Monster Kid Radio #468 - Rod Barnett and The War of the Planets!

Every now and then I am a guest on other people's podcasts. I've been on Derek Koch's Monster Kid Radio a few times and last week I was back to discuss another of Antonio Margheriti's Gamma One films. We had a good time and I think you'll enjoy listening in. 

Beyond Naschy #30 - THE MAN CALLED NOON (1973)

Westerns are not the most frequent category of cinema covered on this podcast. In fact, this episode marks only the third one in the ten years we’ve been doing this! That might be considered strange when you know just how many fine examples of the genre were made in Spain employing Spanish actors and technicians. Because of the low costs of production many westerns were shot in the Spanish countryside and on the standing sets built for countless Italian movies including some American productions. The cleverest of filmmakers found ways to make those places look fresh and interesting. Such is true of THE MAN CALLED NOON (1973).

We discovered this film while digging into the credit listings of one of Paul Naschy’s most impressive female co-stars. The sight of Patty Shepard aiming a six-gun while dressed in an all black cowboy ensemble encouraged our curiosity and the online plot synopsis grabbed our attention. Based on a Louis L’amour novel? Directed by the guy who made THE ITALIAN JOB (1969)? The lead is played by Rambo’s boss? And the luminous Rosanna Schiaffino is in it as well? How could we resist?

The mystery at the heart of this twisty tale is unraveled slowly over the film’s running time so we do our best to keep spoilers out of our discussion. There are so many reveals and discoveries along the way that we thought it would be best to let new viewers find them as the story plays out. This is a movie with a lot of interesting characters and learning about them is more than half the fun.

We don’t have any new emails or messages to respond to in this episode so if you have any comments for the show we can be reached at naschycast@gmail.com or over on the FaceBook page. We’d be thrilled to hear from you!

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Italian Western Poster Art

Long live the Spaghetti West! 

YouTube - TERRY AND THE PIRATES (1940)

For those that read my previous post and were curious about this serial, here is a way to check it out on YouTube. It's not one of the best of its type but it can be fun if approached in the right frame of mind. 

Enjoy! 

Serial Time - TERRY AND THE PIRATES (1940)

At least once a year I dive into an old serial that I've never seen before. There's still quite a number out there that I haven’t watched and after stumbling across an illegal copy of the Columbia serial Terry and the Pirates (1940) in a stack of DVD-Rs, it got shifted to the top of the ‘watch’ pile.

This is an adaptation of the Milton Caniff comic strip of the same name. I don't know anything about the strip so I can't tell you if this is a serial that wraps itself around its subject matter effectively as an adaptation or whether it takes the basic idea or the characters of the source material and kind of shoves them into the serial format. I do know from the Wikipedia entry about this production that Mr. Caniff was not pleased. He is quoted from his autobiography as saying “ I saw the first chapter and walked out screaming.”

Regardless I'm three chapters in to Terry and the Pirates and so far, it's not too bad. It's not great but it's not an embarrassment and therefore it hits that sweet spot that I need classic cereals to land in. It also has the classic family structure that for me was cemented into place by the Jonny Quest cartoon series of the 1960s. You have the scientific father, the young son striving to be just as incredible as his dad and the macho badass pseudo father who is also the constant companion and protector of the young boy. If they had a dog you just might as well call it the Quest Family Adventures.

The most interesting thing so far is that the father character has proven to be a very action-oriented character. He has not been the kind of weak lamb scientist who has to be saved by the strong protector character or by the actions of his overly energetic son. Dr. Lee has often initiated fisticuffs and other types of violence when the villains have threatened him in some way. This is a nice switch from this type of character normally being a kind of male Damsel in Distress. But I have to say I was fairly annoyed by the serial until the third chapter because of the characterization of Terry. His incredibly irritating optimism and giant toothy smile served just to get on my nerves most of the time. That is until he became a take-charge ass-kicker in the third chapter and suddenly turned me around on him and the whole serial. Terry was involved in an extended fistfight that was a perfect example of the kind of sequence these short chapters were built to showcase. If he stays in this mode for the remainder of the run I'm going to turn into a major fan.

I think I also need to track down some of the comic strips see how they compare to this adventure on screen. Certainly, Milton Caniff deserves to have his creation evaluated from an example of his actual work.

Space:1999 Inspired Short Film

Pretty funny and very short. 

The Bloody Pit #102 - X THE UNKNOWN (1956)

Although best known for their gothic horror films, Hammer made movies in many different genres. Before striking gold with their first Frankenstein film in 1957 they produced a trio of science fiction adventures that were big moneymakers and, in a different world, might have made Hammer into a very different studio. Their adaptation of Nigel Kneale’s 1953 television serial as THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT (1955) left them wanting more such tales. But Kneale was wouldn’t allow the use of his character for a story he had not penned so they pushed forward with an original script of their own. First time scripter Jimmy Sangster stuck close to the basic template of the Quatermass film creating his own genius scientist who gets thrown into a terrifying encounter with a mysterious, unstoppable force. It’s a cracking good tale with a few surprising moments of gore for 1950’s sci-fi and enough spooky atmosphere for two movies.

Mark Maddox joins me to discuss X THE UNKNOWN (1956) and relate a few personal stories about his history with it. Here’s a hint - always accept an invitation to have dinner with Frazier Hines! We use an outline of the film’s plot to dig into the things that work and the things that don’t. We remark on the sometimes shockingly adult nature of the story’s choices with dead kids, randy nurses and melting faces being unexpected spices in the radioactive stew. We spend a little time on the impressive cast with attention paid to the amazing Leo McKern and Michael Ripper who gets to shout some fun threats at his soldier underlings. Mark is clear-eyed in his assessment of the film’s various special effects sequences and I lodge a few minor complaints about the first act’s pace and the script’s expository scientific babble. We do ramble off topic a few times – OK – several times! But we always link things back to the movie under the microscope. I promise.

If you have any comments or suggestions please write the podcast at thebloodypit@gmail.com and we’ll try to get you your thoughts on the next show Mark and I record in May. Thank you for listening!

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