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Post by andydecker on Apr 16, 2022 16:41:04 GMT
That's intriguing to learn that special Phantom stories were written for the Scandinavian market (and presumably other markets had their own stories as well?). Sounds cool. I was always intrigued by the concept of the Phantom--wasn't his title "the Ghost Who Walks by Day"? But never saw it consistently enough to get into it. I think it was run in a paper my grandfather often bought on Sundays, out of NYC. There was a film version which was not said to be at all good but the actor who played the character, in the stills I've seen, had a jaw droppingly sexy body. Which means nothing at all to the rest of you--oh well. H. I think it is 'The Ghost Who Walks'. If it further interests you, there are a few wikipedia pages devoted to the character and its I guess thousands of stories. The idea is that the son always assumes the duties of the father, so there are 21 Phantoms in the course of history. As the costume never changes, he appears immortal.
The movie with Billy Zane in the role is not great and it was a flop at the box-office. It is a period piece and too much a copy of Indiana Jones. I re-watched it recently and thought it okay. Harmless but competent fluff. Bruce Campbell should have been in it, it is this kind of movie. But I liked it better than the The Shadow movie which was a bitter disappointment.
There was also a 're-imaging' as a tv series on ScyFy channel which was awful beyond belief.
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Post by jamesdoig on Apr 16, 2022 20:54:05 GMT
That's intriguing to learn that special Phantom stories were written for the Scandinavian market (and presumably other markets had their own stories as well?) The Phantom is a big deal here in Australia. As a kid in the 1970s I sent away for and received a rubber phantom ring - you'd stamp it in ink and punch skulls everywhere. I was devastated when I lost the bloody thing. Here's an example of one - they seem quite hard to find these days: www.hakes.com/Auction/ItemDetail/19287/RARE-PHANTOM-AUSTRALIAN-RUBBER-INK-STAMP-RING
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Post by Swampirella on Apr 16, 2022 21:26:39 GMT
That's intriguing to learn that special Phantom stories were written for the Scandinavian market (and presumably other markets had their own stories as well?) The Phantom is a big deal here in Australia. As a kid in the 1970s I sent away for and received a rubber phantom ring - you'd stamp it in ink and punch skulls everywhere. I was devastated when I lost the bloody thing. Here's an example of one - they seem quite hard to find these days: www.hakes.com/Auction/ItemDetail/19287/RARE-PHANTOM-AUSTRALIAN-RUBBER-INK-STAMP-RINGIt's cool looking; too bad you lost yours.
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Post by helrunar on Apr 16, 2022 23:27:43 GMT
That ring looks quite cool. Ah, the cherished objects from the days of old long gone. I still mourn my old Dark Shadows Viewmaster set (even though I own every episode of Dark Shadows on videodisc now). Mom sold it in a yard sale when they were about to sell the house and I had left home for college adventures.
I saw The Shadow film around ten years ago and enjoyed it for what it was. I had no expectations of anything and it was somewhat less annoying than I might have expected--had I bothered to form any expectations. All that to one side, the only thing I recall from it is the cool flying magical Tibetan ritual dagger, the Phurpa, and that's mainly because some friends of mine had a particular love for the sequences involving it.
H.
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Apr 17, 2022 13:10:59 GMT
The movie with Billy Zane in the role is not great and it was a flop at the box-office. It is a period piece and too much a copy of Indiana Jones. I re-watched it recently and thought it okay. Harmless but competent fluff. Bruce Campbell should have been in it, it is this kind of movie. But I liked it better than the The Shadow movie which was a bitter disappointment.
There was also a 're-imaging' as a tv series on ScyFy channel which was awful beyond belief.
Campbell talks about missing out on the part of the Phantom in his autobiography, If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor. The whole book is worth a read. I went to hear him speak once, and that was fun, too.
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Post by andydecker on Apr 17, 2022 14:22:27 GMT
Campbell talks about missing out on the part of the Phantom in his autobiography, If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor. The whole book is worth a read. I went to hear him speak once, and that was fun, too. I have heard good things about the book. I like Campbell a lot. Recently I re-watched some episodes of Burn Notice where he did one of the main roles and some of Xena. He is always fun to watch. My remark was just a random thought. How odd that he really was considered.
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Post by Michael Connolly on Apr 30, 2022 12:25:21 GMT
Lately, I've been spending too much time with Lee Falk's other character who seems to be more interesting than the Phantom (in the 1930s at least): Mandrake the Magician. This is the first daily strip (indeed) from "The Werewolf" that started on November 4th, 1935. You can find further details here: www.mandrakewiki.org/index.php?title=The_WerewolfYou can download it from here: www.mediafire.com/folder/6hboelildfyuf/Mandrake_DailiesWhile the story ends with a cop out, it is clearly influenced by the film Werewolf of London, also from 1935.
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Post by andydecker on May 1, 2022 12:51:57 GMT
Mandrake is one of those characters which never much appealed to me. Maybe it is because the concept of stage magicians does nothing for me. I know I read a few of the comics as a child, as it was published internationally for a time, but Fantastic Four left a stronger impression.
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Post by Michael Connolly on May 1, 2022 13:06:28 GMT
Mandrake is one of those characters which never much appealed to me. Maybe it is because the concept of stage magicians does nothing for me. I know I read a few of the comics as a child, as it was published internationally for a time, but Fantastic Four left a stronger impression. From what I have read of it, Mandrake the Magician seems to have peaked in the 1930s and early 1940s. The later strips are so bland and generic it's hard to believe they are from the original writer and artist. The earlier daily strips (much superior to the colour Sunday strips), and uneven as the are, seem to me better than other contemporary strips.
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Post by helrunar on May 1, 2022 13:22:27 GMT
Here's a campy late 1970s TV movie version of Mandrake the Magician. www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2e0wHbgIQ8Really, only if you want to give your brain a rest. Those 1930s strips do sound interesting! H.
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Post by Michael Connolly on May 1, 2022 16:30:39 GMT
Here's a campy late 1970s TV movie version of Mandrake the Magician. www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2e0wHbgIQ8Really, only if you want to give your brain a rest. Those 1930s strips do sound interesting! H. The 1930s strips are more adult (in the proper sense) and funnier (intentionally) than the later ones. I've known for years about the 1979 TV film and the 1939 serial, neither of which has a good reputation. What is more interesting are the cinema films (and the names involved with them) that were not made. See here: www.mandrakewiki.org/index.php?title=Unproduced_and_Unfinished_Films#Films
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Post by Michael Connolly on May 24, 2022 16:19:53 GMT
I'm about done with Mandrake the Magician. The 1930s and early 1940s strips are the best the character ever got. Interestingly, his occult powers were clearly real at the beginning. As for the Phantom, some of the early art is so bad it looks like it was done for a tijuana bible, for which one about him was produced. You're on your own with this now.
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Post by Michael Connolly on Aug 6, 2022 20:11:16 GMT
This 2017 book written by an Australian academic (based on his doctoral thesis, but don't let that put you off it) has some interesting material on and analysis how The Phantom has made a bigger impact in Australia and Sweden than in America. book4you.org/book/11942833/dad5cb
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Post by jamesdoig on Aug 6, 2022 21:30:03 GMT
This 2017 book written by an Australian academic (based on his doctoral thesis, but don't let that put you off it) has some interesting material on and analysis how The Phantom has made a bigger impact in Australia and Sweden than in America. Thanks, I didn't know this book existed. Kevin Patrick has written a lot on Australian horror comics too, particularly around censorship. This is his blog: comicsdownunder.blogspot.com/
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