The Silver Screen Oasis

Just watched "Real Steel" (2011).

This is based on the Richard Matheson story "Steel," which was adapted for "Twilight Zone" with Lee Marvin. It is a Hemingwayesque story about grace under pressure and victory in defeat.

"Real Steel" made me think of that youtube video in which a guy re-edits the trailer for "The Shining" to make it look like a heartwarming father-son relationship movie. "Real Steel" turned Matheson's story into "The Champ" meets "Rocky." I could almost picture the tag line: "It took a fighting robot to make them a family."

1931 CLASSIC ... THE INVISIBLE MAN
Starring Claude Rains


A James Whale's Masterpiece

One of my favorite horror movies in the thirties ...


Una O'Connor

She is one of the most impressive actresses in the horror genre ... I admire her greatly.

I wished HOLLYWOOD do a good remake of this film ...

One of my favorite horror movies in the thirties

One of my favorite horror movies, period! It could be argued that Mr. Whale gave us the three great ones. Not a bad credit for a filmmaker!

The Invisible Man was the first real horror film my daughter watched. She really liked it, but at the end she said she didn't picture him looking like that!!! I realized she'd never seen Claude Rains before.

It was a treat when we went to see the Frankenstein double feature on the big screen, she about jumped out of her chair when Una O'Connor showed up, she recognized her immediately and gave me a knowing look. That's my girl!

Ahhhh...you're training her well Obi Wan Favelli.

HA! That's funny!

We watched Son of Frankenstein the other night, and had a blast. What a fun movie. While we were watching Alice said that she was mad that the Bride of Frankenstein only got to live for a few hours, and how much she wanted her to like the monster. We LOVED IGOR in this one. Lugosi was just indescribably great in this film. Alice hasn't seen Dracula yet, I feel like we are watching these movies backwards. I'm not sure she'll like it, she got kind of bored once IGOR was gone. I'm thinking Young Frankenstein should probably be the next horror film we watch, now she has enough background.

"Young Frankenstein" would be a great romp for her especially since she has the background. It's great that she sees the classic first, before the spoof. As for her even watching the classics backwards...hey, get them to her anyway you can. Your window is very very small with a pre-teener.

"HE WAS...MY BOYFRIEND!!!"

( P.S. Again, Simone is rockin' it in that avatar of yours! )

Yeah, I thought I'd leave her up for a few days more, she's so stunning....which cat is the more beautiful?

Well...

Of course! Simone!DUH. Stupid question.

The Mad Genius (1931)
Vladimar (John Barrymore) is a travelling puppeteer and is travelling with his assistant Karimsky (Charles Butterworth). Fedor ( initially Frankie Darro, Then Donald Cook) is watching the puppet ballet and is rapt. Enter Fedor`s father (Boris Karloff) who takes to his son with a whip. Fedor flees and is rescued and hidden by Vladimar.

Years pass and Fedor is now a great ballet dancer. Vladimar lines up young ballerinas for Fedor to “have his wicked way with”, but Fedor falls in love with Nana. (Marian Marsh). Vladimar, with the assistance of Ballet master Sergei (Luis Alberni) who he controls with little packets of white powder ,has her dismissed from the ballet and she becomes the mistress of Count Robert Renaud.

The ballet goes on tour, and, on return , the count, realising that Nana is still in love with Fedor, takes her to the ballet to see him perform. The sadistic Vladimar takes great delight in teasing Sergei with little packets of powder. Realising he has gone too far, Vladimar offers Sergei many packets, but it is too late. Vladimar is chopped up when Sergei picks up an axe.

The Count gives Nana his blessing and she goes to Fedor and (presumably) they live happily ever after.

This movie is based on a play, The Idol, by Martin Brown, but the story is so much like DuMaurier`s Trilby that one wonders if Trilby was where the idea for the play came from.

Hi Fossy! Good to see you posting, you've been missed. Were you affected by cyclone Dumile? My son was on Mauritius Island, but most of the storm passed by. He joked that he's seen stronger rains in Houston TX that are referred to as "drizzle". Hope you are safe and dry.

Thank you for the welcome Knitwit 45. That cyclone did not affect Cairns. Mauritius is over 9000 km from here. We have been in drought, although we have had showers for a couple of days water restrictions have been imposed this week.

I'm enjoying seeing you posting again too!

The Mad Genius sounds like fun, and once again, you had me at Luis Alberni. Are you having a little Alberni film festival?