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Post by Craig Herbertson on Jun 6, 2011 21:37:04 GMT
Monday night, kids tucked in bed and a quick visit to the internet archive brings forth Horror Express directed by Eugenio Martin. I must have seen this before as it sparked off memories but what a thoroughly enjoyable film. It had everything: Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Telly Savalas, Polish countess's, spies, Chinamen, an eerie whistle, quasi zombies a couple of implausible bits of direction and a funky guitar riff.
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Post by lemming13 on Jun 7, 2011 8:26:27 GMT
I watched it in my railway mania the other night; it is a corker. But I couldn't help feeling my copy had been edited down a bit, as I remembered Savalas' role being a bit larger than it was on rewatching. He got a brief scene at the railway station, a couple of short ones on the train and then a brief shamble as a zombie. Am I right? Has it been cut? I have the 2Entertain version, it runs 83 minutes.
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Post by Johnlprobert on Jun 7, 2011 8:42:08 GMT
I watched it in my railway mania the other night; it is a corker. But I couldn't help feeling my copy had been edited down a bit, as I remembered Savalas' role being a bit larger than it was on rewatching. He got a brief scene at the railway station, a couple of short ones on the train and then a brief shamble as a zombie. Am I right? Has it been cut? I have the 2Entertain version, it runs 83 minutes. There are lots of versions of Horror Express out there as it's a public domain film. The way in which they vary is in picture quality rather than footage. We have the Image disc which has excellent picture quality and is in the original correct aspect (1.66:1) but oddly enough IS cut - there should be about 10-15 seconds of train footage before the opening titles which we haven't got, and the end titles are missing as well!
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Post by David A. Riley on Jun 7, 2011 8:55:34 GMT
My only copies of this brilliant film are spoiled by poor picture quality. I would love one day to get a decent copy of this film.
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Jun 7, 2011 9:39:44 GMT
I watched it on on the internet archive and it stands at 1.27 minutes. There are no end credits. Savalas - who was very good at playing himself - seems to be in three scenes:Essentially - introducing himself as a Cossack in bed with some peasant girl; boarding the train and taking charge in a cavalier fashion and then a fairly good 'attack the monster and regret it' scene.
It struck me just how fortunate the industry was to have Cushing and Lee. I could just watch them doing that old English bit in any way they like for as many films as they could manage.
While I think special effects have been a tremendous boost for realizing Horror in a very graphic and imaginative way that sort of M. R. Jamesian dialogue where the characters express the enormous depth of their culture in a few lines or even silences is sorely missed.
Indignantly: 'Monster, one of us! We're English!'
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Post by blackmonk on Jun 7, 2011 9:46:30 GMT
My only copies of this brilliant film are spoiled by poor picture quality. I would love one day to get a decent copy of this film. Yes, it's a great movie. I saw it at the cinema on its first release! Still love it. Apparently, it's coming out on Blu-ray soon!
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Post by David A. Riley on Jun 7, 2011 10:03:27 GMT
That would be one good reason to get a blue-ray player. I just hope that this is a definite improvement on the DVD copies I've got - which are worse than a very poor VHS!
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Post by Johnlprobert on Jun 7, 2011 10:24:55 GMT
It's a movie which has been treated very badly over the years. Even the soundtrack album was a hasty re-recording, and the original master tapes are apparently so corroded they couldn't do anything with them for a CD re-release!
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Post by andydecker on Jun 7, 2011 13:15:10 GMT
I recently watched this on the telly. Its a lot of fun, but it lives from the appeareance of Lee and Cushing. Without them it would be just another silly monster movie.
Savalas here is weird, but not as weird as his role in Bavas Lisa e il diavolo where he played the Devil or whatever.
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Post by David A. Riley on Jun 7, 2011 13:23:27 GMT
I agree, Lee and Cushing are the ones who make the difference. Then again, how many of their films would have been less than memorable without them? Individually they were brilliant; together they were unbeatable.
I never took to Telly Savalas. His best film was proably his bit part in The Birdman of Alcatraz - or in The Dirty Dozen. He wasn't exactly a subtle actor.
Nevertheless, I think The Horror Express was one of the best vehicles for Lee and Cushing, alongside The Skull, though Lee had a much smaller part in that film.
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Post by franklinmarsh on Jun 7, 2011 13:32:22 GMT
A film that (like Dracula AD 1972) I loathed as a youngster because it didn't seem to be a 'proper' horror film. Older and much less wise, now I can appreciate it for it for what it is - a fun romp with ludicrous science that actually conceals a pretty good horror film. Peter and Sir Chris are the icing on the cake, but I have to commend the seriously nutty Rasputin-style priest - he's absolutely brilliant. Along with the white bleeding eyes and smooth brains, it's just total enjoyment.
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Post by David A. Riley on Jun 7, 2011 14:06:00 GMT
I don't know what it is but this is one of a small handful of films that I can never get bored with watching, either because of the quirkiness of their stories, the brilliant acting, especially in the cameos, and despite or even because of their cheesiness. Death Line is another. And so is The Sorcerers which, despite the brilliance of Witchfinder General, is still my favourite Michael Reeves film.
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Post by Johnlprobert on Jun 7, 2011 14:35:30 GMT
I never took to Telly Savalas. His best film was proably his bit part in The Birdman of Alcatraz - or in The Dirty Dozen. He wasn't exactly a subtle actor. And yet Horror Express kind of came about because Savalas had just starred in Pancho Villa for the Spanish film company and the model train in that had cost so much money they needed to use it again. Bless Arnaud D'Usseau and Julian Halevy for responding to the less than exciting challenge of 'We've got an electric train and Telly Savalas for three more days' with the screenplay to Horror Express. It's almost as good as their response to the gauntlet of 'Write anything to do with motorbikes and frogs' that became the classic that is, and always will be, 'Psychomania'.
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Post by lemming13 on Jun 8, 2011 16:12:30 GMT
Impromptu movies are often batter than highly planned affairs. I'll admit to being very fond of Casablanca (not for the romance so much, though in the blu ray Ingrid does twinkle most astonishingly, but for the political thriller running under the amours, and the vivid supporting characters - Peter Lorre, Claude Rains, Mischa Auer, Sidney Greenstreet), which was one of those - 'we've got a North African town set, some Arab, Nazi and French military costumes, and all these contracted actors with nothing to do - go make a script!' The picture quality on my copy isn't bad, but the sound could be better; I'll have to look out for the blu ray.
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Post by Dr Strange on Jun 8, 2011 17:42:46 GMT
Impromptu movies are often batter than highly planned affairs. I'll admit to being very fond of Casablanca... which was one of those - 'we've got a North African town set, some Arab, Nazi and French military costumes, and all these contracted actors with nothing to do - go make a script!' Are you sure about that? I've never heard that before, and I am a pretty big fan myself. I know that it was based on an existing play ( Everybody Comes To Rick's), which the studio paid a record amount for the rights to, and (by the standards of the time) it had a huge budget.
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