CineSavant Column

Tuesday May 30, 2023

 

Hello!

First off today is a link from CineSavant cohort Charlie Largent to an announcement from ClassicFlix of an upcoming release of episodes of the old 1959 Sci-fi TV show World of Giants, starring Marshall Thompson and Arthur Franz. I really never saw these when they were new; only 13 were produced.

The series directors seemed to be chosen for similar sci-fi subject matter — Jack Arnold, Nathan Juran, Harry Horner. The guest cast lists may not be stellar, but I wouldn’t mind checking out Peggie Castle, Allison Hayes, Ziva Rodann, Berry Kroeger, Gregg Palmer, Brett Halsey, Pamela Duncan, Nestor Paiva and the late Gavin McLeod.

The ClassicFlix announcement includes clips from a pair of episodes, “Chemical Story” and “Special Agent.”

 


Just up on the ‘silly toy’ news front is Wayne Schmidt’s link to The BigBadToyStore and its offering of a
Robot Monster Ro-Man 15-Inch Deluxe Plush, actually offered by a company called Hoptoys. The toy is halfway accurate, and just what one needs when contemplating the upcoming 3-D Blu-ray release of the original film, now scheduled for July 25.

It says the helmet comes off to reveal a skull-face underneath, which connects to the Robot Monster’s original poster, not anything in the film itself.

I checked out the rest of the toy inventory, which mostly seems to be figurines of comic book characters, although a few film items pop through. I got as far as page 8, where the Biblical figures begin !

 


 

Eddie Muller has some surprises coming up on his Noir Alley TCM show Saturday nights in June and July. Four of the shows are familiar items from existing collections: the police thriller Between Midnight and Dawn, Anthony Mann’s Desperate, Andrew Stone’s Doris Day thriller Julie, and Day’s Klan exposé thriller Storm Warning, due soon on Blu-ray.

Going forward the titles are less familiar. We’ve seen Don Siegel’s debut picture The Verdict and don’t remember it well. The same goes for Arthur Lubin’s Impact, a show that left no impression despite having an exceptional cast: Ella Raines, Helen Walker — and Anna Mae Wong.

We’re also interested in finding out what Eddie has to say about Douglas Sirk’s Shockproof, a movie turned inside-out in post, a complicated story for sure.

The last two are real surprises. I wasn’t really aware of the unseen Flaxy Martin by Richard Bare. Another show that’s evaded me forever is another July offering, Jean Negulesco’s Deep Valley with Ida Lupino and Dane Clark. I hope it’s worth the wait. Muller’s intros and ‘extros’ are so good that I watch them even when I skip the movies themselves, as with last week’s The Fallen Sparrow . . . no, Maureen O’Hara doesn’t fare too well in a classic noir situation.

Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson