Movie-A-Day #30: Gandhi (1982).
Richard Attenborough’s “Gandhi” is an epic biopic of whose mission of compassion and nonviolent resistance was halted by an assassin’s bullets on this day in 1948. The leader of India’s independence movement, Mohandas K. Gandhi was one of the great peacemakers of the 20th century – an era that was surely one of the bloodiest in human history. His peaceful struggle helped bring political freedom to one of the largest nations in the world. He also served as an inspiration to generations of freedom seekers who came after him, most notably Martin Luther King Jr., who led the American civil rights movement.
Movie(s)-A-Day #29: The Raven (1935, 1963).
Edgar Allan Poe’s signature poem, “The Raven,” was first published in the New York Evening Mirror on Jan. 29, 1845, and again shortly thereafter in The American Review. It has been the inspiration for scores of film adaptations, most of them having little to do with the original poem besides the presence of a black bird. (One in production now and due out later this year, starring John Cusack as Poe, is a thriller featuring the author hunting down a serial killer.) Two versions, however, stand out – even if they’re not really faithful to Poe’s work.
Universal’s 1935 version stars Bela Lugosi as a demented surgeon who kidnaps a beautiful patient and devises a torture chamber based on Poe’s work. It has plenty of the gothic atmosphere that is a trademark of Universal horror, and Lugosi’s assistant is played by Boris Karloff. It was the third of the legendary duo’s eight screen pairings, and one of the best.
Roger Corman took a stab at “The Raven” in 1963 as part of his cycle of Poe adaptations. It’s the oddball of the bunch, being a comedy, but it does have its charms. Not the least of which is its cast, featuring film legends Karloff (again), Vincent Price, Peter Lorre and Jack Nicholson. It’s loads of fun, thanks to Richard Matheson’s great script and the fine performances by the old veterans in the cast.
These versions – nor any other of the film adaptations, for that matter – have much to do with the original. But they’re entertaining anyway. And you can always read the original for yourself to properly appreciate it.
Maniac (a.k.a., Sex Maniac) (1934).
The Scoop:
This roadshow exploitation classic – from Dwain Esper and Hildegarde Staide, the husband-and-wife team behind “Marihuana” and other such hysteria – purports to be an exposé on criminal insanity, but takes a quick left turn into, well, complete insanity.
A neighborhood mad scientist and his assistant, a vaudeville impersonator on the lam from the law, are busy at work in their research into reanimating corpses. When the vaudevillian bungles a body theft, he and scientist get into an argument that ends with the scientist getting shot. And then it really goes off the rails with eye eating, a rapist who thinks he’s an orangutan, some gratuitous nudity, and a cat rancher with a fool-proof plan for vast wealth. And all in under an hour!
The production values, technical quality, hectoring screen crawls and poor acting are exactly what you’d expect from a 1930s roadshow picture. It’s hoot-worthy and then some. But what really sets “Maniac” apart from its genre is its absolute commitment to its bizarre situations. A lot of films feature strange creative choices, but few can follow through on them with such full-bore, over the top bravado.
It’s really something else. Find a way to watch it if you can. This one goes straight to the top of the “créme de la weird” list.
Best Line:
“I got a thousand cats. Wanna see ’em?”
Side Note:
The story is supposedly based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe. If you squint hard enough you might be able to see elements of “Murders in the Rue Morgue,” “The Black Cat” and “The Cask of Amontillado.”
Companion Viewing:
“Reefer Madness” (1936) and “The Wild World of Batwoman” (1966).
Links:
IMDb.
1,000 Misspent Hours.
366 Weird Movies.
Take a Look:
This clip doesn’t need any set-up:
How not to win an argument:
Movie-A-Day #28: To Kill a Clown (1972).
Due in large part to his role as Hawkeye Pierce in “M*A*S*H,” today’s birthday boy Alan Alda has become something of a poster child for 1970s-style sensitive white liberalism. So be prepared for some cognitive dissonance while watching “To Kill a Clown,” in which Alda plays a conservative, militaristic psychopath who terrorizes a young hippie couple, played by Blythe Danner (Gwenyth Paltrow’s mom) and Heath Lamberts. Not only was this Danner’s film debut, but it was also Alda’s last pre-TV megastar role – it opened less than a month before “M*A*S*H” aired for the first time.
Movie-A-Day #27: Schindler’s List (1993).
Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the date chosen because it marks the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the Nazis’ most notorious concentration camp, in 1945. The Holocaust has been the subject of dozens of films – both documentary and drama – and rightly so, given how vital it is to remember the lessons of that terrible chapter of human history. Today’s recommendation is “Schindler’s List,” but really, almost any of these others would be good choices as well. “Life is Beautiful,” “The Diary of Anne Frank,” “The Pianist,” and a host of others – they all do honor to the memories of the victims of the Holocaust.
Desuko Movie Spot. 