Flights and Frights - Oct 29, 2021 – Friday Video Distractions

 

   Another week gone?! Another Friday arrived? Nearly October's end, too! Horrors!
     I'll be ending the piece with a Halloween-specific item for this final October weekend. Monday's sun will rise over the first day of November, which for me brings the first hint of the end-of-year holiday season. Oh, the official launch of that will be off on the 25th, with the start of the extended Thanksgiving weekend here in the states. For me, that's part of a "holiday feel" block that will run till New Year's Day. I expect I'll be hitting those themes again and again in the remaining weeks of 2021, though. No need to rush it. Still, a hint of

something in the wind. The leaves have finally begun turning hereabouts.
     But that's Out There! For us and now, though, to the screens!
     I wanted to squeeze a reminder to myself and any others who might be interested that this weekend's the end of the HBO Max run for Sopranos prequel film The Many Saints of Newark. Come Monday it'll be gone, not back for months.
     Some shows have been wrapping their seasons recently, others just beginning.
     On Hulu, Only Murders In the Building wrapped its 10-episode first season (it was renewed for a second back in September), remaining engaging throughout, even as it layered in plot and character complications. The creation of Steve Martin (one of the leads) and John Hoffman, it centers on a cross-generational trio of misfits who bond initially over being fans of a true crime podcast, and then as people who live in the same, storied, New York City building -- and are confronted with the increasingly suspicious death of a fellow tenant. I'd given the intro to the series back in my September 3rd piece.
     Over on Paramount+, the second, ten-episode season of the animated Star Trek: Lower Decks finished back on October 14th. The series managed to deliver an action comedy that both pokes fun at the overall universe, lore and tropes of the extended, 55 year-old, Star Trek universe, while still very much being an ongoing part of it.
     In a similar spirit of expanding the universe of Trek, this week (also on Paramount+) saw the launch of a new, animated (cgi style) adventure piece that's co-branded with kid's entertainment brand Nickelodeon. It's Star Trek: Prodigy. It centers on a diverse group of young people of various species who will be discovering the highest ideals embodied by Star Fleet. The series launched with the first two, 23-minute each, back-to-back episodes, which assemble the main players and begin the hopeful arc. It's an all-ages affair, specifically targeted to be welcoming to kids. Here's the trailer:

     I watched this very shortly after it appeared 3am local time here on the East Coast - I keep odd hours when I can, and even when I really can't - and was generally pleased with the performances, pace and themes, all taken in with the understanding that it's intended to draw in a younger audience. Voice talent here - the adult end of it - includes John Noble and Kate Mulgrew, which added to the fun.
     Recorded Thursday night while I was sleeping (knocked out early, waking back up for a block early Friday), I still have yet to get to the third season finale for FX's vampire mockumentary What We Do In the Shadows, which is also available over on Hulu.
     Another good season finale, setting up a new, scattered pairing for at least the start of season four.
     Sunday, on Halloween, BBC America (here in the states -- guess where in the U.K.) we'll

see the launch of the latest, very abbreviated season of Doctor Who. This constitutes the third - and final - season for this, the official thirteenth incarnation of the British science fantasy hero, first introduced to our world back in 1963. Very much a composite creature of multiple generations of actors and writers, The Doctor has come to be a hero who seeks to protect those who need protecting, and to try to be a force for reason and understanding. A virtually immortal being with the means of traversing space and time, who (generally) manages to retain something of a child's aspect - occasionally a grumpy one, but generally that of wonder and acceptance. A two-hearted hero that doesn't travel with a gun, but most often with a sonic screwdriver -- the ultimate multi-tool. As with most fans, I've occasionally gotten cranky as writers have repeatedly emphasized heart over head resolutions - and I suspect I will have such moments of pique in the future, too - but I've come to embrace the fantasy, heart and ideals they've generally striven for.
 

    The current Doctor, played by Jodie Whitaker, and current showrunner Chris Chibnall, are doing these, six, weekly episodes from October 31st through December 5th, then will have three specials in 2022, the final one being somewhere in the Autumn (part of the BBC's 100th anniversary celebration) where this Doctor will depart and the new, as-yet-unnamed Doctor will debut as they regenerate. As I understand it, these six, 2021 episodes will flow one into the other as a six-part story, titled Flux, as opposed to the modern era (the show was relaunched, after a long hiatus, back in 2005) convention of having each one (or occasionally a pair) be stand-alone adventures.
     So, this Sunday will launch the last, concentrated run of Doctor Who we'll be seeing until sometime in 2023 - the Doctor's 60th anniversary, when once and future showrunner Russell T. Davies (who presided over the relaunched series in 2005, and stayed through 2010, when the second modern Doctor ,David Tennant, also departed the series.)
     Let's not rush things, though. Here's the trailer for this 6-episode season, overall titled Flux, beginning Sunday. (Programming note: BBC America will be debuting the first episode in a simulcast with the BBC, where it's five hours later than here on the East Coast, so it'll first be airing Sunday afternoon for us. An expanded version will air for us 8PM Sunday, too.

     Before getting to this week's final item, for those who have Turner Classic Movies, I'll mention what seasonal items they have coming this weekend - at least the ones I consider highlights - starting tonight (all times Eastern):
   Friday:
     8PM The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) (I keep coming back around to this, don't I? Well, this time it's TCM that's done it.)
     10PM Night of the Living Dead (1968)  (This may be the cleaned-up/restored/enhanced version available through Criterion and over on HBO Max. The film's also available free on Tubi.)
   Saturday:
     Midnight Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
     8:15 AM Chamber of Horrors (1966)  A somewhat gimmicky, revenge picture. The trailer (seen here in a moment) is a sad joke, played out so long it may have been a template for too many Saturday Night Live sketches, but I remember the film itself as being entertaining.

     2:45 PM The Haunting (1963)
     4:45 PM The Tomb of Ligeia (1964/5 depending on where)  Okay, it's one of those Roger Corman, pseudo-Poe films, but isn't that really enough? Starring Vincent Price, though over the years I've found out that that was at the insistence of the investors. Corman wanted a younger, more contemporarily handsome actor, like Richard Chamberlain, as the part was supposed to be a man around 25-30. Price was in his mid-fifties.
     Looking back on it, screenwriter Robert Towne doubled down on this thinking, perhaps a tad unkindly to the star.

     He said the film "...was a little dull. I think it would have been better if it had been with a man who didn't look like a necrophiliac to begin with... I love Vincent. He's very sweet. But, going in, you suspect that Vincent could bang cats, chickens, girls, dogs, everything. You just feel that necrophilia might be one of his Basic Things. I'd felt the role called for an almost unnaturally handsome guy who the second wife could easily fall in love with. There should also be a sense of taboo about the close tie he had with his first wife – as though it was something incestuous, two halves of the same person."

      6:15 PM The Fly (1958) Once again with Vincent Price, albeit in a supporting role.
      8 PM Frankenstein (1931)
      9:30 PM Young Frankenstein (1974)
      Midnight Cat People (1942) The first of a pair of Jacques Tournier-directed, feline fright flicks, being followed by...
     Sunday
     1:22 AM The Leopard Man (1943)
     4:30 AM Carnival of Souls (1962) -- yeah, it's a low-budget piece that IMHO opinion goes on half-again longer than it should, but some have elevated this to cult film status. Still, here at 4:30 on a Sunday morning, it may be just what you need to go back to sleep.

    6 AM  Phantom of the Rue Morgue (1954) Another Poe adaptation, though this one of a detective story. Possible points of interest include Karl Malden, Steve Forrest (one of those "I know the face" actors for many of us), and even future talk and game show overlord Merv Griffin. Also there's some modest amusement in seeing how some scenes were filmed, as this was a (largely failed) attempt to recapture the previous year's lightning in a bottle success with House of Wax -- which is to say this was originally filmed and shown as a 3D film.

     7:30 AM Macabre (1958) Noted almost exclusively as a William Castle film, this being the one where the promotional gimmick was a $1000 life insurance policy from Lloyds of London for any audience member who died of fright while watching the film. Beyond that, it may be worth noting that Jim (Mr. Magoo/Thurston Howell III) Backus plays the police chief, and Ellen (Grandma Walton) Corby has a supporting player role. It's not a bad, Peyton Place-ish mystery overall, with some themes (including child abduction and live burial) that could be disturbing. Another money-maker for Castle and his investors, as a budget of $90K saw $5 million in box office come back.
     8:45 AM White Zombie (1932)
     3:30 PM The Pit and the Pendulum (1961) Another Roger Corman-directed Poe adaptation starring Vincent Price, this one with the screenplay by Richard Matheson, who had gotten firmly on the genre map back in 1954 with his novel I Am Legend, and whose story work has been adapted repeatedly to screens big and small.
  

   5 PM Curse of the Demon (1958) AKA Night of the Demon (its original title for British release the year earlier.) Fortunately, despite the U.S. release title, this appears to be the full, 95-minute original version, not the chopped-down for the ADD Yanks 83-minute version. Anyway, it's a very effective tale of witchcraft, starring Dana Andrews as a science-based debunker of the supernatural who has to adapt on the fly to accepting the real thing in a race for his life. Ana adaptation of M.R. James' 1911 story "Casting the Runes." Somewhat infamously, the producer (former child actor, and general adult wheeler-dealer Hal E. Chester) overruled the collective objections of the writer, the director, and the film's leading man (Andrews) by having a special effects creature, the titular Demon, created, filmed and inserted into the film both very early on and at the end of the film. On the bright side, it was a well-crafted creature and effects sequence for the time, but I certainly understand the objections, in wanting to leave the source of the horror unseen. The creature's become the go-to image when the film comes up, which, again, is that mix of understandable and unfortunate. This is the film I always think of whenever someone is passing a paper to me, as that's a critical mechanic in the story.
     8PM Psycho (1960)  Well, hey... you have to have seen this at least once.
     After that, I guess, go to bed. The true horror waits mere hours away, with the start of Monday!
 
     Forty five years ago tonight – October 29, 1976 – ABC gave Paul Lynde a broadcast hour for a holiday special. ABC knew he was wildly popular, but two attempts to fit him in sitcoms had failed terribly, so they were struggling with how to best showcase him, and to otherwise help keep him busy with something. This special – so very much a thing of its time – was all in all a much better move. Oh, it’s campy, but there’s a greater expectation and so a higher tolerance for that sort of thing in this format.
      With a bizarre array of guests – including Margaret “Wicked Witch of the West” Hamilton, Billie “Witchiepoo” Hayes, Tim Conway, Florence Henderson, Billy Barty, Betty White, Kiss, and Donny & Marie Osmond - It’s The Paul Lynde Holiday Special. In so many ways a creature of its time.  Running 50m 37s in this YouTube video.

I've no idea what any of this will look like to a modern, substantially-under-50 audience, there's much to date it, most of all perhaps the inclusion of Roz Kelly. Roz was modestly famous at the time for playing Pinky Tuscadero, girlfriend of Fonzie (Henry Winkler) on the then highly popular Happy Days. Moreover, how much currency the likes of "Witchiepoo"will have is also a mystery to me, as I've no idea if Sid and Martgy Kroft's H.R. Puf'n'stuff has gotten much syndication in the past forty or so years. (The show itself was a single season, in the fall of 1969, and spawned a musical film the following year.) Aside from that, Donny and Marie? Disco?
     Hey, it's a Friday! I'd suggest considering taking this with a strong drink - just the way Paul did!
     Here, comedy writing legend Bruce Vilanch  - who was part of the writing team for the special - reminisces about it in a brief section from his interview for the Archive of American Television.

     And that's plenty for this week. I'll think about November once I'm a step or two closer! Take care, and may you only get the best candy! - Mike