WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema: Tobor the Great 0:00:03.000 --> 0:00:05.280 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind, a production of 0:00:05.320 --> 0:00:15.920 My Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. This 0:00:15.960 --> 0:00:19.360 is Rob Lamb and look who it is. Look who's back. 0:00:19.880 --> 0:00:22.800 It's none other than Joe McCormick. Oh, it feels good 0:00:22.800 --> 0:00:25.240 to be back, man. Yeah, great to have you back. 0:00:26.000 --> 0:00:28.480 What is what is life like now? Can you? Can 0:00:28.520 --> 0:00:30.840 you want to share anything with the viewers? You were 0:00:30.920 --> 0:00:34.479 you're now Joe McCormick, the dad. It's true, I've I 0:00:34.520 --> 0:00:37.919 have entered dad dum. Uh. My wife and I had 0:00:37.920 --> 0:00:41.159 a baby girl back in October. So I've been on 0:00:41.200 --> 0:00:44.599 parental leave for I don't even know how long. At 0:00:44.600 --> 0:00:47.120 this point, it just seems like, you know, a lifetime 0:00:47.159 --> 0:00:50.760 in the blink of an eye at once. Uh. And yeah, 0:00:50.840 --> 0:00:54.920 so so our our daughter is uh a wonderful little creature. 0:00:55.160 --> 0:01:00.440 She's she's chirping and she's making goblin noises. It's beautiful. 0:01:01.120 --> 0:01:04.120 But duty calls after my hiatus. Here I am back 0:01:04.160 --> 0:01:09.200 on Mike. Well again, congrats, was so glad? Uh? Everything 0:01:09.280 --> 0:01:12.040 is that working out so well? And uh And certainly 0:01:12.400 --> 0:01:14.480 we've heard from a number of listeners who were in 0:01:14.560 --> 0:01:17.640 very much cheering you on. But also we're excited for 0:01:17.720 --> 0:01:20.880 you coming back. And and one thing that Seth and 0:01:20.920 --> 0:01:23.039 I talked about too while you were out. We're like, well, 0:01:23.040 --> 0:01:25.319 some people might have started listening to the show just 0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:29.080 uh five weeks ago, and if that is the case, uh, 0:01:29.120 --> 0:01:31.280 they have just been told about the coming of Joe, 0:01:31.720 --> 0:01:35.399 that the Joe is coming, Joe shall return to us, 0:01:35.760 --> 0:01:40.000 and lo and behold, Joe has returned here. On an 0:01:40.040 --> 0:01:42.959 episode of Weird House Cinema, I come covered and spit 0:01:43.040 --> 0:01:46.000 up and bearing really boring stories. If you, I don't 0:01:46.040 --> 0:01:49.320 know if you noticed this about becoming a parent that uh, 0:01:49.400 --> 0:01:52.360 you know, you spend all your day taking care of 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:55.640 this child and it's incredibly meaningful to you, but it 0:01:55.760 --> 0:01:58.240 really does not amount too much that you can tell 0:01:58.280 --> 0:02:02.760 anyone else. There aren't There aren't really especially notable anecdotes 0:02:02.880 --> 0:02:05.120 or occurrences. It's just like, well she looked at me 0:02:05.680 --> 0:02:07.720 or like you know, oh yeah, I was holding her 0:02:07.800 --> 0:02:10.200 and then she spit up, and then I don't know, 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:12.720 I mean, it's it's it's the most wonderful thing ever, 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:15.920 but it just doesn't really make for a good story. Yeah, 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:19.200 there's a lot of stuff like that, but but uh yeah, 0:02:19.240 --> 0:02:21.000 I mean, but in a way. It's it's amazing you 0:02:21.000 --> 0:02:24.120 have such self awareness about it, because I certainly remember 0:02:24.440 --> 0:02:27.239 just being amazed by all these little things and then 0:02:27.639 --> 0:02:30.880 talking about them, but also being sort of a crazy person, 0:02:31.400 --> 0:02:34.000 uh in the new days of parenthood, and therefore not 0:02:34.040 --> 0:02:36.560 really being able to tell or read the room about 0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:38.560 how much anyone wants to hear about all of this. 0:02:39.080 --> 0:02:42.160 Oh no, I've already done that. I think now I've 0:02:42.160 --> 0:02:44.280 sort of reached a point of clarity of like, Okay, 0:02:44.280 --> 0:02:46.679 I'm gonna stop boring people telling stories about how she 0:02:46.720 --> 0:02:50.200 looked at me. But I am excited to see where 0:02:50.200 --> 0:02:52.640 this takes future episodes of especially stuff to blow your 0:02:52.639 --> 0:02:55.800 mind core episodes, because it does bring new insights. It 0:02:55.840 --> 0:03:00.640 makes you rethink things about human nature, about certainly about 0:03:00.720 --> 0:03:04.359 learning and development of the human being. It really turns 0:03:04.480 --> 0:03:09.680 a lot of our preconceived notions and expectations of humanity 0:03:09.800 --> 0:03:13.840 on its head in a in an often delightful way. Absolutely, listeners, 0:03:13.840 --> 0:03:16.560 you may expect years to come of Baby Looked at 0:03:16.600 --> 0:03:20.680 You themed episodes. Well, I don't know how sleep deprived 0:03:20.720 --> 0:03:23.600 you are at the moment, Joe, but are are you 0:03:23.639 --> 0:03:28.240 ready to discuss a cinematic classic from nineteen fifty four 0:03:28.320 --> 0:03:33.880 titled Tobor the Great. Oh am I Boy, Tobor is 0:03:33.960 --> 0:03:37.000 just running through my veins right now. To Boor the 0:03:37.040 --> 0:03:40.760 Great nineteen fifty four science fiction thrill ride, a film 0:03:40.840 --> 0:03:44.440 about an emotionally volatile, psychic robot and the boy who 0:03:44.480 --> 0:03:48.080 became his friend. Uh So, this movie got me thinking 0:03:48.120 --> 0:03:50.640 about how a lot of science fiction movies have a 0:03:50.760 --> 0:03:54.560 robot in them, but tob Or the Great comes from 0:03:54.560 --> 0:03:57.800 an era when the fact that there is a robot 0:03:57.880 --> 0:04:00.480 is plot enough in itself. And by the way, if 0:04:00.520 --> 0:04:03.120 you have any concerns that the characters in this movie 0:04:03.160 --> 0:04:06.480 will not say Tobor enough, let us put your fears 0:04:06.520 --> 0:04:09.360 to rest. You will hear talk of Tobor, you will 0:04:09.400 --> 0:04:11.520 see Tobor with your eyes, and by the end, you 0:04:11.560 --> 0:04:14.840 will believe in Tobor. One of the interesting things about 0:04:14.880 --> 0:04:18.960 this is, uh when you think about classic nineteen fifties robots, 0:04:19.320 --> 0:04:22.640 you often think about Robbie the Robot from nineteen fifty 0:04:22.720 --> 0:04:26.880 six is Forbidden Planet, which we were actually talking about 0:04:27.120 --> 0:04:29.800 covering on Weird House at some point. But this this 0:04:29.880 --> 0:04:34.560 predates Robbie the Robot. Um so, or, at least it 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:37.680 predates Robbie the Robot's appearance and Forbidden Planet. We have 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:41.120 to remember that Robbie the Robot is essentially a robot actor. 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:44.200 On Internet movie database, Robbie the Robot has his own 0:04:44.240 --> 0:04:46.600 profile as if he is like a dog actor or 0:04:46.640 --> 0:04:49.080 a human actor. I gotta say, as much as I 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:52.080 love Tobor, if I'm being serious, Toboar does not really 0:04:52.080 --> 0:04:55.240 achieve the heights of Robbie the Robot in terms of 0:04:55.360 --> 0:04:59.040 feeling and dramatic intensity. At the same time, I feel 0:04:59.080 --> 0:05:01.400 like Tobar is a pretty good robot design. He has 0:05:01.440 --> 0:05:07.080 an interesting face that that that reads a little differently 0:05:07.120 --> 0:05:11.000 compared to some of the cheaper, big robot costumes of 0:05:11.040 --> 0:05:13.760 this time period in the decade to follow. I watched 0:05:13.760 --> 0:05:16.800 it with Rachel and she kept reading Tobar's eyes as 0:05:16.839 --> 0:05:21.680 a light up nineteen fifties bullet bra It does kind 0:05:21.680 --> 0:05:25.200 of look like, um, like the front of a buick 0:05:25.279 --> 0:05:28.400 or something in ways. But Yeah, there's a lot of 0:05:28.520 --> 0:05:30.560 a lot of interesting chrome in this film. There's a 0:05:30.560 --> 0:05:33.800 lot of gadgetry. I was really admiring the the use 0:05:33.839 --> 0:05:38.359 of of of clear plastic or acrylic panels. There's a 0:05:38.360 --> 0:05:41.760 lot of custom metal work in this film, so um, 0:05:42.120 --> 0:05:44.200 I'd say, in general, when we were first looking into 0:05:44.200 --> 0:05:46.920 this film, I'm noticing some people talking about it kind 0:05:46.920 --> 0:05:49.160 of kind of putting it down as if this this 0:05:49.240 --> 0:05:51.320 is just kind of a cheap affair, And yeah, this 0:05:51.400 --> 0:05:54.120 is this is not a huge budget film. This is 0:05:54.440 --> 0:05:57.640 this is not a classic of fifty sci fi perhaps, 0:05:57.839 --> 0:06:00.440 but I feel like it's really well and I feel 0:06:00.480 --> 0:06:03.560 like it holds up pretty well. And uh, more thought 0:06:03.600 --> 0:06:06.800 went into it, and more work went into it than 0:06:07.080 --> 0:06:09.240 you might think would be required for a film of 0:06:09.279 --> 0:06:11.680 this caliber. Yes, it is by no mean it's not 0:06:11.800 --> 0:06:15.240 Forbidden Planet. But it is a rolic and good time. Yeah, 0:06:15.320 --> 0:06:17.600 and it's essentially a kids movie. So Rob, were you 0:06:17.600 --> 0:06:20.080 saying we I didn't even realize this was the case, 0:06:20.120 --> 0:06:22.360 But were you saying, we have a tradition of doing 0:06:22.480 --> 0:06:25.240 robot movies around the holidays? It is December now, I 0:06:25.279 --> 0:06:29.200 guess essentially, I mean, this is only the third Christmas 0:06:29.360 --> 0:06:32.920 of Weird House Cinema. But yeah, we've done We did 0:06:33.000 --> 0:06:38.159 robot Jocks around Christmas. Yeah, we did the Super informn 0:06:38.200 --> 0:06:41.520 around Christmas one year. And I would say that sort 0:06:41.560 --> 0:06:46.200 accounts because any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from inframan. Yes, 0:06:46.279 --> 0:06:49.000 great point, and we also kind of steer towards doing 0:06:49.480 --> 0:06:53.080 films that feel like something you'd find under the Christmas tree. Yes, 0:06:53.240 --> 0:06:55.360 and you know, Rob, when I pitched this movie to 0:06:55.440 --> 0:06:58.320 you for my return episode of Weird House, I promised 0:06:58.360 --> 0:07:00.919 that there would be a very subtle holiday tie in, 0:07:01.600 --> 0:07:04.360 seeing as we have in December now. And while I'm 0:07:04.400 --> 0:07:06.240 sad to report that to Boar the Great is not 0:07:06.480 --> 0:07:11.440 in itself a Christmas robot. Before I found out about 0:07:11.480 --> 0:07:16.720 this movie, I already had an association with the word Toboor, 0:07:17.040 --> 0:07:23.960 which was this is Tobar Toborg the telesonic robot. Batteries 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:28.840 not included. He's under your control with a click from 0:07:28.840 --> 0:07:34.920 the tele usonic commander two circle to proceed forward two circles, 0:07:36.160 --> 0:07:38.800 or to pick up the support module and return all 0:07:38.920 --> 0:07:43.800 on your command to Boars robot spelled backwards. Tobar the 0:07:43.920 --> 0:07:48.360 telesonic robot from Shopper, Rob, did you know this commercial before? 0:07:48.400 --> 0:07:51.200 I love the eerie music and it it sounds almost 0:07:51.240 --> 0:07:55.880 like it's a little bit h it's a little bit menacing. Yeah, yeah, 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:58.720 this is this is really cool. I I certainly didn't 0:07:58.720 --> 0:08:01.160 watch this one as a kid. I would have It's 0:08:01.280 --> 0:08:03.600 a little too old for me to have any genuine 0:08:03.600 --> 0:08:07.400 nostalgia for well, the original place I encountered this commercial 0:08:07.840 --> 0:08:11.520 was within one of the breaks in the copy I 0:08:11.680 --> 0:08:15.880 saw of the Star Wars Holiday Special. Uh gotta love 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:19.200 the commercials in whatever tape you've seen of the holiday special, 0:08:19.520 --> 0:08:22.679 you know, alongside the classics like the Ladies Garment Workers Union, 0:08:22.760 --> 0:08:25.440 and they're awesome theme song, which I every time I 0:08:25.440 --> 0:08:28.720 watched the holiday special, I'm singing the Garment Workers song 0:08:28.800 --> 0:08:33.000 for days afterwards. Um like it's even catchier than the 0:08:33.040 --> 0:08:36.960 Starship song. But as far as I can tell, Tobor 0:08:37.040 --> 0:08:40.000 the tell usnic Robot is unrelated to Tobor the Great. 0:08:40.080 --> 0:08:44.000 It's just evidence that, uh, you know, spectacular minds think alike, 0:08:44.400 --> 0:08:47.800 and at least two different creative geniuses across the past 0:08:47.800 --> 0:08:53.080 century noticed that Tobars Robots spelled backwards. That's gold. Now 0:08:53.080 --> 0:08:55.920 I have another question before we start talking about castor 0:08:55.920 --> 0:08:58.920 plot or anything, which is, why do you think it 0:08:59.000 --> 0:09:02.199 was called Tobe Or the Great. It's a name that 0:09:02.480 --> 0:09:05.800 it invites comparisons, like I've been walking around calling him 0:09:05.800 --> 0:09:10.320 tobor Magnus or tobor Augustus. The Great is an epithet 0:09:10.520 --> 0:09:16.160 often describing a military conqueror or a supposedly beloved autocratic despot. 0:09:16.880 --> 0:09:19.320 But at least within the run time of the film, 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:24.079 Tobor neither conquers territory nor become becomes a king or emperor. 0:09:24.559 --> 0:09:27.440 So in what sense is he the Great? I mean, 0:09:27.440 --> 0:09:32.400 he's a great friend, and I guess, but to Boor 0:09:32.480 --> 0:09:34.800 the Great Friend, that doesn't That makes it sound like 0:09:34.840 --> 0:09:37.760 it's a movie about a dog. Um And maybe Tobor 0:09:37.880 --> 0:09:40.680 itself kind of sounds like a movie about a dog. 0:09:41.040 --> 0:09:43.839 Maybe Tobor the Great, I don't know. That could be 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:45.719 a movie about a dog too, could be like a 0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:50.840 uh some sort of a great breed of dog. Right. Well, yeah, 0:09:51.040 --> 0:09:53.880 maybe it's recasting the idea of greatness, like it's better 0:09:53.880 --> 0:09:55.600 to be a good friend than it is to be 0:09:55.640 --> 0:09:59.680 a military conqueror, I think. But yeah, I don't know. 0:10:00.120 --> 0:10:03.760 Strange choice because Tobar's range of action in this movie 0:10:03.840 --> 0:10:06.760 is actually rather limited. He mostly hangs out in one 0:10:06.840 --> 0:10:11.240 house and then goes to a different building at the end. Yeah, 0:10:11.440 --> 0:10:15.880 his movements are difficult to watch. I kept expecting there's 0:10:15.880 --> 0:10:20.360 a terrifying scene where Tobar the Great climbs a spiral 0:10:20.400 --> 0:10:23.920 wrought iron staircase, and um, I was legitimately on the 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:26.040 edge of my seat because of all this poor actor 0:10:26.120 --> 0:10:29.000 is gonna fall. I like, this just looks very dangerous. 0:10:29.520 --> 0:10:33.120 They are close ups on his feet. Yeah, the feet 0:10:33.120 --> 0:10:36.080 of this costumer also like weird stilts of some sort, 0:10:36.160 --> 0:10:39.520 so it looks extra extra shaky. It's like it's like 0:10:39.520 --> 0:10:42.040 a movie with a close up where somebody's like eating 0:10:42.080 --> 0:10:44.280 off of a knife and they're showing you close ups 0:10:44.280 --> 0:10:47.920 of their mouth. Yes, I I can't wait to discuss 0:10:48.320 --> 0:10:50.680 some of the action scenes with Tobar that occurred later 0:10:50.720 --> 0:10:53.040 in the film. So I guess we should do an 0:10:53.040 --> 0:10:58.000 elevator pitch, which is a doddering old professor creates an emotional, 0:10:58.080 --> 0:11:02.120 telepathic robot in order to violt dangerous space missions. This 0:11:02.240 --> 0:11:05.240 robot is named Tobor and he's a friend to all children, 0:11:05.440 --> 0:11:09.680 But nefarious Soviet spies want to steal the secret of 0:11:09.720 --> 0:11:13.000 Tobor in order to unleash evil and destruction upon the 0:11:13.080 --> 0:11:17.079 human race. Will the Red Menace seize control of Tobar's mind? 0:11:17.440 --> 0:11:19.920 Or will the love of a child keep Tobor on 0:11:19.960 --> 0:11:22.880 the path of righteousness? All right, let's hear that audio 0:11:23.040 --> 0:11:34.600 from the trailer Tobar the most amazing, the most fantastic 0:11:34.640 --> 0:11:39.840 creation of man's mind. Oh he looks alone, or Tobor 0:11:39.920 --> 0:11:42.240 can live where no human can breathe, and the airless 0:11:42.280 --> 0:11:46.000 atmosphere of outer space and the nation first to Cocker 0:11:46.080 --> 0:11:51.040 space controls the world. Electronic scientists have designed a practical 0:11:51.080 --> 0:11:56.960 space ship. Atomic power makes space travel possible, needing only 0:11:56.960 --> 0:12:00.960 the most valuable of all secret scientific achievements, space conquering 0:12:01.000 --> 0:12:05.240 giants that man can control to war is alive or 0:12:05.280 --> 0:12:08.360 even though much work remains before he's completed, he has 0:12:08.400 --> 0:12:12.000 already a sentient being, a necessary adjunct to the recording 0:12:12.000 --> 0:12:16.840 of all experiences human space crews made later encounter. Since 0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:21.040 we cannot get into see Nordstrom's secrets for ourselves, we 0:12:21.120 --> 0:12:23.439 must induce him to come out and tell them to us. 0:12:24.200 --> 0:12:26.400 They have no news of Professor Oster motor Boy, not 0:12:26.559 --> 0:12:29.559 as they Lost Angeles Police Department or the FBI. I 0:12:29.640 --> 0:12:31.480 take as you want the formy life of my extra 0:12:31.559 --> 0:12:35.520 century transmission method. Green, Don't you do you do it? Please? 0:12:35.559 --> 0:12:49.920 Talking to Green stalk alright, you win to bar, bringing 0:12:49.960 --> 0:12:53.480 you chills you've never known before. Tobor, the lost human 0:12:53.520 --> 0:12:56.000 houter space man ever seen on Earth be sure to 0:12:56.080 --> 0:13:07.120 see tow boar. Alright, sounds exciting, sounds pretty great. Uh. Now, 0:13:07.160 --> 0:13:09.320 if you're wanting to watch this film as well, and 0:13:09.360 --> 0:13:13.040 you're wondering where you can get it, uh, basically the 0:13:13.480 --> 0:13:16.040 main place to find it is is if you want 0:13:16.040 --> 0:13:19.880 to physical media. There's a seen Keno Lorbert Studio Classics 0:13:19.920 --> 0:13:23.120 Blu ray released to the film. This is remastered. You 0:13:23.120 --> 0:13:26.679 can also find various uh versions of it online. Is 0:13:26.720 --> 0:13:30.080 an older film, Um, there's one in particular we're looking 0:13:30.120 --> 0:13:35.520 at that had some some unofficial remastering and colorization of 0:13:35.559 --> 0:13:37.480 the film, which is normally not the sort of thing 0:13:37.559 --> 0:13:39.440 I'd go for, But I don't know, with a film 0:13:39.520 --> 0:13:42.840 like this, I feel like it kind of benefits from 0:13:42.880 --> 0:13:45.600 that sort of treatment. I agree. I I don't know 0:13:45.640 --> 0:13:49.000 who did this colorization, and I'm not gonna say that 0:13:49.080 --> 0:13:52.680 it looks amazing, but it's the right way to watch it. Yeah, 0:13:52.800 --> 0:13:55.640 it's it's weird, it's uncanny at times, which I like 0:13:55.679 --> 0:13:58.679 an uncanny sheen and a film like this. All right, Well, 0:13:58.760 --> 0:14:02.280 let's start talking about who was involved in the creation 0:14:02.320 --> 0:14:05.440 of this picture. So let's start at the top. The 0:14:05.520 --> 0:14:11.559 director was Lee Sholom, also known as Lee Rolem Sholm 0:14:11.600 --> 0:14:15.320 for cranking him out, and he did. He did really 0:14:15.360 --> 0:14:18.920 crank him out. He directed various adventures shows and series 0:14:18.960 --> 0:14:22.520 in the nineteen fifties, including episodes of The of Tarzan 0:14:22.720 --> 0:14:25.800 and Superman Adventures. He actually did fourteen episodes of the 0:14:25.840 --> 0:14:30.400 early nineteen fifties Adventures of Superman. He's credited as a 0:14:30.440 --> 0:14:35.840 director on the TV series chriswell Predicts. Oh yeah, from 0:14:36.120 --> 0:14:38.680 that connecting to Plan nine from Outer Space, you may 0:14:38.760 --> 0:14:42.120 recall the opening of that film is a Criswell Predicts 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:45.120 segment where they had this TV psychic on talking about 0:14:45.120 --> 0:14:47.960 how future events such as these will affect you in 0:14:48.000 --> 0:14:52.360 the future. Yeah, so uh shole them seems to have 0:14:52.360 --> 0:14:54.360 been involved in that. He did a lot of TV 0:14:54.480 --> 0:14:57.560 late in his career. Two other films of note include 0:14:57.680 --> 0:15:00.960 the nineteen seven movie Pharaoh's Curse, which is gonna imagine 0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:03.720 is some sort of an Egyptian curse film. But he 0:15:03.720 --> 0:15:06.920 also did nineteen sixty seven's Catalina Caper, which was an 0:15:07.000 --> 0:15:10.520 MST three K selection. Oh I remember that One Man 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:13.840 to Board the Great would have made a fantastic Mystery 0:15:13.840 --> 0:15:17.160 Science Theater episode. I wish that had happened. Oh yeah, 0:15:17.160 --> 0:15:19.160 there's a there's a lot, a lot of riff on 0:15:19.320 --> 0:15:22.120 in this one. So and yeah, if anyone out there 0:15:22.160 --> 0:15:25.240 connected with MST or riff tracks is listening, by any chance, 0:15:25.680 --> 0:15:27.800 put this one on your radar if it's not already 0:15:28.200 --> 0:15:31.520 all right. The screenplay for this one, uh. Screenplay credit 0:15:31.560 --> 0:15:35.120 goes to Philip McDonald, who lived nineteen o one through eight, 0:15:35.680 --> 0:15:40.560 Scottish screenwriter and detective novelists, probably best known for adapting 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:45.840 the novel Rebecca for Alfred Hitchcock's film adaptation int He 0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:50.360 also was one of multiple uncredited adaptation writers on James 0:15:50.360 --> 0:15:54.080 Whales The Bride of Frankenstein from thirty five. So I'm 0:15:54.080 --> 0:15:57.400 not really sure. I'm not not I'm not super clear 0:15:57.480 --> 0:16:01.760 on exactly like what the the chain of custody happens 0:16:01.800 --> 0:16:04.760 to be with that particular screenplay. Huh. He was also 0:16:04.800 --> 0:16:08.840 one of the screenwriters on The Body Snatcher starring Boris 0:16:08.920 --> 0:16:12.240 Karloff and Bella Lagosi, and he also wrote for Alfred 0:16:12.320 --> 0:16:16.760 Hitchcock Presents and Thriller. I have mixed feelings about the 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:20.520 screenplay in this movie. I mean, on one hand, I 0:16:20.520 --> 0:16:23.760 would say it's uh. I mean, it's very of its 0:16:23.800 --> 0:16:27.040 time and it doesn't really like wow you in terms 0:16:27.040 --> 0:16:29.760 of character depth or anything, but it has a certain 0:16:29.880 --> 0:16:34.720 kind of, uh, kind of I don't know, sparky efficiency 0:16:34.760 --> 0:16:37.320 to it. Yeah. I mean if especially if I'm thinking 0:16:37.360 --> 0:16:40.000 about this film and comparing it to some of those 0:16:40.120 --> 0:16:42.680 various serials that came out back in the day in 0:16:42.720 --> 0:16:45.600 the nineteen fifties action of inter cereals, some of those 0:16:45.640 --> 0:16:48.760 are really dreadful and it's a real bore to watch, 0:16:48.840 --> 0:16:51.440 even if they have fascinating elements to it. I feel 0:16:51.480 --> 0:16:55.200 like this movie it moves along and it has its 0:16:55.240 --> 0:16:58.040 techno babble as you might expect, but for the most 0:16:58.080 --> 0:17:02.280 part it's techno babble that you can and your head too. Yeah, 0:17:02.480 --> 0:17:05.240 Like it didn't feel as us as much of a 0:17:05.240 --> 0:17:08.760 skull scratcher as some technobabble tends to be. And I 0:17:08.760 --> 0:17:10.119 don't know, I had had kind of a sense of 0:17:10.200 --> 0:17:13.280 humor at times. So I feel like the script is 0:17:13.480 --> 0:17:16.280 um is better than you might expect and better than 0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:20.200 would be required. Yeah, I agree, it is. I mean, 0:17:20.200 --> 0:17:23.600 it does have lots of unintentionally funny stuff in it, 0:17:23.640 --> 0:17:29.119 but it also it works, It works on its own terms. Also, 0:17:29.359 --> 0:17:31.960 A story credit goes to Carl Dudley, who was also 0:17:32.000 --> 0:17:35.800 the executive producer who lived nineteen ten through ye producer 0:17:35.840 --> 0:17:38.480 and director of a lot of documentary shorts mostly so 0:17:38.720 --> 0:17:41.240 maybe this is where we get the title. Maybe Dudley 0:17:41.359 --> 0:17:43.040 was like, Hey, I've got an idea for a film. 0:17:43.040 --> 0:17:45.520 You spell Robot backwards, you got to bar Let's call 0:17:45.560 --> 0:17:47.959 it Tobar the Great, give me a script. I mean, 0:17:48.000 --> 0:17:50.480 I think this was also the era of people blowing 0:17:50.480 --> 0:17:56.560 your mind with a vampire named Alucard and stuff like that. Yep, yep, alright, 0:17:56.640 --> 0:18:00.679 let's get into the human cast here. Our star is 0:18:00.880 --> 0:18:04.280 the actor Charles Drake playing Dr Ralph Harrison, one of 0:18:04.320 --> 0:18:09.320 one of our classic fifties rectangles just just love him. Yeah, 0:18:09.359 --> 0:18:12.920 this is Dr Harrison. Is tall, he's loud, he smokes, 0:18:12.960 --> 0:18:14.800 and he can land a punch. So pretty much just 0:18:14.840 --> 0:18:17.919 your standard hero stuff for a picture like this. This 0:18:18.040 --> 0:18:20.400 is all that was required of of of a male 0:18:20.480 --> 0:18:24.160 hero during this time period. So Charles Drake was active 0:18:24.200 --> 0:18:26.640 from the late nineteen thirties through the early nineteen eighties. 0:18:26.960 --> 0:18:31.600 His biggest films were probably Conflict starring Humphrey Bogart, nineteen 0:18:31.600 --> 0:18:35.520 fifties Harvey starring Jimmy Stewart, in Night the Swimmers starring 0:18:35.560 --> 0:18:38.840 Burt Lancaster. Oh in also N seven The Valley of 0:18:38.880 --> 0:18:42.080 the Dolls. Oh okay. He also popped up in an 0:18:42.080 --> 0:18:45.800 episode of the original Star Trek. I haven't seen the 0:18:45.800 --> 0:18:47.840 episode in question, I don't think, but you can find 0:18:47.840 --> 0:18:51.520 images of him in like a Star Trek captain's uniform. Uh, 0:18:51.560 --> 0:18:57.080 you know, slouched shot style in the captain's chair and uh. 0:18:57.160 --> 0:18:59.000 And he was also in nineteen fifty threes that Came 0:18:59.000 --> 0:19:02.119 from Outer Space. Now, this one is weird because the 0:19:02.200 --> 0:19:06.080 main two characters I would say that two adult characters 0:19:06.680 --> 0:19:11.120 are Harrison here played by Drake, and uh, this other guy, Dr. 0:19:11.160 --> 0:19:14.159 Nordstrom or Professor Nordstrom, who will get to in a second. 0:19:14.600 --> 0:19:16.520 And I would think the normal dynamic you would do 0:19:17.280 --> 0:19:20.440 in this movie is you'd have Nordstrom as the egghead professor, 0:19:20.480 --> 0:19:23.240 and then you'd have a sort of square military man 0:19:23.440 --> 0:19:27.760 to be his his younger man of action counterpart. But 0:19:28.040 --> 0:19:31.159 instead of making a military man, they make him another scientist. 0:19:31.240 --> 0:19:33.880 And I don't know if he really reads as a scientist. 0:19:34.840 --> 0:19:39.640 His scientific credentials almost seem like an afterthought here. Yeah, yeah, 0:19:39.640 --> 0:19:42.880 he reads far more like a military man. Again, he's 0:19:43.040 --> 0:19:45.800 he's tall, loud, smokes in again Lanta punch. That's and 0:19:45.840 --> 0:19:47.800 that those are his main skill sets. We don't see 0:19:47.840 --> 0:19:50.320 him really doing much in the way of research. Okay, 0:19:50.320 --> 0:19:52.480 but we should get to the real egg head of 0:19:52.520 --> 0:19:56.800 the movie, Professor Nordstrom, played by Taylor Holmes, who lived 0:19:56.840 --> 0:20:00.240 eighteen seventy eight to nineteen fifty nine. Taylor home Was was 0:20:00.160 --> 0:20:02.560 was an actor of stage and screen who appeared in 0:20:02.600 --> 0:20:05.159 a ton of Broadway plays. Had a film career that 0:20:05.280 --> 0:20:09.159 began in the silent era and in the realm of talkies. 0:20:09.320 --> 0:20:11.280 Uh it looks like he did a bunch of crime 0:20:11.359 --> 0:20:15.119 and war films, but also some romantic and screwball comedies. 0:20:15.560 --> 0:20:18.119 The main titles that jumped out at me from his 0:20:18.240 --> 0:20:21.520 sound era list were Let's See. He was in Gentleman 0:20:21.520 --> 0:20:24.640 Prefer Blonds in nineteen fifty three, which is a classic 0:20:24.680 --> 0:20:28.240 Howard Hawks comedy starring Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe. He 0:20:28.359 --> 0:20:31.159 also did some small voice roles in a couple of 0:20:31.200 --> 0:20:34.280 Disney animated films of the fifties, including Lady in the 0:20:34.280 --> 0:20:37.919 Tramp and Sleeping Beauty. He was also in a film 0:20:37.960 --> 0:20:41.640 noir I've never seen called Quicksand, but it caught my 0:20:41.880 --> 0:20:46.359 eye because of the synopsis. It apparently stars Mickey Rooney 0:20:46.400 --> 0:20:49.680 as an innocent auto mechanic who falls for a film 0:20:49.680 --> 0:20:53.280 fatale played by Gene Cagney, and as a result, he 0:20:53.400 --> 0:20:55.600 must turn to a life of crime and he ends 0:20:55.640 --> 0:20:59.200 up embroiled in a blackmail scheme with Peter Laurie who 0:20:59.200 --> 0:21:04.000 plays a penny arcade proprietor named Drama Shag, and Taylor 0:21:04.000 --> 0:21:05.919 Holmes is in there somewhere. I think he plays a lawyer. 0:21:06.240 --> 0:21:08.400 Oh well, this sounds great. I don't know if I'm 0:21:08.440 --> 0:21:10.960 a Mickey Rooney lover, but I am a Peter Laurie lover, 0:21:11.119 --> 0:21:13.720 and seeing Mickey Rooney at turned to a life of 0:21:13.760 --> 0:21:17.639 crime does sound hilarious. Yeah, yeah, I'm I'm I'm on board. 0:21:19.680 --> 0:21:22.199 I would. I was looking into this actor a little bit. 0:21:22.240 --> 0:21:24.760 I think this maybe his only performance in a sci 0:21:24.800 --> 0:21:27.920 fi or horror film. It's possibly I'm I'm missing something there, 0:21:27.960 --> 0:21:30.560 but yeah, it seems like he's he's more of the 0:21:30.920 --> 0:21:35.520 comedy comedy noir sort of a area. But yeah, he 0:21:35.600 --> 0:21:40.720 plays uh Grandpa Nordstrom in this uh Grandpa the Scientist, 0:21:41.240 --> 0:21:43.639 and he's pretty delightful. It's that kind of kind of 0:21:43.720 --> 0:21:48.080 role that I think could otherwise be very dry and uninteresting, 0:21:48.160 --> 0:21:51.120 but he gives a little peppt old Grandpa here. Well, 0:21:51.160 --> 0:21:54.639 he brings a very stagy energy to the role. You 0:21:54.800 --> 0:21:56.640 like you can tell this is a guy who did 0:21:56.680 --> 0:21:59.560 not begin on screen, but begin on stage, So he 0:21:59.680 --> 0:22:02.480 like rejects and he does a very uh, he does 0:22:03.119 --> 0:22:06.719 a very stagy kind of voice. And this relates actually 0:22:06.720 --> 0:22:10.240 to a second unexpected holiday tie in for me personally 0:22:10.280 --> 0:22:13.399 with Toebor the Great. So the whole time I was 0:22:13.440 --> 0:22:17.120 watching this movie, I kept thinking that the actor playing 0:22:17.160 --> 0:22:23.240 Professor Nordstrom seemed oddly familiar, particularly his voice, which is 0:22:23.359 --> 0:22:25.600 strange in a way that I associate with some actors 0:22:25.600 --> 0:22:28.960 who began on stage or in silent film and made 0:22:29.000 --> 0:22:32.359 the transition to talkies later in their career. And I 0:22:32.400 --> 0:22:35.960 was thinking, where did I recognize him from, and beyond that, 0:22:36.480 --> 0:22:41.479 why am I weirdly associating Taylor Holmes voice with Vincent Price, 0:22:41.680 --> 0:22:45.399 even though he sounds nothing like Vincent Price. Well, the 0:22:45.480 --> 0:22:48.760 answer came to me when echoing through my mind, I 0:22:48.800 --> 0:22:53.000 began to hear Professor Nordstrom saying chrish mash bam bag 0:22:53.480 --> 0:22:57.080 and bingo, I give you the nineteen forty nine, made 0:22:57.119 --> 0:23:01.359 for TV Charles Dickens adaptation The Christmas Carol. Yes you 0:23:01.440 --> 0:23:04.200 heard me right, not a Christmas Carol like the novel 0:23:04.320 --> 0:23:07.840 is called, but the Christmas Carol for some reason. Sponsored 0:23:07.880 --> 0:23:12.040 by the Magnavox company, it stars Taylor Holmes in a 0:23:12.160 --> 0:23:16.560 world historically hammy performance as Ebeneezer Scrooge. They also spell 0:23:16.640 --> 0:23:20.399 Ebeneezer wrong in this version with two ease, unlike the novel, 0:23:20.920 --> 0:23:23.600 and it has Vincent Price as the narrator, so it 0:23:23.680 --> 0:23:26.680 like opens on Vincent Price sitting on a couch reading 0:23:26.680 --> 0:23:30.240 a book, and he's like everyone loves Chiles Dickens and 0:23:30.240 --> 0:23:33.120 then starts to tell the story. And uh, I don't 0:23:33.119 --> 0:23:34.960