WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema: The Maze 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:08.800 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:13.080 --> 0:00:16.440 Hey you welcome to Weird House Cinema. This is Rob Lamb. 0:00:16.360 --> 0:00:19.520 And this is Joe McCormick. And today's movie on Weird 0:00:19.520 --> 0:00:24.320 House is the nineteen fifty three three D horror film 0:00:24.840 --> 0:00:29.760 The Maze, directed by William Cameron Menzies. I had never 0:00:29.880 --> 0:00:33.760 seen this before this week, and I first became aware 0:00:33.760 --> 0:00:35.920 of it back when we were doing our three Weeks 0:00:35.920 --> 0:00:39.080 of three D series. How long ago was that now, 0:00:39.120 --> 0:00:40.520 I guess it was a few months ago. 0:00:41.400 --> 0:00:45.200 Yeah, yes, I'm sometime in months weeks. It's hard to say. 0:00:45.800 --> 0:00:48.839 Time passes strangely in the digital realm, but yeah, we 0:00:48.840 --> 0:00:52.320 were looking at different three D pictures and you know, 0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:54.080 a lot of them did come. We had certain boom 0:00:54.160 --> 0:00:57.880 periods for three D, and nineteen fifty three was definitely 0:00:57.920 --> 0:00:58.920 one of those years. 0:00:59.520 --> 0:01:03.680 Absolutely the same year as Vincent Price's House of Wax. 0:01:03.840 --> 0:01:07.280 Same year as Oh Our Friend, the Guerrilla Robot. 0:01:08.319 --> 0:01:10.240 Oh Robot Monster. Nineteen fifty three. 0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:12.920 Yeah, yeah, it was a big year for three D pictures, 0:01:12.959 --> 0:01:15.400 and we've been into a number of nineteen fifties films 0:01:15.440 --> 0:01:16.400 in general this year. 0:01:16.680 --> 0:01:19.080 So The Maze ended up on my list of movies 0:01:19.120 --> 0:01:21.240 for that we ended up not picking it with some 0:01:21.280 --> 0:01:23.640 other options, but it came to mind again for me 0:01:23.880 --> 0:01:26.399 a week or two back when a friend of mine 0:01:26.440 --> 0:01:27.959 was over at the house. He wanted to show me 0:01:28.000 --> 0:01:30.800 a movie, and the one he picked was another film 0:01:30.840 --> 0:01:34.679 by the same director, by William Cameron. Mindsy's a film 0:01:34.959 --> 0:01:38.240 released in nineteen fifty three, so the same year as 0:01:38.280 --> 0:01:42.959 the one we're talking about today, but called Invaders from Mars, which, 0:01:43.000 --> 0:01:46.920 according to a book called Saucer Movies, The Euphological History 0:01:47.000 --> 0:01:50.680 of the Cinema by Paul Mehan, it was the first 0:01:50.680 --> 0:01:54.080 full length movie ever to show aliens and their flying 0:01:54.080 --> 0:01:57.520 saucers in color. I think it just beat out the 0:01:57.600 --> 0:02:00.920 nineteen fifty three release of War the World, which I 0:02:00.960 --> 0:02:03.080 think was intentional. They were sort of like trying to 0:02:03.080 --> 0:02:06.040 get it out before War the World's now. We'll talk 0:02:06.080 --> 0:02:08.200 a bit more about this director when we get into 0:02:08.240 --> 0:02:10.720 the connections part of the episode, but I'll just say 0:02:11.240 --> 0:02:15.040 Invaders from Mars is very interesting in that while a 0:02:15.080 --> 0:02:19.200 lot of the movie is, you know, stuff we know 0:02:19.360 --> 0:02:22.399 very well from this period, stock footage of military vehicles 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:27.720 driving around ooh, thrilling, and there's plenty of fifties cheeseball 0:02:28.080 --> 0:02:32.400 alien schlock in it, there are actually some very frightening 0:02:32.440 --> 0:02:35.040 moments and images, And I know this movie stuck with 0:02:35.320 --> 0:02:38.040 a lot of people who would go on to become 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:41.360 film directors in later decades. In the seventies and eighties, 0:02:41.400 --> 0:02:45.679 they like harkened back to seeing Invaders from Mars when 0:02:45.680 --> 0:02:49.920 they were little kids and being deeply frightened by it 0:02:49.960 --> 0:02:53.480 by certain memorable images, so much so that Toby Hooper 0:02:53.560 --> 0:02:57.440 ended up remaking Invaders from Mars in the eighties, And 0:02:57.480 --> 0:02:59.520 I know there are other directors who have cited it 0:02:59.560 --> 0:03:01.760 as like a movie that really scared them when they 0:03:01.800 --> 0:03:02.240 were young. 0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:05.200 I never saw the original, but I have seen parts 0:03:05.400 --> 0:03:08.359 of Tobe Hooper's remake on TV back in the day. 0:03:09.000 --> 0:03:12.079 Well, something I thought was interesting about Invaders from Mars 0:03:12.200 --> 0:03:16.239 was that of these actually very frightening moments and images, 0:03:17.000 --> 0:03:18.840 a lot of the stuff that works best in the 0:03:18.880 --> 0:03:25.120 movie is very set focused. It depends on specific sets 0:03:26.400 --> 0:03:28.400 to the extent that I would I say that I 0:03:28.440 --> 0:03:31.720 really get the feeling that William Cameron Mendsay's is a 0:03:31.960 --> 0:03:35.400 sets guy. There's one that really sticks in my mind 0:03:35.440 --> 0:03:39.160 from Invaders, which is an indoor for outdoor set of 0:03:39.440 --> 0:03:41.640 the main character is like a little boy and aliens 0:03:41.640 --> 0:03:44.480 from mars Land in his backyard, and he starts figuring 0:03:44.480 --> 0:03:47.080 out what's going on as they sort of start pod peopling, 0:03:47.280 --> 0:03:50.320 you know, replacing people with alien drones that look just 0:03:50.400 --> 0:03:55.240 like them. He watches out his window as this alien 0:03:55.280 --> 0:03:57.720 ship comes down in his backyard. And so the backyard 0:03:57.800 --> 0:04:00.680 is a sort of eerie looking hilltop with a path 0:04:00.800 --> 0:04:03.680 leading over it and a few trees in a wooden fence, 0:04:04.280 --> 0:04:08.800 And we repeatedly in that movie see characters venture down 0:04:08.880 --> 0:04:11.760 the path over the top of the hill and just disappear, 0:04:12.360 --> 0:04:15.320 which we later learn is because they are being sucked 0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:20.200 down through a patch of Martian quicksand which Minsias shows 0:04:20.640 --> 0:04:24.280 filling itself back in after it has consumed an earthling 0:04:24.839 --> 0:04:27.440 with a reverse footage effect. And I think that part 0:04:27.480 --> 0:04:32.280 is actually highly effective, especially when paired with that unsettling 0:04:32.320 --> 0:04:33.559 indoor for outdoor set. 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:35.880 I think I know what you mean. And this ties 0:04:35.880 --> 0:04:38.599 into a lot of the indoor for outdoor sets that 0:04:38.600 --> 0:04:40.599 we've talked about before, where if it's done well, if 0:04:40.640 --> 0:04:44.440 it's done right, it feels uncanny. It feels like it 0:04:44.440 --> 0:04:47.520 doesn't feel like a completely artificial environment, but it feels 0:04:47.560 --> 0:04:49.880 like an environment on another planet. 0:04:50.440 --> 0:04:52.960 Longtime listeners may be tired of hearing me say this 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:54.680 because I bring it up a lot, but I really 0:04:54.720 --> 0:04:57.039 do love a good indoor for outdoor set, like some 0:04:57.160 --> 0:05:01.320 trees on a set and a painted background that I 0:05:01.360 --> 0:05:03.760 don't know when it's good. That really really makes a 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:06.680 movie go next level for me. But anyway, so, having 0:05:06.800 --> 0:05:09.280 recently seen that movie from the same director, I was 0:05:09.320 --> 0:05:12.120 curious to see this one the Maze because it was 0:05:12.200 --> 0:05:15.039 released the same year as Invaders from Mars, and it 0:05:15.120 --> 0:05:16.560 was just kind of waiting there in the back of 0:05:16.560 --> 0:05:19.359 my mind. The only other thing I knew about this movie, 0:05:19.400 --> 0:05:21.720 besides it having the same director as the one I'd 0:05:21.720 --> 0:05:24.600 seen recently, was that it is famous for having an 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:30.800 absolutely bizarre twist ending that is either horrifying or hilarious, 0:05:30.880 --> 0:05:32.919 or maybe both, depending on who you ask. 0:05:33.400 --> 0:05:35.320 Yeah, I had to look this up in the Psychotronic 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:38.600 Encyclopedia film, and Michael Weldon first of all praises the 0:05:39.000 --> 0:05:42.800 set designs and then refers to quote the most unusual 0:05:42.920 --> 0:05:45.480 ending you'll ever witness. And of course this is coming 0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:48.480 from a guy who lived in breathed weird movies, So 0:05:48.560 --> 0:05:50.559 that's always an intriguing sign. 0:05:50.880 --> 0:05:53.120 I mean, I guess you judge the weirdness of an 0:05:53.200 --> 0:05:56.440 ending by contrast, and I would say, if you're thinking 0:05:56.520 --> 0:06:00.080 of I don't know, David Cronenberg movies, this is not 0:06:00.200 --> 0:06:02.520 the weirdest ending you'll ever see, but it might be 0:06:02.640 --> 0:06:06.320 the weirdest ending I've ever seen in contrast to the 0:06:06.640 --> 0:06:09.080 to the energy of the rest of the film beforehand. 0:06:10.120 --> 0:06:13.320 Yeah. Yeah, And then you know, in general, most movies 0:06:13.360 --> 0:06:16.839 don't have this ending, yeah, though it would be interesting 0:06:16.880 --> 0:06:19.960 if they did. And I guess the challenge here with 0:06:20.000 --> 0:06:22.240 all of this is we are not going to spoil 0:06:22.279 --> 0:06:24.800 what makes this ending special yet. We'll get to it, 0:06:24.839 --> 0:06:26.560 but we'll give you a nice warning when we get 0:06:26.560 --> 0:06:31.520 into that territory. But like, this is a film that 0:06:31.880 --> 0:06:34.720 I think a lot of people would not check out 0:06:34.800 --> 0:06:37.640 unless you are maybe a fifties completest or three D 0:06:37.920 --> 0:06:41.680 cinema completest. That's probably more likely. But knowing that the 0:06:41.760 --> 0:06:46.800 ending is special, well you might push forward. And so yeah, 0:06:46.800 --> 0:06:49.400 I would encourage you to do so if that's what 0:06:49.440 --> 0:06:51.880 you're you're in the game for, like a nice weird 0:06:52.000 --> 0:06:54.159 ending that really kind of comes out of left field. 0:06:54.400 --> 0:06:56.479 It's to the point that and we're gonna play the 0:06:56.600 --> 0:07:00.280 trailer for you, because this trailer is, I say, a 0:07:00.320 --> 0:07:03.880 top ten fifties trailer for me. It's really good. It's 0:07:03.880 --> 0:07:06.160 one of those where they talk directly to the audience. 0:07:06.200 --> 0:07:07.800 So Rob, I know you were comparing it to the 0:07:07.920 --> 0:07:11.160 trailer for Mad Love, kind of reminded me of like 0:07:11.200 --> 0:07:14.080 William Castle or The Mask, where somebody is like the 0:07:14.080 --> 0:07:15.680 film you're about to see is one of the most 0:07:15.720 --> 0:07:20.000 horrifying things. Now I will say about the movie itself. 0:07:20.040 --> 0:07:23.760 While I greatly enjoyed it, especially considering the ending, I 0:07:23.800 --> 0:07:25.880 do have to say I think a real demerit of 0:07:25.920 --> 0:07:28.880 this film is that, even at eighty minutes, it feels 0:07:28.880 --> 0:07:33.080 somewhat padded out. And we have discussed films before that 0:07:33.720 --> 0:07:36.400 feel like this could have been a twenty something minute 0:07:36.440 --> 0:07:40.200 Twilight Zone episode but was padded out to feature film length, 0:07:40.680 --> 0:07:43.040 and I think this might well be an example of 0:07:43.040 --> 0:07:46.160 that category. Throughout the middle of the movie, there are 0:07:46.840 --> 0:07:49.960 multiple times we get like a long sequence where a 0:07:50.520 --> 0:07:54.160 characters are discussing what they're about to do and then 0:07:54.200 --> 0:07:56.920 we see them do it, and we could have just 0:07:57.000 --> 0:07:59.280 seen them do it, and even what they're planning on 0:07:59.320 --> 0:08:03.400 doing is not especially riveting plot material. It's like, aunt Edith, 0:08:03.480 --> 0:08:05.400 I'm going to say that you have a cold, which 0:08:05.440 --> 0:08:07.720 means we can't leave the castle, and then they'll have 0:08:07.800 --> 0:08:10.160 to let us stay and discover the secret of the maze, 0:08:10.240 --> 0:08:12.680 and then we see them do what they just talked about, 0:08:13.160 --> 0:08:17.040 So you know, not and not When I when I 0:08:17.080 --> 0:08:18.680 say see with them do what they just talked about, 0:08:18.720 --> 0:08:20.360 I don't mean discover the secret of the maze, I 0:08:20.360 --> 0:08:22.760 mean deliver the excuse about aunt Edith's cold. 0:08:23.120 --> 0:08:26.920 Yeah, I mean also aunt Edith and more in particular 0:08:27.800 --> 0:08:30.600 what is it Kitty? There there are protagonists, they are 0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:33.280 main investigators, and there comes a point in the in 0:08:33.320 --> 0:08:36.400 the plot where okay, we're gonna have like six additional 0:08:36.440 --> 0:08:40.280 people added to this plot to help investigate, and it's 0:08:40.280 --> 0:08:42.880 totally unnecessary, Like you could have built up to that 0:08:42.920 --> 0:08:45.800 big reveal, You could have gotten there a lot faster 0:08:46.000 --> 0:08:48.319 without all these additional people just kind of muddying things up. 0:08:48.559 --> 0:08:51.080 I will say, though, once all the friends arrive at 0:08:51.080 --> 0:08:57.240 the castle, the movie becomes significantly funnier. Yes, yeah, because Bert, 0:08:57.360 --> 0:09:01.120 the doctor they invite is uh, he's a character. 0:09:01.480 --> 0:09:03.000 Is birth the one with a gun. Yeah. 0:09:03.320 --> 0:09:06.560 Yeah, he came to examine his friend for you know, 0:09:06.880 --> 0:09:09.199 medical conditions, but happened to bring a revolver. 0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:14.240 Okay, yeah, yeah, I know this guy, so I agree 0:09:14.240 --> 0:09:16.599 with you. Yeah, it's a slow build. I think it 0:09:16.600 --> 0:09:19.240 could have benefited from trimming maybe like twenty minutes off 0:09:19.280 --> 0:09:21.480 of it. Yeah, it could have been either a much 0:09:21.480 --> 0:09:26.840 shorter feature or a horror anthology episode. Yeah, but it's 0:09:26.880 --> 0:09:29.360 worth it's worth still worth pushing through to get to 0:09:29.400 --> 0:09:31.200 this ending. But if you didn't know there was a 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:34.360 treat at the end, you might easily bail out, you know, 0:09:34.440 --> 0:09:36.959 half an hour into this picture. Yeah, all right, Joe, 0:09:36.960 --> 0:09:39.559 do you have an elevator pitch for the Maze? 0:09:39.880 --> 0:09:42.320 Well, you know, I started writing an elevator pitch just 0:09:42.320 --> 0:09:44.600 based around spoiling the ending, But I think we're not 0:09:44.640 --> 0:09:45.920 going to do that, are we. We're not going to 0:09:46.000 --> 0:09:47.840 do that until later in this episode. We'll give you 0:09:47.880 --> 0:09:50.080 a chance to bail out if you'd rather not know 0:09:50.160 --> 0:09:50.760 ahead of time. 0:09:51.200 --> 0:09:53.640 Yeah, and then we will spoil the hell out of it. 0:09:53.640 --> 0:09:55.480 It's going to be a grand old time. 0:09:55.679 --> 0:09:58.560 Okay, So instead I'll do the traditional movie set up 0:09:58.600 --> 0:10:02.640 elevator pitch. East fiance, Gerald, is heir to the estate 0:10:02.679 --> 0:10:06.720 of Craven Castle in Scotland. Just two weeks before their wedding, 0:10:06.760 --> 0:10:09.640 he is summoned to Craven with no warning, only to 0:10:09.679 --> 0:10:13.120 then cease all contact with his beloved. Will she find 0:10:13.200 --> 0:10:16.080 him again and reclaim their love or will a terrible 0:10:16.200 --> 0:10:18.000 family secret destroy them all? 0:10:19.480 --> 0:10:23.559 All right, sounds intriguing. Well, let's get the trailer audio 0:10:23.720 --> 0:10:26.840 experience here, and like you said, Joe, this one's a 0:10:26.880 --> 0:10:27.360 real treat. 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:46.560 Hello, ladies and gentlemen. I'm Richard Carlson. 0:10:47.679 --> 0:10:50.360 If I look somewhat older and more drawn than I 0:10:50.400 --> 0:10:53.640 have in my recent pictures, it's because of the harrowing 0:10:53.720 --> 0:10:59.000 experiences I've been having here in the Maze. The Maze 0:10:59.080 --> 0:11:01.840 is the first picture in three dimension that delves into 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:06.079 the weird and terrifying world of the supernatural. If you're 0:11:06.120 --> 0:11:09.160 familiar with the exciting effects that can be achieved with 0:11:09.200 --> 0:11:12.840 three D, you can imagine what happens when something from 0:11:12.920 --> 0:11:15.840 the great beyond reaches right out of the screen to 0:11:15.880 --> 0:11:20.080 clutch at you. On one more thing, after you've seen 0:11:20.120 --> 0:11:23.400 The Maze, please don't reveal to your friends the secret 0:11:23.400 --> 0:11:27.880 of its story or its startling climax. Because you see, 0:11:28.520 --> 0:11:49.559 we think the Maze will amaze you. 0:11:51.280 --> 0:11:55.000 What fearful secret was hidden from the world for two 0:11:55.280 --> 0:12:04.640 hundred years? Why was every door in Craven Castle locked 0:12:04.679 --> 0:12:08.920 at night? I went to your room and I saw something, 0:12:10.520 --> 0:12:13.199 something horrible. It was the most horrible thing I've ever seen. 0:12:13.679 --> 0:12:16.439 It was your imagination, something alive. 0:12:17.880 --> 0:12:18.640 I saw it move. 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:23.880 The terrifying story that startled the world comes to the 0:12:23.920 --> 0:12:40.559 screen in three dimensions. 0:12:42.559 --> 0:12:45.800 Hello, I'm actor Richard Carlson. You might remember me from 0:12:45.840 --> 0:12:47.640 films when I did not appear to be at the 0:12:47.760 --> 0:12:50.400 very moment of death. Well that's all in the past. 0:12:50.480 --> 0:12:53.199 I am now morbidly wizened and my blood has turned 0:12:53.240 --> 0:12:56.079 to an ashen vapor as a result of my participation 0:12:56.200 --> 0:12:57.000 in this film. 0:12:57.320 --> 0:13:03.440 We think the Maze will amaze you. Perfect, absolutely perfect. God. 0:13:03.520 --> 0:13:06.120 Can you imagine the people groaning in the theaters when 0:13:06.120 --> 0:13:06.640 they hear that. 0:13:08.240 --> 0:13:11.600 I don't know, maybe it was in a different reception 0:13:11.679 --> 0:13:14.360 back then they had been like, Hey, that's clever, this 0:13:14.520 --> 0:13:15.440 movie looks clever. 0:13:16.000 --> 0:13:19.800 I almost, without no pun intended, said, that is amazing 0:13:19.880 --> 0:13:26.080 word play. 0:13:29.080 --> 0:13:32.160 All right, if you want to dive in and experience 0:13:32.200 --> 0:13:35.160 the maze for yourself, before we proceed through and start 0:13:35.160 --> 0:13:37.360 talking about the rest of the plot and the people 0:13:37.400 --> 0:13:39.760 involved in it. Well, it is available on DVD and 0:13:39.800 --> 0:13:42.160 Blu Ray, and it was released on three D Blu 0:13:42.240 --> 0:13:44.720 Ray for those of you who still have that technology 0:13:45.000 --> 0:13:47.160 or have access to a time machine to go back 0:13:47.200 --> 0:13:50.560 into the most recent home three D boom and get 0:13:50.559 --> 0:13:53.120 a taste of that. I'm not sure this one is 0:13:53.160 --> 0:13:56.840 available for like legitimate streaming out there anywhere, but all 0:13:56.960 --> 0:13:59.800 that changes, you know, month to month. Almost if you 0:13:59.800 --> 0:14:01.360 look around, you might be able to find a stream 0:14:01.360 --> 0:14:01.600 of it. 0:14:02.040 --> 0:14:03.920 This is yet another one that we did not get 0:14:03.960 --> 0:14:05.120 to see in three D. 0:14:06.120 --> 0:14:08.600 Yeah, but you can still recognize those scenes, and we'll 0:14:08.600 --> 0:14:10.440 talk about those scenes where it's like, yep, these are 0:14:10.440 --> 0:14:12.760 the three D scenes. Put your glasses on. 0:14:12.760 --> 0:14:16.240 Now, Okay, so we talked about connections. 0:14:17.160 --> 0:14:18.960 Yeah, or we're going to start right here at the 0:14:18.960 --> 0:14:24.560 top with director slash production designer William Cameron Menzies, who 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:27.560 we've we've been alluding to a little bit already. You know, 0:14:27.600 --> 0:14:30.200 something of a legend in this area of production design, 0:14:31.000 --> 0:14:33.680 though I don't know that i'd ever actually seen a 0:14:33.720 --> 0:14:35.960 film in its entirety that he worked on. 0:14:36.480 --> 0:14:40.160 Same here apart from Invaders from Mars. I have in 0:14:40.280 --> 0:14:45.280 part seen his famous H. G. Wells adaptation Things to Come, 0:14:45.320 --> 0:14:47.240 which I know we're going to have to watch for 0:14:47.280 --> 0:14:48.240 a weird House one day. 0:14:49.120 --> 0:14:52.080 So. Menzies was born in eighteen ninety six died in 0:14:52.360 --> 0:14:56.040 nineteen fifty seven. He was an American filmmaker, best known 0:14:56.080 --> 0:14:59.200 for his contributions as a production designer. In fact, Menzies 0:14:59.200 --> 0:15:03.400 apparently invent the title production designer and his credits in 0:15:03.440 --> 0:15:06.400 this area, which is also like art direction. I believe 0:15:06.400 --> 0:15:08.760 it was often referred to. This goes back to the 0:15:08.800 --> 0:15:13.200 silent era, and he has some extremely impressive credentials from 0:15:13.240 --> 0:15:17.560 that era, the lavish silent swashbuckler from nineteen twenty four, 0:15:17.640 --> 0:15:21.160 The Thief of Bagdad. That one starred Douglas Fairbanks and 0:15:21.200 --> 0:15:25.640 also featured Anime Wong in a supporting role, and then 0:15:25.640 --> 0:15:27.680 a much later in his career, or a good bit 0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:30.160 later in his career, nineteen thirty nine, is Gone with 0:15:30.200 --> 0:15:34.200 the Wind. He also was involved in that lavish production 0:15:34.280 --> 0:15:37.280 design on that picture. As far as directing, he directed 0:15:37.280 --> 0:15:40.640 fifteen films and served as production designer on several of them. 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:43.280 I mean I think most of them, and these include 0:15:43.400 --> 0:15:47.479 nineteen thirty two's Chandu the Magician. This one had cinematography 0:15:47.600 --> 0:15:51.480 by James Wong Howell, who we've discussed in the show before. 0:15:51.840 --> 0:15:54.840 Nineteen thirty six is Things to Come, which you mentioned already, 0:15:54.880 --> 0:15:58.120 and fifty threes Invaders from Mars, which you recently watched. 0:15:58.520 --> 0:16:00.680 I think it's interesting. I feel I would like to 0:16:00.680 --> 0:16:04.440 know more about how he thought of his own role 0:16:04.480 --> 0:16:07.400 as a director in his own film career, because you 0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:11.080 mentioned that he invented the title production designer. If you 0:16:11.120 --> 0:16:13.280 look at the credits at the beginning of the Maze, 0:16:13.840 --> 0:16:18.560 you might notice that he is He lists himself as 0:16:18.760 --> 0:16:23.720 a production designed and directed by William Cameron Mendsies. First, 0:16:23.920 --> 0:16:26.200 first thing there is production designed. 0:16:26.560 --> 0:16:28.240 Yeah, I mean that is where he really made a 0:16:28.280 --> 0:16:30.560 name for himself. But then you know, it gets into 0:16:30.560 --> 0:16:35.040 directing of pictures as well. I was reading The Tragedy 0:16:35.040 --> 0:16:37.640 of Three D Cinema by Rick Mitchell from two thousand 0:16:37.680 --> 0:16:40.760 and four, and this is a fun article worth checking 0:16:40.760 --> 0:16:42.920 out if you're disinterested in the three D booma general. 0:16:42.960 --> 0:16:44.840 It's not a long article. You can find it on 0:16:44.920 --> 0:16:48.480 Jay Store and he's going he talks about like the 0:16:48.920 --> 0:16:51.720 different booms in three D and what different studios were 0:16:51.720 --> 0:16:54.400 doing project wise to try and capitalize in that boom, 0:16:54.960 --> 0:16:57.200 and with a nineteen fifty three three D boom, this 0:16:57.320 --> 0:17:00.840 was one of the independent entries into the three D pool. 0:17:00.920 --> 0:17:05.480 This is allied Artist slash Monogram. And while the film 0:17:05.520 --> 0:17:08.480 itself is you know what it is, it's nobody's top 0:17:08.600 --> 0:17:11.399 three D picture, it's nobody's top nineteen fifty three picture, 0:17:11.600 --> 0:17:16.360 he does say the following quote. Mensi's approach to camera placement, composition, 0:17:16.480 --> 0:17:19.639 and lighting were especially suited to three D, and in 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:23.360 many ways the Maze is a textbook example of how 0:17:23.400 --> 0:17:25.960 to shoot a three D film, and he ultimately contends 0:17:26.000 --> 0:17:29.439 to that as a director, Mensie's never really had the 0:17:29.600 --> 0:17:32.640 chance to work with a script that was truly deserving 0:17:32.680 --> 0:17:37.800 of his talents. So, you know, far more technically proficient, 0:17:37.920 --> 0:17:40.200 and you know, the skilled when it came to the 0:17:40.320 --> 0:17:43.879 visual and the artistic design of a picture. But you know, 0:17:43.920 --> 0:17:46.160 as he worked his way up into the director's chair, 0:17:46.680 --> 0:17:49.600 he perhaps never really had that perfect script to bring 0:17:49.640 --> 0:17:50.200 to life. 0:17:50.400 --> 0:17:52.560 That does seem true based on my experience, though I 0:17:52.560 --> 0:17:54.760 guess I would reserve judgment on that until I've seen 0:17:54.800 --> 0:17:58.359 things to come, which seems a more ambitious project in 0:17:58.440 --> 0:18:00.720 terms of storytelling than the two moves I have seen. 0:18:01.280 --> 0:18:05.560 Yeah, but he did. You know again, he was highly 0:18:05.800 --> 0:18:11.399 thought of when it came to production design or the 0:18:11.520 --> 0:18:15.080 art design on these various pictures. Now, Minsi's was nominated 0:18:15.160 --> 0:18:20.119 for four Oscars three Best Art Direction nominations in nineteen thirty, 0:18:20.400 --> 0:18:23.080 two of them in nineteen twenty nine. And fun fact, 0:18:23.320 --> 0:18:26.840 there were two Oscar ceremonies in nineteen thirty, so these 0:18:26.880 --> 0:18:31.560 awards are spread out across three different Academy Awards ceremonies 0:18:31.720 --> 0:18:35.120 in the space of two years. Okay, yeah, it gets 0:18:35.160 --> 0:18:36.840 kind of weird when you start looking back at like 0:18:36.960 --> 0:18:40.680 early Oscars history, you know, because they didn't even start 0:18:40.760 --> 0:18:46.480 told what twenty nine. So anyway, he did win one 0:18:46.520 --> 0:18:49.600 of these. It was for a film in twenty nine 0:18:49.640 --> 0:18:52.720 titled The Dove, and then later on he got an 0:18:52.720 --> 0:18:55.800 Honorary Award for his work on Gone with the Wind. 0:18:57.280 --> 0:18:59.360 All right. The screenplay on this one was written by 0:18:59.640 --> 0:19:03.760 Daniel b Olman or as an adapted screenplay. Rather. He 0:19:03.840 --> 0:19:07.040 lived nineteen eighteen through nineteen seventy nine. His other screenplays 0:19:07.040 --> 0:19:10.359 include nineteen sixty one's Mysterious Island That Start a Giant 0:19:10.400 --> 0:19:13.959 crab as well as various action, western and suspense films. 0:19:14.160 --> 0:19:16.520 There aren't as many giant crab movies as you would think. 0:19:16.880 --> 0:19:17.880 That's one of them. 0:19:18.119 --> 0:19:20.200 Yeah, that one stands out. It's a good looking crab. 0:19:20.600 --> 0:19:22.840 Now I said it was an adapted screenplay. It is 0:19:22.880 --> 0:19:26.600 based on a novel, a novel by Maurice Sandawz, who 0:19:26.720 --> 0:19:31.360 lived eighteen ninety two through nineteen fifty eight, a Swiss 0:19:31.400 --> 0:19:34.560 author and composer who apparently earned a PhD in chemistry 0:19:34.600 --> 0:19:36.960 but chose to devote his life to art instead of science. 0:19:37.720 --> 0:19:42.119 His books I've read often venture into surreal and horrific territory, 0:19:42.920 --> 0:19:45.000 I guess, you know, dipping into some of that, you know, 0:19:45.040 --> 0:19:49.240 the energy of sort of the weird tales, weird fiction era. 0:19:50.480 --> 0:19:53.720 His nineteen forty five novel The Maze is the basis 0:19:53.720 --> 0:19:55.919 for this film and is apparently a key example of 0:19:55.960 --> 0:19:59.760 these interests. The novel has a largely gothic horror eye 0:19:59.800 --> 0:20:03.800 by understand, but also has this highly weird twist at 0:20:03.800 --> 0:20:09.840 the end. The surrealist artist Salvador Dali actually illustrated an 0:20:10.000 --> 0:20:15.040 edition of this novel. You can find various booksellers online 0:20:15.080 --> 0:20:18.040 selling this illustrated volume it seems to be a pretty 0:20:18.040 --> 0:20:20.600 hot item among book collectors. I couldn't get a hit 0:20:20.640 --> 0:20:21.960 my hands on a copy of it, or at least 0:20:21.960 --> 0:20:23.600 I wouldn't be going to be able to get one 0:20:23.720 --> 0:20:26.240 in time for this episode. But you can find various 0:20:26.240 --> 0:20:32.159 examples of selfador Dolly's illustrations from the novel, and they're 0:20:32.280 --> 0:20:36.600 really strange looking, as you might well imagine. There's one 0:20:36.640 --> 0:20:40.640 in particular of this kind of almost mushroom headed looking figure, 0:20:41.359 --> 0:20:44.000 and it's one of these images where you can look 0:20:44.040 --> 0:20:46.400 at it either right side up or upside down. One 0:20:46.440 --> 0:20:49.880 way it's this strange figure, and the other ways it's 0:20:49.920 --> 0:20:52.639 clearly supposed to be the castle from the book. 0:20:54.960 --> 0:20:56.919 So what is the guy's head at the bottom when 0:20:56.920 --> 0:20:57.760 it's upside down? 0:20:59.040 --> 0:21:01.880 I don't know. I's like that part, doesn't I guess 0:21:01.880 --> 0:21:05.960 translate so much into something something different, or does it? 0:21:06.000 --> 0:21:07.119 I don't know. I don't know. 0:21:07.160 --> 0:21:10.200 It's like a big potato in a bowl when it's 0:21:10.240 --> 0:21:11.000 upside down. 0:21:11.440 --> 0:21:14.479 M we may have to come back to this figuring 0:21:14.520 --> 0:21:16.960 this out once we get to the end of the 0:21:17.240 --> 0:21:21.480 end of the picture. But anyway, Sandoz has some other works. 0:21:21.520 --> 0:21:23.760 He wrote a novel called The House Without Windows, from 0:21:23.880 --> 0:21:26.879 nineteen fifty that has a futuristic house in it that 0:21:26.920 --> 0:21:28.960 apparently has a lot of things we just kind of 0:21:28.960 --> 0:21:31.160 take for granted as part of a house these days. 0:21:31.200 --> 0:21:33.800 And he also wrote various plays and short stories. 0:21:34.200 --> 0:21:36.800 Okay, is it time to talk about our Troy McClure 0:21:36.880 --> 0:21:37.600 for this film. 0:21:38.040 --> 0:21:42.120 Yes, playing Gerald mcteam. We have Richard Garlson, who lived 0:21:42.160 --> 0:21:45.240 nineteen twelve through nineteen seventy seven, actor of stage, screen 0:21:45.320 --> 0:21:48.680 and TV, as well as eventually a director and screenwriter. 0:21:49.080 --> 0:21:51.840 He was an established lead actor in the late thirties 0:21:51.880 --> 0:21:55.320 and early forties, but then, of course, then came World 0:21:55.359 --> 0:21:57.600 War Two. He serves in World War Two in the 0:21:57.680 --> 0:22:01.440 US Navy, and afterwards he has a little harder time 0:22:01.480 --> 0:22:03.600 getting those lead roles again, so he has to turn 0:22:03.640 --> 0:22:08.240 to screenwriting as a way to fill in the gaps. 0:22:08.320 --> 0:22:10.480 And it also meant that he dipped more into sci 0:22:10.520 --> 0:22:12.439 fi in horror films. You know, he'd kind of like, 0:22:12.440 --> 0:22:14.320 you know, fallen down the ladder. I guess a bit 0:22:14.520 --> 0:22:17.720 in Hollywood. But as is often the case, these might 0:22:17.920 --> 0:22:20.679