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| Watching Any Good Serials? | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Apr 12 2006, 09:28 AM (88,395 Views) | |
| Laughing Gravy | Dec 31 2007, 06:45 AM Post #436 |
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Million dollar dialog, from Pirate Treasure: "Andy! It's the Dance of Death! We're too late!" In this serial, the "savage natives" (the ones who speak the strange, unknown dialect called "Espanol") are white guys when they interact with the cast and black guys when they're shown hunting, dancing, or hanging around the village. The miracle of stock footage. |
| "I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley | |
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| riddlerider | Dec 31 2007, 07:22 AM Post #437 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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I dunno, Gravy. Your idea of "million-dollar dialogue" makes me think that inflation must have spiraled out of control while I wasn't looking. I finished PIRATE TREASURE a few weeks ago and was badly disappointed by those last couple chapters, which make no use of Talmadge's talents. They make no sense, either. The idea of combining Spanish-speaking Polynesian natives with black Africans (introduced via stock footage from NAGANA) was really dumb. Suspension of disbelief will take you only so far.... |
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| Laughing Gravy | Dec 31 2007, 07:38 AM Post #438 |
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Isn't that odd? I loved the final chapter... It's got everything, so far as I was concerned, from buried treasure to guys being burned (nearly) at the stake to crocodiles to Spanish speaking guys who change color reel by reel. And the tender love scene that ends the serial is a classic of its kind. What is NAGANA? I can't figure out if that's the name of a movie, or an anagram of some kind... |
| "I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley | |
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| panzer the great & terrible | Dec 31 2007, 10:55 AM Post #439 |
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Mouth Breather
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It's an anagan. I'm surprised I have to explain these things. |
| Life is just a bowl of cherries, it's too mysterious, don't take it serious... | |
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| Laughing Gravy | Dec 31 2007, 10:57 AM Post #440 |
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You crack me up. NAGANA seems to stand for "New Adventures of... what?" I dunno. I guess I could go to the IMDB and key in Nagana, but what would be the fun of THAT? |
| "I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley | |
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| riddlerider | Dec 31 2007, 12:49 PM Post #441 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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Oh, Panzer, you're such a zany! |
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| riddlerider | Dec 31 2007, 01:06 PM Post #442 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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NAGANA is a 1933 Universal feature starring Tala Birell, Melvyn Douglas, and Onslow Stevens. It takes place in Africa and revolves around the efforts of researchers to come up with a cure for sleeping sickness, which the natives call "nagana." More importantly, it was a source of stock footage that was used in practically every Universal jungle serial that followed, including CALL OF THE SAVAGE, JUNGLE JIM, TIM TYLER'S LUCK, and JUNGLE QUEEN. Any time you see African natives pounding on drums in a Universal sound serial, the footage is from NAGANA. Another frequently used sequence was the burning of a native village. The film's most thrilling sequence found Tala Birell's character tied to a tree by the river and imperiled by crocodiles. Universal used it several times thereafter, most memorably in JUNGLE QUEEN, substituting Lois Collier for Tala Birell in the close-ups. NAGANA was a fairly big-budget production and for it Universal built on the back lot an entire mountain, complete with cave, precipice, and working waterfall (although the latter was seldom used). This massive set was known as "the Nagana rocks" and appeared in dozens of serials and feature films. Several years ago somebody did an article on the Nagana rocks for FILMFAX or FILMS OF THE GOLDEN AGE, I forget which. |
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| Laughing Gravy | Dec 31 2007, 02:14 PM Post #443 |
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Remind me one of these days to schedule a triple feature of Nagana, Nabonga, and Bowanga Bowanga. |
| "I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley | |
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| Frank Hale | Dec 31 2007, 05:31 PM Post #444 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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There is a 5 second snip of jungle footage that I’ve seen probably a hundred times. Some gentleman wearing a pith helmet (?) is sitting on a log in the jungle, wrestling with a boa constrictor or giant anaconda which has obviously just dropped down and wrapped itself around his neck. It used to show up in strange places like the Ernie Kovacs show. Does anyone know what (presumably silent) film this came from? Does anyone know what I’m talking about? Well, Happy New Year, anyway. |
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| mort bakaprevski | Jan 1 2008, 09:21 AM Post #445 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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Riddlerider would know for sure, but that sounds like Harry Woods in the 1935 Universal serial: THE CALL OF THE SAVAGE. |
| "Nov Shmoz Ka Pop." | |
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| Laughing Gravy | Jan 1 2008, 10:57 AM Post #446 |
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Well, I completed two serials this week: Pirate Treasure (Universal, 1934), which I absolutely loved, and our FNF offering, The Spider Returns (Columbia, 1941), which I thought was good, but not nearly as goofy as I'd heard it was. Yeah, it has its moments, but Terry & the Pirates it ain't. The moments of high comedy ("Why are these men getting on the train? Do they have tickets?") went over very well with the FNF crowd, as did the weekly opening narration stating the phrase "pit their wits" for 15 consecutive weeks. We also loved the Gargoyle's outfit and that incredible multi-armed robot thingy, whatever th' hell it was. When FNF resumes in a couple of weeks, we're bringing back Flash Gordon (Universal, 1936), greatest of all movie serials, for an encore presentation. This was the second serial we ever watched after moving FNF to the West Coast back in 2000 (following Zorro's Fighting Legion) and the first serial we ever watched on DVD. We've got a lot of new FNFers over the past 7-8 years, so this will be a first viewing for most of us. It's gonna be fun. Other serials I'm watching include Flight Around the World (1924), a German serial that I've recently completed collecting on French DVDs - it's a six-episode serial and I'm on chapter two; The Red Rider (four chapters to go in this 15-episode Universal serial from 1934 - enjoyable serial, Buck is excellent and it's a pretty good print from Trevor at downunderdvd.com); The Galloping Ghost, one chapter to go in this 1931 Mascot, the current star of our weekly serial blog, and then we'll begin Young Eagles (1934); four episodes left in Tex Granger, a pretty good print of this so-so 1948 Columbia serial; nine episodes left of Battling with Buffalo Bill (1931), a sensational print from VCI; and three chapters left of Government Agents vs Phantom Legion (1951), a typical-for-the-era Republic serial with an excellent print from AC Comics. I sure am gonna miss Pirate Treasure, and will need a replacement in the lineup. Looking for another good 1930s Universal serial, I've decided on my first-ever viewing of Radio Patrol (1937); I like Grant Withers as a serial hero just fine. I have the Serial Squadron DVD release, and hopefully there's no goofing around with it, a la Phantom Empire. |
| "I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley | |
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| igsjr | Jan 1 2008, 11:13 AM Post #447 |
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Nostalgia blogger
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Well, if working in the Serial Squadron logo at the beginning of every chapter and adding "Copyright 2006 by Eric Stedman" in the credits misses your definition of tampering, then I think you'll be okay. Personally--from what I've read and seen--I believe Universal did most of the heavy lifting on this one. |
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"Life is in color--but black-and-white is more realistic..." -- Samuel Fuller, director So many DVDs...so little time... | |
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| riddlerider | Jan 1 2008, 11:48 AM Post #448 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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Wha -- ??? Okay, look. I'm not going to start another Grood-bashing thread, but has anybody told him that RADIO PATROL is still under copyright? It was renewed, one chapter at a time, over a three-month period in 1965. I have all the dates and renewal numbers from the Library of Congress records. I'm guessing he just slapped on a copyright notice to scare off potential dupers. I sincerely doubt he actually registered RADIO PATROL with LoC, otherwise he'd have found out that the serial is still protected. |
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| Laughing Gravy | Jan 1 2008, 06:25 PM Post #449 |
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From the chapters I've sampled, the opening credits are reconstructed. There's a nifty B&W spinning Serial Squadron logo (much more appealing than the blue "lightning strike" logo on his other serials), followed by new titles superimposed, "Sherman S. Krellberg and Joseph Harris Present" is first, followed by "RADIO PATROL". This latter screen has the Eric Stedman copyright notice. Then it goes into the rest of the credits. I suspect that rather than deleting the original credits and putting his own name on it, Grood had a print that was missing opening credits and so created his own. I don't think it's a big deal, but then, I'm no lawyer or cop. |
| "I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley | |
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| panzer the great & terrible | Jan 1 2008, 07:00 PM Post #450 |
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Mouth Breather
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Damn, Gravy, if I had known that I'd a never took up with you. I always wanted a real dog for a lawyer. |
| Life is just a bowl of cherries, it's too mysterious, don't take it serious... | |
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