RIP Jerry Lewis

I was saddened to learn of the passing of Jerry Lewis earlier today. Not just a Hollywood legend, but an award-winning actor, writer, director, producer, author, philanthropist, and film innovator. He was the whole package, and he will be missed.

My first memories of Jerry Lewis were of someone who was just there, a Hollywood legend as I said, who would sometimes pop up on talk shows and variety shows. I remember having him pointed out by my brother when he made his cameo in It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World, but I never really got a good look at the man until I started watching his Labor Day telethons for muscular dystrophy(which he did for over four decades), there I saw what kind of man he was and how respected and gracious he was. The telethons were always big ratings blockbusters, so when a rival local channel started running Jerry Lewis movies opposite it one weekend, that's when I really saw what he was about.

My eyes were opened that weekend with Way… Way Out, Hook, Line, & Sinker, Who's Minding the Store?, The Ladies Man (a tour de force in which he not only starred, wrote, produced, and directed, but innovated new cinematography that still boggle the mind), and a film that remains a favorite, in my top ten of all time even, Boeing Boeing. I wonder if WCAU Channel 10 knows that in the name of money they introduced me and probably hundreds of others to the genius of Jerry Lewis that weekend.

As the years went by, I would appreciate his work more and more. While I never found him very funny in his original incarnation as half of Martin and Lewis with Dean Martin, I loved his other films as I discovered them on television, and later when I managed a video store. Other favorites include The Big Mouth, The Bellboy, Cinderfella, and The King of Comedy. Perhaps now, we might also finally see a complete version of the infamous The Day the Clown Cried, a film about a clown in the Nazi concentration camps, that while controversial, Lewis locked away because he felt it was not his best work.

Although he has proven himself difficult and a perfectionist in the field, Lewis' genius behind the camera remains, and his films are a legacy to that. There's an old joke that he was a genius in France, but let's face facts, in this, the French are not wrong. He changed, and improved how Hollywood makes films, and how we see them.

Jerry Lewis was one of the greats, and I was glad to have seen him one last time while he was alive on the most recent TCM Classic Cruise when he introduced and fielded questions about The Nutty Professor. He was a legend of stage, screen, and radio, and will be missed by all, whether they liked him or not.

Lost Soul

Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau ~ A friend had recommended this documentary to me, and realizing this writer/director's body of work consisted of a movie I remembered loving, and two I had not seen, I did a bit of homework first. Hardware stood the test of time. Dust Devil was very pretty, but unwatchable. And The Island of Dr. Moreau was, wow, just terrible.

Now it was time to take a journey into the madness of the man's movie-making. There is a solid Jodorowsky's Dune vibe going on throughout. Stanley had/has a big vision powered principally by the source material of the original novel. He felt there had never been a faithful adaptation, but weirdly enough he took the tact of modernizing it, bringing it into the present day. That was one thing I disliked about the finished product. Stanley's ideas and storyboards are stunning however, and might have convinced me otherwise.

One thing I was happy that was brought up, and something I talked about in my review of The Island of Dr. Moreau, was the similarity to Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Stanley wanted to pay homage to the connection rather than shy away from it, pulling characters and situations from Conrad and putting them into Moreau. Of course casting Marlon Brando, who played Kurtz and would play Moreau, brought it all home.

Of course that's not what this documentary is really about though. As the film moved into pre-production, we watch the revolving door of the lead actors, the make-up process, and the gradual isolation and edging out of the project of Richard Stanley. The writer/director wasn't all that together either. His belief in witchcraft and superstition made it clear, to him at least, that forces were aligned against him.

Stanley, in the best of possibilities, was in over his head with this film. Everyone on the set knew it. He had a problem communicating with the cast, didn't attend meetings, and was getting more paranoid by the moment. There was a death in Brando's family, and the set was hit by a hurricane. What else could go wrong?

Richard Stanley was fired as director, probably had a bit of a mental breakdown, and was put on a plane off location. John Frankenheimer was brought in, contemptuous of what came before, and basically just got the job done - no vision, just get it done. No one was happy, especially in the end, the audience.

The last third of the doc chronicles the film as a Frankenheimer production, the dueling egos of Brando and Val Kilmer, the parties of the crew and extras, and the eventual destruction of what could have been at least an interesting movie. The ironic part is that apparently Richard Stanley has found his way back to the set as an extra, a perfect end to the doc.

I really dig this, an incisive look at how Hollywood works, how it doesn't work, and how it destroys people and ideas. Definitely worth seeing.

Café Society

Café Society ~ I have always been a Woody Allen fan, although admittedly more of his funny early work than his later still-funny-but-in-a-different-way intellectual think pieces. Recent years have added the problem of Woody himself not being able to play his characters because he's just too old (perhaps he should write older characters? Just a thought, I like his narrative template just fine), and has employed other actors essentially playing himself, like Owen Wilson in Midnight in Paris (which I loved) and here Jesse Eisenberg in Café Society.

Jesse Eisenberg is quite good here, just like Wilson he slips seamlessly into the Woody shoes and world. Also good in the Facebook film The Social Network, it seems to me that his misstep as Lex Luthor in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was just bad casting. Eisenberg can be amazing in the right role, he just has to be a bit more picky.

Café Society has Jesse Eisenberg as young Jewish New Yorker Bobby Dorfman who wants to go to Hollywood in the 1930s to make his fortune. In his element, Woody is the master here, and builds an authentic world filled with his wonderful dry wit. While in Hollywood, working for his uncle, played by Steve Carell, he meets the perfect girlfriend, Vonnie, played by Kristen Stewart, who is Uncle Phil's secretary. One glitch, she has a boyfriend, but what young Bobby doesn't know is that that boyfriend is Uncle Phil.

Vonnie has to choose between her boyfriends and eventually goes for money and stability over love. Bobby loses and goes back to New York to work in his gangster brother's nightclub. He takes to it like a fish to water, becoming a big shot in the business. And then Phil and Vonnie come to visit. She's changed, but still she and Bobby try to rekindle their romance, even though things can never be the same.

I really liked this film a lot, even with Eisenberg pinch-hitting for Woody. Surrounded by a powerful period piece and wrapped in Woody's flair for New York, the actors shine in this little flick, and the score is wonderful. Recommended. I certainly hope folks come out to see this one. When I saw it, it was a 'private screening,' as there was no one else in the theater, which was a shame.

RIP Lauren Bacall

Award winning actress of the stage and screen, as well as model and Hollywood legend, Lauren Bacall has passed away. She was 89.

Ms. Bacall first made the scene as a model but soon swept the world, and Humphrey Bogart, off its feet with her film debut in 1944's To Have and Have Not. She continued her film noir journey in Hollywood with beau and eventual husband Bogart in Key Largo, Dark Passage, and The Big Sleep. She continued to model, and act on the screen and on the stage for decades.

Watching her interact and play against Humphrey Bogart was one of the great delights in film history. Their chemistry was undeniable any time they worked together. Lauren Bacall was one of the last queens of the Golden Age of Hollywood, and she will be missed.

RIP James Garner

Actor James Garner passed away last night, he was 86. Whether you knew him as Bret Maverick or Jim Rockford, from The Notebook, or dozens of other roles, he will be missed.

The award-winning actor was one of the few who had successful careers in both film and television. He was in The Great Escape, The Americanization of Emily, Tank, The Children's Hour, Support Your Local Sheriff, and Murphy's Romance for which he was nominated for an Oscar, just to name a few.

My favorite roles of Garner's were both geeky and intellectual. I really dug that he played the wizard Shazam in a recent DC Comics animated feature, but my favorite flick of his, a great movie, and in my opinion, his best performance was in 36 Hours. Seek it out, it's worth it.

James Garner will be missed. We've lost another Hollywood legend, one of the good guys.

RIP Mickey Rooney

This weekend we lost Mickey Rooney at the grand age of 93. The man was a Golden Age Hollywood legend - an award-winning actor, singer, dancer, comedian, star of stage and screen - like I said, a legend.

I was first introduced to Mr. Rooney by his not small part in the mega comic opus It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World. Soon I discovered Andy Hardy and the rest. The man was at home on the screen, silver and small, and on the stage. I most recently discovered his performance in Quicksand.

Always entertaining, and someone I thought would always be around, as he was, from the silents to today. We have lost another legend, Mickey Rooney will be missed.

RIP Karen Black

Earlier today I found out that actress Karen Black had passed away via a Tweet from my good friend Andy Burns, also editor-in-chief of Biff Bam Pop!. Another Tweeter's response was that he had no words. That's how I feel. We've lost one of the good ones, a legend of the genre. Karen Black died yesterday in Los Angeles from ampullary cancer at the age of 74.

When I said genre, I am of course talking about the horror genre. Karen Black probably most remembered film is one where she played a tour de force of four characters in Dan Curtis' TV movie of the week Trilogy of Terror. It was at the aforementioned Andy Burns' website, Biff Bam Pop!, that I talked about how that film still scares the crap outta me. You can read that here.

While it's true she made her share of horror films, notably Trilogy, and Rob Zombie's House of 1000 Corpses among others, it's a fact she never stopped making movies. But of all the films Ms. Black has made, it is the movies of the 1970s that defne her. Hell, one could even say that Karen Black defined film in the 1970s. She changed the way women and sexuality were portrayed on the big screen.

Among her films are some of the best or at least most memorable of the decade, including Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, The Great Gatsby, Capricorn One, In Praise of Older Women, Hitchcock's last movie Family Plot, and Robert Altman's Nashville. She also starred on stage and on television as well as film. She was a composer, screenwriter, producer, and author of children's books.

I met her once a few years back, at a Chiller convention near the Meadowlands. We were about to leave and I saw this seemingly crazy woman screaming at people to get her something or other. The men surrounding her scrambled. I realized it was Karen Black. She was holding court in the lobby of the hotel.

I was either brave or stupid, so I approached her and told her she was great in Easy Rider and Nashville, and that I loved her in Trilogy, even though she scared me to death in it. She was kind, and soft spoken, and thanked me, even shook my hand. Moments later she was barking at underlings again, but to me, and other fans who approached her she was an angel.

That's how I will remember Karen Black - a kind loving woman who adored her fans. Not the psychopath possessed by a Zuni fetish doll. And that's probably for the best. We've lost one of Hollywood's great actresses, and she will be missed.

Ray Harryhausen 1920-2013

Possibly one of the greatest special effects artists who ever lied passed away today. Ray Harryhausen was a big part of my childhood, and a big part of my adulthood. He influenced so many people, and in turn, he was influenced by another genius, Willis O'Brien, whose work in stop motion animation made King Kong the classic film, and the classic character he is today. He learned at the master's side and took that art even higher. Harryhausen was one of the greats.

I can't even guess how many times I've seen Jason and the Argonauts. I seriously think a hundred times would be a conservative guess. There's nothing by Harryhausen that I didn't love (and that includes oddities like It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and the Puppetoons), but Jason is probably my favorite. I remember as a kid, channel 29 had the rights to it, and I never missed it when they aired it. The film is a beautiful piece of art, from start to finish, and it fueled my early love of the Greek myths.

I love the Sinbad films, 20 Million Miles to Earth, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, and It Came from Beneath the Sea. I watch them relentlessly when they air. Harryhausen's involvement in Beast led to a semi-rational hatred of the Godzilla films, which he felt both ripped off and cheapened his work. His statements to that effect didn't lessen my respect and awe for his work, but man oh man, it did hurt this Godzilla fan.

I was never really a fan of Clash of the Titans, as by then, his age, and the amount of time it took to do his Dynamation, made him begin to cut corners and it just didn't look as good any more, to me at least. But then again, Harryhausen cutting corners was nothing new, as 1955's It Came from Beneath the Sea featured a five-tentacled octopus.

None of that diminishes Harryhausen's accomplishments and my love for his films. We have lost one of the living legends of Hollywood, and a master of an animation style that may never be the same again. Ray Harryhausen will be missed.

The Hatchet Man

The Hatchet Man ~ This 1932 Warner Bros. classic, from the heart of the pre-code gangster era, has an all star cast - Edward G. Robinson and Loretta Young in the leads, along with J. Carroll Naish and a pre-Ming the Merciless Charles Middleton. In fact, it may have been his performance here in Asian make-up that won him the villainous role in the "Flash Gordon" serials.

Even with the terrific cast, a script based on the popular play The Honorable Mr. Wong, and the brilliant direction of William Wellman, there is much to shame this film by today's standards. Besides the non-code depictions of narcotics and adultery, the politically incorrect use if the word Oriental, and violence typical of this era, there's the fact that this is the equivalent of an Asian minstrel show - the majority of the actors are whites portraying Asians.

Nevertheless, the direction and performance of the cast are exemplary. Loretta Young shines through her make-up, and we see both the hard side and the little seen soft side of Robinson. Edward G. plays the 'hatchet man,' the fist of justice among the tongs in Chinatown, San Francisco. While some of it is misperception, much is a tale of the old ways giving way to the new world.

When the tongs go to war, it's not like a John Woo or Ringo Lam flick, but it does match up to the gangster films of its day, and you do get to see some fancy hatchet work. If you can get past the make-up and the stereotypes, this one's worth watching.

Jack the Giant Slayer

Jack the Giant Slayer ~ Fairy tales are hot in Hollywood right now. Whether it's the two Snow White flicks last year, Hansel and Gretel with guns a few weeks back, or the hit TV series "Grimm" and "Once Upon a Time," or even the Fables comic books - fairy tales are big business. Now it's Jack's turn.

This weekend, The Bride and I saw Jack the Giant Slayer at the fabulously remodeled AMC Marlton 8 Theatre, and it wasn't just the great reclining lounger seats that made for a great movie experience - the flick was pretty good too. The big budget CGI send up of the 'Jack and the Beanstalk' story had adventure, horror, romance, and even comedy. I might go so far as to say it reminded me a bit of The Princess Bride. Now let me be clear, it's no Princess Bride, but it had all the hallmarks.

Bryan Singer's take on 'Jack and the Beanstalk' is filled with CGI giants all in need of serious dental care and repair, and a fabulous cast of character actors. Ian McShane from "Deadwood" is excellent as the King, and Ewan McGregor as the protagonist who's not the hero of this story is terrific. However, the leads are only adequate and the actors behind the CGI giants are pretty much unrecognizable. This doesn't stop the flick from being enjoyable, despite the story's simplicity and predictability. There are surprises, and that helps.

This is a great popcorn flick, moves quickly, never bores, and was the perfect film to test out a terrific new theater. Thumbs up all around.

Vogues of 1938

Vogues of 1938 ~ Regular readers of this blog know I love "Dark Shadows" - the TV series, not last summer's Johnny Depp vehicle. Well, when I saw this movie listed, starring Joan Bennett, DS' Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, the Collins family matriarch. I know she had a serious film career before DS, over seventy movies, but I'd never seen any, that I know of, so I had to check this out.

Walter Wanger's Vogues of 1938 is a lavish color musical that also stars Warren Baxter as the male lead opposite Bennett. She's a socialite who becomes a model after a failed marriage. The sets and costumes are terrific for the time, and the print is crisp and bright.

The movie is clever and snappy, like most from the decade. The story is weak, but plays second to the terrific musical numbers and the visuals so it's okay. The worst part is ...Joan Bennett! She's stiff, fake, and unappealing. Literally everything works on this flick except her. I'm glad she found her home finally in soap operas. Worth seeing, but be forewarned.

The Barrens: Thoughts on the Trailer

There's never been a really good movie about the Jersey Devil, and there are damned few good books. "The Pines" by Robert Dunbar is really the only fiction one that springs to mind. "The Jersey Devil" by James F. McCloy and Ray Miller is probably the best among the non-fiction books on the legend. And as far as movies go, there have been a few, all awful, the worst of the bunch about a decade ago was called 13th Child and struck a new low in cinema.

This one, The Barrens features "True Blood" star Stephen Moyer playing a man who takes his family camping and finds himself convinced he's being stalked by the Jersey Devil. Even the trailer, just a few seconds over two minutes long, is already full of inaccuracies about the legend. I'm a South Jersey boy, I should know.

The worst mistake of all is in the title itself. The Barrens referred to are the Pine Barrens, so called because of the short stunted trees in the region, not at all like the ones we see in the trailer depicting the Ontario, Canada location. As yet, the film has no release date.

Ernest Borgnine 1917-2012

Ernest Borgnine passed away yesterday at the ripe old age of 95, from kidney failure.

I grew up with him in "McHale's Navy," but some of the younger folks might know him from "Airwolf" or surprisingly (at least to me) "Spongebob Squarepants." Besides those roles, Borgnine also acted in dozens of television shows in his six decade career, including an Emmy nomination for his role in the last couple episodes of "ER" when he was 92.

Borgnine was also a stage star, and because his television credits are so dominant, many folks forget what a legendary screen actor he was. He won the Oscar for his role in 1955's Marty, and was outstanding in many other films like From Here to Eternity, The Dirty Dozen, Willard, The Devil's Rain, The Poseidon Adventure and even Harlan Ellison's infamous The Oscar.

I recently saw the man interviewed on TCM. He was as boisterous and lively as he had ever been, happy to tell tales of the old days and more recent times, a happy library of the industry. We have lost one of the great actors of Hollywood.

Mirror Mirror

Mirror Mirror ~ Sometimes it just seems too easy to me for Hollywood to take a public domain property like a fairy tale, in this case, Snow White, and put their own spin on it. Most times though, we're not talking new spin, but a contemporary, sometimes mocking, and most times different for different's sake, look at it.

In the case of Mirror Mirror, more than a different take, we get a spotlight for Julia Roberts with her fading star to vamp and overact in the confines of a fantasy over the top role - the evil queen. Roberts is so delicious in the part, she overshadows the rest of the cast, including the usually overwhelming Nathan Lane and the seven dwarves who were particularly entertaining. And if you're fans of "Little People, Big World" and "Pit Boss," you'll see some familiar faces.

This take on the Snow White, despite the differences, was a tad predictable (and not just because most of the flick has been telegraphed in the previews either), though still entertaining. If nothing else is playing, a good afternoon out, but better a wait for rental or OnDemand. Whatever you do, stay for the Bollywood credit sequence, it's awesome.

Tony Curtis 1925-2010

This is a bad week for Hollywood, we are losing all the good ones. Yesterday we lost director Arthur Penn, and this morning the news comes that also last night actor Tony Curtis passed away. His daughter Jamie Lee Curtis confirmed his passing from cardiac arrest after several medical maladies this past year. He was 85.

Tony Curtis starred in my favorite film of all time, The Great Race. It was a fave when I was a kid, and remains to this day. I watch it every time it airs from start to finish, nearly three hours. It's got adventure, romance, music, history, satire and comedy. Throw in the fight between good and evil and race cars, and it just can't be beat. And in the center of it all, as the dashing hero radiating charisma, is Tony Curtis. That's the kind of guy he was, the epitome of the leading man, even when he was playing a parody of one.

Curtis was great in everything he was in. Whether he was in drag as in Some Like It Hot, getting an Oscar nod in The Defiant Ones, or being the best thing in the completely dreadful telemovie Tarzan in Manhattan, he was always marvelous. He was the undisputed star of so many movies, including Houdini, Operation Petticoat, Boeing Boeing and Spartacus.

Born Bernie Schwartz in Hells Kitchen, he came to Hollywood in the late 1940s and became an almost instant star. He was married to Janet Leigh and romantically linked to Marilyn Monroe. He also played regular roles on television on shows like "The Persuaders" and "Vega$," and on this the fiftieth anniversary of "The Flintstones," he might be remembered for his guest appearance as Stony Curtis. The last time I saw him on television was on "The Graham Norton Show" a year or so ago. He didn't look well, but he still rocked the house with his stories of old Hollywood.

This is indeed a sad day. We have lost one of the legends of Hollywood.

RIP Arthur Penn

The man behind not only some of my favorite films, but some of the greatest films ever made, period, has passed away. Director Arthur Penn died last night at the age of 88.

His vision and talent changed the film industry in the late 1960s and changed the way we watch movies in both expectation and complexity. Among his films are the groundbreaking Bonnie and Clyde, The Miracle Worker, Little Big Man, Alice's Restaurant and The Missouri Breaks. These are all films I will watch all the way through every time I see them on. They were not many, one every few years, but what he lacked in quantity he made up for in quality.

Penn began in television, but he also worked on the Broadway stage winning both the Tony and the Pulitzer. This great man will be missed. We have truly lost one of the legends of the field.

Sands of Oblivion

Sands of Oblivion ~ An interesting horror film. Dan Castellaneta, the voice of Homer Simpson, as Cecil De Mille is actually a great casting choice, unexpected and quite good. George Kennedy is also here, even though I thought he was dead, but I'm glad he's not as he brings his superior acting skills with him. Unfortunately neither of these men is in this much.

An ancient Egyptian relic is uncovered on the set of de Mille's 1923 The Ten Commandments, an undying evil is released, and hilarity ensues, fun fun fun. Apparently the shooting set was lost, and lost for a reason. Adam Baldwin is a bit wishy-washy here. Although I first saw him as Linderman in My Bodyguard, it's hard for me to see him these days as anything other than John Casey from "Chuck." Here he plays against type and I don't believe him for a second.

The monster is a rather frightening looking alligator-jawed Anubis, even though its size and shape varied wildly each time it appeared on screen. I know I watched this with the lights on, but it wasn't as scary as it could be. There were too many sequences with nothing happening and when it did happen, it was drug out. The dune buggy chase lasted forever.

This was a good old-fashioned horror movie, but would have been much better, if it was shorter and more consistent. Check it out if there's nothing else on.

Dennis Hopper 1936-2010

Actor, filmmaker and Hollywood legend Dennis Hopper has passed away. He was 74.

I used to have this thing for sixties movies when I was a kid. Don't ask me why, but I was into hippies and drugs and bikers waaay back then. As you can imagine, when local WPVI channel 6 showed Easy Rider on its Million Dollar Movie Friday nights at 11:30 PM - it was an event for me. I stayed up and marveled at the psychedelic exploits of Peter Fonda, Jack Nicholson and this shaggy headed rebel named Dennis Hopper. This was the first time I had run into the man. He was a one-liner, comic relief almost, in Rider, but little did I know then that the man co-wrote and directed the flick. And the flick was one of the new wave of youth-oriented films that changed the way Hollywood made movies.

Hopper once again slid into my tunnel vision with his frightening performance in David Lynch's Blue Velvet. Nightmarish, charismatic and dangerous - he had a lasting effect. I became a fan, and slowly became aware of his long and storied career.

Dennis Hopper, reputedly one of the bad boys of Hollywood was also one of its new wave of geniuses to come out the late 1960s. His career before Easy Rider was primarily in television and almost stretched back to its beginnings. After lots of TV westerns and some dramas, he jumped to the big screen in 1968 and began a long string of brilliance, whether it was a small part, or larger role in front or behind the camera - Hopper was one of the greats. He seemed to vanish in the 1970s but reemerged quickly in the early 1980s, thanks to roles like Frank Booth in Blue Velvet.

After that it didn't matter what you saw Hopper in, whether it was as the bad guy in Speed or the television series "24," or in just silly stuff like Space Truckers or Super Mario Brothers - you knew you were going to get a hell of a performance. We have lost a true Hollywood legend in Dennis Hopper, and he will be missed.

Jean Simmons Dies at 80

Legendary actress Jean Simmons passed away yesterday from complications of lung cancer at the age of 80.

The Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning actress not only held some of the most coveted roles in Hollywood but she also played opposite some its greatest leading men, like Marlon Brando, Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Richard Burton and Laurence Olivier.

After her stellar career in film Jean moved onto television where she won an Emmy for "The Thorn Birds" and even played in the much-maligned remake of "Dark Shadows." We have truly lost one of the greats. She will be missed.

Mandrake the Magician

Mandrake the Magician is perhaps one of the first of the comic strip superheroes. Created by Lee Falk (who also created the Phantom) in 1934 and based on a real life stage magician of the same name, Mandrake was the template for the comic book magicians that proliferated in the comic books of the 1930s and 40s. Mandrake and his faithful companion Lothar adventured for decades in the comic strips, books, stage and screen. The year 1939 brought the Magician to the silver screen in a twelve-part movie serial from Columbia.

Warren Hull was a veteran of the hero business in the movie serials having also played the Green Hornet and the Spider. His Mandrake unfortunately comes off as the most dull of the three. Al Kikume, who played Lothar, is also no stranger to the heroic serials, having parts in the Captain Marvel and Nyoka ones respectively and later appearing on Superman on television. It’s kind of odd though that Lothar who was probably the first non-stereotyped African-American in comics is portrayed here by a Hawaiian. Their chemistry when it happens is a highlight, but a rare one indeed.

The plot of this serial is an old one and has been quite recycled in the genre. Scientist builds a device to benefit mankind and villain steals it to use as a weapon against the world. In this case, the villain is the Wasp, and in another old serial cliché, we have to guess from episode to episode which of our cast is really the Wasp in disguise. It has some good action and suspense, but suffers in comparison to today’s offerings and even to its contemporaries - Adventures of Captain Marvel being the best of the genre.

Much like the Phantom on Syfy, and Flash Gordon recently before that, Hollywood will soon be raping, um, sorry, I mean ‘re-imagining’ Mandrake for an upcoming production starring Hayden Christensen and Djimon Hounsou, possibly for the big screen. Yep, I’m already cringing. Should make this movie serial seem like gold though.