Folly of the Faithful Canine

Igor

2025-10-26T01:37:43Z

To those who haven’t read it, here’s a detail not well known:
In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, old Victor worked alone.
He had no lab assistant till the first recorded play,
Presumption, which I doubt is still performed a lot today.
The bumbling servant there was Fritz, who later would appear
Within the film of ’31. To add to viewers’ fear,
He had advanced kyphosis like the dude at Notre Dame.
Dwight Frye, who also worked that year as Renfield (he’s the bomb),
Became a different henchman in the sequel with the bride.
The next two films, however, let Lugosi come in stride
As Ygor, whose deformity resulted when the town
Had hanged him but messed up at it (why was he still around?).
This Ygor was a blacksmith, not a toady in the least.
Indeed, he took control of the reanimated beast.
The later House of Frankenstein had Daniel take the form,
So Universal Studios made hunchbacked aides the norm.
The first assistant Igor, tho, was Warner Bros.’ doing
In House of Wax, a Frankenstein-free film for 3D viewing.
It wasn’t till Young Frankenstein that hunchback Igor came,
And he pronounced it “eye-gore,” so it wasn’t quite the same
As that which has been used in countless parodies to date.
Who knew that a composite’s role in lore could be so great?

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Censorship Priorities

2025-05-11T03:48:54Z

People have asked why American censors
Are lighter on violent acts than on sex
And, likewise, American ratings boards mostly
Give only pornography ratings like X.

I get why we ask, because violence probably
Causes more trouble than sex in RL.
The former’s destructive by nature; the latter,
While risky, is likely to end rather well.

I thought of a possible answer: We know
On some level that violence shown on a screen
Is not so authentic; the actors or stunt doubles
Rarely get injured in footage we’ve seen.

By contrast, when actors are naked on camera,
It’s almost assured what we’re seeing is real.
This factor depends on the medium, yes,
But I still think my theory has certain appeal.

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Book Review: Siren Queen

2024-05-27T21:19:35Z

OK, I didn't finish before my birthday, but close enough. After a rather dated novel, I decided to try one published in 2022, albeit set mostly in the 1930s. It's also probably the first book by a non-White author I've read in nearly a year.

( Cut for length )

Now I'm reading a graphic novel, The Metabarons by Alejandro Jodorowsky. It's large but going fast, which is important in the wake of a birthday that put several more books on my shelves.

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Feels Like a Long Time Ago

2024-05-05T00:24:44Z

The guy who gave us THX 1138,
Along with several shorts that evidently weren’t so great,
Was crashing on the sofa of another young auteur,
Then working on The Godfather, their reps still immature.

His prospects in L.A. all gone, he’d moved to New York City
To meet with folk in cinema who’d show him any pity.
His greatest longshot chance: United Artists’ David Picker,
Who blew him off until he laid it on a little thicker.

The two would meet again soon at the festival in Cannes,
Where something made the CEO a more obliging man.
He paid the guy a bit to write American Graffiti
But didn’t like the script that came. So much for that entreaty.

When Universal made the film, the budget sure was low.
The buzz got bad, so Picker let his backup story go,
But one exec enjoyed the film: the son of Alan Ladd,
Creative head at Fox, who sought to know what else he had.

The young director’s father wished he’d join the same career
Of selling desk equipment, but the thought made Junior sneer.
Perhaps this had an influence upon a certain villain
He’d write for his next film (for whom the actor had no billin’).

Most everyone involved assumed the film would not succeed.
The Jaws director differed, but the rest would not take heed.
Imagine their surprise when it became an instant smash.
From that point on, George Lucas never would be strapped for cash.

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Oscar's Origins

2023-03-13T04:08:38Z

In 1939, the world-famous statuette
Officially was christened with the “Oscar” sobriquet.
The earliest known mention was in 1933,
But people have conflicting thoughts of how it came to be.
A Bette Davis bio says she nicknamed the award
For Harmon Oscar Nelson, then a husband she adored.
But then there’s an Academy executive director:
When Margaret Herrick saw the statuette, it did affect ‘er.
She said that it reminded her of “Uncle” Oscar Pierce,
Who really was her cousin (was he getting on in years?).
Another naming candidate’s an office secretary,
Called Eleanore Lilleberg, who handled statuary.
Her brother thought of Oscar, a Norwegian army vet
The two knew in Chicago, quite the straight and tall cadet.
Whoever coined the moniker or gave the inspiration,
It’s stuck around since almost the award’s initiation.

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Book Review: The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock: An Anatomy of the Master of Suspense

2023-01-02T03:20:48Z

This isn't a long book. If I hadn't alternated with other reading, I would have finished it weeks ago. Of course, that's not the only reason. Even good biographies are never my idea of page turners.

( Cut for length )

My next book is Naomi Novik's A Deadly Education. Blurbs make it out to be something of a darker Harry Potter type with a more sinister school.

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Aren't You Guy Haines?

2022-08-01T02:55:38Z

A tennis champ named Guy encounters someone on a train,
Named Bruno, who is devious and not entirely sane.
The latter knows the former wants to leave his cheating wife,
But Miriam’s decided to remain with him for life,
So Bruno has a plan: He knocks off Miriam for Guy,
And Guy kills Bruno’s dad. The cops would see no reason why,
So neither of the murderers should even be suspected,
With alibis for deaths of those more blatantly connected.
Guy nervously pretends the scheme amuses him and leaves.
That constitutes a bargain sealed as Bruno misperceives.
Soon Miriam is dead, and Bruno turns the screws on Guy
To take his turn as hit man. Will our hero thus comply?
If not, he risks a frame-up job that’s simple yet compelling.
You’d better learn the ending for yourself, as I’m not telling.

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Drive-Ins

2022-05-23T03:16:39Z

The world’s first drive-in cinema debuted in World War I.
It folded one year later, but a pattern had begun.
Logistics did get trickier when movies added sound.
It wasn’t till the Baby Boom that drive-ins would abound.

They quickly grew to thousands as they catered to the sticks,
Where people didn’t want to drive to cities for the flicks.
The maintenance cost little, and they seemed quite good for kids,
Tho many couples went there just to satisfy their ids.

Advances to the TV sets would signal a decline.
With color, cable, VCRs, why join the auto line?
It worsened in the ‘70s when oil had a crisis
And real estate went up so drive-ins couldn’t pay the prices.

They got a brief revival several decades past their peak,
At times in newer formats called “guerrilla” and “boutique.”
But once again, the oil and economy got worse,
And digital conversion proved a big financial curse.

It seems a bit ironic that they’ve seen an uptick now,
The brink of a recession, but it’s easy to see how:
We’re big on social distancing, and staying in our cars
Could help prevent transmission of the latest strain of SARS.

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Book Review: This Is How You Make a Movie

2022-03-10T02:48:56Z

Tim Grierson opens by noting that his title is slightly misleading: He means to convey multiple ways, and they're not comprehensive. Indeed, this is merely a crash course, an appetizer, inviting readers to explore further.

The back of the book almost serves as a table of contents, apart from not listing page numbers. Suffice it to say that there are five main sections -- acting, directing, light and camera, editing, and writing -- with a total of 42 chapters. Each chapter consists of one page explaining the general technique followed by three pages detailing its use in three movies. Apart from titles and relevant credits in sidebars, the text on each page runs only two to four paragraphs of typical length, with one or more stills to fill the space on movie-specific pages.

I'm not surprised to have seen most of the discussed movies already, despite Grierson's effort to vary them. Fortunately, he goes into some I never heard of, and while they tend to have gotten middling receptions, a few seem worth adding to my watch list. And for many that I have seen, I needed his reminders of details, or else he points out something I hadn't noticed in the first place. That's one way to enrich the experience.

While I don't expect to remember much of the trivia (e.g., cinematographer names, director comments), I hope to retain the gist of the industry jargon. Would you know what "golden hour" means? How about the rule of thirds? I may not hope to make a movie someday, but the more I know, the better my assessments should be. Whether it'll improve my reviews is another question.

TIHYMaM is no substitute for a college cinema course. It's not even worthy of a textbook. But it does make for speedier and less dull reading. Check it out if you want a jump start.

I have now picked up City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett. It looks rather different from the last few fantasies I read.

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Ballad of Orange and Teal

2022-01-10T04:53:02Z

In 21st-century Hollywood flicks,
One prominent pattern persistently sticks
In hopes of achieving an optic appeal.
I speak of the contrast of orange and teal.

O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) was first
To fully go digital, sparking a burst
Of colorist options to tackle with zeal.
So why have we settled on orange and teal?

The theory maintains that such complements “pop”
In juxtaposition, but red and green stop
With colorblind people. Besides, what is real
More often approximates orange and teal.

Alas, much of cinema takes it too far.
Distortion of skin tone can sure look bizarre.
What’s more, they’re just ugly; well, that’s how I feel
From overexposure to orange and teal.

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They'll Always Have Paris

2021-06-20T17:45:32Z

An American, Rick, in Morocco
Owns a nightclub and gambling den.
He appears to be perfectly neutral,
Till he meets his ex-lover again.

Now her husband, who leads a resistance,
Is pursued by the wicked Third Reich.
Rick’s acquired two letters of transit
That could help them escape if he likes.

Rick’s unwilling at first, as he’s bitter
At the way she walked out of his life.
She explains she had thought herself widowed;
Then she learned that she still was a wife.

Soon her husband requests, for her safety,
That she fly off to Lisbon with Rick.
But our hero is sure she’d regret it,
And that feeling is certain to stick.

When a major arrives to detain them,
There’s a shootout and Rick leaves him dead.
Though the witnessing captain’s corrupted,
He blames “usual suspects” instead.

It’s a bittersweet end to the movie,
As a beautiful friendship begins
But the lovers are parted forever.
(Now we know that the Allied side wins.)

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Poetic Guidance

2020-12-13T03:44:57Z

It’s funny to see how the rating PG
Has transformed in the last 40 years,
Once mostly reserved for some flicks that unnerved
Children’s parents (“Will this cause them fears?”).

By mid-’84, many folks wanted more
For the movies that stopped short of R.
The PG-13 soon arrived on the scene,
With the power to warn but not bar.

A PG now implied only so much to hide
From the kids, like a few bloodless fights,
A moderate swear word or two here and there,
And suggestive non-nudity sights.

Today it is rare to find G-rated fare,
Since a lot of folks think it’s for tots.
I’m not really sure that I ought to concur,
But I see where they’re getting their thoughts.

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