Wednesday, January 28, 2009

RIP: Ray Dennis Steckler


Ray Dennis Steckler died on Jan. 7 at the age of 70 (almost 71). Active almost to the last, the famed cult film director had a few words to say in November at a tribute in Los Angeles to Academy Award-winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond. Steckler gave him his start, as well as dozens of others. Steckler, like all true cultists, stayed obscure and more or less free of great wealth.
(The photo to the left is from his MySpace page)

I enjoyed reading his interviews and articles published in Cult Movies magazine. He was funny, humble and unique. I loved the quote, "What they have I don't need," in describing former associates now well off who were afraid to return his friendly phone calls.

Steckler also had a sense of humor when dealing with the mockers, including the MST3K crowd who wittily mocked "Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies." He took it in stride, likely just happy to see his best-known film on TV. (One thing I love about ISCWSLABMUZ is that much of it was filmed at the old Pike amusement park in my hometown, Long Beach, Calif.) Steckler was a serious craftsman, who late in life took many of his features and condensed them into hour B&W features. Those efforts, including his series of shorts, "The Lemon Grove Kids ..." underscored his love of the old, forgotten C-film genre. Steckler loved the Bowery Boys, the old PRC and Monogram films and particularly, the hour-long cowboy films of that genre.

I wish I had met the man. His interviews in 'zines and in Sinister Cinema DVD extras reveal a talented actor and filmmaker with the certain uniqueness that leaves a legitimate cult legacy. He was also cool. Who can forget the words in "Wild Guitar," from Steckler's "Cash Flagg" character "Steak": "This is Daisy, she's gonna teach you how to swing." You have to see and hear it to do it justice. Steckler was a trooper too. He directed that film as well, indulged his cinema love by using Bowery Boys-type characters and survived broken teeth when a punch from star Arch Hall Jr. was too realistic.

I'm glad that Steckler's films "Wild Guitar," Incredibly Strange Creatures..." and "Rat Pfink a Boo Boo" made it on Turner Classic Movies the last couple years of his life. He deserved the recognition. It's time to get more Steckler on TCM Underground. My vote would be for "Body Fever," Steckler's film-noir classic in which he and ex-wife Carolyn Brandt are perfect in their roles as private eye and jailbait thief. Other candidates include "The Thrill Killers," "Blood Shack" and "The Hollywood Strangler Meets the Skid Row Slasher." The Independent Film Channel could also benefit with some Steckler films on its roster.

So, RIP Ray Dennis Steckler, I hope you have had plenty of time to catch up with Liz Renay, Titus Moede, Forrest J. Ackerman, Coleman Francis, Arch Hall Sr., John Andrews and other cult icons long gone from Earth who once crossed your path.
-- Doug Gibson

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Review: Santa Claus Conquers the Martians

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" — This 1964 film was shot in an abandoned airport hangar in Long Island, N.Y., using many minor cast members from a NYC stage production of "Oliver Twist." It has a catchy theme song, "Hurray for Santy (sic) Claus," that you'll hum afterward. The plot involves Martians coming to earth, kidnapping Santa and whisking him away to cheer up the Martian kiddies. Two earth children are kidnapped along with Santa. Santa and the earth kids fight off a Martian baddie, prep a goofy Martian to become that planet's Santa, and launch off to earth in the spaceship. We never know if they made it home — perhaps the budget didn't allow that. The acting has to be seen to be believed, but the film has a goofy charm. It was a big hit on the now-gone "weekend matinee" circuit and played theaters for years. Pia Zadora, who was briefly a sexy starlet in the 1980s, plays one of the Martian children. John Call, as Santa, does a mean "ho, ho, ho." Film was also spoofed by MST3K.
-- Doug Gibson

Monday, January 19, 2009

Review: Santa and the Three Bears

"Santa and the Three Bears" — If you lived in Southern California long ago, this 1970 blend of live action and cartoon was a Thanksgiving afternoon staple on KTLA Channel 5. The animation is mediocre, but the story has a simple charm. A forest ranger teaches two excitable bear cubs about Christmas while their grouchy mother bear wants them to hibernate for the winter. The ranger agrees to play Santa for the cubs on Christmas Eve, but a storm keeps "Santa" away ... or does it? The best part of the film is the live-action beginning and ending, where the ranger sits by the Christmas tree with his grandaughter, a sleepy cat and many toys. The ranger is voiced and played by Hal Smith, best known as Otis the town drunk on "The Andy Griffith Show." Grumpy Mama Bear was voiced by Jean Vander Pyl (Wilma on "The Flintstones"). The uncredited director is Barry Mahon, who made soft-core sex films in the 1960s with such titles as "Nudes Inc." and "The Sex Killer."
-- Doug Gibson

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Review: Planet of the Vampires


This is a very interesting, effective 1965 early Mario Bava film. It involves astronauts entering a seemingly deserted world and slowly being picked apart one by one by desperate aliens seeking new life forms.
Unlike many genre directors who thrive on gloomy, forbidding black and white images, Bava manages to convey fear and horror through the use of vivid, almost garish color. That is notable in his horror anthology Black Sabbath. In Planet of the Vampires, the color, particularly red, along with the claustrophobic atmosphere of the spaceship and even the colorful planet, add to the tension and terror the crew feels as they are picked off one by one.
The only major American star in the 86-minute film is the late character actor Barry Sullivan as the space crew captain. Brazilian Norma Bengall also stars. The rest are capable European actors. The story is similar in narrative and design to the later horror classic Alien. Believe it or not, there are also similarities to the recent Stephenie Meyer book "The Host." Bava's "vampires" are not necessarily evil; they are desperate creatures trying their best to stave off extinction. They'll do anything to achieve their goals.
Planet of the Vampires is a must-have film for Bava fans and 1960s "space opera" fans. There's a "twist ending," but alert viewers will see it coming.
-- Doug Gibson

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Review of Santa Claus


"Santa Claus" — Don't confuse this 1959 Mexican film with Dudley Moore's "Santa Claus: The Movie" or Tim Allen's "The Santa Clause" films. This import is weird and a little creepy, but it sticks with you. Old Kris Kringle is a sort of recluse who talks to himself and lives in a castle in outer space. He has no elves. His helpers are children from around the world who can't sing very well, though they belt out a lot of songs. Santa's reindeer are, I think, plastic and he uses a key to start them. Santa also works out on an exercise belt to slim down for the chimneys. For some reason Santa hangs out with Merlin the Magician. Enter "Pitch," a devil. His goal is to stop Santa from delivering presents. Pitch is a wimpy fellow in red tights and wears what looks like a short middy skirt. Santa and Merlin foil Pitch's nefarious plans. The film also focuses on two children, a poor girl and a rich, neglected boy, who resist Pitch's temptations. There are magic flowers and even special drinks. Santa glides safely to a chimney using a parasol. If this film sounds to readers like the after-effects of taking two Percocet, you got the gist of it.

-- Doug Gibson

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Sequels to Pride and Prejudice

To some readers, the classics, or just a good novel, are made to have a Part Two. Unfortunately, few authors feel the same, and many a great novel ends in suspense. For six decades, Margaret Mitchell fans waited to find out if Scarlett O’Hara ever won back Rhett Butler. The soft-spoken Mitchell, when asked that question, always replied, “I don’t know.”

Eventually, the long-dead Mitchell’s estate, eager to make a big pile of cash quickly, commissioned romance novelist Alexandra Ripley to write a sequel. The result was Scarlett, a long, semi-bloated, often lackluster, sometimes entertaining continuation that resulted in Rhett and Scarlett hooking up for good in Ireland. It wasn’t a bad novel, but the characters, so well defined by Mitchell in Gone With the Wind, seemed like caricatures. It was as if readers were at a community playhouse watching semi-talented locals reciting lines. The film version of Scarlett was worse, but that’s another essay...

Wanna know a secret? When it comes to the classics, Scarlett ranks as one of the greatest sequels not crafted by the original author. For decades, fans of the writing greats have succumbed to the temptation to continue a tale best laid to rest. I admit it’s an alluring thought. I’d love to know if 1984's Inner Party was ever overthrown, or if Doremus Jessup, the hero of It Can’t Happen Here, ever managed to help restore America to democracy. Or did Clinton-like preacher Elmer Gantry ever face a scandal that ruined him?

Jane Austen whets the appetite for a sequel. Her main novels, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park, Emma and Northanger Abbey are masterpieces of characterization and parody. Although she’s never lagged in interest, Austen has experienced a surge in popularity the past decade. Most of her books have been made into films recently and Jane Austen clubs dot the world. Any day, crowds of Austen fans will file in to the local library and eagerly take in a lecture. A sample topic might be the “difference between attachment and connection in Austen’s England, and how that relates to Sense and Sensibility....” Austen died relatively young, and never attempted a sequel.

With the current Jane-mania, however, comes a new round of unauthorized sequels cluttering up space in bookstores and public libraries. Some authors are adoring fans, clumsily trying to pay homage to their favorite authors. A few are professional romance novelists looking to cash in on Austen to make a quick buck. Others, more atrociously, are post-modernists trying to attach Austen’s settings and characters to politically correct ideals.

A casual perusal of amazon.com listed more than a dozen Jane Austen sequels:

- The Bar Sinister: Pride and Prejudice Continued

- Letters From Pemberley: The First Year: A Continuation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice

- Presumption: An Entertainment: A Sequel to Pride and Prejudice

- Consequence: Or Whatever Became of Charlotte Lucas

- The Ladies: A Shining Constellation of Wit and Beauty

- An Unequal Marriage, Or Pride and Prejudice Twenty Years Later

- Desire and Duty: A Sequel to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice

- Lady Catherine’s Necklace

- Pemberley or Pride and Prejudice Continued

- The Diary of Henry Fitzwilliam Darcy

- Pride and Promiscuity: The Lost Sex Scenes of Jane Austen

- Virtue and Vanity

- Old Friends and New Fancies: An Imaginary Sequel to the Novels of Jane Austen

No doubt there are more. The first sequels to Pride and Prejudice were published in the 19th century.

Eager to find out what others believed were the fates of the Bennets, Darcys, Collinses, Bingleys, De Bourghs and other Pride and Prejudice characters, your reviewer managed this past summer to slog through four of these unauthorized Pride and Prejudice sequels. They were Presumption, Desire and Duty, Lady Catherine’s Necklace and Pemberley.

The best of the lot was Presumption, by Julia Barrett. It’s very mediocre, but at least Barrett understands what the others apparently don’t: Jane Austen was poking fun at sentimental novels of her era. Her novels were parodies, as is Presumption. The title tells you that it’s all for fun. Presumption focuses, as most of the sequels do – on the love life of Mr. Darcy’s younger sister Georgiana. She’s tempted at first by a dashing officer, but eventually finds love with an architect. They quarrel for a while before falling in love. The parallel to Darcy and Elizabeth is a safe, and obvious, creative tool by Barrett. The weakest part of the novel is Elizabeth’s constant fear that she will never gain approval of Darcy’s elder friends and relations. To highlight this threat, a ridiculous subplot involves Elizabeth’s Aunt Phillips being accused of theft, which threatens her reputation by association.

However, Presumption is a gem compared to Desire and Duty, written by the husband/wife team of Ted and Marilyn Bader. The Baders are devoted fans of Austen, and the authors try desperately to follow Austen’s style but it is a crude effort. The plot plays like an older version of Sweet Valley High in pre-Victorian London. Once again Georgiana is the focus, but she spends most of the novel unmarried, eventually fluttering around the possibly haunted Darcy estate learning of her dead mother. The lack of focus on a much-needed key plot element makes Desire and Duty frequently dull for long spots.

The Baders are nothing if not persistent, however. They’ve recently had the chutzpah to publish Virtue and Vanity, a sequel to a sequel.

Nevertheless, Desire and Duty is a better novel than Lady Catherine’s Necklace, a boring sequel composed largely of characters from Pride and Prejudice that no one cared about. Forget about the major characters. They at best have cameos. The plot involves Anne De Bourgh and her search to learn more about her deceased father. I could tell you more, but you’d stop reading this essay. One major gaffe by author Joan Aiken is having Anne be too young. She’s maybe 17, but she was earlier considered marriage material a few years earlier for Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice. Another presumption is Aiken having Colonel Fitzwilliam, a thoroughly decent man in P&P, turn out to be a cad. That’s an insult to Austen’s memory.

As bad as Lady Catherine’s Necklace is, it’s still better than Pemberley, the worst of the P&P sequels reviewed. This book is so terrible, I’m surprised Jane Austen didn’t rise from her grave and strangle author Emma Tennant over her word processor. The plot runs like a bad season of Ryan’s Hope. Elizabeth loses all her will and is a silly ninny who takes to her bed during a crisis. Georgiana loses her loyalty to Elizabeth and joins Caroline Bingley in teasing her. Writing gaffes include Jane Bennet with one child and already pregnant with another. Worse, Lydia has four children. This is all supposed to have occurred around a year after all three were married, an impossibility.

Pemberley achieves camp, however, when Mrs. Bennet discusses feminine hygiene at the Darcy dinner table. Readers will finally throw the book up in the air (or in the fireplace) when it’s revealed that Jane’s hubby Mr. Bingley had an affair with a French woman prior to his marriage.

Pemberley is an example of post-modern ninny authors trying to sexualize Jane Austen’s works. To do this they attempt to show the characters as sexual beings. But that’s contrary to a message that Austen revealed in P&P despite the comedic elements: Virtue, morality, fidelity, love and honesty are rewarded. Sexual permissiveness, as in the case of Lydia and Wickham, hamper the reputation of both. It is the positive examples of Jane and Elizabeth that lead to success for the Bennet family.

I’m through with wanna-be sequels. The best solution for creating a sequel to Pride and Prejudice, or any beloved novel, is for the reader’s imagination to carry the plot. It’s a method that allows total editorial freedom, and a chance to correct bad plot turns without revealing your weaknesses to the rest of the world.