Bonus Jimmy Stewart - Winchester '73!

I had mentioned when discussing James Stewart's radio series "The Six Shooter" that the actor had within the past couple of years prior adopted a somewhat grittier persona in a series of westerns beginning with "Winchester '73" in 1950.

"Winchester '73" happens to be one of my favorite movies ever and I like his characterization of Lin McAdam, the protagonist, a lot.

The Britt Ponset character from "The Six Shooter" makes me think that's what Lin McAdam would be like if he rode around having adventures. A pleasant fellow with a strong moral compass who doesn't look for trouble but does what he needs to do.

To his credit as an actor, Jimmy Stewart did not bring that same characterization to every western he made. In fact, he's a little different in each one with multiple levels of shading.

Here's the trailer for a re-release of "Winchester '73":

Makes me want to watch it again!

I notice that Millard Mitchell doesn't get mentioned in the trailer, but I think he steals the movie as Jimmy's saddle pal High-Spade.

Unfortunately, Mitchell had passed away in 1953, which was probably before this reissue.

For more fun, here's the "Lux Radio Theater" adaptation from November 12, 1951:

Good to hear Jimmy Stewart and Stephen McNally reprising their roles from the movie and interesting to hear Julia Adams in the Shelly Winters role. Lots of solid radio actors in support, including William Conrad and Bill Johnstone.

I would say that if you haven't seen the movie yet, do so before you listen to the radio adaptation!

Universal Monsters - Part 6

As we continue to make connections between the "Universal Monsters" series of films and various adaptations of "A Christmas Carol," we land in 1939 with "Son of Frankenstein" for perhaps the greatest connection of all!

The star of the movie is Basil Rathbone in the title role as Baron Wolf von Frankenstein (perhaps the best horror movie name ever!).

I think Rathbone does seem like he could be the son of Colin Clive from the first two "Frankenstein" films and gives the proceedings that certain oomph that he brought to whatever role in whatever genre.

Of course, Basil Rathbone looms large in the world of "A Christmas Carol" adaptations with his 1942 78 rpm album on Columbia Records, his turn as Marley's Ghost in the  1954 "Shower of Stars" production and his starring roles as Scrooge in 1956's "The Stingiest Man in Town" and 1959's "Fredric March Presents Tales from Dickens" version!

Always good!

Universal Monsters - Part 5

A somewhat tangential entry in the "Universal Monsters" series of films is 1942's "Invisible Agent," which sneaks in as part of "The Invisible Man" series.

It's a pretty fun blending of the invisible theme with topical WWII action.

The star of the film Jon Hall, was never a big star, but he has at least one important distinction: he was born on February 23, the same as Kelsey Grammer's Scrooge, Kathleen Harrison and yours truly!

Why are we talking about this movie? It was directed by Edwin L. Marin, known in these circles as the director of 1938's "A Christmas Carol" from 1938!

The picture was not sold by using his name, as it's in extremely fine print on the (very cool , if misleading) poster above and the (misleadingly Frankenstein-esque) one below!

But we needed reliable guys like him to keep the product coming back in the golden age of Hollywood!

Note: My editor, Slugger Jr., was particularly interested in what I had to say in this post:

He watches all the movies with me and must have liked this one! Maybe it was the walk-on by Walter Tetley as a newsboy!

On the subject of the 1938 version of "A Christmas Carol," you may recall that June Lockhart, daughter of Gene and Kathleen (who portrayed Bob and Mrs. Cratchit) made her movie debut as Belinda Cratchit in that film.

June's first lead role in a movie was in Universal's 1946 "She-Wolf of London," which also sneaks into the whole Universal Monsters thing, as it is sort-of part of the Wolf Man series. SPOILER: It really shouldn't be!

June is cute as a button, but doesn't get a chance to act much and she and co-star Don Porter are so not British!

But fun for 1960s TV fans to see Gidget's father and Will Robinson's mother 20 years prior!

Universal Monsters - Part 4

Often cited as the best of the Universal monster movies series, 1935's "The Bride of Frankenstein" certainly offers plenty to enjoy!

Perhaps the most colorful character in that movie is the off-kilter Dr. Septimus Pretorius, as portrayed by veteran British actor Ernest Thesiger.

Besides having a name that sounds straight out of Dickens, Dr. Pretorius has some peculiar ideas about science and basically drives the plot of the movie.

But did you know that Ernest Thesiger also played the undertaker in 1951's "Scrooge" starring Alastair Sim?

It's a small role, but he makes his presence felt and just the idea of Dr. Pretorius being an undertaker is fun in its creepy way!

One other thing to mention is that John Carradine had a bit part in "Bride of Frankenstein," but later was featured in a number of "Universal Monster" movies, including his excellent Count Dracula in "House of Frankenstein" (1944) and "House of Dracula" (1945).

Mr. Carradine apparently portrayed Ebenezer Scrooge in an early TV broadcast on the Dumont network in 1947. Alas, it was broadcast live and disappeared even more quickly than Dracula exposed to the rays of the sun!

Universal Monsters - Part 3

Continuing with our Halloween-inspired "Universal Monsters"/"A Christmas Carol" thing, we sneak back to 1936 for "Dracula's Daughter."

The star of that film is Otto Kruger, whom we heard as Scrooge in that U.S. Navy "Joy to the World" AFRTS radio show from the mid-1950s!

Mr. Kruger's role in "Dracula's Daughter" is a bit unusual for him, as he's the hero/romantic lead and even has the two female leads fighting over him!

As I mentioned before, he was really good at playing suave villains hiding under an air of respectability. This kind of leads to being a good type for "mad scientist" roles in horror movies, but he only played that type of role a couple of times, including Universal's 1945 " The Jungle Captive."

This is more how I think of him, as he seems to be a respected scientist on the surface, but is secretly carrying out crazy experiments! He lends a much-needed sense of professionalism to this flick!

I think the only other time he got to play such a role was much later in 1958's "The Colossus of New York." Check out the awesome trailer on the IMDB:

"The Colossus of New York" (1958)

Fun!

You may recall that the host of that AFRTS show was Robert Paige, former Universal contractee. He had perhaps his best role ever in 1943's "Son of Dracula" and he makes the most of it:

Since no one's asking, I'll throw in my two cents on the unusual casting of Lon Chaney, Jr. as Dracula: I agree that he's not really right for the part, but I'm a fan and think it's cool that he got to play all of the classic monsters in one movie or another!

Universal Monsters - Part 2

We continue with the "Universal Monsters" film series and their connections to various adaptations of "A Christmas Carol" with 1940's "The Invisible Man Returns," the second in that series.

The title role in this one was played by Vincent Price, who was the host of the made-for-TV, awkwardly titled "The Christmas Carol" from 1949!

As with Claude Rains in the 1933 film, this was an early role for Vincent Price (his fourth movie) and we (SPOILER) also don't see his face until the last scene. And he looks really young when we do!

Vincent does a good job here in his first "horror" role, but he's not as over-the-top (in a good way) as he would be later in his career!

Top-billed in "The Invisible Man Returns" was British actor Sir Cedric Hardwicke, who also starred in 1942's "The Ghost of Frankenstein" for Universal. You would think that Sir Cedric would have had a "go" at Ebenezer Scrooge at some point during his long career, but apparently he did not! 

He did star in 1947's "The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby" for the Rank Studio, though, so that's something!

Universal Monsters - Part 1

Halloween is just a couple of weeks away, and if, like me, you enjoy watching the old "Universal Monsters" movies, you may be making connections between some of those movies and various adaptations of "A Christmas Carol."

For example, the great Claude Rains, who recorded a version of "A Christmas Carol" for Mercury Records in 1954, starred in a few of the monster movies earlier in his career.

In fact, his movie debut was in the title role of 1933's "The Invisible Man."

Rains gives a great performance in that film, which is all the more impressive since (SPOILER) you don't actually even see his face until the very end!

Since this was his first film, he doesn't get top-billing (as seen in the poster at the top), but later reissues emphasize his now-famous name:

I wonder where the little inset photo of a visible, pistol-packing Rains came from?

He also headlines a sort-of all-star cast in 1941's "The Wolf Man" (my favorite!), in which he portrays Sir John Talbot, the father of the lycanthropic Larry Talbot.

I hear/read all the time about the lack of a familial resemblance between Claude Rains and Lon Chaney, Jr., which can't be denied, but do cinematic families ever really look alike? And Rains lends a ton of gravitas to the proceedings, so I'm really glad he's there!

Rains had the title role (but was third-billed) in Universal's big 1942 remake of the "Phantom of the Opera":

I think this one is somewhat underrated. Modern viewers don't think it's monster-y enough, but you need to watch it as mid-1940s entertainment and not worry about how it fits into the whole "Universal Monsters" scene!

Of further note is that Universal actually dabbled a bit with Dickens adaptations back at that time, including "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" starring Claude Rains from 1935:

Universal also produced a version of "Great Expectations" in 1934:

Of even further note is that the adult Pip in that movie was portrayed by Phillips Holmes, who was the son of Taylor Holmes, the Scrooge from the 1949 TV version of "A Christmas Carol" hosted by Vincent Price!

It all comes back around!