QI Cxx - Peter Cushing lives in Whitstable (QI Mix)

PETER CUSHING CENTENNARY

HAPPY 100th BIRTHDAY PETER CUSHING! 

 

 

Of all the towering talents of horror cinema, there are few ranked higher in my affection and esteem than Peter Cushing.  Perhaps only Boris Karloff and Vincent Price could challenge him.  I cannot even begin to remember where or when I first saw Peter Cushing.  On one of the endless instances I watched horror movies on Dr. Shock or Creature Double Feature probably.  Cushing was, of course, a constant presence in the pages of FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND magazine of which I was a frequent reader (when I could find it) and Alan Frank's hardcover MONSTERS AND VAMPIRES also provided me with my first in depth examination of Hammer's Frankenstein and Dracula series.  All I know is that Peter Cushing was a beloved friend well before seeing him in STAR WARS at the age of eleven.  The "Gentle Man of Horror" was a peerless actor who never gave a bad performance.  He never phone it in just because he was appearing in a less-than-stellar production; in fact, he often shined and made a grade-Z film watchable.  He had a boundless sense of humour and was infamous in his use of props during a scene; it seemed like he could pick up anything and make a memorable routine with it.  His contribution to the history of cinema and horror films in particular is rich and full.  And here are some of the reasons (from my vault) why I love and revere him:

• THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1957)
• THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN  (1957)
• HORROR OF DRACULA  (1958)
• THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN  (1958)
• THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES  (1959)
• THE MUMMY  (1959)
• THE FLESH AND THE FIENDS aka THE FIENDISH GHOULS aka MANIA (1960)
• THE BRIDES OF DRACULA  (1960)
• THE RISK  (1960)
• THE HELLFIRE CLUB  (1961)
• CASH ON DEMAND  (1962)
• NIGHT CREATURES aka CAPTAIN CLEGG  (1962)
• THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN  (1964)
• THE GORGON  (1964)
• DR. TERROR'S HOUSE OF HORRORS  (1965)
• SHE  (1965)
• THE SKULL  (1965)
• DR. WHO AND THE DALEKS  (1965)
• ISLAND OF TERROR  (1966)
• DALEKS INVASION EARTH:  2150 A.D.  (1966)
• FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN  (1967)
• THE AVENGERS - "RETURN OF THE CYBERNAUTS"  (1967)
• TORTURE GARDEN  (1967)
• THE BLOOD BEAST TERROR  (1968)
• SHERLOCK HOLMES (TV Series)  (1968)
• FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED  (1969)
• SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN  (1970)
• BLOODSUCKERS  (1970)
• THE VAMPIRE LOVERS  (1970)
• THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD  (1971)
• TWINS OF EVIL  (1971)
• TALES FROM THE CRYPT  (1972)
• DRACULA A.D. 1972  (1972)
• ASYLUM  (1972)
• DR. PHIBES RISES AGAIN  (1972)
• HORROR EXPRESS  (1972)
• THE CREEPING FLESH  (1973)
• ...AND NOW THE SCREAMING STARTS  (1973)
• FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL  (1973)
• THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA  (1973)
• FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE  (1974)
• MADHOUSE  (1974)
• THE BEAST MUST DIE  (1974)
• LEGEND OF THE 7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES  (1974)
• THE GHOUL  (1975)
• SPACE:  1999 - "MISSING LINK"  (1976)
• STAR WARS  (1977)
• SHOCK WAVES  (1977)
• HAMMER HOUSE OF HORROR - "THE SILENT SCREAM"  (1980)
• HOUSE OF THE LONG SHADOWS  (1983)
• TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED - "THE VORPAL BLADE"  (1983)
• FLESH AND BLOOD:  THE HAMMER HERITAGE OF HORROR  (1994)

Peter Cushing Centenary Tribute

GOLDEN BAT (1966)

ŌGON BATTO A.K.A. THE GOLDEN BAT IS GENERALLY CONSIDERED THE FIRST JAPANESE SUPERHERO CHARACTER. 

Here we find him up on the silver screen in a 1966 Toei film starring future martial arts superstar Sonny Chiba (though not as the titular hero).  GOLDEN BAT is an oddly-still-in-B&W-by-this-late-date film obviously made for the children's market; a superhero/monster genre which all fans of ULTRAMAN, STARMAN and SUPER INFRAMAN will gladly embrace.  Silly in the extreme and coming at the height of the mid-60's camp craze, GOLDEN BAT operates simultaneously on the level of camp entertainment for adults as well as wide-eyed wonder for the kiddies watching.  I remember as a kid, I watched the BATMAN TV show reruns as a drama and it was only when I got a little bit older I first tweaked to the camp factor involved.  However, I suspect the filmmakers weren't actually going for camp but instead for a certain type of fairy-tale fantasy which these movies embody.

The story starts when a pint-sized amateur astronomer and science geek little boy named Akira (Wataru Yamagawa) discovers that the planetoid Icarus is hurtling toward the Earth and will destroy it.  What all the OTHER astronomers and scientists over the age of 21 were doing that they all missed this rather important detail is never disclosed.  Shortly after bringing this to said slacking scientists at a nearby observatory, Akira is accosted by a group of dashing white-turtleneck-clad science adventurers led by Captain Yamatone (Sonny Chiba) who recruit Akira to join the Pearl Research Institute:  a kinda super-secret group set up by the United Nations to investigate strange phenomena and spacey things (much like a Japanese UNIT).  They've invented a "Super Destruction Beam Cannon" with the power of "1000 H-Bombs" which would blast Icarus out of the sky . . . if only they had the super-rare mineral needed to fashion a lens for the cannon . . . which they ain't got.  Luckily for Earth, no sooner is this fact revealed than an away-team searching for the mineral discovers the lost continent of Atlantis risen from the depths and is wiped out by a gigantic tower that looks like a drill wearing a pair of librarian spectacles. 

Our team led by Cap Yamatone and including not only young Akira but also head honcho the Anglo Dr. Pearl (Andrew Hughes) and his 12 year old granddaughter Emily (Emily Takami) hop in their Supercar (every superteam needs one) and lands on the resurfaced Atlantis.  Why Dr. Pearl is Anglo-Saxon and Emily is Japanese is never gone into -- neither is the strange tendency a UN Research Institute has for hiring pre-pubescents.  Nevertheless, after the gigantic tower zaps at them and strange dark minions harass them, our team discovers the lost Egyptian-style tomb of the Golden Bat. 

Not only do they discover a note stating that 1000 years after his entombment, Golden Bat will be revived by a drop of water to fight some dire threat but also Ogon Batto happens to be holding the exact mineral needed to make the Super Destruction Beam Cannon's lens.  After Emily revives Golden Bat, the skull-faced superhero tells her that, because she brought him back, only she can summon him in times of danger via a small golden bat brooch obviously purchased from the same store selling Jimmy Olsen's Superman signal watch.  

The huge drill is the mobile base of the evil Nazo (Ruler of the Universe) who intends to wipe out all life because "only he deserves to live"; kinda making his "Ruler of the Universe" position into the potential "Ruler of a Buncha Nothing".  I suppose Nazo is meant to resemble a tarantula with six eyes but he looks like his mom made his costume out of felt and string for $1.98!  It's pantomime time!  After beating back Nazo's henchmen with his "Baton of Justice", Golden Bat tells the scientists to call him when they need him and to get the hell off Atlantis because it's gonna sink again.

The movie proceeds much in this fashion with Nazo continually trying (and eventually succeeding) in stealing the Super Destruction Beam Cannon, realizing sadly he's not got a lens to work it with, kidnapping several members of Dr. Pearl's Institute and replacing them with identical copies in order to get the lens and unleashing his goofy trio of stooges to defeat the good guys.  This wonderful trio of terror consists of a wolfman-like fella named Jackal, a woman named Pirahna and a scar-faced loon named Keloid.  

The movie is a symphony of silliness but oddly the Golden Bat himself is under-utilized throughout much of the middle part of the film.  Ogon Batto himself is a wonderful image with his skull-face, long cape (crimson in the poster art) and his habit of laughing maniacally whenever he appears and striking vogue-like dramatic poses. 

Sadly, the superhero is used sparingly only when our scientific team get themselves into such messes as they can no longer get out of.  Then Emily summons Golden Bat who swoops in, defeats the bad guys and departs until next time.  While "leaving them wanting more" is always a good strategy . . .well . . . dammit I want more of the Golden Bat. 

The scientific team is just not charismatic enough to support the film (even Sonny Chiba is rather bland despite his natty beard and white turtleneck sweater) and the film begins to groan when too much screen time sans the Golden Bat unspools.  However, the villains are insanely goofy so at least they hold up their end.  And there are a couple instances of nastiness surprising in a children's film.  In one scene the abducted 12 year old Emily is backhanded rather mercilessly (and startlingly) and later on Keloid begins to callously toss members of the Pearl Institute off the top of Nazo Tower to their deaths.  However, the film does move a quite a brisk clip and never lags into boredom.  There are a plethora of Gerry Anderson-like gadgets and vehicles from the daffy Nazo Tower to the Pearl Institute's Supercar to the villains' shark-like flying submarine.  The strange fact of the film's being in black & white (in 1966!) may be a bit of a disappointment but there are several really nice camera setups and atmospheric B&W camerawork (especially at the beginning) which are quite tasty.  Then we get into semi-Godzilla/Gamera territory when the Nazo Tower drills up from underneath Tokyo and begins to destroy the city while the flaming planetoid Icarus grows ever nearer and larger in the sky.  Come on, this movie's hard not to love! 

Ōgon Bat was created by writer Ichiro Suzuki and artist Takeo Nagamatsu in 1930 (pre-dating Batman by almost a decade) for the early 20th century Japanese entertainment form Kamishibai; a traveling show similar to "magic lantern shows" which featured a storyteller and a series of illustrated pictures.  This was also similar to the peculiar form of early 20th century silent cinema in Japan which featured a "benshi" who told the audience the story of the film they were going to see before it started and then narrated and did the voices of all on screen actors; this practice actually went on quite late even after the introduction of sound movies in Japan.  Apparently there was a previous Golden Bat film in 1950 as well as a 52 episode animated series the year after this film and a live-action TV series in 1972.  I'd love to see the animated series (and, for that matter, ALL the other Golden Bat incarnations) which include such episode titles as "In Pursuit of the Melon Bombs", "The Mystery of Finkhamen", "The Ghost Tower", "Superpowered Cyborgs", "The Bat Hag and the Monster Shelgon", "Revenge of the Liger Man" and "The Devil's Giant Statue".
         

GOLDEN BAT (OGON BATTO) TRAILER

POSTMAN'S KNOCK (1962)

A SHAMEFUL WASTE OF A COMIC GENIUS. 

MGM unleashed this extremely minor comedy on the world in 1962; or it probably is more accurate to say that the film wandered slowly out of the studio when the gate was left open.  Spike Milligan -- rightly revered from his work writing and starring in the illustrious wireless talking-type radio classic GOON SHOW -- was cast as a country postman who gets promoted to the big city of London.  While there he is at equal turns bewildered by city ways and something of an idiot savant with outdoing post office machinery.  Or something.  This is one of those pictures where a star from a medium outside the movies - in Spike's case radio - is shoe-horned into a film where the premise seems to have been arrived at as a means to an end -- in Spike's case let's make him . . . um . . . let's see . . . how about a postman and then we'll write the jokes around that occupation.  POSTMAN'S KNOCK could've starred ANY British comic actor with absolutely no change to the script or direction of the film.  Spike is damn near invisible in the film with absolutely none of his rapier-like comic madness on display; he demonstrates one or two pleasant comic turns during the entire film -- none of which elicits more than a smile.  The astonishing part is that the script apparently required the input of five writers -- one of which was Spike himself (God knows where) providing "additional dialogue".  This is in itself funnier than anything in the film since POSTMAN'S KNOCK utilizes Spike as more of a silent film comedian doing mostly visual slapstick; very odd for a comedian who made his reputation with spoken dialogue on the radio!  None of the slapstick is particularly funny and most had been seen many times before and is totally predictable.  POSTMAN'S KNOCK is one of those minor comedies which is forgotten almost as soon as the end card fades away.

Besides Spike Milligan, the film stars the usually wonderful Barbara Shelley (Hammer Horror heroine of everything from DRACULA, PRINCE OF DARKNESS to QUATERMASS AND THE PIT) here coming off as bland and uninteresting as the art student Spike's postman stumbles across as soon as he arrives in London.  Shelley's character is so insipidly written as noble and virginal that there can be no real interest in her either.  Startlingly, John Wood (creator of the mad supercomputer in the early 80's Matthew Broderick film WAR GAMES) appears here incredibly young-looking as a bumbling policeman endlessly shadowing Spike and Barbara for some reason or another.  Other wonderful British character actors appear to no great effect:  Wilfrid Lawson (PYGMALION's Alfred P. Doolittle), Bob Todd (for years on THE BENNY HILL SHOW), beloved Arthur Mullard (the café boss in SMASHING TIME amongst many other appearance) and, with probably the most pleasing performance in the film (and that's not saying much) Miles Malleson ("Room for one more inside, sir") as a dotty psychologist in probably the only memorable scene in the film.  Lacklusterly directed by Robert Lynn who specialized mostly in television (a couple episodes of SPACE:  1999, several episodes of CAPTAIN SCARLET & THE MYSTERONS and one lone EDGAR WALLACE MYSTERY THEATRE his most notable), POSTMAN'S KNOCK is a sad waste of talent all the way round.   

UNOFFICIAL FLICKERS PROJECT FIRST 100

 

YEP, THAT'S CORRECT, HUMPH -- I'M A SLACKER!  While this year I'm not officially continuing last year's "Super-Colossal Eye-Popping Flickers Project" which found me watching as many films as I could in one year, I have been keeping an unofficial count and I've finally reached 100 films watched this year.  This is, indeed, a paltry pittance and I knew it would be -- that's why I'm not doing the Flickers Project as such since I knew my movie-watching wasn't going to be what I hope for.  However, it's interesting to see what I DID manage to fit in so far this year.

The year started off with the Russian film version of HAMLET (Thanks, Weaverman!) as well as Francois Truffaut's flawed filming of the Ray Bradbury novel.  The first part of the year was rather heavy with silent movies:  D.W. Griffith's A CORNER IN WHEAT, Sergei Eisenstein's STRIKE, EARTH, CHESS FEVER, THE BIRTH THE LIFE AND THE DEATH OF CHRIST, THE PENALTY starring Lon Chaney, the first feature length motion picture (Sorry, Walt Disney) THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE ACHMED, THE GODDESS starring the Chinese Garbo Ruan Ling-yu, THE MAN WHO LAUGHS starring Conrad Veidt and THE BELLS featuring an early role for Boris Karloff.  The beginning of the year also rather a lot of Russian movies with the aforementioned HAMLET, STRIKE, EARTH, CHESS FEVER and THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE ACHMED.  Documentaries too featured very heavily so far in 2013 with AND EVERYTHING IS GOING FINE (about Spalding Gray), GREAT DIRECTORS, UNIVERSAL HORROR (the 90's doco about Universal Horror narrated by Kenneth Branagh), IN SEARCH OF BEETHOVEN, PUBLIC SPEAKING (Martin Scorsese's tribute to Fran Leibowitz), KINGDOM OF SHADOWS (an examination of horror in silent film narrated by Rod Steiger), PAUL WILLIAMS:  STILL ALIVE, A PERSONAL JOURNEY WITH MARTIN SCORSESE THROUGH AMERICAN MOVIES, FAMILY BAND:  THE COWSILLS STORY (Who knew?!?), DEFIANT REQUIEM,  ZERO:  AN INVESTIGATION INTO 9/11 (conspiracy theorists unite) and the monumental career-spanning HISTORY OF THE EAGLES.  And, of course, not ALL the movies I've watched this year were re-watches; some were brand new to me.  The oddest film of the year, for sure, is the over 7 hour long HITLER:  A FILM FROM GERMANY with Roy Boulting's THUNDER ROCK a close second; the former because of it's avant-garde filmmaking techniques from to-the-camera soliloquies to a Hitler puppet and the latter because of it's schizophrenic nature not knowing whether it wants to be a ghost movie, a propaganda film, an anti-fascist statement or a socially-conscious suffragette tribute!  And of all the new movies I watched this year, what was the worst one?  Well, sadly ABRAHAM LINCOLN VAMPIRE HUNTER takes the dubious crown.  And now...on to watch the second 100 movies of 2013.  Hopefully they won't take as long to get through as this lot!

1. HAMLET (1964)
2. FAHRENHEIT 451
3. WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION
4. LE JOUR SE LEVE
5. THE NAKED TRUTH
6. JUSTE AVANTE LA NUIT
7. MONSTER IN A BOX
8. AND EVERYTHING IS GOING FINE
9. A CORNER IN WHEAT
10. LE CERCLE ROUGE
11. GREAT DIRECTORS
12. DRACULA (1931)
13. DRACULA (1931, Spanish language)
14. STRIKE
15. EARTH
16. CHESS FEVER
17. TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY
18. CULT OF THE COBRA
19. THE THREE STOOGES
20. UNIVERSAL HORROR
21. PUBLIC SPEAKING
22. IN SEARCH OF BEETHOVEN
23. SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT
24. IRON SKY
25. WINTER'S BONE
26. THE ARBOR
27. KINGDOM OF SHADOWS
28. THE BIRTH, THE LIFE AND THE DEATH OF CHRIST
29. THE PENALTY
30. THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE ACHMED
31. CASINO ROYALE (2006)
32. HITLER:  A FILM FROM GERMANY
33. THE GODDESS
34. THIRTEEN WOMEN
35. POR PRIMERA VEZ
36. THE MAN WHO LAUGHS
37. THE DEVIL'S EYE
38. THE THIRD MAN
39. SKYFALL
40. THE MAN WHO COULD WORK MIRACLES
41. THE BELLS
42. THE SONG REMAINS THE SAME
43. THE IRON LADY
44. PAUL WILLIAMS:  STILL ALIVE
45. A PERSONAL JOURNEY WITH MARTIN SCORSESE THROUGH AMERICAN MOVIES
46. ROCK 'N' ROLL HIGH SCHOOL
47. THE HEADLESS WOMAN
48. DOCTOR WHO (1996)
49. FRANKENWEENIE (2012)
50. THE RETURN OF DR. MABUSE
51. CARTESIUS
52. X:  THE MAN WITH X-RAY EYES
53. FAMILY BAND:  THE COWSILLS STORY
54. ARGO
55. I LIVE IN FEAR
56. COLORADO TERRITORY
57. THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
58. ORLANDO
59. MONSTERS
60. TWELFTH NIGHT
61. DEFIANT REQUIEM
62. PHIL SPECTOR
63. THE BLACK DAHLIA
64. THE BOUNTY
65. ARTHUR
66. THE IDES OF MARCH
67. PRESUMED INNOCENT
68. THE SUSPICIONS OF MR. WHICHER
69. WILSON
70. TOO MANY CROOKS
71. YOUNG AND INNOCENT
72. ZERO:  AN INVESTIGATION INTO 9/11
73. REMBRANDT
74. A ROYAL AFFAIR
75. IN WHICH WE SERVE
76. THUNDER ROCK
77. THE BREAKFAST CLUB
78. RED
79. THE CRIMINAL
80. THE TITFIELD THUNDERBOLT
81. HOUSE BY THE RIVER
82. DRAGONWYCK
83. THE SMALL WORLD OF SAMMY LEE
84. TWO WAY STRETCH
85. MAKE MINE MINK
86. SUDDENLY, LAST SUMMER
87. VERTIGO
88. THE THIRTY-NINE STEPS (1978)
89. ABRAHAM LINCOLN VAMPIRE HUNTER
90. SEANCE ON A WET AFTERNOON
91. OUR MAN IN HAVANA
92. HISTORY OF THE EAGLES
93. CROMWELL
94. THE SERVANT
95. THE MIND BENDERS
96. ACCIDENT
97. COMANCHE STATION
98. DANGER:  DIABOLIK
99. SANTO AND THE VENGEANCE OF THE MUMMY
100. THE HAND OF POWER

VIEWQUATERMASTER

R.I.P. CARMINE INFANTINO (1925 - 2013)

THE PASSING OF ANOTHER COMIX GREAT. 

Drawing since the Golden Age of Comics and one-time head honcho of DC Comics, Carmine Infantino was one of the biggies. 

He was one of the architects of the Silver Age of Comics when he co-created the updated "fastest man alive" the Flash in Showcase #4 which kick-started what became known as Earth-One. 

Then he drew the issue which created the concept of DC's multiverse with the "Flash of Two Worlds" story in which the new Flash encountered the Golden Age Flash of Earth-Two.

Carmine Infantino would always be known as "THE Flash Artist". 

And then, when Batman's fortunes were ebbing and his comic titles were edging closer to cancellation, Infantino was assigned to the Bat-books in order to infuse new life into them;

the result was the "New Look" Batman which shortly would make the leap to television with the BATMAN TV show and subsequently make the Caped Crusader the hottest thing going. 

Infantino's contributions are so numerous -- from his classic runs on space titles like the Adam Strange strip,

the ductile detective Elongated Man and the first comic book adaptation of STAR WARS

-- that a list would go on and on.  These few examples of his artwork will have to serve as a small tribute to a comic legend who has left us.

 

MSN'S 100 GREATEST FILMS. . .WHOOPS MAKE THAT THEIR 100 FAVES

THIS MORNING I FOUND ON MY COMPUTER MSN ENTERTAINMENT (WHATEVER THAT IS) LISTING THE 100 GREATEST FILMS EVER. 

Being a ravening film buff, I naturally clicked on it to see what sage pronouncements MSN would make on the history of cinema already!  Naturally, I wasn't expecting much and I was surprised when I got there to find that -- well -- they immediately contradicted their own banner headline by saying that they weren't listing the "greatest" movies but only movies they "love".  Even though the header for the article said "Greatest".  Fair enough.  But why the misleading, disingenuous headlline.  To rope in dopey film buffs like me.  But so what.  A list of "movies we love" is just as valid -- as long as we know that from the beginning.  I did my own "favourite film" list on this blog about 5 years ago -- holy cats, has it really been that long?  I'm sure the list would be completely different now!  And naturally, being MSN, we learn quite soon that their criteria is mainly that films we love generally have to be in colour and American-made.  We (and MSN Entertainment's "cadre" of contributing movie writers and critics - none of whom I've ever really heard of) don't really "love" films with pesky subtitles!  And their lead editor Kent Laird (who writes the skimpy intro to this list) tells us:  "While it is impossible to come to an organized and fair consensus on what the best movie of all time is, it's much easier to reach into our psyches and pull out movies we love."  Well, not really.  Actually, it should be no "easier" to pick favourite films than to pick the greatest films of all time; that is, unless you have no idea how to judge quality in film-making -- in which case, you really shouldn't be making movie lists in the first place!  In fact, I would probably find it much easier to list the 100 greatest films ever made because it's much harder (in my opinion) to subjectively list which 100 films I love above all others than it would be to rationally list the "greatest" films of all time -- a list which would probably almost write itself if I were to try it . . . and I just might before too long. 

But regardless, we movie buffs love our lists and this one, like all others, will be totally devisive and argument-producing.  Like, for instance, the fact that there is a rather high quotient of films I can't stand on it:  pure shit like FORREST GUMP springs to mind.  There are also films which I personally don't really care for but whose appearance on this list I can understand:  2001:  A SPACE ODYSSEY, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, DR. STRANGELOVE, THE SOUND OF MUSIC, and THE PRINCESS BRIDE.  However, there are other surprising yet reassuring appearences of terrific, worthy films on the list which warm my heart to see:  BRAZIL, ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS, TROUBLE IN PARADISE, THE EARRINGS OF MADAME DE... (somebody must've bought them a film book) to name a few.  But then we get to the mindboggling choices which ... well, I'm sorry but the 2009 STAR TREK?!!??!?!?  On a top 100 list?  It's not even on my top 100 list of science fiction films.  Neither is is even the best STAR TREK film; one need not even leave the original cast films to find better cinematic experiences with STAR TREK IV and STAR TREK II.  My main reaction upon seeing the 2009 STAR TREK was that it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  But here it is on a top 100 film list along with other such dopey and baffling inclusions as HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN (which I found to be one of the least enjoyable of that series while the book, paradoxically, was the best I've read --although I've only read the first five -- I worked in a bookstore from 2000 to 2006 so it was pretty much required reading), CLUELESS (really?!?!?!?),  or Baz Luhrmann's MOULIN ROUGE?!?!?!?!  I'm sorry but even a list of "most loved" films . . . well, I wouldn't expect those to appear on it in a million years especially when I could name probably dozen of much more celebratedly-loved movies which do not appear anywhere on this list.  GONE WITH THE WIND -- a film I actually rather hate -- is nonetheless substantially much more loved by movie fans than the 2009 STAR TREK, fer Rhett's sake!  And it somehow didn't make the list of 100 over Baz Luhrman's MOULIN ROUGE?!?!?!  But that's as may be - here is MSN Entertainment's list of "our favorite movies of all time" according to their lead editor Kent Laird.  Sadly nowhere does he gives us any idea of what criteria was used to come up with this list.  Possibly they threw a bunch of DVDs up a staircase and arrived at it that way.  Let's face it, there's a substantial amount of drek here on a list purporting to be the 100 anything.  In the drek category I would include GLADIATOR, BACK TO THE FUTURE, and TERMS OF ENDEARMENT of which I have seen and am not a fan.  Also, the presence of such films as WALL-E and THE INCREDIBLES (over, in my mind, much more beloved and classic children's films) leads me to believe that some of MSN Entertainment's film critics polled must've been about four years old.  But however they went about it, here's their list.  Let the gnashing of film buff teeth commence:

1. THE WIZARD OF OZ
2. NORTH BY NORTHWEST
3. THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
4. IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE
5. ANNIE HALL
6. THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION
7. THE GRADUATE
8. NASHVILLE
9. LAWRENCE OF ARABIA
10. THE SEARCHERS
11. DR. STRANGELOVE
12. THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
13. RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK
14. THIS IS SPINAL TAP
15. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
16. AIRPLANE
17. JAWS
18. SINGIN' IN THE RAIN
19. VERTIGO
20. ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST
21. THE BREAKFAST CLUB
22. 2001:  A SPACE ODYSSEY
23. THE SOUND OF MUSIC
24. BLADE RUNNER
25. BRAZIL
26. A HARD DAY'S NIGHT
27. RIO BRAVO
28. LOVE, ACTUALLY
29. BRINGING UP BABY
30. CHINATOWN
31. THE PRINCESS BRIDE
32. THE INCREDIBLES
33. ALIENS
34. WHEN HARRY MET SALLY
35. PLANET OF THE APES (1968)
36. ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS
37. CASABLANCA
38. CITIZEN KANE
39. SUNRISE
40. BLAZING SADDLES
41. MONTY PYTHON'S LIFE OF BRIAN
42. HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN
43. SUNSET BLVD.
44. STAR WARS
45. THE GODFATHER
46. TROUBLE IN PARADISE
47. THE BIG LEBOWSKI
48. TERMS OF ENDEARMENT
49. FORREST GUMP
50. IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT
51. THE APARTMENT
52. DAZED AND CONFUSED
53. MCCABE AND MRS. MILLER
54. APOCALYPSE NOW
55. REPULSION
56. MILLER'S CROSSING
57. DIRTY DANCING
58. SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
59. DIE HARD
60. BLUE VELVET
61. THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD
62. BROADCAST NEWS
63. TOUCH OF EVIL
64. WALL-E
65. GREASE
66. PULP FICTION
67. PLAYTIME
68. PSYCHO
69. A FISH CALLED WANDA
70. SAY ANYTHING...
71. CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND
72. ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST
73. MOULIN ROUGE
74. CLUELESS
75. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE
76. BACK TO THE FUTURE
77. STAGECOACH
78. CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS
79. SOME LIKE IT HOT
80. REAR WINDOW
81. SCHINDLER'S LIST
82. EXCALIBUR
83. WEST SIDE STORY
84. BADLANDS
85. MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL
86. TAXI DRIVER
87. LA DOLCE VITA
88. TWO-LANE BLACKTOP
89. STAR TREK (2009)
90. MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO
91. GOODFELLAS
92. GLADIATOR
93. ALL ABOUT EVE
94. TOOTSIE
95. SLAP SHOT
96. DONNIE DARKO
97. FIGHT CLUB
98. THE EARRINGS OF MADAME DE...
99. SEVEN SAMURAI
100. YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN  

HAPPY 61st BIRTHDAY DOUGLAS ADAMS

IN HONOUR OF DOUGLAS ADAMS' 61st BIRTHDAY,

I've dug through the mouldering old pile of cassettes in the bottom drawer and uncovered an audio recording of the author's appearance on "The Merv Griffin Show" in 1983. 

Sadly, for some reason I didn't videotape it (since I had a VCR since 1982) but somehow only recorded it by putting my Radio Shack portable tape recorder up to the TV speaker.  So understand that the sound is not too good; let alone the fact that the tape itself is 30 years old.  But the true story Adams regales has always been priceless to me.  So here, for all posterity, is Douglas Adams' Cookie Story (translated from "biscuit" for the Yanks)!  It's available for you to play over there on the right.  Enjoy!

COLLIER AT LARGE

I was saddened to belatedly hear of the death of radio interviewer Ralph Collier who died January 31st of this year at the age of 91. 

During my college years, I loved listening to the local classical music station WFLN-FM (now long defunct leaving our radio market without a single classical music radio station ever since) and one of my favourite shows was Ralph Collier's noon-time interview show.  For two decades until 1988, Collier hosted the half hour-long interview programme "Collier At Large" which he often broadcast from the Campbell Soup Tureen Museum (of which he was President from 1975 to 1990).  While he did interview celebrities from Fred Astaire to Charlton Heston, my favourite shows were the ones where he interviewed authors who were a lot lesser known but often much more interesting. On one of my favourite episodes, Collier took a mobile microphone and went on a walking tour of Old City Philadelphia (and I'm lucky enough to have recorded the show and I still have it) during which historic architecture was pointed out and discussed. Sadly, I've only got a handful of shows recorded and I don't know of any other place which has them preserved.  As an example of the ecclectic subject matter Collier At Large routinely provided, I can list the shows I've luckily managed to record and hang onto all these years.  The shows I taped range approximately from the years 1983-1985 and included (besides the Philadelphia Walking Tour show previously mentioned) an interview of Robert J. Serling (Rod Serling's brother) on his book "HOWARD HUGHES' AIRLINE" discussing the magnate and his ties to aviation and TWA, Mary Previte (who as a child was held in a Japanese concentration camp for three years during World War II), Michael Thomas (author of a financial thriller called "HARD MONEY"), crime historian Dr. Mark Haller on bootlegging in Philadelphia and Dr. J.J. Wilhelm on the traitorous poet Ezra Pound.  As fate would have it, however, only just today I stumbled across an old, mouldering cassette tape containing another episode I never knew I had in which Collier interviews Scott Turow on the then-just-published novel "PRESUMED INNOCENT".  Ralph Collier's interviews were always fascinating (even when I wasn't particularly interested in the subject) and I couldn't let the passing of someone who provided me with many, many hours of absorbing listening to go by without my marking it with a little tribute to an interviewer and a radio show which I sorely miss.

As a temporary treat, I've posted two episodes of COLLIER AT LARGE over there in the box at the right:  the "Walking Tour of Phila." and "Ezra Pound:  American Traitor" episodes to give you a flavour of the show.  It shares the box with the Douglas Adams "Biscuit Story" above so give both a listen . . . while they last! 

FAB FOUR FIFTIETH!

IT WAS 50 YEARS AGO -- MARCH 1963 -- WHEN THE FIRST BEATLES ALBUM WAS RELEASED. 

This month marks a half-century of Beatlemania and to celebrate Dr. Janos Rukh (from our sister audio blog "Bathed in the Light from Andromeda") has helped me compile this month's March Jukebox:  my 25 favourite Beatles songs.  For the month of March, the jukebox over there on the right will feature the 25 Beatles songs I like best (in alphabetical order):

• ACROSS THE UNIVERSE (Alternate Take)
• CAN'T BUY ME LOVE
• A DAY IN THE LIFE
• FOR YOU BLUE
• GOLDEN SLUMBERS/CARRY THAT WEIGHT/THE END
• HAPPINESS IS A WARM GUN
• HELLO GOODBYE
• HELP!
• HERE COMES THE SUN
• I AM THE WALRUS
• I'LL BE BACK
• I WANT YOU (SHE'S SO HEAVY)
• MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR
• MOTHER NATURE'S SON
• OH DARLING
• REAL LOVE
• ROCK AND ROLL MUSIC
• RUN FOR YOUR LIFE
• SAVOY TRUFFLE
• SHE'S LEAVING HOME
• SOMETHING
• THIS BOY
• WHILE MY GUITAR GENTLY WEEPS
• YOU KNOW MY NAME (LOOK UP THE NUMBER)
• YOU NEVER GIVE ME YOUR MONEY

FEBRUARY'S BOX OF JUKE

FOR THIS MONTH'S GROUP OF AUDIO GOODNESS, IT'S STRAIGHT TO THE SPACE AGE BACHELOR PAD. 

This February I'm feeling very loungey so I've provided 25 tracks of incredibly strange music for you.  Listen to the box over on the right -- and check back periodically because I just may add a couple tracks now and then before February is done.

1. Introduction - Laura Huxley
2. A Glorious Dawn  -  Carl Sagan (featuring Stephen Hawking)
3. A Man and a Woman  -  Francis Lai
4. Mickey Mouse Theme  -  Dick Marx Quintet
5. A Swinging Safari  -  Bert Kaempfert
6. Liebestraum  -  Spike Jones & His City Slickers
7. Directions to Servants (In Particular to the Cook) by Jonathan Swift  -  Alec Guinness
8. Kookie's Mad Pad  -  Edd "Kookie" Byrnes
9. Too Many Cookers  -  Flanders & Swann
10. Ideal Jingle
11. The Ritual/Ancient Battle/2nd Kroykah from Star Trek "Amok Time"  -  Gerald Fried & Sol Kaplan
12. Le Coeur qui Jazze  -  France Gall
13. The Crusher  -  The Novas
14. Little Lu-Lu Frog  -  T. Valentine
15. Halloween Party  -  Jack Starr
16. Bongo Bash  -  Al Stefano & His Trio
17. The Wedding in Thom McCann Shoes  -  Swingin' Thom
18. You'd Never Know the Old Place Now  -  Jack Webb
19. Fly Me To the Moon  -  Jennie Smith
20. Latinia  -  The Sentinals
21. Dawn at Dover  -  Phil Moore & Johnny Dankworth
22. The Indian Serenade  -  Jayne Mansfield
23. I've Found A New Baby  -  Si Zentner
24. Oasis of Dakhla  -  Les Baxter
25. Delicado  -  The Three Suns

POPE HILARIUS II PONTIFICATES ON WHY POPE BENEDICT'S "RESIGNATION" IS DESERVING OF RIDICULE

Not withstanding the former Pope John Paul II's failure to abdicate during his obvious ill health during the final years of his pontificate, let us look at a few reasons why the current Pope's resignation deserves nothing but ridicule.

"Later, dudes!  Pope Benny's gonna kick it at the Old Pope's Home.  Keep those donations coming in!"

1. It has been widely stated that Pope Benedict was ready to retire when he was elected pope and that he took the job because he viewed it as "God's will".  He apparently doesn't think that "God's will" extends to his tenure in office as he has decided to overrule God and resign.
2. The very conservative stance of Pope Benedict regarding changing established Catholic doctrine is well-known.  One of the reasons why he hasn't supported "progressive" changes in the Catholic church (i.e. female priests, lessening of the admonition against contraceptives and abortion, recognition of homosexuality as less than a heinous sin, etc.) is because well-established church tradition should not be disregarded.  Except, of course, the well-established church tradition that a Pope does NOT resign.  This well-established church tradition has existed for about 700 years and the last Pope to resign only did so to end the "Great Schism" which found two rival popes simultaneously reigning; in order to end the strife a Pope resigned.  This one is resigning apparently because he's tired and old. 
3. Deciding that maybe getting married was a mistake and you and your spouse should be able to separate is called divorce.  This is frowned upon by the Pope and the Catholic Church.  Deciding that maybe accepting the job of Pope was a mistake and you should be allowed to resign is called convenient HYPOCRISY.
4. It would be wrong to stay as the Pope when your advanced age and "tiredness" would make it more difficult to do your job.  It would be RIGHT, however, to continue to tolerate the sexual abuse of children by your priests -- that is apparently one of the job requirements Pope Benedict is too tired to continue. 

Is it any wonder, really, why the Catholic Church is on the downward slide to oblivion?