Labyrinth!

The Jim Henson operation was riding high in 1986 when Labyrinth hit the big screens. This was actually their second big fantasy film (if you don't count The Muppets), following the critical acclaim of The Dark Crystal. This time Jim Henson wanted to blend puppets and people in a believable way in an unbelievable story. We have a modern fairy tale with many of the classic elements, a story about a young woman coming into her adulthood and resisting the rigors of that adulthood. That friction creates stress in her home and eventually danger for her baby half-brother, a child she loves yet also resents. 

The young woman is portrayed by Jennifer Connelly in a very early role. The late and great David Bowie is the star of this vehicle, lending his peculiar talents to a role as the Goblin King. Other than the baby brother played by artists Brian Froud's young son, the rest of the cast are puppets of various and sundry kind. I like much if not most of the movie a great deal, but it gets too cute by half in places. 

The Labyrinth is a failed opportunity. That failure was due to the fact that movies like this need to make money and to do that they need a happy ending. While one could have logically given Labyrinth a satisfying ending, it wasn't what one might have deemed necessarily happy. The young girl has an exotic experience in which she must learn to put away her childhood and grasp the powers and responsibilities of adulthood. She has been resistant for a host of reasons, not the least of which is unresolved grief for her mother, and jealousy of her little brother. She feels shoved out of the warm tidy nest and wants to stay. But that cannot be, and through trial and tribulation she learns better. 

That's a pretty good solution to a fairy tale narrative, but it doesn't ring with huzzahs. To get that Henson sticks on an abominable ending which to some degree undermines the hard-won lessons of the film. He wanted everyone to smile as they left the theater, and he should have trusted his work to simply fulfill them. Because of this last-minute lack of confidence in his narrative and in his audience, he allows the story to feel incomplete. 

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The Dark Crystal!

The Dark Crystal from 1982 is a darn good fantasy movie from the folks who gave us The Muppets. That technology is used for good to tell the story of a strange world which has been dominated for a millennia by an evil species called the "Skekis" and an equally good species called the "Mystics". A great crystal powers the system and now it's time for a great convergence in the heavens and things are about to change. The agent of that change will be a "Gelfling" named Jen who along with his love Kira quest to find the "Shard", a broken off piece of the titular crystal. The movie then is a quest with our little heroes trying to live long enough in a very strange world to keep it from ending. 

My impression is that Jim Henson wanted to do something a bit edgier after more than a few years of The Muppet Show and well over a decade on Sesame Street. You can't be scary in those places, only gleeful and hopeful. This is a darker story with a potentially less happy ending. To get the look he wanted, Henson turned to Brian Froud, a British artist who was very comfortable with fantasy of a darker sort. Henson both performed and directed this movie, sharing duties with Frank Oz who did likewise. 

If the movie can be faulted on any front, it's that it's a bit spare on story. Jen is given his mission at the very beginning, finds the Shard almost immediately, meets Kira pretty soon thereafter and then it's just waiting for the finale. A few more red herrings might've beefed it up a bit, but I guess for a movie like this, such diversions were extremely labor intensive. One fun character in the movie is Aughra, a crone who monitors the heavens and has possession of the Shard. Things really pop when she shows up, the characterization of her by Frank Oz is delightful. 

The movie did well enough in the marketplace and is fondly remembered. It didn't generate a sequel though talk of such has been ongoing for decades. A prequel was eventually produced for NexFlix. There have been novels and comics, so The Dark Crystal hasn't been forgotten. In fact, it might be said it struck a chord. But Henson and company were not done with fantasy films, but that would have to wait a few more years with a little project called Labyrinth. More on that tomorrow. 

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Fafhrd And The Gray Mouser - Book Three!

This volume offers up some of the best of the Fafhrd and Gray Mouser canon, mature stories rich with the distinctive characters we identify with Leiber's creations.

The Cloud of Hate" (1963 Fantastic)

This is spiffy yarn which has a cult of Lankhmar send out a miasmic mist which enshrouds various and sundry folks of a violent nature (or not) and compels them to murder, sometimes very specific ones. The duo confront some of these thralls and battle their way through.
 

"Lean Times in Lankhmar" (1959 Fantastic)

This just might be the very best story of the whole lot. Fafhrd and Mouser split up and the former finds religion and the latter finds excess. Both really we see fall head over heels into new pursuits, compulsions which are not good for anyone. Fahrd's faith is really zealotry and Mouser's dissolution with food and drink demolishes his skills. Eventually they are of course drawn back together in what is arguably the funniest finale in all of sword and sorcery storytelling. 

"Their Mistress, the Sea" (1968 first publication)

After the former story they go to sea to find renew themselves as proper heroes and whatnot. 

"When the Sea-King's Away" (1960 Fantastic and Swords and Sorcery, ed. L. Sprague DeCamp and The Mighty Barbarians)

The duo find weird romance beneath the waves in a strange and dangerous lair beneath the waves. This is a stunner as they peculiar and compelling women they encounter are nearly the death of our heroes. Truly a memorable romp. 

"The Wrong Branch" (1968 first publication)

Our heroes lose their way in a cave and end up on Earth. Newhon is nowhere to be found.

Adept's Gambit (1947 Night's Black Agents collection)

One of the truly oddball Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories is set on Earth in the past around the city of Tyre. This story was in actuality an attempt by Leiber to fit Fafhrd and Mouse into the Lovecraftian cycle as a recent rediscovery of the the original text amply demonstrates. After adjusting to the world and details of Newhon to find our heroes on the historical Earth with associated references is very weird, almost jarring. But traveling to other dimensions is well within their wheelhouse. The story sets our heroes on a proper quest after magical objects. It's a strange one indeed.

From this collection it's clear that the canon of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser came together with some effort. Fitting in all the various aspects was a chore, especially the famous "Adpet's Gambit". The stories went a different direction after than one and trying to make it fit in after the fact without substantial revision seems noble but ultimately, I'm not sure it comes off as it ought. Part of me wishes Leiber had revised it as a more straightforward Newhonian adventure.

More Swords to come.

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Den - Muvovem!

Rich Corben heads back to the weird and wild territory of Neverwhere in this second volume of Den from Dark Horse. The actual title of the book is Den Volume 2 - Muvovem, referring to another land which is adjacent to Neverwhere. The story opens with Den and Kath fully dressed and looking wildly out of place. In many ways their nudity was a key feature and because Kath has grown a bit weary of wandering around naked all the time and being treated like a sex object, she's hankering to return to Earth. And opportunity to head home becomes available when the leader of the sky city they have taken refuge in seeks the "Nar Stones", the basis for the magic sceptre the Queen was so desperate to capture and use in the first volume. They get the stones and both Den and Kath head home. 

But things haven't been all that cut and dried, a woman from a distant city named Muuta has her eye on Den and has been trying her best to bed him. When he rejects her, she heads home much to the chagrin of her supposed fiance Tarn, the grandson of Zeg the leader and son of Scon. When Den leaves, Scon sees opportunity and Tarn gets himself lost seeking Muvovum to implore Muuta to come back. And that's when the real trouble starts. Dramites are human sized creatures who function much like ants and there are uncounted numbers of them. They destroy everything and everyone in the path. 

I found the adventure a bit less incendiary than the first volume, but there are plenty of great Corben pages to savor as the story rumbles along. In addition, we get an introduction by Walt Simonson, an epilogue by Jose Villarrubia, a lengthy discussion of Corben's earliest work by Dana Marie Andra, and a vintage introduction by Maurice Horn for the 1983 edition. There's some great additional art by Corben and sweetest of all, a map of Neverwhere. 

Next up is Children of the Fire. 

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The Cinematic Voyages Of Sinbad!

Ray Harryhausen was a dynamic film creator, but it was the work on Sinbad the Sailor in bright color and stunning "Dynarama" which made him something of a household name, at least in households which harbored at least one "Monster Kid" reared on Forry Ackerman's Famous Monsters of Filmland. 

I've seen The 7th Voyage of Sinbad many many times, but always in the context of the fact it's an important Ray Harryhausen movie. This time I was watching it as part of a long part of films drawn from the mythology of The Arabian Nights. So I have to say the story was more a focus than the techniques of filming for the very first time, which sadly should be the way one watches any movie.

I will assume everyone has seen this movie, so this is a spoiler rich overview. I've never been particularly warm to Kerwin Mathews as Sinbad, but this time his performance didn't annoy as much as it has in the past. I was more plugged into Sinbad as a character and frankly he's quite the piece of work. Head over heels in love with his Princess (Kathryn Grant) he puts everyone else around him at extreme risk and frankly their lives are less important to him than hers or his own.

Beyond the striking creations of the Cyclops and the Dragon, this movie offers up a fantastic villain in Torin Thatcher as Sokurah the Magician. His grasping for power is what motivates all the action in the movie and his schemes put all the characters into extreme danger, but it's readily evident he cares not a whit for anyone. Even his own personal safety is secondary to his getting and keeping power, particularly the magic lamp which will give him control of a very youthful-looking genie.

The scene pictured above of Kerwin Mathews at the wheel of his ship was mentioned in some of the extra material I watched and he said he was incredibly ill on the day this scene was shot and he stepped out of his sickbed for this one scene only. It has become a signature image for the movie thanks to the comic and the soundtrack album which both sport it as a cover.

Marvel adapted the story, combining in one vigorous image by Gil Kane and Joe Sinnott Sinbad, his Princess, the Cyclops and the deadly sword-swinging skeletons. 

(Kathryn Grant and an admirer.)

Years later the team of Schneer and Harryhausen struck again. 

The Golden Voyage of Sinbad from 1973 is a diamond in the rough when it comes to Sinbad lore. John Phillip Law is my favorite of the three Captains Sinbad who appeared in the Schneer-Harryhausen fantasy films. He feels like a rogue who could be a hero.

He comes across as more legitimate visually and tonally than does Kerwin Mathews and both of them are much better actors than the later Patrick Wayne. Teamed with the exotic and attractive Caroline Munro and you have a delightful pair of protagonists to watch as the adventures unfold.

The villain of this one is Prince Koura played wonderfully by Tom Baker. Reports say that his performance here convinced the Doctor Who folks to give him that gig which made him a superstar among fantasy fans. If he'd never been Who, he'd still have been one of the best villains in a Sinbad movie. The way his magical efforts keep draining him as the movie progresses is remarkable to watch. I was also struck by the loyalty his man has for him throughout the film, which never waivers. Koura must have some characteristic which instills such loyalty, making him a worthy opponent.

The battle with the goddess Kali is among my favorite Harryhausen moments in any of his films and works beautifully in this one. I think I might like it a little better than the famous skeleton fight from Jason and the Argonauts...a little. The Centuar and the Griffin are fine as they go, but lack the visual impact of earlier Harryhausen beasts like the Cyclops or the Hydra.

This movie got the full adaptation treatment from Mighty Marvel in two issues of the science fiction comic Worlds Unknown. Clearly the folks at Marvel saw potential in crossing over these stories with fans of Conan.

And for fans of the lovely dames here you go. First with other castmates and then by her lovely lonesome.

(Caroline Munro)

But Harryhausen and company were not finished. 

Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger is a diverting adventure tale with lots of delightful fantasy elements blended into it. It's hurt from the get-go by its lead Patrick Wayne. Sadly, Wayne is simply not up to the role and while perfectly handsome enough lacks the acting chops to hang with pros like Patrick Troughton and Margaret Whiting. Fortunately for Wayne he has relative novices alongside him such as pretty Taryn Power and a lovely up and coming Jane Seymour. Both are absolutely lovely to look at, but their acting in this vehicle at least is pretty indifferent.

On the Harryhausen special effects front, this is a movie with strengths and weaknesses, but mostly lost opportunities. The Minoton which dominates a lot of screen time marches all the way to the top fo the world with the villains but then gets crushed moments before a potentially awesome battle with the Troglodyte who ends up fighting a Sabretooth tiger instead. Why not have both. Harryhausen has said this movie was a bit of a rush job, in response to good ticket sales on The Golden Voyage several years before and frankly it shows.

The show even fails to my mind to make full use of such awe-inspiring sights as Petra which is only glimpsed in the early parts of the movie. Apparently none of the main actors went to the location and that really damages the sense of wonder which could have been achieved there.

The story itself seems a patch job, too similar in many respects to the earlier Golden Voyage. This is the only one of the three Sinbad movies I got to see in the theater and I remember being diverted by it at the time. But having seen the others, the deficiencies in this entry are sadly all too apparent.

But the ladies were beauteous! Behold!

(Jane Seymour)

(Taryn Power)

Marvel neglected to offer up any adaptation of this movie. It was left to the generically named "General Publishing" outfit to fill the bill with a version drawn by Ian Gibson. For more on the Sinbad adaptations check out this highly informative article "The Seven Comics of Sinbad" at Darkworlds Quarterly. 

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Eerie Presents El Cid!

Here's a strange and weirdly wonderful tome featuring a strange sword and sorcery character from Warren Magazines named El Cid. He springs from the imagination of Gonzalo Mayo and Budd Lewis. He was concocted when Warren ran out of handy-dandy Esteban Maroto stories about a guy named Dax. He was Warren's real last stab at putting out some serial sword and sorcery. 

This Sanjulian painting which originally appeared on Eerie #66 doesn't really capture the tone of Mayo's rendition which is quite a bit more civilized, at least in the beginning. It's a fantastic painting nonetheless. 

The collection begins with "El Cid and The Troll", which it turns out has something of a twist ending. We are treated in this one to terrible images of giant and repellant trolls. Written by Budd Lewis. 

"El Cid and the Seven Curses" is a lush tale not unlike the Odyssey in which our hero slays a wizard to puts these curses on which play out in extremely violent ways. But our hero finds love even in the middle of all the slaughter. This is the longest of the tales and is told in two parts. Story by Bill DuBay and Budd Lewis. 

"El Cid and the Vision" pits the hero against a doughty Black Knight. But it turns out that Knight was merely a hallucination. Later Cid learns why he had the vision when a real Knight shows up. Story by Gerry Boudreau and Budd Lewis. 

"The Lady and the Lie" pits the Cid against two demons named Az and Ahriman -- the Lust and the Lie. These two plot to bring down the noble Cid with all manner of nubile temptations. The Boudreau and Lewis team returns. 

"The Emir of Aragon" shows the Cid entranced by a woman named Arias who in actuality serves the Emir of Aragon. Many times she schemes against the Cid all the while entrancing him with her body. Jeff Rovin and Budd Lewis team to write this one. 

"Crooked Mouth" shows up the Cid as he demonstrates both mercy and wisdom by welcoming Moors into his home. An old man is angered by this and goes to an old enemy of the Cid's named "Crooked Mouth" who uses magic to stop his rival. Written by Budd Lewis. 

"Demon's Treasure" is the tale about a man who wakes a wizard when he seeks treasure. That wizard corrupts the kingdom and it's up to the Cid to bring end his misrule. Budd Lewis finishes his run on the hero. 

(Berni Wrightson)

The adventures of El Cid feature some outstanding Gonzalo Mayo artwork. The work is lush and entrancing, if at times a tad difficult to decode. All of Mayo's women are full-bodied and quite bodacious. 

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