MAD Stocking Stuffer!

I have been reintroduced to the irreverent mirth of MAD this past year, since the reboot of the vintage EC series, now part of DC's sprawling collection of publications. This delightful though admittedly somewhat expensive package features some of the classic MAD material by veteran MAD men and new MAD men alike. This is actually a re-issue of a 2017 tome. With art from the likes of Don Martin, Dave Berg, Sergio Aragones, Al Jaffee and Paul Coker it feels like proper MAD to me.

And somehow my mood these days makes me happy that the eternally irreverent mug of Alfred E. Neuman is leering out at one and all this Christmas Day.

Here are few more classic covers.

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Dojo Classics - Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol!

Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol has long been the holiday special I most wanted to get my mitts on. For some reasons or other it has eluded me for years, until now. I picked it up the other day along with several other holiday hits like the venerable Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (my childhood fave) and the always surprisingly entertaining Frosty the Snowman.

Of course no one needs to be told this story of a greedy miser who lives only for his wealth at the expense of all those around him and even, as he learns, himself.

A man who sees himself as a young boy and young man disappointed by those around him and who seeks solace in his accumulated wealth and relative comfort.

Who discovers that others enjoy the holiday despite their meager incomes and circumstances, and celebrate those parts of life which are not dependent upon markets.

And of course he learns that he himself will die alone and little remembered at all, save as selfish old man who put himself above all else.

But it is the miracle of this classic that Scrooge learns his lesson and changes his ways to become a different man who supposedly will live into a very different future. It is the kind of miracle that we can, each and everyone of us choose each day to make a difference. It is a timeless tale, which speaks to all of us who get caught up in our own lives and forget that so many others in this world need our help and our attention.

So you've unwrapped your presents, now enjoy the day and see to it that others do likewise. I'm going to try to myself. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to one and all!

NOTE: I think perchance re-posting this will become an annual tradition at the Dojo. Seeing Mister Magoo makes me laugh and seeing him change as Scrooge makes me happy. Enjoy the holiday amigos!

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The Monkees Christmas Party!

My attitude this holiday season has been one of a confirmed Scrooge as I announced more or less at the beginning of his month. But I must admit that I have been thawing just a wee bit, especially in the last few days since my girls have been in to visit and celebrate the holiday with me. We were out doing some last-minute shopping and I chanced upon The Monkees Christmas Party, a CD featuring new music (mostly) by the band I adored as a boy. This is pure pop bubblegum -- breezy and light-hearted whimsy. Just the kind of music the Monkees produced in the heyday of their TV show.

With a cover by Mike Allred the package is handsome indeed. While most of the music is frothy enough one song entitled "House of Broken Gingerbread" was written by award-winning author Michael Chabon. It's a hoot. This ain't grand music, it ain't even always good, but it is diverting and for this Scrooge, it found a way into my hard flinty heart.

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Dojo Classics - Doctor Cyclops!

I'm spending my month consuming some of the most entertaining sci-fi and monster flicks out there. A few years I picked up the two Universal Sci-Fi collections sold exclusively for a time at Best Buy and now available in one complete set on Amazon.

I'm starting with the real oddball in the mix, the 1940 Ernest B. Schoedsack production of Dr.Cyclops. This movie by one of King Kong's creators hits many of the same notes with an expedition finding danger on a grand scale in the remote jungle. This time though instead of a giant ape threatening wee humans, the humans get shrunk by the mad scientist Dr.Thorkel who then tries to murder them all before they can derail his crackpot schemes for world domination.

This is a movie that starts out excellently with some truly macabre scenes where Paul Fix plays the man who brought the eccentric Thorkel to the jungle and a radium deposit of magnicent proportions. The lighting is luried and shimmers as the madness of the tale reveals itself. Sadly the movie never achieves the wonderful power of the opening, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have virtues.


Thorkel calls in some respected scientists to check up on his work and then dismisses them summarily when they've done the meager work. Their pride will not allow them to leave and so they fall victim to Thorkel's power. He shrinks them and the myopic scientist becomes a "Cyclops" threatening the small group throughout the remainder of the movie.

It's right after they get shrunk that the tone of the movie undergoes a regrettable change and the well-developed tension is allowed to dwindle. We watch the shrunken humans (a blowhard elder scientist named Bullfinch, a beautiful assistant , a reluctant engineer, a itinerant fortune hunter, and Thorkel's own hispanic helper named Pedro) try to survive and the movie becomes more mild adventure rather than the great horror pic began as.

Albert Dekker as Dr.Cyclops is pretty good, though you do get weary of his mugging by the end of the flick. The greatest weakness I think is the odd shift in tone and the fact the romantic couple played by Thomas Coley and Janice Logan never seems credible to me. She's pretty spunky and he's a bit of a laconic lout.

The movie does look great from time to time, mostly when Cyclops is putting on his exotic headgear to watch radiation play across the bodies of his victims or when he's tweaking his machinery, which always seems to be doing. This is a pretty decent movie, but when you realize what it might have been given the wonderful opening it's a shame.

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Dojo Classics - Island Of Lost Souls!

Island of Lost Souls, a Paramount movie based on The Island of Dr.Moreau by H.G.Wells is one of those truly frightening movies from the earliest days of sound cinema. I've had a copy of the VHS version for years but despaired that I could not replace it on DVD along with most all of the other great horror cinema of that time, especially the stuff from Universal. But at long last it did arrive thanks to the folks at Criterion, who offer up quality packages but at somewhat steep prices. That price made me blink, but I was able to cough it up at last.


The Criterion package comes with several extras (though I'd have liked more, especially some more stuff on the Wells story itself). It offers up the movie with a really outstanding audio commentary by Gregory Mank, who does this the best of anyone I've ever encountered. He clearly does his research and carefully times his comments to key sequences in the movie. It's an enhanced viewing to listen to his commentaries. Richard Skal offers up a solid ten minutes of background and insight. There's also a conversation between John Landis, Rick Baker, and Bob Burns which sadly is ripe with personality, but low on actual information. An interview with the original director of the fiasco version of the story from 1996 is oddly done (with weird lighting) and offers up some meager insights into that failed project. A section on Devo, the band which drew some inspiration from the movie is pretty intriguing, but I'd have loved more here. All in all a pretty eclectic gathering but not really as developed as some packages I've come across.

Nonetheless, the main show is the movie and it's a grand mini-epic, a movie directed by Earle Kenton with precision and aplomb. Charles Laughton's Dr.Moreau is a hideous but fascinating creation, much more monsterous than anything he cobbled together on his vile operating table. Beautifully rendered by the great actor.


Bela Lugosi is famously in this one for a short time and offers up his typical over-the-top performance, but truth told it probably took something that large to overcome the wild make-up he has to wear. It's a testament to the strength of Bela's personality that he is instantly recognizable underneath all that fur.


A lot of the talk is centered on the Panther Woman, a part selected with a nationwide talent search which yielded the attractive Kathleen Burke. She's clearly a limited actress in this picture, and one who a lot is demanded of. There's a silent-screen quality to her acting which hurts the subtle aspects of the movie alas.


Leila Hyams (who turned down the role of Jane in the MGM Tarzan movies by the way) and Richard Arlen are very good in the heroic his and her roles necessary to keep this movie morally upright.


Visually the wrestler Max Steinke appearing as beast man Ouran steals a lot of the show. His lust for Lota (the Panther Girl) and later Leila Hyams is palpable and gives the movie a real sense of menace. His grin might the most horrific thing in the movie.

This movie is a spry and nimble story which doesn't waste a second of footage. That's what I love about these early flicks, the story is jammed in and each second is pregnant with meaning. Each scene tells us something, so staying focused on the screen is important. This movie is an excellent example of that kind of efficient and effective storytelling.

While the price tag is steep, the movie is of the highest quality. I recommend Island of Lost Souls for one and all (save the kiddies of course).

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Dojo Classics - Inner Sanctum!

One might call this 1943-1945 series from Universal "The Saga of Lon Chaney's Mustache". The second-generation creature feature actor sports his pencil thin mustache in all six of these thrillers, starring in all of them but surrounded by outstanding Universal studio players like Evelyn Ankers, J.Carrol Naish, Milburn Stone, and many more. Here's a neat link with a sturdy and reliable description of each movie. No need for me to repeat this good work.

Let me simply say which of these I liked best and why with few if any spoilers.


This is a solid thriller, but gets a bit tedious before it's done. I felt all of its very brief running time. J.Carrol Naish as the cop is the highlight for me, he's nicely sarcastic and the movie brightens considerably when he's on screen.


Good adaptation of the Fritz Leiber story, but hurt by the glossy studio presentation of the rituals. Needed a rougher treatment in places. The girl that played the witch-wife was too whitebread to sell the exotic nature of the tale; the poster makes her seem way scarier than anything in the movie itself. There is some really fine acting in this one, especially by Elizabeth Russell in a part that could have been far less in other hands. Evelyn Ankers is dandy too and her ultimate scene is pretty dang good.


Strange tale of jealousy and greed and oddball surgery, with Acquanetta proving why she had such short career. Good basic thriller, but little else with an especially unlikeable protagonist. Lon Chaney's characters in these can be quite hard to cotton to, but this guy a self-important and whiny artist is the worst.


Weird story that shifts around quite a bit. The first three movies were clearly set in the real world, this one seems more a classic "horror" flick with the introduction of a vintage locale - a wax museum. There's actual action in this one with some heady knife-wielding by scene-chewing villain Martin Kosleck.


This one turned out to be my favorite, a nice story told in flashback about a noble chemist tormented by a despicable boss. There's real charm in this one, and for the first time Lon Chaney is allowed to play an antagonist you feel full sympathy for. Most of the others are snarky know-it-alls who bring about their own problems to some extent. This guy too, but he's nicer about it. Brenda Joyce is great as the wife in this one.


This is the only one which has a sputter of humor in it, and sadly that gets snuffed out in the movie sooner than I liked. This one turns into a murder thriller and haunted house muncher, but ends up with a better ending than I expected. Lots of wacky characters in this Scooby-Doo-ish offering. It's a horrible title though, this flick deserved better.

Overall I give these a recommendation if you can find them cheaply which is readily possible now. These are professionally crafted and feature some very good acting, some great direction at times, and some good scripting here and there. They can lumber especially those directed by LeBorg, but they are all solid entertainments with a good atmosphere, especially those directed by LeBorg. Lon Chaney wasn't the greatest actor ever, and these movies show his limits, but they also give him chance to do more than growl. He does okay from time to time too.

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Dojo Classics - The Thing That Couldn't Die!

The word that comes to mind when I think of the 1958 Universal horror flick The Thing That Couldn't Die is "creepy". It's not especially lurid nor gross, none of the Universal pictures of this era were those things, with their slick studio patina, but it was unrelentingly creepy. It's a movie with scary ideas, if the folks in charge here don't necessarily do the most with them.

The story begins benignly enough on a quiet California ranch where the owner Flavia (Peggy Converse) and her ranch hands Mike (Charles Horvath) and Boyd (James Anderson) dig up a four hundred year old chest found by budding witch Jessica (Carolyn Kearney). Along for the expedition are ranch guests Gordon (William Reynolds), Linda (Andra Martin), and Hank (Jeff Stone). It turns out when the two ranch hands, the weak-minded Mike and naughty greedy Boyd, open the chest without permission, it contains the severed head of executed warlock Gideon Drew (Robin Hughes).
 

The disembodied head exerts control over Mike and causes him to slay Boyd beginning a tiny reign of terror as the head connives to uncovers its body hidden elsewhere on the ranch centuries before. Standing in the way is the naive morality of  Jessica who at one point sees Drew's execution in a vision. The movie winds to a reasonably crisp if a bit too quick finale. But along the way there are some very unsettling scenes.

The movie's best moments are when the severed head of Drew, often carried around by the zombie-like Mike is held aloft and its magnetic eyes lock onto its victim. The mouth then soundlessly mutters instructions which are understood by its new servant. It's creepy stuff, the kind of images which populate nightmares.

This movie hasn't been widely released, in fact appears to be available only on a questionable print from Warner's on-demand library. I'm not sure it's worth the price, but I do know that seeing it again on TCM was a real treat and transported me back to some rousing Saturday afternoons when it didn't take much to chill a ten year old's heart.

Creepy it was, creepy it remains.

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