RIP Killer

1926-2008

Going Going Gone..

MONSTER A GO-GO-1965-Herschel Gordon Lewis needed a second feature to go with his latest production. (I think it was MOONSHINE MOUNTAIN) He bought an unfinished movie (“Terror At Halfday”) from the soon to be infamous Bill Rebane and added a narrator and some scenes with a seven foot tall guy named Henry Hite (in very lumpy facial make-up) and tries to tell the mysterious story of what happened to the astronaut of a space capsule that crash landed while returning from space.

It’s right up there with THE BEAST OF YUCCA FLATS, THE CREEPING TERROR and others of that ilk.

The plot (?) makes no sense and most of it is just the characters talking, explaining or arguing. None of them ever interact with the monster and the storyline just inexplicably changes to suit the footage. The sound is bad and the night scenes are really dark! To justify the title one scene features some teens dancing at a club.

The not too bad rock music is by The Other The. MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 once used this on an episode where many people first saw it.

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Woo Baby It's A Wild World!

THE WILD WORLD OF BAT-WOMAN-1966-Poor Jerry Warren! What was he thinking when he decided to become a director?

After spending most of the ‘50’s “Americanizing” Mexican and Japanese horror films, Warren (who had occasionally made his own messes like THE INCREDIBLE PETRIFIED WORLD) thought the time was right for a parody of the Super-Hero genre (The Bat-Man TV show was very popular at the time).

Katherine Victor (from several other Warren productions including TEENAGE ZOMBIES) plays the lead role, a masked crime fighter with a large bat adhered to her chest. She commands a bevy of Go-Go dancing cuties that go into action when her arch-nemesis Rat Fink steals some kind of atomic hearing aid. Washed up actor Steve Brody (later in Warren’s last film FRANKENSTEIN ISLAND) is the head of security at the company that made the stolen device. A nutty professor (who looks a lot like the Dr. Forrester character from MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 2000; they used it in an episode too) keeps talking about the monsters he created that live in a cave. When they finally show them it's scenes of the creatures from 1956 ‘s THE MOLE MEN (an American movie directed by Virgil Vogel; I guess no Mexican movie was available!). Bruno Ve Sota shows up in a wacky scene involving a séance in Chinese! Everything in this movie is very dumb and pretty boring but the bad actors seem to be having a good time!



The strangest part however is the fact that DC Comics actually sued Warren to keep BAT-WOMAN from being released!!

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No Blood No Wolf No Movie!

BLOOD SLAVES OF THE VAMPIRE WOLF-1996-People always say, “This is the worst movie I’ve ever seen” but usually they just say that because at the time they really hated the movie. But when I say this is the worst movie I’ve ever seen I really mean “THIS IS THE WORST MOVIE I’VE EVER SEEN!!!”!!!

Of course I gravitate toward bad movies and I don’t use that phrase lightly! I’ve seen a lot of shit! THE BEAST OF YUCCA FLATS, CREEPING TERROR, DON’T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT, this makes classics out of all of them. It’s kind of in the mold of BLACK DEVIL DOLL FROM HELL (at least production wise) only ten times worse!

It’s not even a movie really. It’s more like a home video. A very badly made home video! To top it all off it’s dedicated to “the memory of Ed Wood” who must be rolling over in his grave considering he never made anything this horrible…

SLAVES is filmed entirely on video using one camera with some out of place close-ups edited in. The production was so bad the camera and editing machine didn’t even have a flying eraser head so the cutting is a disaster. The characters just stand around talking mostly and nothing really happens even when people are being killed! Some female vampire makes a big fat guy kill some hookers. Her assistant is veteran bad actor Conrad Brooks who says nothing until the end when he laughs hysterically. There’s so little movement by the cast that when I fast-forwarded the DVD it still looked like they were standing still!! And for some reason Joe Estevez shows up for one quick scene to give an autograph.

SLAVES was the brainchild of actor Conrad Brooks who produced & directed this mess. He did work with Wood on several films. (In Tim Burton’s ED WOOD he’s portrayed by Brent Hinkley and has a cameo as a bartender) He’s also in the aforementioned BEAST OF YUCCA FLATS and many direct to video projects that most people never see. Unfortunately Brooks went on to direct a few more video movies.

Remember! I warned you!

RIP

August 21, 2008 - Actor Fred Crane has died of complications, after successful surgery to repair a vein in his leg. Fred was born March 22, 1918, and after playing college football and performing in several stage productions in his home town of New Orleans, Louisiana, he came out to Hollywood at the age of 20 and was cast alongside Vivien Leigh and George Reeves as Brent Tarleton, in the classic movie Gone With The Wind. Fred became good friends with George, who was also best man at his wedding. World War II interrupted Fred's career for a few years, after which he worked in television and radio, notably on the Jack Benny Radio Program and then for 41 years at Los Angeles classical radio station KFAC, where he also served with Carl Princi as Program Director and host of the morning show. He is survived by his wife Terry and other family members. Fred was 90 years old.

The Gila Monster Strikes!

THE GIANT GILA MONSTER-1959-Whoa! They don’t make ‘em like this anymore! Suped up hot rods, rock and roll and a real lizard traipsing through matchbox cars and train sets all figure in this unintentionally funny 50’s teen horror flick!

Don Sullivan (from MONSTER OF PIEDRAS BLANCAS and TEENAGE ZOMBIES) stars as Chase Winstead, a singing-hot rodding-mechanic/tow truck driver. He also manages to take a college correspondence course while supporting his mom and semi-crippled little sister. He has a French girlfriend (Lisa Simone, also in MISSILE TO THE MOON) whose accent makes most of her dialogue incomprehensible (yeah, like her dialogue really matters!). He’s buddy-buddy with the local sheriff (character actor and stuntman Fred Graham who had many un-credited film roles) and it’s a good thing! If it weren’t for Chase and his jive talking gang the scaly star of this epic would still be stalking the woods! A grumpy old mine owner (who looks like a tall skinny Lionel Barrymore) thinks Chase is responsible for the disappearance of his son but of course the title reptile is really munching locals.



Don sings a couple of songs including the very bad “Laugh Children Laugh”. It’s so bad he sings it twice! A local DJ named Steamroller (real Texas DJ Ken Knox) records him and plays the track at a town sock hop just before old Gila Gills busts in. A hot rod filled with Nitro spells the end for our hero, I mean the monster after it destroys a train and parts of a toy town. There’s also a comic relief town drunk (Shug Fisher) that you should keep an eye on. In a scene of him driving his pick up truck you can glimpse the hand of the director or some other hapless crewmember in the reflection of the windshield!

GGM is no classic even in a bad movie sense but it’s still fun. It was produced in Texas by Western actor (and future TV GUNSMOKE co-star) Ken Curtis who in the same year would also serve in the same capacity on THE KILLER SHREWS which GILA’s director Ray Kellogg would also helm. Curtis would even take a role in that one! Kellogg usually a second unit director and SFX cameraman (and sometimes actor) would later co-direct John Wayne’s reverse magna opus THE GREEN BERETS! Screenplay writer Jay Simms later wrote PANIC IN THE YEAR ZERO and CREATION OF THE HUMANOIDS and many TV shows (including THRILLER and THE MAN FROM UNCLE).



I wonder what happened to Sullivan? His last film credit was in 1962 ‘s PARADISE ALLEY. Did he ever make records? The guy was in a Jerry Warren movie; he must have a nice story to tell. Don if you’re out there the public wants your story. Hey! Even Arch Hall Jr. has re-surfaced!Anyway, like The Giant Gila Monster, I’m gone daddio!

RIP Bela

Lugosi's last scene. He died Aug. 15th 1956.

Anime Away!

NINJA SCROLL- JVC/Toho Co. Ltd.-1993- This is one of my favorite Japanese animes (is that redundant?), a violent action filled story set in feudal Japan. When a mysterious plague wipes out a village, a crack team of ninjas investigates. As they near the village the entire troop (save one) is slaughtered by Tessai, a rock hard monster that drinks blood and uses a double-edged ax like boomerang. The lone survivor is the tough and agile Kagero, a female ninja and poison taster who holds a special secret. The monster takes her prisoner and rapes her. She is rescued by Jubei, a roaming ninja. They escape when Tessai is called off by his prissy boss, Yurimaru. After Kagero makes her report (to the clan head who keeps having sex while she’s reporting) Jubei and Tessai go at it again. The ninja manages to get the monster to kill itself with it’s own weapon but it is only later on that we learn the truth. Anyone who has sex with Kagero dies!

Jubei is pressed into service (with blackmail & poison) by Dakuwan, an old monk with a big hat and a staff who is a spy for the government. Eventually they kind of team up with Kagero to fight a resurrected dark lord, Gemma (who Jubei killed once already!) and his 8 Devils Of Kimon. Along with Tessai, they include a woman with living tattoos who sheds her skin to escape and a Charles Laugton look hunchback whose hump is wasp hive!

This is one kick ass anime with action, great direction, violence and of course tragedy. And it’s not for children. The blood letting and monster rape scene are pretty graphic. The screenwriter/ director of SCROLL, Yoshiaki Kawajiri also made the must see epics DEMON CITY SHINJUKU, A WIND CALLED AMNESIA, and WICKED CITY, as well as LENSMEN, based on the American sci-fi series by E.E. “Doc” Smith.

Stan and Ollie and Their Clones

JITTERBUGS-20th Century Fox-1943 -This is probably the best post-Hal Roach comedy Laurel & Hardy made. It’s no classic but it has it’s moments and Stan appears in drag through most of the story! It’s ten times better than their previous film AIR RAID WARDENS made earlier in the year for MGM.



The team play two musicians named Laurel & Hardy who run into trouble when they meet up with a con artist (Bob Bailey, who would also play the male lead in the team’s next feature THE DANCING MASTERS) peddling phony gasoline pills. He eventually gets them involved in helping a young singer (Vivian Blaine) swindle some swindlers who stole her $10,000. For a while Ollie impersonates a southern millionaire while Stan pretends to be Blaine’s rich aunt.. A dance routine between the two is a highlight. The musical production numbers might seem unnecessary but were used in an effort to compete with the Abbott & Costello comedies at Universal and to show off the talents of newcomer Blaine (who ended her career in the Charles Band 3-D fiasco PARASITE!). Also in the cast are Lee Patrick as a phony Southern gold digger who has a good routine with Hardy and veteran character actor Douglas Fowley. He and Patrick were later in THE SEVEN FACES OF DR. LAO together! Anthony Caruso has a small un-billed role.

Director Mal St. Arnold made hundreds of comic features and shorts and really helped make this a success. Screen writer Scott Darling did tons of stuff too including FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN, Monogram’s MR. WONG series (with Karloff) and the last Charlie Chan series with Ronald Winters.

THE BIG NOISE-1944-This late period Laurel & Hardy comedy from Fox isn't very good. The team plays a pair of phony detectives who are hired by an inventor (Arthur Space) to guard the super bomb he’s invented. Little Bobby Blake (the future TV star and murder suspect) is the little brat who causes much of the trouble. Director Mal St. Clair helmed many of the team’s later work, which with one or two exceptions is pretty terrible.



NOTHING BUT TROUBLE-1944-Slight Laurel & Hardy comedy with Stan & Ollie as an unemployed butler and cook who get involved with a young runaway who is actually the king of some foreign country. His evil Uncle wants him to “meet with an accident” so he can be in charge. There are some amusing parts but it’s sad to see the great comedy team being wasted in such a minor storyline. Character actor Mary Boland plays her usual ditzy socialite.


Laurel & Hardy would make only two more movies after this. They did have a successful tour of England however before making their last disastrous outing ATOLL K. Ironically director Sam Taylor would make only one more movie after this. He had written many silent films (somehow that doesn’t sound right…) including Harold Lloyd’s classic SAFETY FIRST. Co-scripter Roy Golden (also doing his last work) had written THE BIG STORE for The Marx Brothers(arguably their weakest and technically their last as a team) in 1941.



THE ALL NEW ADVENTURES OF LAUREL & HARDY: FOR LOVE OR MUMMY- Mummy Productions-1998-Although this is one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen, it can serve as a lesson for the families of famous people to retain the rights on the likenesses of their well known relatives. Two stupid L & H clones (Bronson Pichot and Garland Sairtain) become involved with a living mummy. As impersonators they suck big time. The story is idiotic and full of unfunny gags. The premise (of a mummy coming back to life and terrorizing a professor and his daughter) doesn’t even fit in with a Laurel and Hardy plot. It’s more like something for The Three Stooges or Abbott & Costello. It's inane!

Academy Award winner F. Murray Abraham is the professor (maybe the F stands for Fast buck). Everyone else in the cast is awful. And what’s the deal with that giant snake at the end?

These “new adventures” were the brainchild of Bozo The Clown entrepreneur Larry Harmon (who died last month) who also happened to own the Laurel & Hardy copyrights. Besides appearing briefly, he co-produced and co-directed with John Cherry III who’s previous work was on “ERNEST” movies. I don’t think the writers of this dreck had ever written a screenplay before!

Pinchot co-starred in the TV sit-com “Perfect Strangers”. Sartain was a regular on Hee-Haw and played coach Don Zimmer in the Showtime bio about Yankees manager Joe Torre. Some of the cast and crew later worked on PIRATES OF THE PLAIN (a family oriented feature with Tim Curry as a pirate transported to the present day) which Cherry directed.


"A committee is a group of the unprepared,
appointed by the unwilling to do the unnecessary"-Fred Allen

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He's A Bad Mother! Shut Your Mouth!

Memphis soul legend Isaac Hayes dead at 65
Updated:
Date("Aug 10, 2008 7:08 PM EST"); document.write(wn_last_ed_date);
Aug 10, 2008 07:08 PM EDT

Isaac Hayes dies (08-10-08)2:51

MEMPHIS, TN (WMC-TV) - Soul music legend Isaac Hayes died early Sunday afternoon, according to Shelby County Sheriff's Department spokesperson Steve Shular. Hayes was 65.
A Shelby County sheriff's deputy responded to Hayes' home after his wife found him unconscious on his bedroom floor near a treadmill that was switched on.

Hayes was taken to Baptist East Hospital in Memphis, where he was pronounced dead at 2:08pm.

"Our emergency room team's efforts to resuscitate him were not successful, and our hearts go out to his family and legion of fans worldwide," said Baptist Memorial Spokesperson Valerie Robilio.

Deputies with the Shelby County Sheriff's Department said Hayes' death was apparently caused by a medical condition.

According to Hayes' official Web site, the music icon was set to play himself in a musical comedy starring comedian Bernie Mac, who died Saturday.

Hayes was raised by his maternal grandparents in Covington, Tennessee, after his mother died and his father left the family when Hayes was an infant. He moved to Memphis at age 6.
Hayes planned to be a doctor, but got redirected when he won a talent contest in ninth grade by singing Nat King Cole's "Looking Back."

He held down various low-paying jobs, including shining shoes on the legendary Beale Street in Memphis. Hayes also played gigs in rural Southern juke joints where at times he had to hit the floor because someone began shooting.

A self-taught musician, he was hired in 1964 by Stax Records of Memphis as a backup pianist, working as a session musician for Otis Redding and others. He also played saxophone.

Hayes began writing songs, establishing a songwriting partnership with David Porter, and in the 1960s they wrote such hits for Sam and Dave as "Hold On, I'm Coming" and "Soul Man."
All this led to his recording contract.

The album "Hot Buttered Soul" made Hayes a star in 1969. His shaven head, gold chains and sunglasses gave him a compelling visual image.

"Hot Buttered Soul" was groundbreaking in several ways: He sang in a "cool" style unlike the usual histrionics of big-time soul singers. He prefaced the song with "raps," and the numbers ran longer than three minutes with lush arrangements.

In the early 1970s, Hayes laid the groundwork for disco, for what became known as urban-contemporary music and for romantic crooners like Barry White. And he was rapping before there was rap. "The rappers have gone in and created a lot of hit music based upon my influence," he said. "And they'll tell you if you ask."

Next came "Theme From Shaft," a No. 1 hit in 1971 from the film "Shaft" starring Richard Roundtree. "That was like the shot heard round the world," Hayes said in the 1999 interview.
In 1972, he won another Grammy for his album "Black Moses" and earned a nickname he reluctantly embraced. Hayes composed film scores for "Tough Guys" and "Truck Turner" besides "Shaft."

At the Oscar ceremony in 1972, Hayes performed the song wearing an eye-popping amount of gold and received a standing ovation. TV Guide later chose it as No. 18 in its list of television's 25 most memorable moments. He won an Academy Award for the song and was nominated for another one for the score. The song and score also won him two Grammys.
Hayes was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002. "I knew nothing about the business, or trends and things like that," he said. "I think it was a matter of timing. I didn't know what was unfolding."

His career hit another high in 1997 when he became the voice of Chef, the sensible school cook and devoted ladies man on the animated TV show "South Park." But Hayes angrily quit the show in 2006 after an episode mocked his Scientology religion. "There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs of others begins," he said.

Hayes was the voice of Nickelodeon's "Nick at Nite" and had radio shows in New York City (1996 to 2002) and then in Memphis.

He was in several movies, including "It Could Happen to You" with Nicolas Cage, "Ninth Street" with Martin Sheen, "Reindeer Games" starring Ben Affleck and the blaxploitation parody "I'm Gonna Git You, Sucka."

Friend and fellow Memphis native Priscilla Presley said, "I am shocked. We have lost not only an incredible talent, but a wonderful leader to his community and a dear friend."

Said Congressman Steve Cohen of Memphis: "Isaac Hayes was our emissary to the world for over four decades. His music and his love of his fellow man transcended all racial boundaries. His contributions to this city and its culture were many, and his friends were even more numerous."
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

The following statement was released by Soulsville USA:

The Soulsville Foundation, which operates the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, Stax Music Academy, and The Soulsville Charter School, is so deeply saddened by the passing of Isaac Hayes that we are in state of shock. Isaac is one of the most beloved members of the Stax family and we all cherish him. He will be missed not only by us, but also by the entire world and the millions of people who love him as much as we do.

Marc Willis, CEO of the Soulsville Foundation, said, "Isaac was unique and an inspiration to us all. His accomplishments as a musician are unparalleled. But more than that, he was a very dear friend and great supporter of the Soulsville Foundation mission, particularly the work we do with children. We will miss him and his wonderful presence more than we can convey at this time."

Louise Beavers

Here's an interesting article I found on another site about a ground breaking actress:

Louise Beavers (March 8, 1902 - October 26, 1962) The prolific African-American film actress, appearing in countless films from the 1920s to the 1950s, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio.

But before Miss Beavers began took off in films, early on she spent a dozen years as real-life maid/nanny for silent film actress Leatrice Joy (one-time wife of film idol John Gilbert).

Among the many films she appeared in were "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (1927), "Manslaughter" (1930), "Freaks" (1932), "What Price Hollywood?" (1932), "She Done Him Wrong" (1933), "General Spanky" (1936), "Holiday Inn" (1942), "The Big Street" (1942), "Mr.Blandings Builds His Dream House" (1948) as 'Gussie' ("...If it ain't 'WHAM' it ain't HAM!...", "The Jackie Robinson Story" (1950) as Jackie's mom, "The Goddess" (1958), "All the Fine Young Cannibals" (1960), and in her last film, the Bob Hope/Lucille Ball comedy "The Facts of Life" (1960). In all she appeared in over 150 films !

Beavers' most famous and noted role was her portrayal of 'Delilah Johnson', the housekeeper/cook whose employer of Claudette Colbert, transforms her into an Aunt Jemima-like celebrity in the 1934 film "Imitation of Life".

Though in reality, Beavers was given fourth billing in the now classic film, her role was nearly equal in importance to Claudette Colbert's, and was the first instance of a Hollywood film in which a black woman's maternal problems were given equal importance to those of the leading white character in a film. But, in the end Colbert's character cherish their strong friendship, it is clear the Hollywood system kept the main characters still segregated in the end.

One of the film's main conflicts was that between 'Delilah' and her light-skinned daughter 'Peola' (played by Fredi Washington), who wanted to pass for white. Despite being only a year younger than her film daughter Washington in real-life, Beavers stepped up and gave a heart-felt performance as her long-suffering mother 'Delilah'.

The vast majority of Beavers' other film roles, however, were not as prestigious. Along with Hattie McDaniel, she became the on-screen personification of the "mammy" stereotype: a large, matronly black woman with a quick temper, a large laugh, and a subservient manner. Beavers' employers had her overeat so that she could maintain her "mammy"-like figure.

Although Beavers did not approve of how her characters were scripted, she nonetheless continued appearing in films, because, as her contemporary McDaniel once stated, "it's better to play a maid than be a maid.".

Beavers was one of four actresses (including McDaniel, Ethel Waters, and Amanda Randolph) to portray the title role on the "Beulah" television show from 1950-53. That show was the first television sitcom to star an African American, even though the role was a somewhat subservient one. Besides the "Beulah" series, she also was featured on T.V. in the late 1950's on NBC's "Disneyland's 'Swamp Fox'" series of shorts, as 'Delia'.

When not busy making film, on her off hours Miss Beavers reportedly was a' night owl', with her lights burning into the wee hours playing poker with friends. Though her film colleague Hattie McDaniels lived only a few minutes walking distance, in the same West Adams area of Los Angeles (known as Sugar Hill), the two saw very little of each other.

Beavers was known as a friendly, giving person, but the woman famous as Mae West's maid in films, actually has a husband who waited on his wife hand-and-foot, whenever she was home. A professional chef, her husband Leroy Moore, along with his famous wife, reportedly hosted some of the best poker parties in town. From time to time the couple would off er other artists the opportunity to board and rent out parts of their home to them. One of these long-time residence was singer-musician Earl Grant, who occupied the second floor of the Beavers home, at 2219 Hobart St.

Actresses Louise Beavers, Hattie McDaniel, and Ethel Waters joined other local leaders to overturn the demeaning racial covenants: "Their efforts resulted in the dismissal of the [discriminatory] injunction by the Los Angeles Superior Court. Thus, women who founded careers playing docile and submissive servants helped fire the opening shots in the legal battle against residential segregation in California - a battle that would culminate in the landmark Supreme Court decision… which outlawed restrictive covenants in 1948"

Miss Beavers is also a member of Sigma Gamma Rho sorority, one of the four African-American sororities. Also in 1976, she was posthumously inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame.

Sadly, Louise Beavers died of a heart attack in Hollywood, California on October 26, 1962, EXACTLY a decade to the DAY, as her famed counterpart Hattie McDaniel! Miss Beavers was 60. Louise Beavers was buried (though unmarked) alongside her mother E. Monroe Beavers, at Los Angeles' Evergreen Cemetery.

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Hai Ya!

FIVE (DEADLY) VENOMS-(WU DU)-Shaw Brothers-1978- A dying Kung-Fu teacher of “The Poison Clan” instructs his last, young student to seek out a lost treasure and the clan’s five students all with different reptile names (Centipede, Snake, Scorpion, Lizard and Toad). Three of them are corrupt villains. One is a kind of crooked police officer who reforms and the last one’s identity isn’t revealed till the end.

This is a classic in the typical Shaw Brothers Hong Kong based martial arts genre. It’s got action, style and funny dubbing but when one character declares: “Poison clan rocks the world”, I suspect some of the dubbing has been updated. The five principal actors (Sheng Chiang, Philip Kwok, Feng Lu, Chien Sun, Meng Lo) made many other movies together including RETURN OF THE FIVE DEADLY VENOMS (AKA: MORTAL COMBAT) that I actually like better!

Writer/ director Cheh Chang (who died in June of 2002) made both and dozens others and is quite a legend in the Hong Kong film industry!

The White Gorilla

THE WHITE GORILLA-1945-They don’t make them like this anymore! Thank God!!! This movie was so cheaply thrown together that much of it uses portions of a 1927 silent movie (PERILS OF THE JUNGLE) as a flashback!

Stuntman and sometimes actor Crash Corrigan stars as Steve Collins, a jungle guide who returns alone from an expedition and relates “the chilling tale” of his encounter with a mysterious and legendary White Gorilla (also played by Crash), a simian outcast intent on killing anyone in his path.The silent movie flashback is incorporated when Collins tells of his expedition’s fate and his run-in with The Hairy White One. Collins watches mostly from a tree or behind bushes as two white guys in the jungle battle Tiger Men, lions and marauding elephants. There’s also a young white kid who rides on the trunk of an elephant and his mother who pretends she’s crazy to fool the locals into leaving her alone.



This footage in it’s original form may have been entertaining but here it’s pretty laughable especially with Crash’s inane narration.He is relating all this to a jungle trader name Morgan and two other guys. Half way through his tale Morgan’s daughter Ruth (Lorraine Miller) shows up and we get the skinny on The White Gorilla who also battles a regular black gorilla (though both are the usual phony man in an ape suit types). Eventually Collins kills his hairy nemesis when it kidnaps Ruth and we are told the cast of the other film is all dead.



I once saw an episode of the TV show VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA that re-used a black and white scene from the first season in a later color episode but using a silent movie from 1927 in a film 18 years later is something Jerry Warren wouldn’t even have the audacity to do!

It’s a pretty funny concept but I wonder if any of the audience in 1945 knew or cared? The other hysterical thing is the credits. After the title Corrigan & Miller’s names are show and the words “ and an all star cast”! That’s what it says in the opening credits!

Stuntman Ray “Crash” Corrigan began his film career in 1934 as Johnny Weismuller’s double in TARZAN AND HIS MATE. In 1936 he starred in the serial UNDERSEA KINGDOM (Lon Chaney Jr. is one of the bad guys) and a series of “Tucson Smith” westerns but mostly he played apes and other creatures. He was in the similarly themed WHITE PONGO the same year as TWG. His last appearance was as the space monster in IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE. He died in 1976.

Lorraine Miller was later in William Castle’s rarely screened IT’S A SMALL WORLD. Director Harry L. Fraser wrote I ACCUSE MY PARENTS and the Batman and Captain America serials among other stuff! He was also second unit director on some films including Bert I. Gordon’s THE CYCLOPS and THE BRIDE AND THE BEAST (which involves gorillas, reincarnation, was written by Ed Wood Jr. and interestingly enough was directed by Adrian Weiss who edited TWG). His directing career, which started in 1925, was mostly undistinguished but his last was CHAINED FOR LIFE (starring real life Siamese twins The Hilton Sisters). Calling him THE WHITE GORILLA’s director is being kind. He should be the “put to together-er”.


One last note: TWG’s musical score is credited to Lee Zahler who is also credited with the music to PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE.

One last final note: An actor in the silent footage named Frank Merrill also played Tarzan in late ‘20’s pre-sound era.THE WHITE GORILLA is crazy stuff.

"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one"-Albert Einstein

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A Silent Film That Was Never Remade..

THE UNKNOWN-MGM-1927- Here’s a neglected Lon Chaney-Tod Browning collaboration set in a circus (a familiar setting for the duo) co-starring a very young Joan Crawford. Yes! Mommie Dearest herself in a movie with The Man Of A Thousand Faces!

Chaney plays Alonzo, the armless wonder, who performs daring stunts using only his feet. Crawford is Nanon, the circus owner's daughter who can’t stand having a man touch her. Naturally, she feels quite comfortable around Alonzo because he has no hands. Secretly Alonzo is in love with her and keeps believing that someday she will be his. But strong man Malador (Norman Kerry) also has set his sights on Nanon. To make sure Nanon will reject Malador’s advances Alonzo encourages his buddy to embrace the girl every chance he gets. Needless to say this sends Nanon into a rage. Meanwhile it is revealed that Alonzo is not exactly the arm-less wonder he appears to be. As a matter of fact, he has two very good arms, although one of his hands supports two thumbs! He keeps his limbs strapped to his sides when performing. One night the circus owner discovers his secret and Alonzo kills him. His daughter sees the murder committed by a man with double thumbs but does not see the murderer’s face. Alonzo doesn’t come under suspicion for obvious reasons. While Alonzo feels that Nanon would understand were he to reveal his secret to her, she might not be so forgiving to learn that he is the twin thumb killer who choked her old man to death. So, with some fiendish encouragement from his little assistant Cojo, he decides to make the supreme sacrifice. He blackmails a doctor into amputating both his arms! However, while Alonzo is recuperating from the surgery, Nanon and Malador are falling in love. By the time the now real armless wonder returns to the circus the two lovebirds are ready to get married. This sends him into an insane fervor and during one of his strong man stunts Alonzo tries to have Malador torn in half by two horses! Nanon risks her own life to save the one she loves and Alonzo realizing the woman he loves is in danger pushes her away and is stomped to death by one of the wild horses.

While THE UNKNOWN might be tossed away as just another love triangle melodrama, Chaney proves once again why he is probably the century’s most unique actor. Here as Alonzo he uses his feet to manipulate rifles, knives, cigarettes and even a guitar. His portrayal as the love torn performer is conveyed almost entirely by facial expressions. The standout scene being Alonzo’s laughing fit break down on learning of Nanon’s impending marriage.

Joan Crawford of course went on to stardom in the thirties and infamy in the seventies when her adopted daughter Christina wrote a tell all book about her. Norman Kerry was a popular leading man (and villain) in silents and played the romantic hero to Chaney’s unforgettable Erik in THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1925).

THE UNKNOWN was one of a dozen collaborations Chaney had with director Tod Browning (the lost film LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT was made the same year) beginning in 1919. Browning is credited with THE UNKNOWN’S story while the screen writing is by Waldemar Young who wrote some of the greatest Browning-Chaney collaborations including LONDON, THE UNHOLY THREE and the incredible WEST OF ZANZIBAR (1928).

THE UNKNOWN is an excellent starting point for those familiar only with Chaney as The Phantom or The Hunchback. Dialogue? We don’t need no stinkin’ dialogue! For more on Chaney, the man, his life and films check out Jon C. Mirsalis’ excellent LON CHANEY HOMEPAGE.

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