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| The Lost City (1935); Combined thread | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Oct 18 2005, 12:37 PM (612 Views) | |
| Inspector Carr | Oct 18 2005, 12:37 PM Post #1 |
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Okay well this could actually qualify as a Jungle Boogie topic, but it is in fact a serial, and finally I actually going to post somthing that should be in the catagory "Diologue to die for" but what the heck. A scream is heard off screen (Gabby Hays?): "that was the scream...of a white woman" |
| "Life is a Crapshoot however you need a pair of dice to participate" | |
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| Laughing Gravy | Oct 18 2005, 12:48 PM Post #2 |
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THANK YOU for bringing up that serial, which I enjoyed very much, and that line in particular. One of these days I'm going to finish my review of this particular underrated and misunderstood chapterplay, but you've given me an early chance to correct a line of dialog that is often misquoted (not by you) by those who want to point out how "racist" this serial is. For years, I've read that the line is "That sounds like a white woman's scream!" Well, it's not. The line is actually "That sounds like a white woman's voice!", and inasmuch as our cast is standing in the middle of deepest Africa, the line makes perfect sense. |
| "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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| Inspector Carr | Oct 18 2005, 04:43 PM Post #3 |
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Spy Smasher is my all time favorite and at least another dozen serials are right behind it, but I have to admit that "the Lost City" has a special place in my little old heart. from the sheer insanity, to William Stage Boyds over the top mad doctor (named Zolok), the hunchbacked assistant (Named Gorzo) to the Strongman type sidekick (named Appolyn)who appears to have wandered onto the set from a sword and sandal epic. the Albino Pygmy to Black Giant machine, it is all there, If you have not seen this I give it the highest recomendation for sheer camp and mindless entertainment. to sum it up imagine if Edward D. Wood were script consultant and Possibly directed The Phantom empire or Undersea Kingdom In Ken Weiss and Ed Goodgold's guide to serials (1972 Crown publications) they cover 231 sound serials chronologically giving serials on the average of 1-2 1/2 pages per serial (listing credits, synopsis and pictures) the authors dedicate 5 1/2 pages to The Lost city for no apparent reason, unless for one of two reasons either A. They love it or B. the actual name of the production company was Weiss Krellberg, could one of the authors actually be related? hmmmm, interesting, very interesting |
| "Life is a Crapshoot however you need a pair of dice to participate" | |
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| The Batman | Oct 18 2005, 08:24 PM Post #4 |
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I have a really crappy print of this serial, so if anyone knows of a good one out there, please let me know. I did find it interesting, but the sound was really bad and the picture not much better. |
| Always be yourself! Unless you can be Batman...then always be Batman! | |
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| The Batman | Oct 18 2005, 08:29 PM Post #5 |
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Oh yeah, over on the Serial Squadron there is a LOST CITY thread, which has some really fascinating posts from the nephew of the actor who played Appollon. I highly recommend everyone seek it out, as he provides many recollections from his uncle, Jerry Frank, as well as actor Sam Baker, who played one of the black giants in the serial. I believe that thread will help give people proper perspective on THE LOST CITY, as I agree with LG, it is not quite what it seems. |
| Always be yourself! Unless you can be Batman...then always be Batman! | |
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| Inspector Carr | Nov 11 2005, 10:58 AM Post #6 |
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Thanks for the Validation for the serial "the Lost City" It has always held a special place in my chapterplay heart. and probably with more serial buffs than will admit to it. It is just so out there that it really does hold it's weight with those other fantasy filled serials (Undersea Kingdom and Phantom Empire) but be careful and take it in small doses. The Cast and characters are so well done that appears they were trying to make a parody of a chapterplay, but the scary part is that I believe they were taking themselves seriously. any how thanks for the Review LG it makes me feel my opinion on this serial have been confirmed after all these years till next |
| "Life is a Crapshoot however you need a pair of dice to participate" | |
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| Laughing Gravy | Nov 11 2005, 11:38 AM Post #7 |
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And thank YOU for reminding me to post copies of the reviews over here for discussion purposes! The Lost City, a 12-episode serial from 1935, is frequently maligned by chapterplay fans as being one of the worst (if not THE worst) serials ever made. To those folks, I say now, with all respect: shut your lying mouths. The Lost City is not only NOT one of the worst serials, it’s easily one of the best of its era, full of fun, adventure, laughs, great characters, terrific sets, and really, really scary boogeymen. I loved it. An independent “Super Serial” from producer Sherman Krellberg and director Harry Revier, The Lost City has so much going for it I hardly know where to begin. Hang on, folks. Floods, earthquakes, and thunderstorms threaten to destroy the earth, and this was in the days before FEMA was around to jump into the fray and quickly and competently provide immediate food, water and shelter to disaster victims. Instead, a panel of scientists from all of the countries of the world (well, excepting Luxembourg, whose scientist was sick that day) gather together and after several days of brainstorming decide that there’s nothing anybody can do; we’re all going to die. After conference and lively debate, they helpfully suggest that everyone on earth cancel their newspaper and postal delivery. One brave young electrical engineer, Bruce Gordon (Kane Richmond), has created a wonderful machine (it’s a globe with two lightbulbs next to it) that pinpoints an uncharted area in the heart of Africa as the source of an electro-magnetic force that is causing all the chaos. Before you can say Albert Schweitzer, Kane and his expedition arrives at a remote African trading post, where they meet an affably toothless old coot named Butterfield (George “Gabby” Hayes, and did he ALWAYS look like he was 85?). Butterfield points them to a desolate precipice called Magnetic Mountain, and they all decide to go there. Inside the mountain, however, is a would-be dictator named Zolok (William “Stage” Boyd, no relation to William “Hopalong Cassidy” Boyd or Larry “Boston Celtics” Boyd), who has the most marvelous art deco laboratory you’ve ever seen, crammed with all the electric devices from Bride of Frankenstein, dwarf assistant Gorzo (Billy Bletcher), muscleman Appolyn (Jerry Frank, who wears nothing but hot pants and suspenders with no shirt, and who gives every impression of being Zolak’s boy toy), and several giant black men who are without question the most terrifying things you’ve ever seen in any serial, or maybe in any movie at all. They stomp around, shriek ungodly gibberish, grimace into the camera, toss our heroes around like rag dolls, and cause what must’ve been a lot of wet seats in 1935 theatres. Zolak’s power is derived from his captive, a nice old man named Dr. Manyus, who cooperates with Mr. Z because the latter is holding Manyus’s lovely daughter Natcha a captive. Manyus has discovered a way to turn ordinary household African men into giant stomping shrieking grimacing African men, and Butterfield decides he can use that power to create his own army of warriors and conquer the world, while a couple of the guys from Bruce’s expedition decide to throw in with Zolak and help him with his own plan of conquest, while Manyus and his daughter immediately fall in love with Bruce and decide to throw in with HIM, and all the while the puppy-like Gorzo licks Zolak’s hand and helps him carry out his various machinations, which include a ray that turns a tribe of African men into little old Jewish guys with blonde frizzy wigs. They’re called “Spidermen”, but frankly, they look more like Cyndi Lauper. I’ll leave it to you to decide which is scarier. Where were we? Oh, yeah. As if this wasn’t enough to sustain our interest over 12 chapters, there are also an Arab slave trader, Ben Ali (Gino Corrado), who is after the stomping giants, and a beautiful jungle goddess, Queen Rama (Margot D’use, who seems Latina, and who speaks English the way I speak Cantonese), who wants to either disembowel Kane Richmond or have his children, depending on her mood in any given chapter. Through several chapters, she wears just the cutest little leopard-skin miniskirt, and I wouldn’t be surprised to discover she borrowed it from Appolyn. Okay, enough about the plot. Nobody cares, anyway. Let’s talk about the wonderful cast and script, which are delightful, if not exactly competent. I mean, nobody is going to come across as brilliant with lines like, “Now remember, scream and call for help. And keep screaming and calling for help. Help. Scream. Understand?” But most of the actors are terrible, and director Revier – who had directed silent serials 15 years earlier, and had learned nothing since – walks them through such broad gestures and exaggerated facial expressions that it makes a James Horne serial look like Last Year at Marienbad. Best of all is Billy Bletcher (the diminutive, cavern-voiced veteran of Hal Roach comedies and the voice of the Big Bad Wolf in Disney’s Three Little Pigs) as Gorzo, who not only SOUNDS like a muppet, but actually looks like one, too. He and Zolak wear matching silk pajamas throughout the serial, and the thought of the two of them, O. Henry like, exchanging matching gifts is too bizarre even for me to contemplate. Zolak, incidentally, falls somewhere south of Ming the Merciless on the Would-Be Dictator of the Universe meter, but he’s easily the goofiest of all of them. It’s as if he realized the Feds were closing in on him, so he donned pink silk jammies and acted crazy to avoid a jail sentence. I’ll bet the rest of the cast were afraid of him, and avoided him at the lunch table. Serials are such a silly genre; so much action, so little plot, and bright two-fisted heroes that stumble into unbelievable death traps every thirteen minutes for three solid months. So silliness is not a drawback in a chapterplay, and when presented correctly adds to the fun. The Lost City is handsomely mounted, with a large cast, colorful characters, great sets, silk pajamas, stomping giants, and little Jewish African spidermen who look like Cyndi Lauper; I laughed and applauded my way through all 12 episodes, and wonder why the serial has been so unfairly denigrated over the years. Although it has been black-marked for its “racism”, it’s no more racist than a lot of 1930s serials (seen Hawk of the Wilderness lately?). I suspect that The Lost City, like The Spider Returns and Terry and the Pirates, is really put down because it’s so different from “mainstream” serials. Its difference is its strength, and here in the Balcony, we recommend it without reservation. |
| "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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| George Kaplan | Nov 11 2005, 03:01 PM Post #8 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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L.G., thanks for the hugely entertaining review--if the serial is half as zany it'll be a smash. You express the affection we all feel for scenery-chomping performances, outlandish gestures, absurd plot complications, goofy outfits, Mr. Wizard lab equipment, fright wigs on "natives"--all presented with life-or-death seriousness. I'm looking forward to this one. |
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| Laughing Gravy | Nov 11 2005, 03:30 PM Post #9 |
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Frankly, I missed a lot of what was going on because I couldn't tear my eyes off of Gorzo. |
| "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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| KanSmiley | Nov 11 2005, 05:54 PM Post #10 |
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I find Gravy's review of The Lost City interesting and entertaining especially when compared to a lengthy (and almost totally negative) thread on another serial site. Keep dem revues comin' Gravy. Kan |
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http://www.saturday-matinee-memories.com/ intoxicated, adj.: When you feel sophisticated without being able to pronounce it. | |
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| Inspector Carr | Nov 12 2005, 06:33 PM Post #11 |
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A funny thought occured to me, Zolak's outfit looks similar to a pair of pajamas that Carole Lombard wore in some film. |
| "Life is a Crapshoot however you need a pair of dice to participate" | |
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| Laughing Gravy | Nov 12 2005, 10:57 PM Post #12 |
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Oh, yeah, every time they showed Zolok I thought of Carole Lombard in her gotchies. *L* Now, THAT would be bizarre. I call 'em like I see 'em, and I know folks who prefer the slicker, more professional serials of the '40s, but I find some of the 1930s chapterplays -- primitive though they may be -- tremendously entertaining, and anybody who skips this one, Burn 'em up Barnes, The Mystery Rider, or The Galloping Ghost, to name just a few, is missing something worth seeing. |
| "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 | Nov 14 2005, 01:24 PM Post #13 |
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Mouth Breather
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This serial caused a massive eruption of humorless, politically correct piffle on another site. It's nice to see the thing reviewed objectively. I went right out and bought a copy. |
| Life is just a bowl of cherries, it's too mysterious, don't take it serious... | |
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| Frank Hale | Nov 14 2005, 04:09 PM Post #14 |
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Balcony Gang, Foist Class
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I have this in my pile, also, and will move it up to the top (after Batman), especially if it will annoy any humorless erupters of politically correct piffle on other sites. |
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| panzer the great & terrible | Nov 14 2005, 05:16 PM Post #15 |
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Mouth Breather
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Well, Mr. H, I too calls 'em as I sees 'em. |
| Life is just a bowl of cherries, it's too mysterious, don't take it serious... | |
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