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Post by ripper on Nov 29, 2015 12:18:08 GMT
I hope that the 'Tales of Mystery' episodes will turn up somewhere, in a similar way to how some thought to be lost Dr. Who episodes have been found, sometimes in the archives of overseas broadcasters, though I have no idea if the Blackwood series saw any foreign sales.
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Post by ripper on Dec 1, 2015 15:31:37 GMT
Now that Talking Pictures have shown 2 of the productions included on the BFI's DVD of Children's Film Foundation Scary Stories i.e. Haunters of the Deep and The Man from Nowhere, I am hoping that they will screen the last one in that collection at some time. Out of the Darkness (1985) is the tale of a family moving into a country cottage, unaware that it was previously occupied by victims of the plague.
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Post by dem bones on Dec 1, 2015 17:31:00 GMT
Yesterday evening's treat was the unspeakably wonderful The Trollenberg Terror which I'd not seen in centuries. The Space Monster looked even more like a bug-eyed testicle with tentacles than ever. From what little I've caught of the series (i.e., 30 minutes), Honey West is likewise a thing of some brilliance. Today our glam heroine went undercover on a film set to investigate the mysterious death of a stunt-woman. Please tell me there's a "supernatural" episode.
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Post by ripper on Dec 1, 2015 18:18:02 GMT
I can't be sure if they are supernatural but there are a few Honey West episodes whose titles give a hint that they might:
3. The Abominable Snowman 13. The Gray Lady (maybe a ghost?) 21. Like Visions and Omens and all that Jazz 30. An Eerie, Airy Thing
As I said, no idea if these have any supernatural or fake supernatural content but may be worth looking out for.
Also I did see that they are showing 'Colonel March' in December. I think this was a TV series with Boris Karloff as a Scotland Yard detective investigating odd crimes. What they are showing seems to be a compilation of 3 episodes.
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Post by ripper on Dec 2, 2015 11:09:30 GMT
Honey West first appeared in a series of novels by Gloria and Forest Fickling. The first, 'This Girl for Hire', was published in 1957.
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Post by dem bones on Apr 16, 2016 17:04:42 GMT
Tuned into Talking Pictures this AM in time to catch another forgotten classic. What A Whopper (1961). Adam Faith and Worlds End beatnik pals fake a Loch Ness monster sighting to promote his unpublished book. Co-stars Sid James as landlord of 'The Claymore Inn'/ poacher, Anna Gilchrist as his lech interest, Charles Hawtry as an artist - oh yeah, and there's a trademark desperately unfunny cameo from Spike Milligan. Unparalleled mirth for all the family!
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Post by Shrink Proof on Apr 16, 2016 17:48:37 GMT
Oh hell, I remember that. An absolute classic from that terrible, terrible few years after rock & roll had burned out and The Beatles hadn't ignited yet.
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Post by ripper on Apr 17, 2016 7:32:46 GMT
Same here. I remember seeing this on TV during the school holidays over 3 decades ago--I think it was the monster-faking antics that made the film stick in my memory.
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Post by Shrink Proof on Apr 17, 2016 16:29:02 GMT
I think that the only thing I could face re-watching now that featured Adam Faith would be "Budgie", if only to see if Charlie Endell was as scheming as I remember.
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Post by ripper on Apr 17, 2016 17:42:54 GMT
Budgie was an excellent series imo. I think it was shown on friday nights--9-10. That was mom's bingo night, so dad used to let me stay up and watch it. Great memories. I saw some episodes again a few years ago and thought they were still very good. Charlie Endel was, indeed, a real schemer, but Budgie wasn't too far behind, though his schemes usually went wrong. There was a spin-off series, Charles Endel Esq., which featured Charlie's antics after his release from prison, which was seen in the final episode of Budgie, though the Budgie character did not feature in the spin-off.
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Post by dem bones on Apr 17, 2016 18:51:43 GMT
Oh hell, I remember that. An absolute classic from that terrible, terrible few years after rock & roll had burned out and The Beatles hadn't ignited yet. Faithy had at least three superb film credits under his belt before The B*atles stuck their oar in - Beat Girl, What A Whopper, and What A Carve Up (admittedly his participation in latter amounts to the briefest cameo). And let's not overlook his dynamic turn as 'Jake Marsh', manager of FA Cup giant-killers Saints FC, in the extraordinary disco-football crossover Yesterday's Hero (1979). The man was quality.
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Post by pulphack on Apr 18, 2016 5:06:15 GMT
There is a little too much dissing of early Brit rock movies here for my liking - post Beatles there were as many appallingly bad films with beat groups as there were Tommy Steele films. What A Whopper is actually well worth watching as - despite the admittedly terrible Milligan cameo - Sid James is excellent and Wilfred Brambell does a nice turn as a Scots postie who'll gladly bullshit you about the monster if you buy him a drink or three. And Freddie Frinton doing his drunk act, which is always good value for money. Sure it's hokum, but no less so than A Hard Days Night.
Adam Faith expired in hospital after a lengthy rant about Channel 5, apparently! He was a decent actor, as I even liked him in Love Hurts with Zoe Wanamaker, which I was forced to sit through in the 90's. I was glad when they finally got their affair sorted as I had Friday evenings and the remote back... You left Mix Me A Person from the list of Adam's decent movies; it's worth noting not just for him, but also because it was written by Jack Trevor Story, who then published it as a novel without mentioning that it was his Sexton Blake title Five O'Clock Shadow, with Blake turned into a female psychologist.
Best pre-Beatles Brit pop films have to be the David Hemmings pair Live It Up and Be My Guest, loosely linked by the same characters recurring - Dave is an aspiring pop star who has Steve Marriott as his drummer (and appallingly bad British Rail dining car waiter in the latter). Marriott was a pretty good comic actor, as it happens. Lance Comfort, once a biggish British director but now falling through B-movies, helmed them, and they have some great randomly inserted group performances, including the Outlaws in Live It Up (see if you can spot Chas Hodges and Richie Blackmore in the strangely staged shot) and a fairly extensive use of Shane Fenton when he was still blonde and hadn't discovered the leather glove.
Just don't get me started on Gonks Go Beat, which is both awful and yet strangely compelling at the same time (and has the Graham Bond Organisation at their peak line-up - GB, Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce and Dick Heckstall-Smith. I wouldn't have wanted to travel in the van with three of those at each others throats).
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Post by ripper on Apr 18, 2016 7:46:09 GMT
'What a Carve-Up!' is one of my favourite of Sid's non-Carry-Ons. It has a wonderful cast: Sid James, Kenneth Connor, Dennis Price, Donald Pleasence, Michael Gough and the lovely Shirley Eaton. I remember seeing it for the first time on TV in the early 80s, propped up on the sofa, suffering from a dreadful cold and dosed up with cough medicine and Lem-Sip.
Talking of Donald Pleasence, I re-watched the 'Horse of the Invisible' episode from 'Rivals of Sherlock Holmes' yesterday. It petrified me the first time I saw it back in 1971, when I would have been 8 or 9. It's a fine episode and Pleasence makes a good Carnacki imo. Actually, it is overall a very watchable series.
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Post by dem bones on Apr 19, 2016 9:42:21 GMT
Just don't get me started on Gonks Go Beat, which is both awful and yet strangely compelling at the same time (and has the Graham Bond Organisation at their peak line-up - GB, Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce and Dick Heckstall-Smith. I wouldn't have wanted to travel in the van with three of those at each others throats). Hey, Mr. Hack, are you familiar with Harry Shapiro's excellent biography of Graham Bond, The Mighty Shadow (Guinness, 1992)? Must be the most harrowing rock biog I ever read. Bought it for the chapters dealing with the ludicrous 'Black Magic' goings-on in 'seventies N. London, but that sorry saga is perhaps the least interesting episode in a book that must have been a very tough read for his fans. There's a good reason why I didn't mention Mix Me A Person - I'd never heard of it. Neither was I aware of Beat Girl or What A Whopper until their recent airing on Talking Pictures. You are right about Wilfred Brambles' postman. He steals What A Whopper which takes some doing given the cast of many talents. Meanwhile, over at The House Of Mortal Cinema, John Llewellyn Probert casts a shrunken eye over impending dual format Blu-ray/DVD BFI releases of Beat Girl and Expresso Bongo.
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Post by pulphack on Apr 19, 2016 16:37:15 GMT
Sadly never did get to read that, even though I've heard it's excellent (if grim). Last time I tried to look for it online it was silly prices, and I've never stumbled on it anywhere.
Bond is a fascinating figure. Musically he was light years ahead of many of his contemporaries - I'd heard of him, but only really heard him for the first time at the turn of the 90's when the Holy Magick albums were re-released and I blagged review copies. I also blagged the umpteenth reissue of the GBO live at Klooks Kleek Gomelsky tapes that Charly repackaged endlessly with all of Giorgio's other live reels. The latter is immensely powerful and for '65 is at least three years ahead of its time. The Bond & Brown album is also worth a listen, as are the Ginger Baker Airforce albums, which despite being in Ginger's name are basically helmed by Bond's playing and arranging. The first has a terrible critical rep, but I think this is because they just didn't get what the ex-Cream blues drummer was trying to do with this Afro-jazz-r'n'b fusion that has sod all to do with endless guitar solos. And to be fair, the first one is really badly recorded and muddy. But Bond as a man, though? He sounds appalling from what I know, and even Pete Brown - who was his friend - described him to me as 'very flawed' when I interviewed him. I think Pete Brown is a very nice man, and loyal to old friends. Say no more.
Guinness Books did some really good offbeat rock books around that time, and they sold like crap. They had offices in Enfield at that time and I spent several excellent Indian meals with an editor cooking up weird rock and film titles that he couldn't get the budget for: they would have been great books, but sold naff all back then. It was a different time. I think that must be (really?) why Guinness pulled the plug on anything not related to their core book and he left for pastures new. Presumably with a good curry house within walking distance of the office...
Edit - quick google reveals that the original goes for £200???!!! But Harry Shapiro is reprinting it himself and it's on Amazon at £18, so I may be taking a punt on it finally!
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