I Thought You Were Dead

 

Bela Lugosi's Greatest Role...Wasn't Dracula!

Bela Lugosi's Greatest Role...Wasn't Dracula! by Antonia Carlotta.

Summary:

Son of Frankenstein could have just been another sequel, but instead, thanks to Lugosi, it became a showcase for one of horror’s most underrated performances, and it helped create a film that almost holds up next to the first two Frankensteins. Ygor is cunning, terrifying, tragic, and not-so-secretly hilarious. And Bela Lugosi brought him to life with a ferocity that still jumps off the screen more than 85 years later. 

The Reason Why Karloff Stopped Playing The Monster

Son of Frankenstein (1939) was Boris Karloff's swan song as the Frankenstein monster. 

Antonia Carlotta of the Laemmle family posted a video the reasons why.

Summary: 

Boris Karloff played Frankenstein's Monster in three Universal films: Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, and Son of Frankenstein, becoming one of cinema's most iconic figures. His performance gave the creature soul - part horror, part heartbreak. But after Son of Frankenstein, Karloff never played the Monster again. Why?

Let's go behind the scenes with Karloff, producers Carl Laemmle and Junior Laemmle, make up artist Jack Pierce, directors James Whale and Rowland Lee, and all the other major players that contributed to Karloff's decision to walk away.

I'm Antonia Carlotta and this is Universally Me, the channel for all things Universal and classic horror. My family started Universal Studios, and they made the Universal Monsters, including Frankenstein and the Bride of Frankenstein.

Godzilla's Legendary Comeback

Above, the Godzilla statue at Toho Studios in Setagaya. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

It is remarkable that Godzilla is as popular, if not more so, than ever these days.

This can be attributed to the Legendary Pictures series of movies and of Toho's recent movies, one of which won an Academy Award for Best Special Effects.

MSN has posted an article on Godzilla's legendary (a pun?) comeback.

It begins with:

At one time, the Godzilla franchise seemed like outdated science fiction with limited future cinematic prospects. Not only did Legendary Pictures’ MonsterVerse change those perceptions, but Toho’s Godzilla Minus One proved the 50-meter-tall radioactive dinosaur could deliver an Oscar-worthy performance. Toho recently announced a sequel to Minus One, demonstrating that an “old, outdated” subgenre can still score big - a $116 million global gross on a $15 million budget - in international theaters. 

To read more, go here. 

10 Greatest Horror Movies of the Past 40 Years

Above, Godzilla Minus One (2023) made the list.

Ever since I was a kid, I have enjoyed horror movies. You can thank my mom in particular for this. She was also fond of horror movies.

That aside, what are the 10 greatest horror movies to come out of Hollywood and elsewhere (like Japan, for instance) during the past 40 years?

Collider answers that question in a new article.

They start it off with:

If you limit things to the past 40 years, when talking about great horror movies, there are inevitably a whole host of titles that just get automatically disqualified, so RIP to those. Psycho, Alien, The Shining, two versions of Nosferatu, Godzilla (1954), and all the original Universal Monster movies… sorry, y’all. This isn't your time to shine. Go collect some more cobwebs (not necessarily a bad thing, since cobwebs are spooky).

But then focusing on the past 40 years, so everything released post-1985? There are a bunch of iconic titles, and some of them are just old enough to be considered classics (namely, the ones that are more than 25 or 30 years old). And the others will likely be classics, once enough time has passed for them to be defined as such, but either way, all of these are great, and well worth watching if you’re feeling a craving for something scary, be it because it’s Halloween or otherwise.

To see what they consider the greatest horror movies of the past 40 years, go here.

Walk The Streets of Western TV History At Old Tucson

Above, an Old Tucson hotel and saloon set. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

One of the places I've always wanted to see was Old Tucson in Arizona.

Old Tucson is a studio near the city of Tucson, Arizona and Saguaro National Park. Hundreds of movies and television westerns were filmed there. Movies included Rio Bravo, El Dorado, McLintock! and others.

I got my chance two years ago when I was in Tombstone, Arizona. From there, I headed to Old Tucson and spend a good part of a day wandering it.

RV Travel has an article on Old Tucson and it begins with:

Growing up, I always wanted a horse. My wish probably stemmed from the popular television shows of the 1950s and ’60s: Westerns.

My sisters and I sat transfixed while watching Roy Rogers, Zorro, The Lone Ranger, and Bonanza. If the same is true for you, it’s time to saddle up! Old Tucson awaits your visit.

What is Old Tucson?

Old Tucson is a time capsule of past Western-themed television shows and movies. Built as a Hollywood set in 1939, it later opened to the public as a Western-themed park.

Columbia Pictures built a replica of 1860s-era Tucson in 1939 for the feature film, Arizona. Construction crews reportedly erected more than 50 buildings for the movie in just a few weeks.

After more movies and TV shows used Old Tucson through the 1940s and 1950s, the site was refurbished and opened as a theme park in 1960.

Over the decades, Hollywood kept coming back. Old Tucson has been a backdrop for hundreds of film and TV productions. Included in this list are movies like Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Rio Bravo, and El Dorado. Old Tucson also provided the setting for television hits like The High Chaparral and Little House on the Prairie.

To read more, go here. 

Collider: "10 Greatest Monster Movies of the Last 25 Years"

Above, Cloverfield was one of the last movies I took my late mother to see.

Alright, monster fans. There have been many monster movie in the theaters (and on cable, satellite home video) over the past 25 years. 

Some are lauded as near-masterpieces and some derided as steaming piles of excrement. 

Collider has posted what they consider to be the "10 Greatest Monster Movies of the Last 25 Years, Ranked".

They begin with:

Some will hear the term "monster movie" and immediately think of a black and white King Kong, where the ape scales the side of the Empire State Building, or Godzilla, where the kaiju rises from the ocean. Although those iconic creatures are some of the most well-known examples, countless movies in the modern age use monsters as the star attraction. Industry-leading filmmakers are using original monster creations to explore topics such as governmental oppression and the brutality of war.

From horror to sci-fi to family movies, monsters are running all over modern films, snatching box office victories and proving there’s still life left in the genre. The following films are the greatest monster movies of the last 25 years, ranked by their use of monsters big and small and their lasting appeal to moviegoers. It’s important to note that the concept of monsters is open for interpretation, so even though the list could include vampires, werewolves, or personal injury lawyers, this list will stick to creatures that defy easy categorization.

For those of you who are Godzilla fans, Godzilla Minus One made the list. 

To see the 10 greatest monster movies list, go here.

Ed Faulkner, Longtime John Wayne Co-Star, Dies At 93

Above, Ed Faulkner in Chisum (1970).

The name Ed Faulkner may not conjure up any recollections, but his face is quite familiar to fans of John Wayne and Elvis Presley movies.

The  Daily Beast reported:

Actor Edward Faulkner, who appeared in six films with John Wayne and two with Elvis Presley, has died at 93 of natural causes. Faulkner died Aug. 26 at a health care facility in Vista, California, his daughter Leslie Wadsworth revealed to The Hollywood Reporter. The McLintock!, Rio Lobo, and The Green Berets actor had a long-standing chess rivalry with Wayne. “I occasionally let him win,” Faulkner said, who once kept a plane idled to keep from interrupting a match between the actor and Wayne. Faulkner, a 6′3″ Kentucky native, saddled up on horses in multiple TV westerns, but his debut on the silver screen came in the form of an uncredited role on the 1960 film G.I. Blues, starring Elvis Presley.

Faulkner also appeared in The Undefeated, Chisum and Hellfighters with Wayne.

To read more, go here.

Winchester 1894 In IMFDB

Above, a Winchester Model 1894 Saddle Ring Carbine. IMFDB photo.

Yesterday, I was alerted about a new (not sure how new) page for the Winchester 1894 (a.k.a. Winchester 94) rifle by the Internet Movie Firearms Database (IMFDB).

In it, it provides information on different variations of the rifle and a listing of what movies it appeared in over the years. 

The page's summary is as follows: 

The Winchester Model 1894 is a lever-action rifle developed by the famed John Moses Browning, as a follow-on to his previous Model 1892 design; it uses many of the same parts as that rifle, and could be made with few alterations to its production tooling, notably having a nearly identically-sized receiver that could be made with the same rough blanks. Despite this, it was designed to use larger, more powerful cartridges (ballistically comparable to modern intermediates, though many were sized more comparably to full-powered rounds), including the .38-55, .32-40, and the famed .30-30 WCF; to permit the cycling of these much longer cartridges in an action originally designed for pistol-caliber rounds, the Model 1894 uses a rather unique system wherein the entire bottom of the receiver hinges down when the action is cycled, granting a longer throw of the lever that permits a correspondingly-longer stroke of the bolt, allowing a much longer cartridge to be cycled in and out of the chamber.

Due to its re-use of the Model 1892's receiver size, the 1892 and 1894 can be somewhat difficult to distinguish at a glance; if the rifle isn't shown with its action open (as this allows the aforementioned pivoting receiver floor to be seen), the 1894's proportionally longer loading gate can be used for an ID, as can a pin at the bottom-front of the receiver (used to allow the receiver floor to pivot) that the 1892 lacks.

Interestingly, the Winchester 1894 appeared in such movies as 1941, Night of The Living Dead, Green Mile, The Untouchables and Brokeback Mountain.

To access the page, go here.

The Convoluted Chronology of Godzilla

Above, the GMK Godzilla suit on display in Shibuya, Tokyo in 2001. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The Godzilla franchise of movies by both Toho and Legendary Pictures are basically two (or more) different monsters.

Tokyo Weekender has posted an article on the "convoluted chronology" of Godzilla. 

Here's how they start it:

Godzilla is one of the oldest film franchises in the world. (But not the “longest-running.” That title is still claimed by Japan but it belongs to a series of softcore porn movies.) In 2024, the world celebrated 70 years of the King of the Monsters smashing buildings, fighting other kaiju, and embodying the horrors of nuclear weapons. One problem with that, though. Technically, the giant dinosaurian creatures from the 33 live-action Japanese Godzilla movies are not always the same giant dinosaurian creature, meaning that there isn’t one kaiju that’s been continuously appearing in cinemas for more than seven decades now. Confused? Let us explain.

 To read more, go here.

Top 10 Annoying Hollywood Gun Mistakes in Movies

Above, in the movie, Jesse James (1939), Frank James (Henry Fonda) uses a
 Colt New Service revolver. The New Service was introduced in 1898, but
the movie is about the James brothers' career in 1860 to 1882.
Source: Internet Movie Firearms Database.

Firearm usage in the movies date way back to the Silent Era. They have been shown in such genres as gangster, western, war, cop and other movies.

Most often the portrayals are inaccurate and some firearms weren't even invented until after the eras portrayed. 

Liberty Safe has an article on the "Top 10 Annoying Hollywood Gun Mistakes In Movies".

They start it with:

Since the earliest days of Hollywood, audiences have been fascinated with the portrayal of guns in movies. You can hardly find a classic action movie poster without the hero holding a gun. Trailers will have lots of choreographed gunplay, bright muzzle flashes, and over-the-top muzzle blast added by the sound editor. 

Despite the typically poor gun handling skills by actors (fingers always on the trigger, pointing or gesturing at innocent people with their handguns, muzzling everyone), this is typically only noticed by people who actually own and shoot guns. And despite a seemingly never-ending supply of bad/incorrect/annoying gun mistakes in movies, it doesn’t really seem to impact the success or failure of the film at all. The majority of viewers are ignorant of how firearms actually work, and those who understand the mechanics are usually able to suspend their disbelief and just enjoy the movie. 

However, sometimes it gets to the point that firearms enthusiasts, or any other viewers who appreciate a dose of realism in film portrayals of firearm use, will get so annoyed by the Hollywood gun errors that it can impact their viewing experience. Here are some of our top picks for annoying firearms mistakes in Hollywood movies.

To read more, go here. 

Old Movie Monster Mags

Last evening, I was digging around my night stand's drawers for some old class photos and found some old movie monster magazines.

I rarely ever look through the drawers, but took a look though a couple of the magazines. Both had covers partially chewed by paper-eating bugs. But, strangely, they didn't touch the newsprint interior pages.

Above, Monsters of the Movies no. 3.

The first one was Monsters of the Movies No. 3, it was a "special issue" on vampires. Inside, was an article on "Variations On A Vampire Theme" penned by none other than Don Glut. Another article was on the Dark Shadows the daytime soap opera, or spook opera, also penned by Glut. The issue was from 1974. 

Above, Monsters of the Movies No. 2.

Another issue of Monster of the Movies (no. 2) contained articles on the Frankenstein monster. One article, also penned by Don Glut was "Dracula's Last Stand". The magazine was also from 1974. 

Above, yours truly with Don Glut at the Art of King Kong exhibit in 2017,

The magazines, bug chews and all, were scanned as-is.

It is interesting seeing some of Don Glut's work decades before we even met. I wonder if he remembers these issues? 

Winchester 94 In Movies

The Winchester Model 1894 has appeared in numerous movies and television shows over the years. 

In some movies, it appeared during the wrong time period the movie depicts. 

The Internet Movie Firearms Database has a list of films and television shows that the Winchester 1894 (or Winchester 94) appeared in. It is likely not a complete list.

They begin with:

The Winchester Model 1894 is a lever-action rifle developed by the famed John Moses Browning, as a follow-on to his previous Model 1892 design; it uses many of the same parts as that rifle, and could be made with few alterations to its production tooling, notably having a nearly identically-sized receiver that could be made with the same rough blanks. Despite this, it was designed to use larger, more powerful cartridges (ballistically comparable to modern intermediates, though many were sized more comparably to full-powered rounds), including the .38-55, .32-40, and the famed .30-30 WCF; to permit the cycling of these much longer cartridges in an action originally designed for pistol-caliber rounds, the Model 1894 uses a rather unique system wherein the entire bottom of the receiver hinges down when the action is cycled, granting a longer throw of the lever that permits a correspondingly-longer stroke of the bolt, allowing a much longer cartridge to be cycled in and out of the chamber.

Due to its re-use of the Model 1892's receiver size, the 1892 and 1894 can be somewhat difficult to distinguish at a glance; if the rifle isn't shown with its action open (as this allows the aforementioned pivoting receiver floor to be seen), the 1894's proportionally longer loading gate can be used for an ID, as can a pin at the bottom-front of the receiver (used to allow the receiver floor to pivot) that the 1892 lacks.

To see the list, go here. 

Gamera Day Yesterday

Above, yours truly in line to get into the theater.

Since it was windy outside and that drives my sinuses crazy, I stayed indoors for most of the day.

I decided to revisit Gamera The Brave (2006), a reboot of Daiei/Kadokawa Pictures Gamera character.  I attended the premiere of the movie on April 29, 2006 at the Picadilly Theaters in the Yurikucho Mullion Building in Chiyoda, Tokyo. 

Above, yours truly at the souvenir table in the theater lobby.

Later, when I bought the Japanese DVD of the movie, there was an extra showing the premiere and I was seen waiting to enter and at a souvenir stand in the theater's lobby. I was at the "ripe old age" of 52 at the time. Hard to believe, now that I am 71. Where did the time go?

Above, the JR Central Towers at JR Nagoya Station were
 featured in Gamera The Brave. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

In 2014, I planned to visit Nagoya, where much of the action of Gamers The Brave takes place, but a snowstorm caused me to modify my Japan visit. In 2007, while taking a train down to Kyushu, the train stopped at JR Nagoya Station and I got a photo fo the JR Central Towers featured in the movie.

Later, during dinner, I decided to watch Gamera: The Guardian of the Universe (1995). It had been a long time since I watched it as well. A few months before my dad's passing in 1999, I loaned my parents the DVD of it and they both enjoyed it.

Above, the Fukuoka Dome in 2007 was featured in Gamera:
 The Guardian of the Universe. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

In 2007, I did pay a visit to the Fukuoka Dome that was featured in Gamera: The Guardian of the Universe during the attempted capture of three Gyaos birds. 

The locations mentioned were covered in The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan.

Internet Movie Firearms Database

Suppose you are watching a movie, a western, perhaps, and you notice that a Winchester 1892 lever-action is being used by an actor but the story takes place in 1875. But you aren't totally sure.

Well, there's a website that is the Internet Movie Firearms Database that can tell you what guns are being used in the movie and whether or not a blooper took place like in the first paragraph. 

I have made use of the IMFDB a few times for references in blog posts. 

According to their "About", the website states:

The Internet Movie Firearms Database (IMFDB) is a community-built Wiki that documents the guns found in movies, television series, video games, and anime. Founded in 2007, IMFDB has a large community of active readers and editors, including professional armorers with first-hand knowledge of Hollywood armories.

With 31,190 articles on shows, guns, and actors, IMFDB is the internet's #1 resource for firearms in popular media.

The IMFDB definitely comes in handy!

To access it, go here.

Ian Fleming's Foundation Seems Pleased

The Ian Fleming Estate's publishers seems to be pleased with the Amazon MGM take-over. 

They issued this statement:

 

The John Wayne Birthplace Museum

 

Above, the John Wayne statue at the main entrance courtyard. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Along with having John Wayne's birthplace, Winterset, Iowa also has a museum with many movie artifacts from Wayne's career. The Museum had its grand opening on May 22-25, 2015. I visited both this last Thursday.

While not as extensive as the John Wayne: An American Experience exhibit in Fort Worth, Texas, fans visiting the museum will come away not at all disappointed. There's lots of stuff to see.

There is a theater that shows a short film with Aissa Wayne on her dad's life and career. When she was a youngster, she appeared in several of Wayne's films including The Comancheros, The Alamo and McLintock! 

There is a big gift shop in the museum. I picked up several DVDs to fill some gaps in my collection along with a poster from McLintock! (below).

One can walk directly from the museum to the birthplace house through a room containing a chuckwagon from The Cowboys. 

There is also the "courting cart" from The Quiet Man along with a model of the Alamo. One of Wayne's customized station wagons is on display. (There's another one in Fort Worth at the John Wayne: An American Experience.) Many movie wardrobe items are also on display. A collection of coffee mugs Wayne gave to cast and crew members of his movies upon their completion are also on display. A cannon used in The Alamo is also on display.

The main entrance courtyard is dominated by a huge statue of John Wayne.

Here's a sampling of my visit:

Catty-corner from the Museum:

Lever-Action Rifle Spin-Cocking

In the meadow shootout scene above in True Grit, Wayne spin-cocked his rifle twice.

Gun experts say not to spin-cock a lever-action rifle because one is liable to shoot himself/herself in the process. It is best to do so with an unloaded rifle.

Owners of lever-action rifles probably won't admit to doing it, but many will try doing so at least once. No, I have not tried it with my Winchester 94.

John Wayne and Chuck Connors used to spin-cock lever-action rifles. Wayne, in Stagecoach (1939) and True Grit (1969) and Connors in the television show, The Rifleman.

Wayne primarily used a Winchester 1892 carbine with an extra large cocking lever loop in his movies.  

In the video below, J.  Wheeler shows how he spin-cocks his Winchester 1892:

Aaron Taylor-Johnson New 007?

Above, Aaron Taylor-Johnson.

The rumor (or report) is out in some media that Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson has made an offer to a British actor to be the next James Bond.

The choice is Aaron Taylor-Johnson.

According to the New York Post:

It appears as though the search for the next James Bond is over.

British actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson has reportedly been offered the role of a lifetime as the “shaken, not stirred” martini-sipping secret agent, sources told The Sun.

The “Bullet Train” actor, 33, is expected to sign on the dotted line this week, the outlet adds. 

To read more, go here. 

The Guns Are Wrong In Most Westerns