"DO YOU WANT TO BE A PUBLIC NUISANCE?"

Judy and I and our house guest for the night Jeffrey enjoyed watching DUCK SOUP (1933) last night. I don't know how many times I've seen this film. It is far and away the best film the Marx Brothers ever made which means it's also one of the funniest films of all time. I laughed long and hard while watching it last night and Judy, who was seeing it for the first time, loved it.

DUCK SOUP is a surreal, bizarre film that finds one Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho), in charge of Fredonia, a tiny, middle-European country. There's international tension between Fredonia and neighboring country Sylvania and the Sylvanian ambassador (Louis Calhern) plots to seize Fredonia without going to war. To further his ends, he employs two "spies" Chicolini (Chico) and Pinky (Harpo). Eternal Marx brothers foil Margaret Dumont is also involved in the madness as Mrs. Teasdale, who installed Firefly as head-of-state.

That's about all the plot and narrative you need (and it's all you're going to get) as the brothers Marx (Zeppo is along for the ride as Firefly's secretary) go berserk. The usual Groucho insults (and fourth-wall breakage), word play, atrocious puns, sight gags and slapstick humor abound. There's even a couple of big musical numbers staged on an enormous art-deco set. Chico and Harpo wage an on-going battle with harried street vendor Edgar Kennedy (the master of the slow burn), Harpo chases everything in a skirt and there's the classic "mirror" sequence which plays brilliantly without music, dialogue or sound effects. There is no consistency in any of the military costumes and uniforms seen throughout the film. Some appear to be the real deal while others look like they were borrowed from a college marching band.

The climax of the film, which finds Fredonia and Sylvania engaged in a fierce battle is told in a series of sequences that shatter time and space as military uniforms and costumes change from scene to scene. DUCK SOUP scores some points for lampooning the (literal) insanity of war and international politics but the boys are too busy having fun to hit those points hard enough to be preachy.

After 80 years, DUCK SOUP stands as a comic masterpiece of a film. If you've never seen it, you are in for a treat. I cannot recommend this film highly enough. I love it!

HAIL FREDONIA!

MY FAMOUS MONSTERS 42

Another movie poster serves as the cover art for FAMOUS MONSTERS #91 from July 1972. FROGS is one of several low-budget nature-strikes-back films that were popular in the 1970s. Other features in this issue include COUNT YORGA, VAMPIRE, THE RETURN OF COUNT YORGA, GODZILLA VS. THE SMOG MONSTER and TALES FROM THE CRYPT. 

MY FAMOUS MONSTERS 41

Forry, or Jim Warren, or both, took the easy way out with the cover of FAMOUS MONSTERS #90 by using movie poster art for the film SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN. The 1972 horror film starred the unholy trio of Vincent Price, Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. It's an interesting cover image but not a great one. 

"...OR GOD, IF YOU PREFER YOUR BIBLE STORIES"

My first encounter with both FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND magazine and the classic 1935 horror film, BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN occurred simultaneously. FAMOUS MONSTERS #21, pictured above, was one of the first three issues of FM (along with #24 with a Werewolf of London cover and #25 which featured a KING KONG film book) I ever saw. They were on display in a five and dime store (I forget the name) in the Allandale Shopping Center on Burnet Road in Austin. Much to my eternal regret, I didn't purchase any of the magazines but I soon sent in a coupon, which came in an Aurora plastic Monster Model Customizing Kit, and received via the mail my first ever issue of FAMOUS MONSTERS. It was #26, with a terrific OUTER LIMITS cover. My life has never been the same since.

Over the years, I read about BRIDE in the pages of FM. I bought, painted and built the Bride of Frankenstein Aurora model kit (which was subsequently and appropriately enough, blown to bits by Black Cat firecrackers). But it was years before I saw the film itself.

I was in junior high school and Ricky, my brother's roommate from junior college, had moved in with us for a semester. He brought with him a small, portable black and white television. Late one Saturday night, when both my brother and Ricky were out on dates, one of the local television stations broadcast BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN. Here at last was my chance to see this legendary film. Ricky kept the television set at the head of his bed and when he watched it, he did so on his stomach, his chin propped on his pillow, his face inches away from the tiny screen. He wore sunglasses to cut down on the glare from the tube. This was certainly not the most optimal way in which to watch anything on television (then or now) but since it was the way he had things set up and I was using his television in his absence, I opted to watch BRIDE the way I'd seen Ricky watch other shows. And so, flat on my stomach, my chin and arms resting on a pillow, a pair of sunglasses protecting my eyes, I watched BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN for the first time. My life has never been the same since.

I've lost track of how many times I've seen the film over the last forty-some odd years. My buddy Kelly Greene and I showed it to our class when we co-taught a short course on the history of horror films through Austin Community College back in the early 1990s. I've introduced it at the Paramount Theatre. I own it a copy of it on DVD (VHS before that). In short, I've seen the film many times and I never tire of watching it. It is without a doubt my favorite Universal horror film and in my estimation, the greatest horror film ever made.

Watching BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN on Halloween night is becoming a tradition here at Casa Campbell. Judy and I watched the film again last night (as we did last Halloween). We started off the evening with fifty-cent corn dogs from the local Sonic, then settled in to view the film. Our porch lights were off to eliminate interruptions from trick-or-treaters.

BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN is such a thematically rich and visually imaginative film that I pick up something new almost every time I see it. To begin with, there's the question of just when and where this film is taking place. Although filmed in 1935, BRIDE opens with a prologue set sometime in the 1800s. The prologue features Mary Shelley (played by Elsa Lanchester) the author of the original 1818 novel, FRANKENSTEIN, Percy Shelley and Lord Byron. While a fierce storm rages outside, Lord Byron recounts events from the story (illustrated by scenes from the 1931 FRANKENSTEIN) after which Mary Shelley precedes to tell them, like a Gothic Paul Harvey, "the rest of the story".

 But if the action in the introduction takes place in the early 19th century, exactly when does the subsequent narrative of BRIDE take place? Some of the characters are seen wearing contemporary, 1930s style fashions, while others are clothed in what look to be 1800s Middle European garb. There doesn't appear to be widespread usage of electricity (expect in Frankenstein's castle laboratory) as candles can be seen in many of the interior shots. The telephone appears to be an exotic instrument when it is used in one scene to allow Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive)  to communicate with his human bride-to-be Elizabeth (Valerie Hobson). No motor vehicles are seen in the film, but horse drawn carriages, carts and wagons figure in several scenes. All of the castles, cemeteries, villages, huts and forests look like something out of a fairy tale and certainly do not accurately represent Europe in the mid-1930s.

But that's okay because they're not supposed to. BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN is a dark fairy tale that exists outside of the space and time in which it was made. It is clearly taking place on an alternate earth in a parallel universe that while similar to our reality in many ways, is radically different in others. The film takes place on what I like to refer to as "Earth Universal", a realm in which all of the classic Universal horror films take place.

Religious themes abound in BRIDE. There are constant allusions to the monster's Christ-like status, especially when he is "crucified" by the villagers in the forest. There's a crucifix image in the blind man's hut that is optically highlighted while the scene fades to black and the monster rampages through a cemetery in which a statue of Christ is prominently displayed.

And then there's Dr. Pretorius. Superbly played by Ernest Thesiger, Pretorius is a mincing, effeminate, Mefistophelian presence in the film who mixes science and sorcery to his unholy ends. In his first onscreen appearance, he's wearing a collar that resembles that worn by the clergy while he's later seen wearing a yarmulke while displaying his bottled specimens to Henry. It's as if he's a mad rabbi using ancient Hebrew mystic texts (ie, the Kabala) to work his magic. Pretorius blasphemes both Jewish and Christian theology in his attempt to play God and create life. And it's no accident that the first encounter between Pretorius and the monster occurs in an underground crypt. These two characters belong in the underworld, the land of the dead, the home of fallen angels. 

Judy and I both noticed some minor continuity errors in the film and during the kite sequence, some of the actors become momentarily transparent, their images clearly optically imprinted into the castle roof set. I also realized for the first time that several of the magnificent sets are clearly used more than once. For instance, the pool at the bottom of the windmill at the beginning of the scene appears to have been redressed for the scene where the monster encounters and kills a young shepherdess alongside a waterfall and pool. The interior of Castle Frankenstein may have done double duty for the crypt robbing sequence while the towering dungeon in which the monster is temporarily imprisoned is clearly used later for the castle laboratory. 

There are unanswered questions and things that are just plain odd in the film. Where did the screeching magpie Minnie (Una O'Connor) come from? Her character does not appear in the original film. Why does Castle Frankenstein have a doorman who speaks like he's on loan from a Warner Brothers gangster film? And what's going on with Karl (Dwight Frye)? When the monster escapes from prison and rampages through the village, at least three murders occur. However, we do not see anyone, human or otherwise, commit these crimes. It's implied that the monster did it but according to what I've read about the film, Karl is the actual killer and he uses the monster as a convenient patsy. Scenes explaining this bit of back story were never filmed which causes a bit of narrative disruption.

As mentioned above, the sets in BRIDE are magnificent and director James Whale sends his camera on the prowl throughout each one. The mobile camera work here is fluid and extremely accomplished. And during the creation of the bride sequence, the camera angles go askew (reminiscent of the old BATMAN television show), as Whale rapidly cuts back and forth between Pretorius and Henry, the off-kilter horizon representing just how much these characters are unhinged both psychologically and morally.

BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN is a remarkably fast paced film. Whale orchestrates the action well and moves smoothly and quickly from one classic scene to another. By the time we get to the lab in the third act, the action is almost non-stop and it's underscored by a relentless heart-beat, a tympani drum acting as a metronome of impending doom.

Memorable moments abound. The blind hermit sequence (which was savagely and hilariously parodied in Mel Brooks's YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN) remains powerful and full of genuine human emotion. The creation sequence is spectacular and Lanchester as the hissing, spitting bird-like bride becomes an immortal horror icon while appearing on screen for less than five minutes. "Don't touch that lever! You'll blow us to atoms!"is a line I heard Forry Ackerman repeat when I toured the Ackermansion in Los Angeles in 1994. And has there ever been a finer coda for a horror film than "we belong dead"?

Sexual themes are rich and abundant in the film and it's impossible to ignore the fact that three gay men (Thesiger, Clive and director Whale) team-up in the film to create a woman in their own image. And let's not forget the music which contains several great motifs and cues, among them a theme that I believe was later appropriated as "Bali Hai" in Rodgers and Hammerstein's production of SOUTH PACIFIC.

BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN mixes humor with horror to create a wonderfully perverse and subversive film that works on many different levels. It's simply a great film and if you've never seen it, I cannot recommend it highly enough. 

And next Halloween, I'll watch it again. Sonic corn dogs optional.

MY FAMOUS MONSTERS 40

Forry phones it in for the cover of FAMOUS MONSTERS #89 with a lackluster still from an equally lackluster film, DRACULA VS. FRANKENSTEIN (in which FJA has a cameo appearance). Other features include the Graveyard Examiner, previews of new monster movies and the always popular more photos, more stories, more features. 

THE FOG

I saw John Carpenter's THE FOG (1980) when it was first released. The film played in Austin at the old (and not missed)  Northcross Six which was one of the worst movie theaters in town for a long time. The poster above is somewhat misleading as it depicts "scream queen" Jamie Lee Curtis as the star of the film when in reality, she's part of an ensemble cast that includes Adrienne Barbeau (Carpenter's wife), Hal Holbrook, John Houseman (for about two minutes of screen time) and Curtis's real-life mother, Janet Leigh.

I thought at the time that THE FOG was one of the best E.C. Comics influenced films I'd ever seen. I watched the film again this afternoon and that assessment still holds up. THE FOG was Carpenter's fourth film as a director, following DARK STAR (1974), ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 (1976),  and the blockbuster, genre-defining HALLOWEEN (1978). THE FOG is a simple, classic ghost story involving the murderous spirits of dead sailors who come back to exact their revenge on the town that killed them one-hundred years earlier.

 It's amazing what Carpenter is able to achieve with fog machines and well placed lights. The ghosts are kept to the shadows and appear mostly as sinister silhouettes with glowing red eyes. As I said, if you've ever read an E.C. horror comic book, you're familiar with the trope of rotting corpses returned from the dead to punish their killers.

The cast is good, the location photography is lovely and Carpenter's direction is assured. THE FOG isn't a great film and it's not Carpenter's best work but it's a very good, solid little piece of genre film making that I enjoyed watching this afternoon just as much as I did thirty-three years ago.

By the way, I had the honor of meeting Janet Leigh at a monster movie convention in Washington, D.C. in 2000. I bought a copy of her book about the making of PSYCHO and had her sign it for me. She was an incredibly petite but extremely gracious lady and it was a genuine thrill to meet her.

MY FAMOUS MONSTERS 39

Waste not, want not are the by-words for FAMOUS MONSTERS #87 which recycles both an article and a cover image of THE SHE-CREATURE from a mid-'60s issue of MONSTER WORLD. There's also a photo-film book of CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (also a reprint), Monster Comics and a preview of THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES.