The Phantom Empire!

This classic 1935 serial starring Gene Autry the singing cowboy in his movie lead debut is a exquisite blend of pulp elements.

The story briefly is that Autry and his band have a radio show called "Melody Ranch" which is broadcast live each day at 2 pm from the ranch of the Baxter family. It's an audience affair and folks have been showing up on the ranch to see the producton which strangely offers up live action for the radio show. Also on hand are Frankie and Betsy Baxter, two siblings who lead the Thunder Riders Club named after a mysterous troop of bizarre horsemen who sometimes "thunder" across the ranch's outlying areas. Also showing up are some scientists interested in radium deposits located on the ranch and possibly a lost underground world of Mu in which this radium can be found.


There's a lot going on and it never much stops once it kicks off, despite a four-hour length. The twelve chapter serial offers up a neat array of cliffhangers and gets everyone in the act. The action gets a bit more serious when Mr.Baxter, the owner of the ranch and the parent of the kids is murdered by the scientists. Autry is blamed for it and spends the balance of the movie running from the sheriff. He also ends up getting captured by the Thunder Riders who take him 25,000 feet below ground to the "super scientific city" of Murania which is ruled by the bitchy Queen Tika. Also on hand are some outrageous robots, possibly the worst ever filmed. These robots though apparently originally appeared in the movie Dancing Lady starring Clark Gable and Joan Crawford. This is apparently the movie in which Fred Astaire debuted. Sheesh! All that goodness and these robots. I'll confess they have a goofy charm, and fit right into the weirdness of this story.

Gene spends lots of time running around the ranch and Murania but ultimately with help from his comedic sidekick friends Oscar and Pete and the kids ends up not only defeating the scientists, clearing his name, but also utterly destroying Murania. There's lots more that happens, but it really needs to be seen.

This time watching it, though I had a thought about its utter weirdness. The way the story moves in and out of the radio drama and works in elements ostensibly from the real world into that drama makes me suspect at the end that the whole affair is to be understood by the audience as part of that overarching tale, part of the radio/movie story and not really what we thought happened to the real people. Like sideways bending of the fourth wall. It's a complicated notion, but the movie is really curious and this gives it an interesting tone.


I love this serial. I found it years ago I think on TV and soon after got a VHS copy. I've not yet gotten it on DVD, but since my dvd player is bust, it's a perfect time to dig out the old tapes and enjoy them again. I heartily recommend this movie to anyone who wants to have a good time watching a fun sci-fi/western/musical. It's perhaps unique in cinema, and a rollicking good time.

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The Prince Valiant Companion!

I'm only beginning to plow its great depths, but yesterday while the wife and I drove to Louisville to pick up our girls at the airport, I took the chance to stop off at The Great Escape, a place I haven't ventured to in many years. Back in the old days, I have great memories of getting to this store maybe once a year and finding some really off-the-wall comics. I built my Spirit collection there for instance.

Yesterday I found a really great bargain, The Definitive Prince Valiant Companion compiled by Brian M. Kane. There's great art from Hal Foster (of course), John Cullen Murphy, and the new guy Gary Gianni. There are interviews and some real treats. Some that I've already grokked are tryout pages by various artists for John Cullen Murphy's seat. There are pages by Gianni of course, Charles Vess, Tom Grindberg, and others.

It's a handsome volume and I got it on sale to boot. Great stuff!

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The Happiest Place On Earth!

My beloved daughters just returned from a great week at Walt Disney World in Orlando. They've wanted to go all their lives (actually my eldest has been as part of a school outing) and they got sick and tired of their lame parents not ever stepping up. So a year ago they planned it and began saving up money.

I'm very happy to report that things went great and they enjoyed their week immensely. They did all the things they wanted to do and more, squeezing in as much as they could and building a lasting memory for two sisters to share. Many people were stunned that sisters would willingly spend so much time together, but they really get along with each other well (these days at least) and they have found good solid support for each other in trying times.

Needless to say Mom and I are happy and pleased as we stayed and kept the mutts. But there were presents of course and I made out like a bandit, scoring a handsome Micky Mouse Jedi plush toy, a great looking item, and a wonderful collection of Walt Disney classic comics. The Walt Disney Treasures was a great series by Gemstone and I'd wish that publisher been able to do more, but now I have a great copy of some fantastic vintage Disney stories.

And my daughters have great memories and each other. I of course have them.

The happiest place on Earth is my house today, and every day really.

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The Shadow Books!

It was the DC comic book that first introduced me to The Shadow, but it was the Pyramid Book reprints which really gave me my first true flavor of the real thing. And those images created by Jim Steranko remain the model for my imagination even today.

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The Shadow Movie!

Having finished the 1940 serial (see below), I still felt a hankering for some more action, so I pulled out The Shadow movie from 1994 starring Alec Baldwin. This is a pretty decent actioner with good Shadow gimmicks for the time.

The story is pretty good with Shiwan Khan showing up in a bravura performance by John Lone who chews up the scenery perfectly as the meglomaniacal uber-villain. His plan to hypnotize all of New York City while getting his mitts on a protoype of an "atomic bomb" is perfectly dastardly. His sidekicks, a bunch of dimwitted Mongols are pretty good too.

Alec Baldwin is a bit debonair for the role, but when they hit him with the make-up he looks just like the Steranko covers I loved as a kid. Seeing the Shadow in action is highlight of this movie. He gets to do some dandy shooting, though I will confess he has a propensity for getting shot himself.

I don't know how the origin story fits with the canon (not well I suspect) but giving the Shadow the need to atone for past crimes does give his focus a reason to exist.

The sidekicks are great in this one. Penelope Ann Miller is ravishing as Margo Lane and stands up to Baldwin neatly in her scenes. Moe Shrevnitz is brought to the screen wonderfully by the much missed Peter Boyle, a man who always had a devlish twinkle in his eye despite the role he played.

Tim Curry as Khan's henchman is definitely over the top, but for him it works. His demise is well earned. And Ian McKellan gives a first-rate offering of a daft professor.

There are some plot holes in this one you could drive through for sure, but some of the scenes are magnificent. When the Monolith Hotel is revealed is fantastic and gives a scope to the movie that elevates it for me.

The movie owes a lot to the Batman flicks of the time, but it doesn't overwhelm the movie. I like this one a lot.

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The Shadow Serial!

Well 2010 got off to an odd start for me. The last day of 2009 my dvd player broke down, and it's going to require a little effort (and cash) to replace it. Fortunately I've got a dvd/vhs combo and the tape player is working fine. So all those vhs tapes I've got around here suddenly are hidden treasures waiting for me to uncover them.

Yesterday I dug out The Shadow serial from 1940 starring Victor Jory. It's been perhaps a decade since I last watched this movie. My memories are not all that positive, as the cliffhangers in this one are pretty humdrum. Basically stuff falls on the The Shadow, and in the next chapter he gets up pretty much none the worse for wear. It's not strong in that category. But there are other charms to this one that I really could dig this time out. For one thing, I've read a lot more Shadow novels since I last watched this movie, and that background helps to appreciate some of the smaller touches.

This serial offers a lot of story, with effectively two cliffhangers per episode with one just being resolved before the actual end of the episode. The Shadow is running around at breakneck speed most of the time and he has plenty to do. Some serials drag a bit waiting for the inevitable, but this one sure doesn't.

The villains in this thing are really good. The head baddie is called "The Black Tiger" and he's the usual mysery villain who could be any one of five guys, and though the mystery was a bit lame when solve, I find that's often true of the novels as well. The real treats are the henchmen. This is a fine and varied array of henchmen as I've ever come across in a serial. They seem to break into three squads (there's a lot of them) with two playing fairly straight, but one trio actually does some comedy shtick and there's bits of characterization with them. One isn't too bright and they actually show one of his pals reciting Red Riding Hood to him, and another is a jovial if murderous cuss who seems really to be pals with one of the Shadow's alias identities.

And it's that identity that I'm sure gives folks a pain on this flick. Lin Chen is a creation of Lamont Cranston who is the Shadow in this story, and sadly it's played as one of the more painful Oriental stereotypes I've come across. Jory struggles witht the buck teeth off and on throughout the serial.

Veda Van Borg is gorgeous and makes an adequate Margo Lane, though she does squeal a lot. The guy playing Harry Vincent gets lots of action in this one, as he does the work of all the Shadow's agents. He drives him around all through the story and even gets captured a time or two himself. Good solid job by all.

Overall this was very entertaining. I've not seen it on dvd yet, but who needs that.

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Happy New Year!

Last year was a very mixed bag. The family is suffering mightily during this recession. It's been a little lean in places and offers to get leaner. We're lucky that we're a loving family and that we support one another in these times, when despite it all we have good health. That stuff matters.

This blog has been a refuge from time to time and it's a pleasure to land here and ramble on about movies and comics and whatnot. I plan to continue it during 2010. (I might as well do something as we await the coming apocalypse a few years from now.)

Have a safe and fun holiday!

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