a nameless American woman (Joan Fontaine) is wooed by and marries an English Lord, Maxim De Winter (Laurence Olivier) and finds herself way out of her depth trying to fill the shoes of Rebecca,( Max’s first wife, who died under mysterious circumstances,) and whose ghost apparently haunts Manderley , the great house where the story takes place. Rebecca does not have much in the way of Downstairs characters but we do get a real winner in Mrs. Danvers, an incredible piece of work from Judith Anderson. Her tour of Rebecca’s rooms and wardrobe is an unforgettable scene. Hitchcock was made to follow the novel closely due to the insistence of the producer, the legendary David O. Selznick. No matter, REBECCA is prime Hitchcock and a wonderful look at the upper and lower classes of England in that time period. PBS did a wonderful miniseries version in 1979 for Mystery, and again in 1997 (a version I have not seen) and the novel is still terrific, as is all of Du Maurier’s work.

THE ADDAMS FAMILY - Pilot - Season One - 9/18/64 "The Addams Family" was based on the characters in Charles Addams' "New Yorker" cartoons. The wealthy Gomez Addams (John Astin, left) was madly in love with his wife, Morticia (Carolyn Jones, seated), and their two children, Wednesday (Lisa Loring) and Pugsley (Ken Weatherwax). The family, including Uncle Fester (Jackie Coogan), their towering butler Lurch (Ted Cassidy), Grandmama (Blossom Rock), and Thing, a hand that usually appeared out of a small wooden box, resided in an ornate, gloomy mansion. (AMERICAN BROADCASTING COMPANIES, INC.)

The Addams Family 1964-1966

A 1960s sitcom about a “creepy, kooky” family? Yes, absolutely. The Addams Family fits my criteria perfectly. Unlike the working class Munsters, the Addams Family was independently wealthy, although how and when Gomez made his money is never quite explained. We only get one Downstairs character but he is a winner, the unforgettable Lurch as played by Ted Cassidy (unless you also count Thing!). I only recently got the dvds of both seasons of the Addams Family and found, to my delight, they are still funny and the real treasure of the show, the icing on the cake, is Lurch. All the actors are in on the joke and they all shine but Lurch is such a special presence and steals every scene he is in, you look forward to his scenes. I wish there had been more seasons. Both The Addams Family and The Munsters were top rated shows, very popular, and both were cancelled with no explanation from their respective networks. What a shame. When these shows were brand new I wanted to be a member of the Addam’s Family, I wanted to BE Pugsley, especially after Gomez told the school principal on Pugsley’s first day of school (in the very first episode) that “If we wanted him happy we’d keep him at home!”

My Man Godfrey (1936) Directed by Gregory La Cava Shown from left: Carole Lombard (as Irene Bullock), William Powell (as Godfrey Smith/Godfrey 'Duke' Parke), Gail Patrick (as Cornelia Bullock)

MY MAN GODFREY 1936

Considered to be the first screwball comedy MY MAN GODFREY concerns a “forgotten man” terrifically played by William Powell, who is collected on a scavenger hunt by a rich, spoiled, drama queen of a “madcap heiress” also well played by Carol Lombard (the two were married for a time). Godfrey holds up very well and is still a laugh riot. We get quite a lot of Downstairs activity, Godfrey becomes the family butler, straightens out the family finances, earns the respect of the Father (the always fun Eugene Pallette) and every other member of the household and even throws Lombard into a shower with all her clothes on. MY MAN GODFREY has been in public domain for years so there are multiple versions on the market. But the fine folks at Criterion issued a special edition and cleaned up the sound and image tremendously, that version is worth seeking out. The many rooms of this mansion are beautiful to behold when you can see all the detail that went into the sets. A masterpiece of Upstairs and Downstairs characters and story.

CAVALCADE 1933

I am again not really playing fair here. This British production from 1933 of a Noel Coward play fits my criteria, it follows not one but two English families who comprise both the Downstairs as well as Upstairs characters. It is a handsomely mounted production but in my opinion is easily the worst movie that ever won a Best Picture Oscar. Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide gives it four stars, (perhaps I should watch it again sometime?) What I recall is a grueling, slowly paced and stagey production filled with Imperial rhetoric and snobbery, and the worst bunch of spoiled, upper class children I have ever witnessed. A sample of dialog? As the Father gets ready to go to South Africa and the Boer War one of the spoiled brat children is heard to say “Promise me you’ll cut Paul Kruger (A Boer Leader) into tiny bits with your sword! Say you will Daddy!” And this was the same year King Kong was released!

THE SERVANT 1963

A young upper class Englishman (James Fox again, absolutely brilliant!) hires a personal man servant and makes the mistake of choosing Dirk Bogarde (also brilliant) who is not at all what he seems. Bogarde’s character has this “sister” you see, Sarah Miles, (and yes, you guessed it, also brilliant!) and… I don’t like to give out spoilers but absolutely nothing is what it seems in this one of a kind film, written by Harold Pinter, directed by Joseph Losey which turns the tables on the whole British class system and which could only take place in England. See it and you’ll understand why, this story could not stand a chance of being told in any other country. Probably the best movie on this list.

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THE ADMIRABLE CRICHTON 1957

A devastating satire on the English class system Crichton (also known as Paradise Lagoon) sees an upper class family and their servants’ ship wrecked on a lovely tropical island (which exists only in movies.) The most resourceful, knowledgeable and the best leader in the group is of course the head butler, Crichton, wonderfully played by Kenneth More. Slowly but surely the class distinctions disappear, although this is no grown up version of Lord of the Flies, no indeed, closer in spirit to Blue Lagoon the upper class daughter finds herself enchanted with this new version of the family butler. Crichton is funny, warm hearted and finally heart breaking when the family is rescued and the old class barriers come flying back up. I have not seen Crichton in years but still recall the horror of Crichton resuming his old role and the effect on his beloved. This one is too sad for words.

GOSFORD PARK 2001

One of Robert Altman’s great films and the direct ancestor of Downton Abbey, GOSFORD PARK was written by Julian Fellowes, the creator of Downton Abbey. Much like any Agatha Christie story it concerns a murder in an upper class English manor house but Altman, as usual, is not interested in making a film to conform to anybody’s idea of genre. Altman is much more interested in the Downstairs characters, of which there are many, and turning the conventions of the murder mystery inside out. One of the delights is that Maggie Smith plays EXACTLY the same character as she does on Downton Abbey. And with an all star cast it is, as always with Altman, a delight to see the many characters juggled about, and every single actor has a moment to shine. GOSFORD PARK, and possibly REMAINS OF THE DAY, are the closest in spirit to the world of Downton Abbey.

THE RULING CLASS 1972

Here finally is what might be called the Anti-Downton Abbey, and my personal favorite, Peter Medak’s cutting edge satire of English class distinctions with a way over the top performance (two performances really) from Peter O’Toole. The story is simple; the 13^th Earl of Gurney has accidently hanged himself, in an opening scene with the great Harry Andrews. In a bedroom scene that is both hysterically funny and still shocking the old Earl dons his red Army coat and a ballet tutu and proceeds to auto asphyxiate himself, all the while ranting upper class drunken gibberish “I see six vestal virgins smoking cigars! Moses in bedroom slippers!” With the death of the 13^th Earl of Gurney the inheritance of the huge estate falls to Jack, the 14^th Earl of Gurney, who is also a paranoid schizophrenic who believes himself to be no less than Jesus Christ. In a performance that has to be seen to be believed O’Toole is by turns funny, creepy, weird, touching and finally believable, this guy may very well actually be Jesus returned to Earth! Even more shocking, when Jack decides to actually take the responsibility that comes with great wealth, inherited privilege and the title of a real English Lord he leaves Jesus behind and becomes no less than Jack the Ripper himself! Here is where a lot of people were confounded and outraged by Medak’s film, it goes from high comedy, complete with unexpected musical numbers, into dark and dangerous waters. O’Toole is more than up to the task and pulls it off wonderfully. Once again we only get one major Downstairs character but he is yet another winner for our side. The unforgettable Tucker (Tuck to the family) played by Arthur Lowe, a character actor in the grand old tradition, Tucker is both a loyal servant and card carrying Communist. He inherits a great deal of money from the deceased Earl and no longer has to work but stays on to torment the bunch of upper class twits who employ him and try to help the new Earl of Gurney make his way in the world in which he finds himself. THE RULING CLASS is merciless in exposing the English upper class as a bunch of in bred, delusional, uneducated, racist, homophobic, stupid and finally insane and murderous, toffy nosed twits who have trouble wiping their own behinds. Reality in other words. If you totally love the world of Downton Abbey, THE RULING CLASS may not be for you but it was a major box office success in its day and remains a serious cult film.

GRABBERS (2012) – The DVD Review

Does this sound familiar? A meteor crashes to Earth, near human habitation, “something” comes out of the meteor and proceeds to run amok among the local human populace. Or it could be a human built space craft, returning from Mars, Venus or the moon and “something” gets loose near a city or small town and creates mayhem every where it goes. Or it could be an alien spacecraft, or even big seed pods.

My point being, this is one well used concept in science fiction movies, especially science fiction monster movies. You wouldn’t think there was much film makers could do to return to that story and do something new with it. The fine Irish film crew that created Grabbers did exactly that.

Part of my post duty orders here at We Are Movie Geeks is to shine a spotlight on little known and largely unseen moves that deserve a larger audience. Grabbers is one of those movies.

First, Ireland is not exactly a hot bed of film making activity. I can think of only one other recent Irish movie The Guard 2011 with Brendan Gleason and Don Cheadle. And I doubt if I could name 10 other Irish movies that I have ever seen unless I did some research.

Off shore of Aran Island “something” crashes into the ocean near a fishing vessel and, yes, something comes out and starts running amok. The first kill happens in the first two minutes of the movie, so we’re off to a bang up start. Aran Island is a tourist destination with very few constables, in fact when the Chief takes a vacation he leaves Garda Ciaran O’Shea (Richard Coyle) with a temporary replacement Garda Lisa Nolan (Ruth Bradley) the Irish equivalent of a big City Cop (Dublin.)

This doesn’t sit well with O’Shea who feels he can take care of everything by himself, despite his raging alcoholism (this being an Irish movie strong drink is a major plot point and I’ll get to that in due time!)

So right away we have the old story of a woman in a “man’s” job having to overcome every obstacle to not only do the job but get some respect in the process. Coyle is very good as the always hung over Garda O’Shea but Ruth Bradley shines as Garda Nolan. We see right away that she knows her job, loves it and, another major plot point, is sober, never takes a drink. That she is a very attractive young lady with a great sense of timing in the comedy parts helps a great deal. For Grabbers is as much a comedy as a monster movie.

As soon as she arrives and the Chief leaves things begin happening. Whales are washed up dead on the beach, and they did not beach themselves. “Something” attacked and mauled and killed them at sea. Investigating these whale deaths is an oceanographer Dr. Adam Smith (Russell Tovey) who takes a shine to Garda Nolan right away. Se we have the classic monster movie set up of police (or military) and a scientist and a possible love triangle.

Soon a drunken lobster man Paddy (naturally!) Barrett (Lalor Roddy) catches “something” in his lobster trap. Ugly, stanky and pissing on anyone who tries to look at it this is a baby Grabber, the multi tentacle, toothy and very hungry, to both eat and reproduce, monsters, who proceed to take over the whole movie.

Through a series of events as citizens of Aran Island start to disappear and the Gardas and the oceanographer do their job it comes to light that the best protection against the Grabbers, no matter what size they are, is to be piss drunk.

And apparently Irish police are not issued fire arms. There is not one gun in the entire movie, unless you count a super soaker filled with petrol. Several makeshift weapons are thrown together but the citizens best weapon is to drink to extreme excess. The big showdown with the Grabbers, who reproduce rapidly and look like something out of H.P. Lovecraft, all tentacles and a huge mouth filled with teeth and a long tongue whiplash quick that will suck the blood out of humans, happens at the local pub where everyone in town gets hammered.

Everyone except Garda O’Shea who, in a nice bit of irony is the one character who has to stay sober to direct the fight against the Grabbers. And previously sober Garda Nolan becomes, for the first time in her life, three sheets to the wind and is hilarious at it. Her tumble down the stairs of the pub, where in all are drinking to combat the alien invasion, and somehow landing on her feet to proclaim “I’m alright!” is a highlight not to be missed.

If there is a downside the CGI which brings the Grabbers to life is not the best. About on the level of SyFy movies like Dynocroc vs Supergator, or (almost) the Sharkanado movies.) However the monsters do have their scary moments but it’s as a comedy that Grabbers really shines. A long sequence in the oceanographers lab involving all four major characters is both hysterical and a nice reference to the Alien movies. In fact I saw references to Alien, Predator, Night of the Creeps and even ET. The use of alcohol is a nice turnaround on one of the classic AIP drive in movies, Invasion of the Saucer Men, wherein the “little green men” injected people with alcohol in order to render them easy to round up and do…..whatever it was those guys wanted to do with people.

And the photography is so good, the Irish scenery so beautiful, Grabbers almost looks like a European art film. I am somewhat Irish myself, my people were known as Scots-Irish. My ancestors left Scotland and went to Ireland to look for a better life. Which the Irish themselves will tell you is a very foolish thing to do. The Irish have left Ireland for generations and gone elsewhere, looking for a better life.

But I identify with Ireland much more so than Scotland, maybe it’s the taste of a cold bottle of Guinness Stout! So I and my sweetheart Radah had a grand time seeing Grabbers. With Halloween fast approaching you could do very well with a viewing of Grabbers, with a nice six pack of Guinness to tide you over.

And as an added bonus Grabbers has the most hysterically funny Making Of documentary I have ever seen. The writer, the director, producer and all the actors talk about their “research” to get ready to make this movie, yes, they all went out and got hammered, repeatedly, in many Irish pubs. Come to think of it Grabbers would be a good movie for St. Patrick’s day as well, if you’ve already seen The Quiet Man enough.

DREAMS WITH SHARP TEETH – The DVD Review

Harlan Ellison is dead. Harlan Ellison is DEAD!

I am reminded of a scene from Cleopatra with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, a Roman centurion has come to Octavius Caesar (Roddy McDowell ) with the news that “Marc Antony is dead. (I’m paraphrasing here, it’s been years since I saw the movie, forgive me if my memories are not accurate.) Caesar looks inconsolable: “How can you say that in such an offhand manner? Marc Antony is dead? It should be proclaimed from the rooftops, from the mountain tops, MARC ANTONY IS DEAD!”

At this point some people reading this (if anyone does) may be asking “Who the hell is Harlan Ellison?” More is indeed the pity my friends, if you do not know of Harlan Ellison let me advise you about his legacy and this wondrous documentary that captured the man, at various stages of his life, at the top of his game, in the full flower of his immense talent and the incredible work ethic that drove him to produce some of the finest American writing of the 20th (and 21st) century.

A little back ground first, before I sing the praises of this incredible documentary biography. I first encountered Harlan Ellison in the pages of Worlds of If Science Fiction, in 1967. I lost my Father in 1966, I would spend the rest of my life trying to get over that. We had just moved to a new home, in a new neighborhood, so I was the new kid in school, and was not exactly welcomed with open arms. Members of my own family did not care for me very much at this time, can’t say I blame them.

Reading, especially science fiction and horror and fantasy gave me an escape from an otherwise miserable childhood. It was in the pages of Worlds of If that I first read Harlan Ellison; the story was I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream. If you have never read it, again, more is the pity. This short story, no more than 10 pages long, if that, absolutely changed my life, my world, my way of viewing the world around me. It tells of a super computer that takes over the world, destroys all of humanity except for a handful of people that it toys with, makes them immortal, incapable of dying.

Somehow the narrator, who is nameless, manages to put his comrades out of their misery and remains, alone, friendless, within the belly of the computer which has taken over the entire world and he becomes “something else.” Something both less than human, and more than that. I cannot begin to do justice to that story. It sounds like typical science fiction of that period, it is not.
From that day on I read all of Harlan Ellison I could find. Along with Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, Robert E Howard, HP Lovecraft and several other writers, I read every word of Ellison I could possibly get my hands on.

I joined the Science Fiction Book Club and one of the first books I got from them was Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison. Again my life changed, for the better. In fact the written word, especially the genre of science fiction changed, forever. Dangerous Visions did not just push the envelope, it took the envelope and tore it into tiny bits, it shredded the envelope. I read that book, cover to cover, I don’t know how many times, I’ve lost count.

I will come back to my personal memories of Harlan Ellison shortly but first I have to recommend this incredible documentary. It opens with Ellison and one of his friends, Robin Williams, (yes THAT Robin Williams, someone else we recently lost) Williams reads a list of outrageous facts about Ellison, and some urban legends and asks “true or false”. Just one example, the first item, Ellison mailed a dead gopher to a publishing house, one that he felt had done him wrong. And not just a dead gopher, Ellison let it rot and get good and ripe before he mailed it. He proudly proclaims how much it cost to fumigate the offices of that publisher.

Ellison had sex with well over 500 women in his time, yet he maintains he had nothing but respect for women (ok, whatever….) Dreams with Sharp Teeth then launches into a rundown of Harlan Ellison’s incredible life and career. The only Jewish kid in Painesville, Ohio he was not just bullied, he was beaten up, daily. He claims to have had no friends yet one of the interview subjects here is identified as a child hood friend. Like many outcasts and misfits young Ellison found solace in books, movies, comic books, radio, and later television. He started writing at a very young age, and selling his writing while in his teens and twenties.

Drafted into the Army in the 1950s he was again the target of bullying due to his short stature, yet got by being the company “author.” Ellison wrote letters home for his fellow soldiers and, no matter how hard his company was trained, he had a typewriter hidden in the barracks that he would get out and sit in one of the bathroom stalls and work on a novel, which was sold before he was discharged by the Army. The documentary says the ”agreement to part company was mutual with the Army” whatever that means. We never do find out if his discharge was honorable, and quite frankly I doubt if Ellison even cared.

Harlan Ellison proceeded to make a name for himself, writing and publishing hundreds, if not thousands of short stories, and several novels. He worked all sorts of jobs, many of which made their way into his writing. He hitchhiked all around the country, made New York City his home for several years, then moved to Los Angeles intent on writing for the movies and television.
He did that although his career as a screenwriter was short lived. He wrote the script for The Oscar, with his friend Steve McQueen in mind for the lead role. I don’t know about you but the very idea of being able to call Steve McQueen a personal friend is beyond cool, I have no words to describe that kind of friendship. He also had Peter Falk in mind for the part of Hymie, Stephen Boyd ended up playing the actor who plots and schemes to win The Oscar, the part of Hymie went to Tony Bennett. Ellison is quick to say that Bennett is a great singer, a wonderful man, but can’t act to save his life. The Oscar ended up on many worst movies ever made lists.

Ellison talks about his knowledge that The Oscar would be the end of his career as a screenwriter. If you’ve ever seen the movie you’ll know why. I recall a television broadcast in the 1970s. To my knowledge The Oscar has never been released in any home video format. Ellison says that his 15 minutes of fame was more like 15 seconds.

Ellison had a lot more success in television writing dozens of scripts for shows like Burke’s Law, Alfred Hitchcock, Route 66 and The Flying Nun (yes, the Flying Nun!) Among his accomplishments in television, one of the most beloved of Star Trek episodes The City on the Edge of Forever. Although, like many of his television scripts Ellison said it was compromised. One of the joys of this documentary is Ellison reading his own work, he reads some of the dialog that City was meant to have, and he is right, the finished episode bears almost no relation to what he intended.
He also wrote one of the most memorable and beloved episodes of The Outer Limits, Demon with a Glass Hand which was filmed almost exactly as he wrote it. Robert Culp, who starred in that episode as the titular Demon,( who indeed had a Glass Hand,) said, in one of the last interviews he ever gave, that of all the work he did Demon With a Glass Hand was what he was most proud of, including a movie he wrote and directed himself Hickey and Boggs. His reason? He proclaims, rather proudly, it was Ellison’s writing. Culp considered Demon with a Glass Hand one of the greatest examples of episodic television ever created.

Ellison had many friends, and even more enemies. We hear quite a lot from Neil Gaiman, a good writer in his own right. Gaiman advises us, and we can see and hear for ourselves, there are at least three Harlan Ellison’s. There is the 12 year old boy that he never left behind, enamored of comic books, radio dramas, movies, the written word. There is the dead serious professional writer, constantly honing his craft, working and reworking every page until it’s just right. Even though Ellison admits he will find every excuse not to sit at that typewriter and actually produce pages. Something I and anybody who writes can identify with. And then there is Harlan Ellison the cranky old Jewish man, kvetching about the stupidity of people around him and the sorry state of the world and most especially his ailments.

Ellison himself admits that Jewish people are famous for three things; where to get good Chinese food, talking endlessly about their aches and pains and (I forget the third one.) One of the interviewees openly worries about Harlan “blowing a gasket” because of his infamous rants about the state of humanity and the world. We are then treated to one of those rants, his encounter with the video releasing company putting together a deluxe edition of Babylon Five, a show Ellison wrote extensively for. Ellison was asked to contribute an interview for the dvd release, he asked how much he would be paid, only to be told no one is paid to contribute interviews for dvd releases. This leads to a heated rant of immense proportions on the lunacy of writers constantly being asked to do work for nothing.

One of Ellison’s talking points, during his entire life, was how shabbily writers are treated, not just in movies and television but by magazines and book publishers, advertising firms, what have you. And of course he is right. He states repeatedly, in different time periods, (this documentary has footage of Ellison from the 1960s up to 2006 when the documentary was finished) that writing is a job of work, that writers should be paid commensurate with their time, effort and talent to get the job done. Such is not always the case.

Ellison was famous for doing “stunt writing” sitting in a store front window and writing a story, which was published as soon as he finished it. Going on radio talk shows and writing a story and carrying on an interview at the same time. On the subject of payment Ellison puts in a comment that struck me close to home, he mentions the idea of not paying writers comes from “schmucks” who do it for free. Every time I have watched this documentary I have to raise my hand and sheepishly admit “that would be me Mr. Ellison.” I have been writing for years and rarely have gotten paid. But I digress….We also hear about Ellison’s love hate relationship with, well, just about everybody. Ellison ranted for years about the idiocy of science fiction fans, especially at conventions, yet he attended many of those conventions, often as a guest of honor (I will touch on personal memories of that shortly). Never mentioned is a piece Harlan Ellison wrote for a science fiction magazine in the 1980s, about the despicable behavior of science fiction fans. A long litany of the abusive crap that writers, and other fans, have to put up with from the lunatic fringe of science fiction fandom. Ellison himself had key jobs done on his various cars, tires slashed, Gaiman even tells us that Ellison’s opinions were so reviled there was a fan organization devoted to, and even named “Get Harlan Ellison”. That essay ends with an incident where in Alan Dean Foster, at a convention, had a cup of warm vomit thrown in his face by a fan. Again, no mention of that. On that same subject Harlan Ellison created the phrase “bug fuck crazy!” His catch all term for such asinine behavior and stupidity.

On the subject of television Ellison made quite a lot of money writing for television, yet he constantly ranted about its insidious effects on people. I can just imagine what he had to say about cell phones, the now ubiquitous sight of slack jawed walking dead, standing, sitting and walking into lamp posts while staring at hand held screens, oblivious of the world around them. He denounced tv as a drug, that “people who would stand by while books were taken from public libraries and burned, who would stand by while old ladies are mugged in the street, will show up at city hall with pitch forks and pump shot guns if you take their tv away from them!” (that is a direct quote by the way.) His introduction to Strange Wine is where he lays out all the arguments about the negative effects television has on people. Yet Ellison had a huge tv, as soon as big screen tvs came into use he had one and kept upgrading it as the quality got better.

On the plus side of that his rants caused me to give up the tv habit. I have a tv, a nice flat screen but I do not have cable, satellite dish or even an antenna hooked up to it. I have a blu ray player, a dvd player and a vhs player, (just in case) and I do watch tv shows as well as movies, only if they are in a home video format. I control my tv, it does not control me. That is just one effect Harlan Ellison’s work has had on my life.

We see a good bit of Harlan Ellison’s eccentric behavior. Robin Williams leads us on a tour of Ellison’s home, filled with toys, comic books, and memorabilia. And we also see shelves full of Olympia manual typewriters. Ellison never, ever stopped writing on manual typewriters and he stockpiled dozens of them when he realized they would no longer be made after home computers came into wide spread use. He also stockpiled typewriter ribbons and kept them in a refrigerator, again, with the knowledge that they would no longer be available. Ellison famously stated, repeatedly, that a manual typewriter was all he needed, if he ever bought a computer the documentary does not say. We never see him using a cell phone either, not sure if he had one. Some might think this strange that a writer who made his name in science fiction would reject new technology out of hand.

Yet again, Harlan Ellison did not consider himself a “science fiction” writer. He preferred the term speculative fiction and felt that his writing should stand or fall on its own merits rather than be pigeon holed into a certain genre (which, of course, is what book publishers love to do, it makes marketing so much easier!)

Not only did he type on a manual typewriter he used what is known as hunt and peck, typing with two fingers and looking at the keyboard instead of using the “touch” method to type. Which is what I do, but I do use more than two fingers to type! Which makes his massive output all the more remarkable.

Another incident never remarked on, the only thing I am aware of Harlan Ellison ever did that I would call despicable, almost evil, during the court proceeding for Forrest Ackerman, the long time editor of Famous Monsters of Film Land magazine Harlan took the stand, AGAINST Forry Ackerman. That is a whole entire subject but Forry had the magazine taken away from him by a clown named Ray Ferry. He sued to try and get the magazine back or least be able to use the name. The court case bankrupted Forry Ackerman, one of the most beloved people in fandom, and caused him to sell his much of his beloved collection of literary and movie memorabilia. I’m not sure what all Harlan had to say about Forry, I’ve been told it was all negative and certainly did not help Forry’s case.

Harlan himself admits that he is fully aware of his faults. Married five times he admits that he is astonished that any woman can live with him under the same roof, for any amount of time. He found his soul mate in Susan Toth who stayed married to him from 1986 until his death this year on June 28.

I am proud to say that I saw Harlan Ellison in person, several times. In 1968 I got to attend a regional Science Fiction convention in St. Louis, called an Ozarkcon. Harlan was the guest of honor. Only 12 years old I was huge for my age and was probably thought of as a young adult. I had a reputation as a smart ass at that age, shooting my mouth off without engaging my brain. Amazingly enough, even to me now, after all these years, I pretty much kept my mouth shut. I was jazzed just to be at a Science Fiction convention, spending time with people who liked to read the same things I did.

And when it came to Harlan Ellison, well, I had in mind Abraham Lincoln’s quote about “better to keep silent and be thought a fool, then to speak up and remove all doubt.” I would love to say I spent time talking to Harlan Ellison, I did not , I was terrified to even speak to him, except to ask for his autograph in my copy of Dangerous Visions. David R Bunch was also there, a writer with two stories in Dangerous Visions, I asked for his autograph as well. Bunch seemed more like a “normal” human being. Ellison then and forever after seemed like something else entirely. A true live wire, glib, facile, knowledgeable, obviously hard working, well spoken, with charisma to burn. And funny as a standup comedian, he read two of his stories at that convention. Try a Dull Knife, a horrifying story about a less than honorable man who has been fatally stabbed by an angry woman, and of course he asks her “why not try a dull knife!” He also read Street Scene a flat out comedy about a pterodactyl dropping from the sky unto a New York City street. Hearing Harlan read that story to a room full of science fiction fans is one of the greatest memories of my life.
Harlan Ellison totally dominated that regional convention with ease. It was at the 1969 World Science Fiction convention, in St. Louis, Missouri, at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel where I really saw the power of his personality. There were many other writers there, many of whom I recognized. I saw Clifford Simak walk into the lobby, carrying his own luggage. I had just read his novel The Werewolf Principal. I wanted to tell him “welcome to St. Louis Mr. Simak,” and get his autograph, (too chicken shit!) Larry Niven, Harry Harrison, Robert Silverberg and many others were there. If you are not a reader of Science Fiction you probably would not recognize those names. I was in awe to be in the same building with these people. This was a huge convention, taking up the entire hotel. Harlan Ellison again dominated the whole building.

It was the first. and the only time, I have ever witnessed someone dominating a hotel ballroom, with about 500 people in attendance, just by walking in. For some of the conferences, and I made sure I attended everything at that convention, the Khorassan room of the Chase Hotel was packed, and it was truly extraordinary, the entire room would just know that Harlan Ellison had walked in, without him saying a word. And then , once he started to talk, he had the whole room in his hip pocket. I had never seen anything like it, I have not seen it since. At that time, in the world of written science fiction Harlan Ellison was a rock star. And like rock stars he could be a divisive figure . His politics were so hard left he often infuriated the conservative wing of science fiction fandom.

I’ll give you just one example. He marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Alabama. He called out anybody who did not go on that march as a racist. He also called the student body of a military college “America’s next generation of Nazis.” I can only imagine what he had to say about Trump.

Isaac Asimov called Ellison the only living creature whose natural habitat was hot water. Ellison referred to himself as a malcontent, a desperado, a loose cannon. Would that there were more like him. I am convinced the world is a better place for Harlan Ellison having been in it. I am convinced I am a better person for having read him, extensively, in my formative years. I have tried my best to follow his lead, to have him as a role model, if not an outright hero (I am not comfortable with hero worship, but I realize it is part of the human condition.)

And finally I am ashamed to admit, I wrote a fan letter to Ellison, some time ago. I wanted to tell him how much his work, his life’s work meant to me. I wrote that, if ever he had a “dark night of the soul” wherein he wondered if it had all been worth it .( And quite frankly, what human being has ever lived who did NOT suffer any “dark nights of the soul?”) Ellison had numerous health problems, not least of which was suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome, which caused him to lose valuable time suffering instead of writing. I told him, that if he ever wondered if his work had lasting value, ever influenced anyone for the better, that I was one of those people. I have made it part of my life to read everything I can possibly work into my daily schedule, and I mean everything. I have made it my life’s work to write, to document, to bear witness to what I see and hear and what occurs in my daily life. Again, I feel I am a better person for having encountered Harlan Ellison, on the page and in person.

I did not mail that letter, I am not sure why. I thanked him for his work and asked for an interview, which he freely gave, many times. Was I still afraid that if I interviewed him he might call me out as a “schmuck?” I not only did not mail that letter, now I can’t find it! It is somewhere in my files, no matter, he is gone now and the best I can do is write this tribute to one of the great writers, one of the great artists of the 20th and 21st centuries.

I have rambled on enough, Ellison’s words stand on their own, his legacy is secure. But as a final tribute I will now make an attempt to write a paragraph, or two, in the style of Harlan Ellison. Forgive me if I fail, if I piss anybody off, I have succeeded.

What!!! You’ve never read or heard of Harlan Ellison? What are you? A schmuck! You have no idea of the wonderment and the joy and the honesty and the plain old great story telling you are missing. Maybe you’re too busy staring at that hand held computer that has turned so many citizens into mindless zombies. If you have any self respect at all and want to be more than you are right now, see this documentary about Harlan Ellison “Dreams with Sharp Teeth!” Better yet, get your dumb ass to the library or to your local book store and buy or check out the Essential Ellison, a massive book covering his stories from the 1950s to the 2010s. Read! A library card is cheaper than cable tv, or a blu ray player or your cell phone service. Cheaper because it is free! Where ever you live you can check out and read books for free. Read Death Bird Stories, Approaching Oblivion or Dangerous Visions. Read, and think about what you are reading. And don’t just read Ellison, libraries are full of great books by great authors. Or maybe you prefer to be another mindless, brain dead zombie stumbling into walls or walking into oncoming traffic and getting run over and seeing your own intestines because you are too busy staring at that GOD DAMN CELL PHONE SCREEN! (End of tribute.)

Harlan, if you reading this from the other side, I hope I have done you justice. Please rest in peace, you have earned it. You did what you could! Harlan Ellison died on June 28 this year. Now go to the library.

10 Reasons I Love JUSTICE LEAGUE – Available on Blu-ray March 13th

JUSTICE LEAGUE will be available on Blu-ray next Tuesday, March 13th

Ok, I get it, the jury is in, the Justice League bombed at the box office and most critics were less than kind. I don’t care, I saw it three times (not as often as Wonder Woman) in theaters. I love it anyway. Even though I had my own problems with this latest DC Universe movie.

My problems, in brief: First, the missing and deleted scenes. Youtube was loaded with many and various previews for Justice League leading up to its release, all of which had scenes and lines of dialog that didn’t make it into the final cut. I sincerely hope the blu ray will present an extended or director’s cut of Justice League. And of course the blu ray release has been delayed.

Second the threat is too generic, Steppenwolf never does seem like much of a villain and the “ParaDemons” are too much like the Alien Army in the first Avengers movie, cannon fodder for the heroes with no personality. And the Macguffin the villain is after is way too much like the power box, again, in the first Avengers movie. Making three magic boxes instead of one, that makes it different? Right……

And to me the most egregious mark against the Justice League, J. K Simmons. Not the actor, he is one of the best actors working now and has an Oscar to prove it. My problem is, why hire J. K Simmons and give him nothing to do? Commissioner Gordon is used to working with The Batman, would he not have something to say to, I don’t know, Wonder Woman or Cyborg other than “How many of you are there? “ How about “Are you people crazy?” or “Why in the hell are you doing this?”

Oh well, to my simple mind these are minor problems. There is much I love in Justice League starting with:

10. Ezra Miller as Barry Allen “The Flash” Miller is a little guy but has a huge talent. Don’t believe me? Check out a movie called We Need To Talk About Kevin, a movie more relevant than ever in the wake of yet another school shooting. With a face that looks like it was designed by an artist Miller’s take on the Flash is wonderful. His comment that Barry Allen “needs friends” is heartbreaking. In fact Justice League more than hints at the notion that all these characters “need friends” most of all Batman and Cyborg. Miller brings humor to a movie that needs it, he makes an impossible character believable and likeable, all the actors do quite frankly. Which brings me to:

9. Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry “The Aquaman” I saw Conan the Barbarian in a theater and have it on dvd. Momoa really didn’t make much of an impression in that project. He must have been working on his craft because he is flat out wonderful in Justice League. Steals every scene he’s in and, for a man who can live and breathe under water is the voice of reason and sanity and common sense in a comic book universe. How many comic book super heroes are there that not only drink whisky straight out of the bottle but litter the landscape with their empties? Aquaman does. And I love his “truth to tell” rant due to his sitting on Wonder Woman’s lasso. Aquaman was never one of my favorite DC heroes, I now look forward to his stand alone movie. Justice League is worth seeing for Momoa alone.

8. The first battle scene. I love the idea of all the Justice League members being dependant on Batman’s various vehicles and gizmos. The fight in the tunnels under Gotham Harbor is complex and involves a lot of movement; it could have easily degenerated into confusion and chaos, much like the (rightfully) disliked Batman vs Superman Dawn of Justice final battle. We never lose track of anyone’s location and who is doing what to whom. This battle can stand alongside any of the action set pieces in the Marvel Universe.

7. Henry Cavill as Kal El, Clark Kent, “Superman.” I will be the first to admit Cavill is not the most versatile actor in the business. Want real proof? Try The Man from Uncle Movie with Cavill as Napoleon Solo and Armie Hammer as Ilya Kuryakin, if you can make it all the way through. However, if there was ever an actor who looked exactly like a comic book character Cavill is it. I will be honest, I grew up with the George Reeves Superman television series and to me he will always be Clark Kent/Superman. I also very much enjoyed Christopher Reeves take on a classic character (except for that fourth movie!) Cavill looks exactly like the Superman of the 1960s DC Comics. And he brings his A game to the project and, as I told my sweetheart Radah Sheah, when we watched Superman Vs Batman Dawn of Justice (which she hated) “you can’t kill Supes, can’t be done!” And yet another issue I have with Justice League, when Superman finally (finally!) joins the fight against Steppenwolf and his cartoon minions we fully expect him to pound the living shit out of the Bad Guy and slam him back and forth on the concrete (much like what The Hulk did to Loki in the first Avengers movie) No, we see Supes get in a few licks and then run off to save “civilians!” Whatever!

6. Another visit to Paradise Island/ Themyscira/The Amazon Kingdom. I love the Amazons, LOVE the Amazons, adore them! I saw Wonder Woman 7 times last year, in theaters (that’s Seven times!) And not just for Gal Gadot. When I was 10 years old I became obsessed with the legend of the Amazons (yes obsessed is a good word, although it may not be strong enough!) I read of them in a children’s encyclopedia and checked out books, written at an adult level, from the library on Greek and Roman history and mythology for any information about the Amazons.
I even wrote my own stories about Amazons in my grade school classrooms, when I should have been paying attention to Geography and Arithmetic lessons. Other boys drew pictures of tanks and fighter planes; I scribbled out stories of women warriors defeating entire armies of men. The first time I saw Wonder Woman, during the entire opening on Paradise Island I wept, cried tears of absolute joy! I had forgotten all of my youthful enthusiasm for the Amazons.

There are other movies about the Amazons. Tarzan and The Amazons with Johnny Weissmueller, 1945, depicted a very cool Amazon kingdom in Tarzan’s territory. Ironically those Amazons defeated men armed with guns using bows and arrows, spears and swords, much like the Amazons of Wonder Woman. And during my time in the Navy when I ran the ship’s tv station on the USS AMERICA I broadcast a later day Italian peplum movie, War Goddess aka Amazons from 1973. Depicting the Amazons dealings with the Greeks and a disputed power struggle, it has its moments. Those Amazons apparently spent all their money on eye makeup. Those movies were ok, but Wonder Woman’s movie depicted the Amazon Empire exactly as I had pictured it at 10, 11 and 12 years of age. Except my Amazons had a bowling alley, equipped with pin ball machines, bumper pool tables and a soda fountain. My Amazons also got to use automatic weapons, grenade launchers, tanks and what have you. Hey, they were MY stories and I enjoyed that I could give them anything I thought they should have! So Wonder Woman is a very special movie to me and I was ecstatic that Justice League took us back to Themyscira and populated the Amazons with many of the same actors and athletes who portrayed the Amazons in Wonder Woman. I would love to see them have their own stand alone movie. A sweeping historical epic about their wars with the Greeks and Romans, and especially how they got mixed up with Hercules! It would be a perfectly logical reason to bring back Robin Wright as Antiope, one of the most awesome woman characters ever captured on film! I should add too, my Amazons always won, every engagement they kicked ass and took names. And they never even had any casualties (again, they were my stories, and no, none of the stories survived. Whenever recess was called I would throw my stories in the trash. I wrote them only for my own amusement and I was convinced that if any one, especially adults, found out about my obsession I would be put in an institution! I am NOT kidding!)

5. The second battle scene. In the DC and Marvel Universe there seems to be a great concern about collateral damage. And rightfully so, if super heroes and super villains really did exist and had epic battles in urban areas, the damage would be catastrophic. In Justice League the final showdown happens in what appears to be Chernobyl. Very few civilians present and the League members take great pains to get them out of harm’s way. And again, we never lose track of who is doing what, when, where and why. And the action, once it gets rolling, is truly awesome.

4. Ray Fisher Victor Stone “Cyborg” This is the one character I was not familiar with. I have not bought a comic book since about 1985. It finally dawned on me that I could no longer afford to buy and store huge amounts of paper collectibles. So Cyborg was a new character to me and Ray Fisher brings a lot to the project. I read at least one comment on the web that Cyborg is based on Robocop. Not really, Cyborg made his debut in 1980, Robocop the original movie, was released in 1987. If anything Robocop owes a debt to DC Comics and the character of Cyborg. What’s left of a man housed in a robotic body and finding himself stronger, faster and with many other powers not possessed by mundane people, like you and me. We get all that with Fisher, the pain of being different, an outcast, alone. And even better we have the incredible Joe Morton, star of John Sayles classic cult movie Brother From Another Planet as his suffering Father. Cyborg and all the other Justice League members are to have their own stand alone movies. I am looking forward to all of them.

3. Ben Affleck Bruce Wayne “The Batman” I have a co worker who refused to see Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice or Justice League because she cannot stand the idea of Ben Affleck playing Bruce Wayne/Batman. I could not possibly disagree more. Affleck makes a good Batman and an even better Bruce Wayne. I will readily admit I am a sentimental old fool when it comes to these characters. I saw all the faults of Batman Vs Superman and loved it anyway, mainly for the thrill of finally seeing Batman, Superman AND Wonder Woman in the same movie. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Marvel Universe and have seen most of their movies. But Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman were there first. There was no Marvel Comics publisher during that time frame of the late 1930s and 1940s. Captain America was published by an outfit called Timely. I treasure what is probably the best moment in Dawn of Justice “Is she with you?” “I thought she was with you!” And I love the moment when Diana literally pulls Batman’s ass out of the fire. Affleck is a fine Batman, there is an epic sadness to this Caped Crusader. Bruce Wayne in Justice League is about, literally, at the end of his rope. A reluctant leader.

I love the idea that he would much rather have Superman back or somehow goad Wonder Woman into taking the lead. It’s heartbreaking when he openly admits that Superman is a better man than him. In fact this Batman seems to think that Wonder Woman is a better man than him! Of course Supes is a better man than anybody, and everybody! I would put Affleck’s Bruce Wayne/Batman about midway between Michael Keaton and Val Kilmer (my personal favorite of all the contemporary actors who have played Batman.) Affleck has proved himself as an actor and he’s an even better director, The Town and Argo prove that beyond any doubt. I’m going way out on a limb here and say it for the whole world, Justice League is the best Batman movie since Dark Knight. You want to see a bad DC movie? Try sitting through Dark Knight Rises more than once.

2. Gal Gadot Diana Princess of Theymyscira “Wonder Woman” If you’ve read this gibbering nonsense this far here is a no brainer. Of course I adore Gal Gadot and Wonder Woman. Here is the best example I can think of for an actor to be inseparable from a comic book super hero character.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved Lynda Carter but her television show was to Wonder Woman what the 1960s Batman show (which I loved too, Adam West will always be the “real Batman”) was to the Caped Crusader. A goofy, pop art, more comic than book, take on this iconic character. Patty Jenkins and her crew gave us what is probably the greatest superhero movie that will ever be made.

I’ll say it again, I saw Wonder Woman seven times last year, bought the blu ray the day it went on sale, and could watch it every day the rest of my life. My co workers during the summer of last year, told me to shut up about Wonder Woman (and most of my co workers are women!) I also treasure the movie Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, which I also saw in a theater.

I love that Wonder Woman was created by a man, who truly believed women were superior to men. Marston’s my man, I have believed that for years, decades. Jenkins is on the record, Wonder Woman is only about 20% of what she had in mind! I would love to see how she originally envisioned this masterpiece.

I love that Gadot is, apparently, the real deal. She is an Israeli Army veteran and was a combat trainer, hand to hand and firearms., She downplays that and says it was no big deal. I doubt that, during my time in the US Navy we had class room training, one class involved “know your allies and your enemies” a rundown on various countries different military outfits. I distinctly recall being told the Israeli army is one of the toughest and most well trained in the world. I rest my case.

I had a co worker tell me that I kept going to see Wonder Woman because of Gal Gadot’s astonishing looks. No, if she were just another pretty face I would have seen it once, maybe twice. Part of what kept me going back is her incredible acting talent. The male super heroes, both Marvel and DC, when they go into combat mode, look very grim, determined, no nonsense. When Diana cuts loose and runs amok on the German Army she has this lovely smile, of utmost confidence and, could it be…..joy? Her smile, after she knocks aside her first bullet with those bracelets (one of my few problems with Wonder Woman, I would like to have an explanation of what those are and why they work the way they do. I also don’t think the Germans of WWI would be so quick to open up on one lone woman crossing No Man’s Land, some hesitation would be in order, but these are minor quibbles.)

When she comes busting through that window and lands in a roomful of heavily armed Germans her smile says it all “I’ve got this! You people are about to enter a world of pure, agonizing pain!” What she does after that is the best example of what I would call “running amok!” And she wears that smile of determination in Batman Vs Superman Dawn of Justice, repeatedly. Every time she gets knocked down by Doomsday she has that smile, gets back up and goes right back to knocking the shit of “a creature from another world.”

I could write page after page of how much I loved Wonder Woman’s movie, the humor, the valor, the team work, the pure joy of knocking the piss out of somebody who has it coming. And Gal Gadot brings all that to Justice League, and a whole lot more. The lady has talent and charisma and style to burn. I could watch her take a nap on the couch. Of course if she woke up and saw me she’d scream bloody murder and beat the shit out of me (I should be so lucky!)A good friend made a very rude comment when I showed him my Wonder Woman poster, which I shall not repeat on the internet. I told him the truth, such comments are sacrilegious, blasphemous, “I do not see this woman as a sex object, I worship her as a Goddess (I am only half joking!)

1. And finally; this is the Justice League movie. This IS the Justice League movie! Good Bad or Indifferent this is a movie aging comic book fan boys, and girls, like me have looked forward to for years. In the 1960s when I was reading comic book and monster magazines and science fiction books and magazines I never dreamed there would be a whole series of Marvel Comic movies,, or DC, that brought these wonderful characters to life. If someone had told me that in the future there would be movies as good as Spider Man Two or Dark Knight or The Avengers or Captain America: Winter Soldier or Wonder Woman, or a complete filming of The Lord of the Rings, I would have called them out for bull shit artists. And yet , here we are. As I said I am a sentimental old fool, at the end of Justice League I wept, again, at seeing Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Cyborg, Flash and Aquaman in the same shot, dust still in the air, with the American flag behind them.

And there are other moments I love, Jeremy Irons joins a long list of great actors who have played Alfred, Bruce Wayne’s right hand man. His Alfred has several great moments. And Diane Lane is probably the best Ma Kent we will ever see. There is a video on Youtube of Chris Hemsworth, Thor in the Marvel Universe, at Comic Con. He was asked about the DC Universe series; he laughed and said something to the effect that “those guys are just trailing in our dust!” Don’t get me wrong, I like Hemsworth, and Thor. I thought Thor Ragnarok was a very fine piece of work, loved it. But that was a rude thing to say. There is room in the market place for Marvel and DC. Although if somebody ever makes a Thunder Agents movie I’ll know for sure we are really living in the end times (or Blue Beetle or Plastic Man for that matter!) So yes, I love the Marvel Universe and DC, I thought Justice League was fine. Could it have been better? Of course, any movie could, unless you’re talking about directors at the level of Kubrick or Hitchcock. Having said all that, at some point in the future, if it’s possible, I would love to see a Justice League meets the Avengers movie. Of course the threat would have to be colossal, the fate of the entire solar system? Galaxy? The Universe itself? All of life hangs in the balance? I would just imagine that Superman and Thor would have something to talk about. And I would love to hear a conversation between Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne, technical innovations and high finance? But what I would really treasure, the moment I dream of, I would love to see Diana, Princess of Theymyscira, Wonder Woman, sit down with Agent Romanov; The Black Widow and The Scarlet Witch and have a nice cup of espresso and a croissant and talk about how messed up it is to try and deal with male super heroes. I can hear it now “you think Tony Stark is a jerk! Let me tell you what Bruce Wayne did! What he said!” “Sister you have no idea!”

And how would this be for a slow motion team walk:

Superman, Batman, Iron Man, Captain America, Wonder Woman, Black Widow, Spiderman, Antman, Wasp, Black Panther, Flash, Aquaman, Hulk, Thor, Cyborg, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, The Vision, War Machine, Green Lantern, and what the hell, Suicide Squad, Guardians of the Galaxy, The X Men, Fantastic Four and everybody else in the Marvel and DC Universe, striding towards the camera with a “terrible resolve” to face down an implacable and unstoppable enemy. If I’m going to dream I may as well dream big!

I have friends, good friends, who don’t care for the super hero movies. To paraphrase a line of dialog from My Favorite Year “ I need my heroes, I need them bigger than life! As big as I can get them!” And I thank everyone who works on these movies, in the DC and Marvel Universe. And I am so happy for Stan Lee, the Marvel movies are something he dreamed of for years.

And so, yes I love the Justice League, for all this and so much more.

MIDNIGHT CLEAR (2006) – DVD Review

Ever been alone on Christmas Eve? Christmas Day? Ever felt the loss of someone you love so badly you don’t think you can ever go forward with your life? Ever been at the end of your rope and considering something really drastic?

I can’t imagine anyone living who hasn’t been there at some time in their lives. As part of my post duty orders here at We Are Movie Geeks one of my tasks to shine a light on movies that never quite found an audience. Independent, foreign, low budget, direct to video, under the radar films that deserve a wider audience.

And, it being the Christmas season I personally am always looking for something new for the holidays. How many times can you watch Christmas Story? National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation? It’s A Wonderful Life or Christmas Carol? Actually quite a lot apparently, those are all great movies.

But here is a movie set during Christmas Eve, with a great message of love and forgiveness and redemption, that I had never heard of. Midnight Clear (not to be confused with Midnight Clear from 1992 directed by Keith Gordon and set during Christmas in Europe in WWII, a fine Christmas movie in its own right. )

This Midnight Clear is a movie with a very human message, from a Christian viewpoint, that can be enjoyed by anyone, no matter what their personal beliefs might be. When I say Christian I don’t mean this is a “preachy” movie, far from it. Midnight Clear has a simple message, that small acts of kindness, especially around the holidays, can make someone’s life, can actually save someone’s life.

To begin we have five characters introduced whose paths will cross one Christmas Eve in an unnamed town. The credits thank the city of Roanoke, Virginia but the town has no name, on purpose I’m sure, this is Anytown USA, North, South, East, West, location does not matter. Even though it is set at Christmas there is no snow on the ground and only one character wears a coat. Doesn’t matter .

We meet Lefty (Stephen Baldwin) first sleeping off a drunk in the parking lot where he works, or where he used to work. Lefty is not having a good Christmas Eve, at all. He is known to be unreliable; his boss fires him, on Christmas Eve. He meets with his wife’s lawyers, his wife left him two years previously. It does not go well, he has no legal representation of his own, can’t afford a lawyer, he lets it slip that he is living in his car, got fired from his job, he will probably never see his kids again.

He returns to work to retrieve equipment that may or may not belong to him. This is some of the funniest stuff in the movie. Having worked as a security guard I love the guy portraying company security. If I had to chase somebody on foot I doubt if I would try and carry a cup of coffee with me!

Lefty (and he is not left handed, he explains to the lawyers why he is nick named that, doesn’t help his case at all.) Takes the equipment and trades them to a fence for a few dollars, a bottle of hooch (of course he is an alcoholic) and a gun. A gun so hot “you might catch fire holding it.” Yes, Lefty has something very bad in mind. I have to say at this point, and I never dreamed I would actually write this sentence, and mean it, Stephen Baldwin is excellent as Lefty. I, and apparently many other movie fans, always thought of Stephen as the least of the Baldwin brothers,( although Billy sure can be annoying!) He gives the performance of a lifetime. Sincerely, if this were not a “church” movie and had found a wider audience Baldwin could, and should, have been nominated for an Oscar.

Even though Lefty is obviously a “loser” by most people’s standards we never lose our sympathy for him. We never stop hoping that somehow he can get his life back on track.

We also meet Eva, (K Callan) an older woman, estranged from her family, alone on Christmas Eve and making preparations to take all of her medications at once and end her misery. She even makes a call to her Dr., and in a very subtle way, makes sure that her questions about her prescriptions will not arouse any suspicions. She closes her bank account, it only had $9 and change anyway, sets out all the dry cat food for her cat and gets ready to punch her own ticket.

Kirk (Kirk BR Woller) owns a quick shop outside of town. He has to work on Christmas Eve, his only employee called in sick. He built his store outside of town with the promise that the city limits would soon reach his little store and he could sell it at a profit and live the good life. Of course that is not working out. He works long hours, has no one to spend Christmas with anyway and has to keep an eye out for customers who would walk out with merchandise.

Mary (Mary Thornton) used to go to church. She used to have a functioning husband as well. She and her only child, Jacob (Dominic Scott Kay) visit her husband, Rick (Kevin Downes) brain damaged after an accident, on Christmas Eve one year ago. She admits to her husband, even though he is medicated and damaged to the point of imbecility, that life is hard, that she misses him, even though he is sitting right in front of her.

And then there is Mitch,(Mitchell Jarvis) a youth Pastor at the local church. He is tasked with taking the youth group around town to sing Christmas Carols and hand out small gifts to the church members who don’t come to church anymore. In each gift packet, among other items is a 20 dollar bill, crucial in the last 15 minutes of the movie. Mitch is having a crisis of faith to say the least, he openly wonders to his pastor if it’s worth it to bring the youth group to people’s homes, they won’t come to church anyway. He admits to the youth group that singing Christmas Carols is “dorky.” And Mitch carries a load of guilt; somehow he was involved in the same accident that damaged Mary’s husband Rick. In fact Rick was the youth pastor before him, and was much better at the task.

Mitch doesn’t think he can fill Rick’s shoes. We never learn if Mitch was somehow responsible for the accident either, and again, it does not matter.

On this particular Christmas Eve these five people will affect each other’s lives in profound ways, just by being kind, just by listening, just by being there, just by doing the simplest act of kindness.

Mary and Jacob are on their way to her Mother’s house for Christmas, their car won’t make it. They stop at Kirk’s Quick Shop, which is not a garage. Kirk looks at the car and works on it anyway, he has nothing else going on. During their time together we will learn a lot about both characters. Kirk BR Woller is a seasoned pro, you will recognize him immediately, he has been in a lot of television and movie projects.

And I must say I was not familiar with Mary Thornton. According to her bio on IMDB she doesn’t work very often but here she is luminous. We feel every bit of her pain and loneliness on Christmas Eve. When she opens up to Kirk while he is working on her car it is shattering, Kirk is kind enough to leave her alone in her grief for just a few minutes.

Eva’s plans for suicide keep getting interrupted, first by a Meals on Wheels lady, a delightful cameo from Victoria Jackson, of Saturday Night Live. She accepts enough food for six people and the scene of her sitting alone in front of an entire turkey is another heart breaker.

In getting ready to try her self destruction again the Christmas Carolers, led me Mitch, interrupt her. Mitch is shrewd enough and caring enough to notice that something is wrong. He practically begs her to come to church.

I have to say at this point, I am technically not a church going Christian, far from it. I have been practicing Nicheren Buddhism since 1984 and it suits me fine. I am convinced it has made me a happier and better person and helps me get through every day. I was raised in the Baptist Church but lost my faith at a young age and “wandered in the wilderness” for quite some time. There was a time in my life I would have never watched Midnight Clear, just because of its connections to the church. And I can totally identify with Mitch and his struggle to get people to come to church. I was an SGI leader for quite some time and a lot of my time was taken up with trying to get people to come to meetings! And making home visits, which Christians do as well. Common ground if ever there was.

Mitch brings his youth group back to church, Eva was their last stop. He opens up to his pastor (Richard Fancy) about his doubts concerning the value of what they are doing. At this point I have to mention as well, I reviewed a documentary for We Are Movie Geeks some time ago called God Has Left the Building, documenting the decline of Christianity in this country. 4000 Churches a year close their doors in the USA. This might sound strange coming from a Buddhist but I would love, and welcome, a revival of the kind of Christianity that went into the making of Midnight Clear. A Christianity based on love, forgiveness, redemption, salvation and compassion. That could and should be the basis for any religion, not hatred and passing judgment. Buddhism certainly salvaged and redeemed me. I know for a fact that Christianity, Islam, other schools of Buddhism, can do the same for anybody. Heck I even worked for Scientologists for a couple of years, and they were very nice people to work for! And I am not fan of L Ron Hubbard’s gibberish, believe me.

And Lefty? Lefty drinks his bottle of booze, loads the stolen gun and prepares to do something drastic, he tries to pull the trigger on himself, in a scene that is tough to watch, he can’t do it. Again, Baldwin is so good in this it is tough to see this guy’s misery. He walks into Kirk’s store while Mary and Jacob are there fully intending to rob the place. Jacob’s greeting of Merry Christmas to Lefty changes everything.

Through the entire movie Lefty cannot even put gas in his car. He makes one last stop, at Eva’s, who is his Mother. She sits in the dark, finally ready to drink her tea made with all her medications mixed together.

Astonished that her good for nothing son has returned in order for her to wish him a Merry Christmas, Eva pours the prescription potion down the drain, feeds Lefty from her bountiful dinner and they talk about the family. This is when the movie starts to offer hope, for all the characters. Lefty and his Mother just talking about the other members of the family is hilarious.

Lefty offers to take her to church, but he doesn’t have any gas money, she has the 20$ from the youth group carolers. Kirk gets Mary’s car running, even though it’s too late for her to go to her Mother’s. Lefty and Eva stop at Kirk’s store, Lefty ditches the gun, uses the money to buy gas and they leave the dinner on Mary’s car, Lefty having heard Jacob say he was hungry.

And Mitch? Mitch is gratified beyond all belief to see Eva and her son at the Christmas Eve service, just one person, showing up, just being there, can make a difference in someone’s life.

Quite frankly I am astonished Midnight Clear is not better known and widely seen. Maybe its confusion with Keith Gordon’s movie. Or maybe a lot of people would not watch it because it’s a “church” movie. I might set foot in a church once or twice a year for a wedding or a funeral, and I adore this movie. I have watched it several times, and not always at Christmas.

I wish there was some way that every man, woman and child on this planet could see Midnight Clear. Were it within my ability to do so I would arrange a screening for everybody, and I mean everybody.

I don’t care what your beliefs are, Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Moslem, Buddhist, Hindu, Confucius’s, Atheist, Agnostic or a sun worshipping nudist. Midnight Clear’s message applies to everybody, everywhere.

Namely, can we please be kind to each other? Can we just show our concern for other people? Every character in Midnight Clear, at some point, asks every other character “are you alright?” Sometimes that’s enough, just show you care, to somebody, especially when they need to know that someone does care.

Midnight Clear has a couple of special features, a directors and writers commentary that is excellent and a making of documentary. I cannot recommend this movie enough, please see it, with your friends and family members. If you love it as I do make Midnight Clear a new holiday tradition at your home.

And a Merry Christmas too all, and to all a good night!

Ten Classic Scary Movies For Halloween

I have known for years, many people will not watch black and white movies, of any kind. It has to be color and no older than 10 years, preferably movies made this year, or last year. I have had people look at me with astonishment when I tell them I not only watch black and white movies regularly but even silent movies. I’ve had people admit they didn’t know movies were being made in 1927, much less 1915.

So for this Hallowe’en, when movie geeks thoughts turn to scary movies here is my personal and eclectic list of great, old, scary movies, filmed in glorious black and white.

10. Nosferatu 1922

The Great Grand Daddy of all Dracula movies, and the template for every vampire movie ever made, the first, one of the best and still creepy, even if you’ve seen it repeatedly. A silent masterpiece by FW Murnau and with the incredible Max Schreck as Graf Orlock looking weasel faced and moving like a big rodent, this vampire is light years from Lugosi’s suave aristocrat or Christopher Lee’s super human woman magnet. Some of the camera tricks have not aged well, but there is nothing camp or silly about Nosferatu. Remade brilliantly by Werner Herzog with the incredible Klaus Kinski playing the Vampire King and the subject of Shadow of the Vampire, a movie about the making of Nosferatu that put forth the idea, what if Schreck was a real Vampire? But accept no substitutes. Radah and I got to see this at the Tampa Theater a few years ago for Hallowe’en, with live organ accompaniment, an unforgettable experience.

9. Haxan 1922

Another silent masterpiece Benjamin Christensen’s still controversial Haxan is deeply disturbing, still creepy and captured images unlike any other film made during the silent era, or any time later for the matter of that. Part documentary, part hallucinatory nightmare Haxan was recut and rereleased as Witchcraft Through the Ages with a music score and narration by the one and only William S Burroughs. Filled with nudity, demons, the very devil himself and horrifying scenes of accused witches on trial and being tortured into confessions, Haxan is one of a kind, and perfect for Hallowe’en.

8. Vampyr 1932

Only marginally a talking picture Vampyr is another one of a kind, deeply disturbing tale of Vampirism told in a hallucinatory, dream like way. Shot through gauze filters with a non actor in the lead role, Vampyr, directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer, is disorienting, creepy and leaves the viewer with a serious feeling of uneasiness. There are no jump out of your seat scares and yet, we are never really sure what in hell is going on; shadows dance on the walls without people being present, living person’s shadows get up and move on their own, point of view changes constantly, characters enter and exit without explanation. Most unsettling, we get an entire sequence of what it would feel like to be buried alive, the view from inside a coffin, while still alive, and being carried to a grave site, in the hypnotic thrall of a vampire. Be forewarned, some people don’t get it. Forest J Ackerman, editor of Famous Monsters of Film land, hated this movie, didn’t think it scary at all, or entertaining. It is referenced constantly throughout Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula, good enough recommendation for me.

7. Island of Lost Souls 1932

In the 1930s Universal Studios was considered the major producer of horror films. Their movies, if you are a serious movie geek like me, are so familiar they are probably not scary at all anymore. Despite Universal’s dominance of the genre other studios put out some great productions. Paramount Pictures, known for classy musicals produced one of the most disturbing horror movies of the 1930s, Island of Lost Souls, a movie that packed such a punch on its original release it was banned in England and other countries for years. And it still has a powerful, painful effect. Directed by Earl C Kenton and the first film version of HG Well’s Island of Dr. Moreau (Wells hated the film) Island of Lost Souls features an incredible performance by Charles Laughton, obsessed with creating men out of animals and operating on them without using anesthetic. His island is populated with these half man half animal hybrids, among them, most unforgettably Bela Lugosi as Sayer of the Law “What is the Law? Are we not men?” and someone named Hans Steinke as Ouran, another unforgettable character. It is not just the horror in the house of pain or the monstrousness of the animal men, there is a queasy, oppressive atmosphere in the whole film, the jungle itself seems to be alive, even more so than in King Kong. Criterion’s blu ray is incredible, bringing out details, especially in the makeup I had never noticed before.

6. The Black Cat 1934

Another one of a kind horror movie, although made by Universal, the Black Cat is unlike any other film in their various franchises, or any other movie ever made for that matter. Rather than a gothic castle The Black Cat is set in a futuristic house,(it even has digital clocks, in 1934!) built on a fortress from WWI, in the Bauhaus style, and that house is inhabited by Boris Karloff playing a thinly disguised version of Aleister Crowley. Bela Lugosi arrives with a young couple in tow(David Manners and Julie Bishop) who get sucked into the vortex of Karloff and Lugosi’s poisoned history. Lugosi and Karloff were in eight movies together, usually with Karloff in the lead role, once, in The Raven, it was Lugosi’s movie. Here they stand as co equal characters, both of them dangerous, both actors at the top of their form. And masterfully directed by Edgar G Ulmer, who somehow made a movie that deals with necrophilia, cannibalism, Satan worship and God knows what else in 1934! I have watched The Black several times, usually around Hallowe’en and it never fails to make me feel very ill at ease. This is seriously creepy stuff, especially when Lugosi decides it would be a swell idea to skin Karloff alive.

4. Black Sunday 1960

The official first movie directed by Mario Bava (he had a hand in several other films, without credit) Black Sunday still has the power to horrify and frighten. A witch (Barbara Steele) is tortured and put to death in a blasted looking landscape, where the sun never seems to shine. She vows revenge and comes back years later, along with her walking dead servant and proceeds to wreck all manner of carnage and mayhem. Her main concern is taking over the life of her look alike descendant (also Steele). Bava has several masterpieces on his resume, this is one of them. Drenched in gothic atmosphere, as only Bava could produce, Black Sunday is still genuinely scary stuff. The servant Javutich crawling up out of his grave is still the stuff of nightmares.

3. Psycho 1960

A game changer is ever there was, Hitchcock’s film was not just the template for every psychotic slasher movie that came out over the years it changed the way we see movies. If it’s a scary movie we expect that no one is safe. No one had ever killed off the major character in any movie previously, certainly not from a major film maker. And Hitchcock’s genius shines in every frame, no matter how many times it is seen the shower scene still is shocking, the entire movie has an uneasiness, even the mundane scenes at the beginning have an edge. And the famous all strings music by Bernard Herrmann can still put you in a nervous frame of mind. A classic and still scary after all these years.

2. Carnival of Souls 1962

A one of a kind regional movie, made by people who made classroom and training films, on a very low budget with non actors, except for the lead actress Candice Hilligoss, (who is brilliant.) Carnival of Souls is not terrifying, but again, it will put you in an uneasy frame mind that can last for days. A major influence on George Romero Carnival is yet another movie, even if you know the ending, is worth revisiting many times. All of the scenes at the old Salt Air Pavilion in Utah are literally haunting. A text book example of what can be done on a low budget, if you have some talent. I first saw Carnival of Souls on Zone 2 in 1965, a local St. Louis tv show with a Horror Host played by Jack Murdock , scared me half to death.

1. Night of the Living Dead

The other game changer on this list. We have George Romero and his underpaid crew to thank for all the zombie movies that have come out since 1968, including the Walking Dead. And yet another regional film made by people who made industrial and corporate training films, as well as sports documentaries, Night of the Living Dead may shock you, it may horrify you, so if you are the least bit faint hearted, well, we warned you!

And, as I said this is a very personal list, I have to give honorable mentions to the original The Haunting, The Thing From Another World, Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Brain that Wouldn’t Die, all of the Val Lewton series made at RKO in the 1940s, The Mummy’s Hand, Bride of Frankenstein and, what the hell, I love them all, whether they are still scary of not!

And a very Happy Hallowe’en to you all!

WILD ZERO (1999) – The DVD Review

What’s your favorite Japanese punk rock, alien invasion, zombie apocalypse, transgender romance, biker, musical comedy movie?

I know, that’s a hell of a mash up right? There is such a movie, it’s called WILD ZERO and it is terrific. If you think you’ve seen everything you’ve got to take a look at this insane movie.

WILD ZERO (1999) was put together as a vehicle for Guitar Wolf a Japanese Punk Rock heavy metal trio that has been playing and recording for years. They are a sort of ramped-up Japanese version of the Ramones, who play even faster and louder than that legendary band, if you can believe it. Like the Ramones they all dress alike; black leather pants, boots and jackets. Supposedly they don’t take illegal drugs but they do drink, a lot, and they sweat, profusely, on stage and off.

According to the special features on this dvd Guitar Wolf is not that popular in Japan, their fan base is mostly in Australia which makes perfect sense If ever there was a band that gave a good excuse to get drunk and start a fight, this is it.

The story? Guitar Wolf has a serious fan, calls himself Ace, (Masashi Endo) dresses and combs his hair like an American rockabilly star, rides a motorcycle (so do the members of Guitar Wolf), is youthful innocence personified and has a crush on a young girl named Tobio (Kwancharu Shitichai, who turns out not be a girl) Because he sticks up for Tobio to a scum bag Rock music promoter (is there any other kind) Guitar Wolf gives Ace a special whistle, to use anytime he needs help and the band members will come running.

Turns out he needs help right away. Alien flying saucers are swarming all around our planet you see. And the dead are coming out of their graves and attacking and eating the living. And there is a crew of career criminals, including a kick ass woman shooter who will take crap from no body, who are wreaking havoc all over the Japanese back roads.

Why are the dead coming back to start a zombie apocalypse? Who knows, it is never explained if the aliens are making it happen (ala Plan Nine From Outer space, “ah yes, the resurrection of the dead”) or if the alien invasion is a separate incident and the dead came to this decision on their own. No matter, all manner of mayhem and carnage erupt and Ace, Tobio, Guitar Wolf and the law breaking crew take care of business.

This is the kind of movie that could only be made in Japan. They obviously did not have much of a budget, the flying saucers are very simple CGI effects. The zombie makeup is (mostly) green skin cream and latex scars, the kind you can get in any Halloween store.

But WILD ZERO has so much energy, good will and imagination it is irresistible. All the motorcycles and cars belch flames from their exhaust pipes. All the actors are obviously having fun and the best part, the band kicks ass. Any band with lyrics like “I was born at Haneda Airport with a jet engine for an ass, all my life has been Go! Go! Go!, Jet Generation!! “ And “Blood, blood, blood! Blood and alcohol burning up my brain!” Repeat these phrases for 5 minutes, with your guitar amp set at 11 and you have a Guitar Wolf song.

For Halloween you can’t do much better than WILD ZERO. And remember, “Rock and Roll has no boundaries! “

BLACKBEARD THE PIRATE (1952) – DVD Review

Another summer movie season and another Pirates of the Caribbean movie. What? You didn’t know there was yet another in the franchise that wore out its welcome a long time ago? Yes, Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Men Tell No Tales came and went awfully fast this summer, never a good sign. It played in St. Petersburg for about a week and then vanished. Did anybody see it? I didn’t and I’ve seen a lot of movies this summer. In a summer of Wonder Woman and Dunkirk, as well as Baby Driver, Logan Lucky and Detroit it would be very easy for another Pirates of the Caribbean movie to get lost in the shuffle.

So let’s talk about a real pirate movie, from 1952 Blackbeard the Pirate, directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Robert Newton, Linda Darnell, William Bendix, and Keith Andes. Newton is to pirate movies what Bela Lugosi was to vampires, and Count Dracula in particular. As many have observed if anyone plays Count Dracula they cannot work their way around Lugosi. The actor either follows Bela’s lead or they work against him, you can’t ignore who was there first, the same with Boris Karloff and the Frankenstein Monster. So it goes with Robert Newton and pirate captains, especially Long John Silver as played by him in Disney’s version of Robert Lewis Stevenson’s Treasure Island and a made in Australia sequel, the Return of Long John silver and a syndicated tv show.

Here in Blackbeard the Pirate we get Newton’s Pirate Captain full strength, walking on both legs and bizarre mannerisms at full throttle. There is a phrase used to describe over the top acting “chewing the scenery.” Newton not only chewed up the scenery he digested it and excreted it. Any scenes in Blackbeard falter and die if he is not on screen.

In one great scene Blackbeard willingly lets one of his own crew be shot in order to cause Maynard to fire his one round in a flintlock pistol.

The plot? Some nonsense about Morgan the Pirate (Torin Thatcher of 7th voyage of Sinbad) being reformed and yet another pirate, Maynard (Keith Andes of nothing in particular) going under cover to prove Morgan is not reformed. And of course Maynard gets mixed up with Blackbeard and Edwina Mansfield (Linda Darnell of A Letter to three Wives) who turns out to be Morgan’s daughter.

Quite frankly the double crosses and back stabbings come so thick and fast Blackbeard can be very confusing. No matter, with Newton in charge Blackbeard is a lot of fun. Especially so with the number of great character actors on board. William Bendix, Hollywood’s all purpose ethnic working guy, plays the dumbest pirate ever captured on film. Skelton Knaggs, Hollywood’s all purpose creep, plays one of Blackbeard’s crew who is on Maynard‘s side, determined to see Blackbeard put to rest.

Irene Ryan (Granny Clampett of The Beverly Hillbillies) plays Linda Darnell’s lady in waiting and has a great scene with Blackbeard. In discussing Lady Edwina’s hygiene Blackbeard exclaims “You mean she gets wet all over? On purpose?” Blackbeard, of course never having seen a bar of soap in his life.

Alan Mowbray, Richard Egan and Dick Wessell are also on board making for one crowded pirate vessel. I wouldn’t be giving too much away to say things don’t end well for Blackbeard and this movie must have been seen by George Romero. Blackbeard’s end is identical to one of the stories in Creepshow.

Almost all of the ship’s are miniatures and there is not much action, even though the great Raoul Walsh directed. Blackbeard is more concerned with intrigue than sword fights.

Blackbeard appears to be in public domain. Westgate’s dvd looks as if it were transferred direct from a vhs tape with drop outs, wrinkles and other visible signs of wear. Still watchable and with the only extra a “photo gallery” made up of screen captures.

THE MOTH DIARIES – The Review (and a Tribute to Video Watchdog)

As part of my post duty orders here at We Are Movie Geeks I am tasked with reviewing movies on DVD and Blu ray that may not have found an audience. Movies with little or no theatrical release, did not play very long, escaped attention, what have you.

I am proud to direct your attention to a little known film from 2011 called The Moth Diaries. First I have to say that I, like many millions of movie goers, reveled in the new screen incarnation of Wonder Woman, not only starring Gal Gadot as the original female super hero and masterfully directed by a woman, Patty Jenkins, and also starring Robin Wright, Connie Nielsen and a whole crew of the most righteous Amazons ever seen on a movie screen, wonderful!

I have a confession to make, at the age of 10 I was obsessed with the legend of the Amazon Empire. Fully aware that they did not allow boy children to live (allegedly) I loved the idea anyway. I saw Wonder Woman three times on the big screen, so far. I wanted the whole movie to take place in the Amazon’s Kingdom. But I digress; I’m here to talk about The Moth Diaries.
My point being that Wonder Woman is a celebration of Woman Power (I would say Girl Power but that would be more than a bit condescending.) Moth Diaries is even more of a celebration of Girl Power (here that fits, this is a movie about a girl’s boarding school. )

Directed and screenplay by a woman, Mary Herron (American Psycho) based on a novel by a woman, Rachel Klein, produced mostly by women including Sandra Cunningham and several others and starring an almost all female cast Sarah Bolger, Lily Cole, Sarah Gadon and many others, this is far from being a “Chick Flick” (whatever that really is!) No my friends The Moth Diaries fulfills every fan boys, and girls, requirements for a “scary movie” and raises a lot of questions about life in general.

Rebecca (Sarah Bolger) is one of many young ladies attending a prestigious all girls school in Canada (Moth Diaries was filmed in Quebec but the movie is never location specific.) Her best friend is Lucy (Sarah Gadon,) Rebecca keeps a diary of daily events and is haunted by the death by suicide of her Father, and apparently has attempted suicide herself. Both Rebecca and Lucy are popular among the other girls, until a new comer arrives, Ernessa (Lily Cole).

Ernessa, as played by Lily Cole , is one strange character. Right from the beginning we can see something is not right. Lily Cole is a very odd looking actress, her features seem to be accentuated with very heavy eyebrows.

Ernessa seems like a misfit and an outsider, at first. Soon Lucy is befriending her, and other girls trail in her wake. Rebecca is soon no longer the popular girl on campus. She starts believing Ernessa is a vampire, or is she just jealous of the new girl? Or is she going into a mental downward spiral of paranoia and madness?

Ernessa displays none of the classic vampire attributes; there are no fangs, no puncture wounds on the neck. There are crosses; this is a Catholic girl’s school after all. But Ernessa can enter the school chapel with no problem; she is fine in broad daylight. Yet she can command moths, yes moths, to do her bidding. And she can levitate, along with her new best friend Lucy while Rebecca watches in horror.

This is yet another film filed with references but many of them are literary. A young, handsome English teacher, Mr. Davies (Scott Speedman) teaches from the text of Dracula by Bram Stoker. In a wonderful scene he states that Stoker’s novel is really about female empowerment, female sexuality. This causes a room full of drowsy, falling asleep young ladies to (literally) sit up and take notice.

That the best friend of Rebecca is named Lucy is no coincidence. And Mr. Davies also teaches from the text of J Sheridan Le Fanu’s groundbreaking short novel Carmilla, the first vampire story to suggest a lesbian relationship between vampire and victim.

Moth Diaries is not a jump out of your seat scary movie. Instead we get a feeling of dread, real dread as the story progresses. It is not as graphic as other more recent vampire movies such as Let The Right One In and it’s American remake Let Me In. Although there is one scene, well, to quote Mel Brooks in Dracula, Dead and Loving It “there may be a little blood!”
And Moth Diaries does not just reference vampire literature. There are scenes and situations that echo every girl’s school movie from Madchen in Uniform and Picnic at Hanging Rock up to Dario Argento’s masterpiece Suspiria. One entire sequence is a nod to Argento’s film.

And Moth Diaries is ambiguous right up until the end. Is Ernessa really a vampire? Is she a ghost? Is she Rebecca from a past life? The movie more than hints that Ernessa and Rebecca is actually the same person. Lucy has a scene with Rebecca which more than hints that it’s Rebecca who is actually the vampire!

Moth Diaries is a wonderful, intelligent, well thought out movie that hits on several very human fears; being an outcast, a woman’s fear of her own menstrual cycle, (there is one very graphic scene depicting just that) fear of being misunderstood, of having our best intentions backfire on us, fear of sex itself, fear of gay sex, you name it, it’s all there.
I recognized none of the actors here, only the director was familiar to me. The whole cast is all on the same page and deliver wonderful performances with some very difficult and provocative material. Now here is the weird thing, creepy even. I don’t know how other Movie Geeks do their research on a film. Myself, I never, ever read a critic or a puff piece on a movie until I’ve seen it. After watching anything, in a theater, on dvd or blu ray, then I go to the websites and magazines to read what the critics have to say about it.

I hit our website first, We Are Movie Geeks, to see what my cohorts, associates and partners in crime have to say about a title, if it’s been reviewed. I also look at Roger Ebert’s website and Rotten Tomatoes, I read Dvd Verdict regularly. But my favorite place to read reviews are in some of the more esoteric magazines. I regularly buy Rue Morgue, Phantom of the Movies Videoscope, Shock Cinema, Screem, Famous Monsters, Diabolique. And one of my favorite magazines, for years, has been Video Watchdog, edited and published by Tim and Donna Lucas.

One of my bizarre habits, maybe you know someone like this, or maybe you is someone like this. I cannot read my magazines as fast as I buy them Just as an example I love Rue Morgue magazine, they have had several changes in Editorial staff over the last few years, yet they remain consistent in their layout, coverage, viewpoint all of that. I love to read their magazine, but I am still reading their 2014 issues. I have a stand up box with all their issues leading up to the most recent, mint condition of course, because I haven’t gotten around to reading them. And that is not the only one, all of my film magazines I am behind on. And if it’s the more mundane type of publication, computers or politics, what have you, especially fiction magazines, I am even further behind. I have magazines that I bought in the 1990s and I haven’t gotten to them yet.

The same with books, I have a terrible habit of buying books, putting them neatly on shelves, in alphabetical order, and, for the most part, ignoring them. I do read a lot of books, from the library. I have spent my life trying to catch up on my reading, probably will never happen. My last words on my death bed will probably be “I never got around to reading War and Peace! Marcel Proust! Romance of the Three Kingdoms! Wait a minute!”

My point being, that was not so with Video Watchdog. I love that magazine so much, I only have a couple of issues to go to be completely caught up. And this is the sad part, Tim and Donna Lucas have ceased publication of that wonderful magazine.

I had a subscription, I knew something was wrong last year when months went by between issues. Then, they stopped altogether, then I received a notice of a filing for bankruptcy by the Lucas, operating under the name Video Watchdog. I honestly felt like a close friend had died. I depended on Video Watchdog for a great many things, excellent reviews of movies I had never heard of and that always piqued my interest to see them. Or reviews of movies I had heard of years ago and never gotten the chance to see, such as their excellent article on a bizarre little regional film called Malatesta’s Carnival of Blood which someone at the Monster Times liked, way back in the 1970s. I still haven’t seen it but I sure enjoyed reading about it.

Tim Lucas did an excellent series of articles reevaluating and championing the films of Jess Franco, something that was long overdue. Pulling out a back issue at random, on the cover, Green Slime! An insane Japanese movie sci-fi monster movie with an all American and European cast. A review of the Silver Chalice by Ramsey Campbell, a review that led me to actually watch this amazing film. (Don’t worry I’ll be writing my own review shortly.) Campbell was one of the regular contributors to VW as well as Kim Newman, Shane M Dallman, David Kalat, Douglas E Winter and often Tim Lucas himself contributing wonderful articles, interviews and reviews.
I attempted to break into Video Watchdog some years ago when I wrote to several magazines offering my services. Tim Lucas was the only editor who actually sent a response. And now his great magazine is gone.

Now, I tell all this to lead up to the really whacked part of this rambling narrative. The day after I watched Moth Diaries, as I was just starting to look through my back issues for any information about this excellent movie, in the mail came, one last issue of Video Watchdog, an undated, number 184, final issue for current subscribers, with Lily Cole on the cover from Moth Diaries! The….Day….. After. Covered as part of an article detailing movies inspired by Le Fanu’s story Carmilla here was exactly what I was looking for, from a source I thought had disappeared from my life completely.

And, Tim and Donna are selling their back issues of Video Watchdog for the cost of postage and handling only, see their website for details. I put in my order and wrote a thank you letter to the Lucas’ for everything they’ve done for film scholarship. And I’m keeping every back issue I currently possess; don’t even ask if you can buy them, they are truly collector’s items now.
So thank you Tim and Donna Lucas, Video Watchdog is already missed.

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