WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema Rewind: The Abominable Dr. Phibes 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:09.080 Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. Rewind. This is Rob Lamb. 0:00:09.280 --> 0:00:11.680 And this is Joe McCormick. Rob and I are out 0:00:11.720 --> 0:00:14.360 this week, so we are bringing you an older episode 0:00:14.400 --> 0:00:17.360 of Weird House Cinema. This was our feature on The 0:00:17.440 --> 0:00:20.960 Abominable Doctor Fibes. I think one of my favorites. We've 0:00:20.960 --> 0:00:25.080 done an excellent weird outing of Vincent Price. This one 0:00:25.079 --> 0:00:28.680 originally published on April first, twenty twenty two, but there 0:00:28.760 --> 0:00:34.159 is nothing April foolish about it. We hope you enjoy. 0:00:35.640 --> 0:00:41.400 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:45.560 --> 0:00:48.160 Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. 0:00:48.240 --> 0:00:51.240 This is Rob Lamb and this is Joe McCormick and wooh, 0:00:51.320 --> 0:00:54.280 I hope you like organ music because today we're doing 0:00:54.400 --> 0:00:55.360 Doctor Fibes. 0:00:55.840 --> 0:01:00.960 That's right, The Abominable Doctor Fibes from nineteen seventy one. 0:01:01.640 --> 0:01:04.920 This is a film that is frequently described as a 0:01:05.120 --> 0:01:08.520 dark comedy horror film, which is a It is kind 0:01:08.560 --> 0:01:12.399 of a way of saying, this movie's weird, and we 0:01:12.440 --> 0:01:15.039 don't really know how to classify it, you know, because 0:01:15.040 --> 0:01:18.280 it certainly has Yeah, it has comedic flair in it, 0:01:18.280 --> 0:01:23.640 it has horror flair, but it's it's ultimately its own unique, 0:01:23.640 --> 0:01:26.840 weird vision, and it's it's really difficult to compare it 0:01:26.959 --> 0:01:28.839 one hundred percent to just about anything else. 0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:32.240 I would almost say it's a musical, though the characters 0:01:32.280 --> 0:01:35.319 don't sing songs. There are a lot of musical numbers 0:01:35.360 --> 0:01:36.080 and dancing. 0:01:36.560 --> 0:01:42.360 Yes, yeah, it's very theatrical. Like in trying to come 0:01:42.440 --> 0:01:44.240 up with an elevator pitch for it, I was thinking, 0:01:44.280 --> 0:01:47.560 it's it's kind of Phantom of the Opera meets Batman 0:01:47.760 --> 0:01:51.320 meets a wax museum horror movie and a swanky, unoccupied 0:01:51.400 --> 0:01:53.000 nightclub for stylish madmen. 0:01:53.400 --> 0:01:56.279 But also you have to say the words Vincent Price, 0:01:56.360 --> 0:01:59.040 because I think that is a key element of establishing 0:01:59.120 --> 0:01:59.720 the themes. 0:02:00.160 --> 0:02:02.400 Yeah, I think this is our first Vincent Price film, 0:02:02.520 --> 0:02:06.240 and Fibes has been on our list. It's been on 0:02:06.280 --> 0:02:08.239 our radar for a while, and I know we've heard 0:02:08.240 --> 0:02:12.200 from at least a couple of listeners suggesting it, and 0:02:12.320 --> 0:02:14.200 it came up again recently when I was looking at 0:02:14.280 --> 0:02:20.760 films that had very well regarded movie scores, and so yeah, yeah, 0:02:20.200 --> 0:02:22.800 this is our first Vincent Price film. Though we did 0:02:22.840 --> 0:02:26.240 discuss The Tingler from nineteen fifty nine and an old 0:02:26.280 --> 0:02:28.600 episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, but that was 0:02:28.600 --> 0:02:30.480 pre Weird House. That was more of a like we 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:34.560 used The Tingler as a springboard to discuss some science 0:02:34.880 --> 0:02:36.000 or vice versa. 0:02:36.080 --> 0:02:38.239 You know. I would say The Tingler is somewhat different 0:02:38.280 --> 0:02:41.880 because The Tingler is a William Castle movie that has 0:02:42.000 --> 0:02:45.720 Vincent Price in it. But lots of Vincent Price movies, 0:02:45.760 --> 0:02:47.880 it almost feels as if it doesn't matter who the 0:02:47.919 --> 0:02:51.800 director is, and it's just it just becomes a Vincent 0:02:51.840 --> 0:02:54.480 Price movie. I would say this is one of those. 0:02:55.120 --> 0:02:57.520 It is. And then on the same level, one thing 0:02:57.560 --> 0:03:01.280 I kept thinking about is, Okay, Vincent Price plays a 0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:05.640 character in this film that doesn't actually speak with his 0:03:06.280 --> 0:03:10.040 voice anymore. You hear Vincent Price's voice, but it's like 0:03:10.080 --> 0:03:14.040 a it's like a through a machine. And so it's 0:03:14.560 --> 0:03:16.160 unique to be watching this and you think, oh, well, 0:03:16.200 --> 0:03:18.639 you know, Vincent Price is is great, like as a 0:03:18.720 --> 0:03:22.720 visual performer, he has this amazing voice, and yet we 0:03:22.800 --> 0:03:26.280 have a character who's in many ways mute in this 0:03:26.360 --> 0:03:29.640 film and it kind of it kind of applies to 0:03:29.680 --> 0:03:31.600 other characters in the film as well, like a lot 0:03:31.600 --> 0:03:34.839 of a lot of the people in this film are 0:03:35.160 --> 0:03:38.000 just part of the set piece. It's about about creating 0:03:38.040 --> 0:03:41.160 this theatrical vision somehow. 0:03:41.200 --> 0:03:43.520 Though, even though he doesn't speak with his mouth in 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:48.680 the movie, the price hamjuice gits on everything like the 0:03:48.760 --> 0:03:53.080 Vincent Price campiness comes through in the energy exuded by 0:03:53.160 --> 0:03:56.000 every other actor in the film. And I was going 0:03:56.080 --> 0:03:58.720 to compare it to another great horror movie that I 0:03:58.880 --> 0:04:02.520 just watched within the last year, because they are so similar. 0:04:02.920 --> 0:04:05.960 This other movie is called Theater of Blood from nineteen 0:04:06.040 --> 0:04:08.840 seventy three, so it came out two years after Doctor Fibes. 0:04:09.280 --> 0:04:12.160 But if you can believe this, listen to all the parallels. 0:04:12.640 --> 0:04:17.440 Both movies star Vincent Price as a performing artist of 0:04:17.440 --> 0:04:22.080 some kind who is presumed dead but returns to enact 0:04:22.120 --> 0:04:25.440 an elaborate plan of revenge on a list of nine 0:04:25.640 --> 0:04:29.800 specific enemies, targeting each one in a succession of sort 0:04:29.839 --> 0:04:33.760 of themed murders. And in Doctor Fibes, the themed murders 0:04:33.800 --> 0:04:35.920 are based on the ten plagues of Egypt in the 0:04:35.920 --> 0:04:39.159 Book of Exodus, and in Theater of Blood they're based 0:04:39.200 --> 0:04:42.920 on deaths in the plays of Shakespeare. And in both movies, 0:04:42.960 --> 0:04:46.160 the Price character has a cool, younger female sidekick. In 0:04:46.240 --> 0:04:49.480 Theater of blood. That is actually that it is Vincent 0:04:49.480 --> 0:04:54.040 Price's character's daughter played by Diana Rigg, who always great. 0:04:54.480 --> 0:04:57.120 Diana Rigg one of my favorites, and in that one 0:04:58.080 --> 0:05:00.359 she's great. But also in that one, Vincent Price plays 0:05:00.400 --> 0:05:04.159 a ham Shakespearean actor instead of an organist. 0:05:04.960 --> 0:05:07.680 All right, well, those are certainly some five vibes. You're 0:05:07.680 --> 0:05:13.480 definitely vibing with Fiby's there. Yes. You know. One thing 0:05:13.520 --> 0:05:16.279 that I was thinking about, especially towards the end of 0:05:16.279 --> 0:05:18.719 this picture, and we'll discuss the plot here in a bet, 0:05:19.560 --> 0:05:23.640 was that this film The Abominable Doctor Fibes. It's kind 0:05:23.680 --> 0:05:29.719 of like the precursor to such dreary themed murder films 0:05:29.880 --> 0:05:34.560 as seven as I'm thinking, like Resurrection and of course 0:05:34.600 --> 0:05:37.520 the Saw movies. Except this movie is like what have 0:05:37.600 --> 0:05:40.000 you had? Something like that? And it was at least 0:05:40.040 --> 0:05:42.279 ten times as fine, you know. 0:05:43.000 --> 0:05:45.760 Oh more than that. Yeah, this is the exact opposite. 0:05:45.800 --> 0:05:50.840 This is a weird, elaborate themed murders but just balancing 0:05:50.920 --> 0:05:55.400 on rays of sunshine. Yes, so, I think Doctor Fibes 0:05:55.480 --> 0:05:58.040 is one of my new show favorites. It's going on 0:05:58.080 --> 0:06:00.560 the list with I think some of the best movies 0:06:00.560 --> 0:06:03.839 we've watched on here Like I don't keep a running 0:06:03.839 --> 0:06:05.800 list of my favorites, but there's somewhere in my head 0:06:05.839 --> 0:06:10.000 it's gotta be like Mad Love, Robot Jocks, Ship of 0:06:10.080 --> 0:06:14.000 Monsters and oh and Inframan and this one's going up 0:06:14.000 --> 0:06:14.360 there too. 0:06:14.960 --> 0:06:19.240 Yeah, it's it's extremely watchable. I can easily recommend this 0:06:19.320 --> 0:06:23.520 one to film vans of different genres because it does 0:06:23.600 --> 0:06:27.760 transcend genre. It's not just a horror films. It's just 0:06:27.839 --> 0:06:32.359 so stylish, so lovingly stylish, that I feel like it 0:06:32.360 --> 0:06:35.359 can suck in just about anybody like you, just just 0:06:35.400 --> 0:06:38.560 about any given scene. Even the scenes that don't play 0:06:38.600 --> 0:06:46.039 take place within Doctor Fib's subterranean organ funhouse are still 0:06:46.080 --> 0:06:49.559 like lavishly decorated and ingeniously shot. 0:06:50.000 --> 0:06:50.880 Totally agree. 0:06:51.080 --> 0:06:52.640 All right, well, let's go ahead and listen to the 0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:53.479 trailer here. 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:08.080 Lovely music for a murder or two or three or nine? 0:07:08.520 --> 0:07:14.440 Who is Ladies and gentlemen, I want you to meet 0:07:14.440 --> 0:07:25.080 your dear friend. Nine killed you, nine shall die your wife. 0:07:25.200 --> 0:07:29.520 No FIBs but you I will kill But you can't. 0:07:29.880 --> 0:07:38.760 Doctor, I am already dead. Will wats up the guitar? 0:07:39.640 --> 0:07:42.680 The ten Cousins visited among the Pharaohs before Exodus. 0:08:00.360 --> 0:08:05.440 Are you ready for Doctor Five? 0:08:07.560 --> 0:08:10.120 All right, let's talk about some of the people involved 0:08:10.160 --> 0:08:12.960 in this motion picture. First of all, let's start at 0:08:12.960 --> 0:08:16.920 the top with the director, Robert Foost. Foost lived nineteen 0:08:16.920 --> 0:08:20.600 twenty seven through twenty twelve, British director noted for his 0:08:20.720 --> 0:08:24.640 unique genre style. It should come as no surprise to 0:08:25.520 --> 0:08:27.320 some fans out there that he came up through the 0:08:27.360 --> 0:08:31.840 Avengers TV show before making such features as nineteen seventies 0:08:32.160 --> 0:08:35.640 and Soon The Darkness a thriller, a nineteen seventy adaptation 0:08:36.080 --> 0:08:40.520 of Worthering Heights with Timothy Dalton as Heathcliff, followed by 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:45.720 the two Doctor Fibes films, nineteen seventy three's The Final Program, 0:08:45.760 --> 0:08:49.120 which was based on a Michael Moorcock novel starring John Finch, 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:54.920 and nineteen seventy five satanic melto Mania movie The Devil's 0:08:54.960 --> 0:09:00.560 Reign starring Ernest Borgnine, The Shat, Tom Scarett, Jondrev and 0:09:00.600 --> 0:09:02.560 of course Anton Levy. 0:09:02.960 --> 0:09:04.640 I was wondering if we should come back to The 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:08.520 Devil's Rain on Weird House. It is notorious for being 0:09:08.600 --> 0:09:13.040 not very good but also be right sort of worth seeing. 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:16.200 Yeah, yeah, it has greatness. In it, and I think 0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:17.839 maybe we're in a better we'll be in a better 0:09:17.840 --> 0:09:22.800 place to understand it having experienced Fibes. But yeah, and 0:09:22.840 --> 0:09:25.240 also it is possible that maybe the world just wasn't 0:09:25.240 --> 0:09:28.280 ready for The Devil's Rain, especially when you look at 0:09:28.320 --> 0:09:32.640 his filmography, because it looks like he mostly did TV 0:09:32.960 --> 0:09:36.640 after The Devil's Rain. All Right, the writers on this, 0:09:37.040 --> 0:09:41.360 they're two credited writers, James Whitten born nineteen thirty die 0:09:41.440 --> 0:09:44.920 twenty sixteen, American writer who wrote the story for nineteen 0:09:44.960 --> 0:09:48.880 eighty two's Murder by Phone starring Richard Chamberlain. And then 0:09:48.920 --> 0:09:53.080 there's also William Goldstein, credited on both Fibes movies. Plus 0:09:53.200 --> 0:09:57.079 nineteen seventy six is The Amazing Dobermans, in which quote 0:09:57.120 --> 0:10:00.280 an ex con man and his five trained Dobermans helped 0:10:00.280 --> 0:10:03.200 a Treasury Department agent stop a racketeer and his gang. 0:10:03.600 --> 0:10:08.200 It starred James Franciscus, Barbara Eden, Fred Astaire, and Billy Bardi. 0:10:09.160 --> 0:10:11.600 It has an amazing poster, and my wife says that 0:10:11.679 --> 0:10:14.600 she remembered this movie. I think her family they always 0:10:14.600 --> 0:10:16.880 had Doberman, so I think they've watched any if there 0:10:16.920 --> 0:10:19.120 was a Doberman movie. They watched it. 0:10:20.160 --> 0:10:23.959 Imagine the pitch for that. What about Doberman's that solve mysteries? 0:10:25.480 --> 0:10:27.360 I think there was a They also tried to turn 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:28.400 it into a TV show. 0:10:28.600 --> 0:10:30.600 Wait, what kind of dog was Scooby Doo? I guess 0:10:30.640 --> 0:10:32.680 he was supposed to be like a great Dane or something. 0:10:33.160 --> 0:10:35.880 Yeah, yeah, not a The Dobermans have those like the 0:10:35.920 --> 0:10:40.959 pointy head, those really dirty pointed heads. Yeah, dirpy or terrifying, 0:10:40.960 --> 0:10:43.520 depends on how you look at them, but they can 0:10:43.559 --> 0:10:46.840 look quite dirty, all right. The star of this film, 0:10:47.320 --> 0:10:51.439 playing doctor Anton Vibes is Vincent Price, who lived nineteen 0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:54.640 eleven through nineteen ninety three. The legend himself. 0:10:54.400 --> 0:10:57.720 God to love them. An actor of great, genuine talent 0:10:57.800 --> 0:11:02.560 who could have kept pressing just to focus on serious 0:11:02.600 --> 0:11:06.920 film roles, but embraced camp and that's something I really respect. 0:11:07.400 --> 0:11:10.960 Yes, and it was really really a master of it. Yeah. 0:11:11.000 --> 0:11:14.720 Price was active on screen from the late thirties to 0:11:14.800 --> 0:11:19.080 the early nineties. You know, great voice, great look, horror icon. 0:11:19.960 --> 0:11:22.760 You know, could could really play serious threat but also 0:11:23.000 --> 0:11:24.520 it seemed to have a great sense of humor and 0:11:24.600 --> 0:11:28.000 was able to play that up. Was active in various genres, 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:30.880 especially early on in his career and you see him, 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:34.040 you know, showing up in some serious pictures during that 0:11:34.240 --> 0:11:37.160 time period for sure. And then he did all sorts 0:11:37.160 --> 0:11:41.600 of celebrity appearances and product endorsements later in life, and 0:11:41.760 --> 0:11:43.880 it seemed to very much, you know, cash in on 0:11:43.920 --> 0:11:45.839 things to a certain extent. Again, God bless him, he 0:11:46.040 --> 0:11:46.880 earned it by that point. 0:11:46.960 --> 0:11:51.040 But time life enchanted world commercials. I think he did 0:11:51.120 --> 0:11:54.120 commercials for what are they called wine? What was that 0:11:54.160 --> 0:11:55.520 brain of wine coolers? 0:11:56.080 --> 0:12:00.480 Yes, where he's dressed like a polar bear. Like. I 0:12:00.840 --> 0:12:04.040 highly recommend anyone out there just do a like a 0:12:04.080 --> 0:12:08.640 YouTube search for Vincent Price commercials and you'll get numerous 0:12:08.800 --> 0:12:10.160 results and they're all great. 0:12:10.440 --> 0:12:13.720 Oh if you find the ones where he's doing wine coolers. 0:12:14.040 --> 0:12:15.960 I don't remember the brand name, but that same brand 0:12:15.960 --> 0:12:18.880 of wine coolers also has commercials with Grace Jones that 0:12:18.920 --> 0:12:19.559 are amazing. 0:12:21.240 --> 0:12:24.359 Ultimately, I would say the Vincent Price pop culture footprint 0:12:24.440 --> 0:12:26.720 is almost just too huge for us to possibly do 0:12:26.920 --> 0:12:30.080 justice here in a single episode. So for my part, 0:12:30.120 --> 0:12:32.160 I'm just going to mention a few of my favorites 0:12:32.600 --> 0:12:36.319 from a few different categories. So, first of all, in film, 0:12:36.600 --> 0:12:38.240 as much as I love this film, again, it is 0:12:38.280 --> 0:12:40.559 kind of weird to cast Vincent Price in a role 0:12:40.559 --> 0:12:43.520 where he doesn't actually speak. I think they're they're you know, 0:12:43.559 --> 0:12:46.040 they are much better examples of him acting both as 0:12:46.040 --> 0:12:50.319 a pure protagonist and also as an antagonist. You know. 0:12:50.440 --> 0:12:52.560 Roger Corman's Mask of the Red Death is a great 0:12:52.600 --> 0:12:55.280 example of him in pure villain mode, while in The 0:12:55.320 --> 0:12:57.520 Tingler we get to see him as a as kind 0:12:57.520 --> 0:12:58.319 of a tortured hero. 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:00.640 Wait is he a hero? 0:13:00.880 --> 0:13:00.920 No? 0:13:01.040 --> 0:13:03.400 Wait a minute, he's he's like trying to murder his 0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:04.520 wife and the Tinler. 0:13:04.600 --> 0:13:06.439 Oh, well, yes he was, but didn't he Well wait no, 0:13:06.559 --> 0:13:08.480 I think he's sort he sort of is the hero, 0:13:08.600 --> 0:13:11.480 but he's a bad dude. Is there a film where 0:13:11.480 --> 0:13:13.319 he plays like a pure protagonist? 0:13:13.920 --> 0:13:16.480 Oh, I'm sure there are plenty of The Last Man 0:13:16.559 --> 0:13:19.040 on Earth, which is one of the many film adaptations 0:13:19.080 --> 0:13:21.720 of I Am Legend, Yes, by Richards, one of the 0:13:21.800 --> 0:13:25.679 earlier ones. He's in that and he plays the main character. 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:29.160 Got how many film adaptations of I Am Legend are there? 0:13:29.040 --> 0:13:34.000 There's the Omega Man, Yeah, there's the one with Will Smith, 0:13:34.360 --> 0:13:37.760 There's the one with Vincent Price. There are at least three, 0:13:37.880 --> 0:13:38.760 but there may be more. 0:13:39.120 --> 0:13:42.040 Yeah, and I think they're they're planning on making more now. 0:13:42.320 --> 0:13:46.040 Vincent Price also did a lot of television. One notable 0:13:46.080 --> 0:13:48.199 thing is he he appeared on Night Gallery I think 0:13:48.200 --> 0:13:51.000 a couple of times, including the nineteen seventy two episode 0:13:51.000 --> 0:13:53.120 The Return of the Sorcerer, which is one of the 0:13:53.160 --> 0:13:56.400 few adaptations of a Clark Ashton Smith short story. When 0:13:56.440 --> 0:13:59.920 it comes to just pure seleting, I'd say his nineteen 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:02.760 seventy seven appearance on The Muppet Show is pretty stellar. 0:14:03.160 --> 0:14:06.160 That's right in his element. I mean, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. 0:14:06.280 --> 0:14:08.360 Price can act opposite a puppet. 0:14:08.559 --> 0:14:11.720 Yes, yes, very well. Though of those Muppet shows, some 0:14:11.720 --> 0:14:14.800 of the if you try and watch them in their entirety, 0:14:14.880 --> 0:14:16.800 some of them can be a little painful at times there. 0:14:16.840 --> 0:14:18.600 I mean there was a it was a Hammy show, 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:22.720 and you know, not everything holds up all that well. 0:14:23.400 --> 0:14:25.680 But but Price was great on that. Now, when it 0:14:25.680 --> 0:14:28.520 comes to music and spoken word, this is fact. I 0:14:28.520 --> 0:14:31.320 wasn't familiar with the pure scope of this. But if 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:34.520 you go to discogs dot com, Vincent Price has sixty 0:14:34.520 --> 0:14:38.200 eight listings. To put that into perspective, Christopher Lee only 0:14:38.240 --> 0:14:41.960 had twenty six, which is nothing to sneeze at. But 0:14:42.200 --> 0:14:43.320 sixty eight listings. 0:14:43.560 --> 0:14:45.760 Does that include Christopher Lee's metal albums. 0:14:46.280 --> 0:14:49.160 I think it did. Yeah. Now, I won't pretend to 0:14:49.200 --> 0:14:54.640 have heard even half of the releases from Vincent Price, 0:14:55.120 --> 0:14:58.400 but I've got to go with his excellent spoken word 0:14:58.440 --> 0:15:03.440 bit in nineteen eighty three track thriller that has loads 0:15:03.440 --> 0:15:06.520 of fun, the funk of forty thousand Years. And then 0:15:06.560 --> 0:15:10.120 when it comes to product endorsements again, the Time Life 0:15:10.120 --> 0:15:15.480 Books Enchanted World advertisement is great. But also he did 0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:18.480 run for Monster Vitamins. It's a lot of fun as 0:15:18.560 --> 0:15:22.240 animated monsters in it, and he's talking children's vitamin commercial. 0:15:22.280 --> 0:15:25.440 But you've got Vincent Brice there. Again. We can't go 0:15:25.520 --> 0:15:27.880 through everything that Vincent Price was in, but just to 0:15:28.040 --> 0:15:30.440 mention a few of the big ones. He was in 0:15:30.480 --> 0:15:33.000 The Ten Commandments, he was in House of Wax, The 0:15:33.080 --> 0:15:37.360 fly House, Unhunted Hill. He popped up on the old 0:15:37.560 --> 0:15:41.720 sixties TV Batman series. He's a voice in The Great 0:15:41.760 --> 0:15:45.240 Mouse Detective. He plays the villainous rat in that. And then, 0:15:45.280 --> 0:15:50.080 of course his final feature film appearance is in Edward scissor. 0:15:49.760 --> 0:15:51.520 Hands Rest in Peace Man. 0:15:52.880 --> 0:15:56.400 So Vincent Price is his character. Doctor Five's is listed 0:15:56.440 --> 0:15:58.840 in the end credits to this movie as one of 0:15:58.880 --> 0:16:03.920 two protagonists, which is humorous but also in keeping with 0:16:04.520 --> 0:16:08.680 the strange vibe of the film. The other protagonist is 0:16:08.760 --> 0:16:14.160 listed as Doctor of Vesalius, played by Joseph Cotton. Joseph 0:16:14.200 --> 0:16:17.720 Cotton is another legend star of film, stage, radio, and television, 0:16:17.720 --> 0:16:21.120 lived nineteen oh five through nineteen ninety four, probably best 0:16:21.120 --> 0:16:24.400 remembered for his roles in I think three different Orson 0:16:24.440 --> 0:16:27.880 Wells movies, Citizen Kane in forty one, The Magnificent Amberson's 0:16:27.880 --> 0:16:31.360 and forty two Journey into Fear in forty three. He's 0:16:31.400 --> 0:16:34.080 also known for The Third Man from forty nine. I 0:16:34.120 --> 0:16:38.160 think that was the first first thing I really remember 0:16:38.240 --> 0:16:40.160 him from, though I guess I probably watched Citizen Kane 0:16:40.160 --> 0:16:42.720 around the same time. He was also in nineteen forty 0:16:42.720 --> 0:16:44.760 four's gas Light, which is where we get the term 0:16:44.840 --> 0:16:48.960 gaslighting from, and later on he appeared in such films 0:16:49.000 --> 0:16:53.200 as Soilent Green in seventy three and such Italian films 0:16:53.520 --> 0:16:57.880 as Marcello Alprandi's nineteen seventy six film A Whisper in 0:16:57.920 --> 0:17:01.360 the Dark and Sergio Martino's excellent Island of the fish 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:06.399 Men aka Screamers excellent son. Anything he's in, it's a 0:17:06.440 --> 0:17:07.520 solid screen presence. 0:17:07.840 --> 0:17:10.960 So in this he plays this character, Doctor Vesalius, who 0:17:11.080 --> 0:17:15.800 is the last of the enemies targeted for revenge by 0:17:15.880 --> 0:17:16.760 doctor Fibes. 0:17:17.440 --> 0:17:21.280 Yeah, because this film ultimately follows a pattern that you 0:17:21.280 --> 0:17:23.680 see in a number of different revenge films with kind 0:17:23.680 --> 0:17:27.000 of an anti hero revenge killer at the center is 0:17:27.640 --> 0:17:30.320 he'll have a number of targets, and you'll start with 0:17:30.359 --> 0:17:32.800 the targets that are you either don't know much about 0:17:32.960 --> 0:17:37.320 or who are actively villainous in some way or another, 0:17:37.640 --> 0:17:40.200 and then you work your way towards a character who 0:17:40.320 --> 0:17:44.560 is more relatable, and so you know, it forces you 0:17:44.640 --> 0:17:47.520 to sort of enjoy the early kills but feel conflicted 0:17:47.520 --> 0:17:59.080 about the later kills that are planned. All right, some 0:17:59.119 --> 0:18:02.960 of the other people here, we have Peter Jeffrey in this, 0:18:04.000 --> 0:18:05.359 probably not an actor that a lot of people are 0:18:05.359 --> 0:18:07.840 familiar with. He plays Inspector Harry Trout. He's the hard 0:18:07.880 --> 0:18:10.840 nosed British detective on the case. Ultimately has a lot 0:18:10.880 --> 0:18:14.120 of screen time in this. He lived nineteen twenty nine 0:18:14.160 --> 0:18:17.880 through nineteen ninety nine, and he had roles in such 0:18:17.920 --> 0:18:21.199 films as The Adventures of Baron Muchausen Midnight Express, the 0:18:21.240 --> 0:18:23.680 Return of the Pink Panther, and he played the character 0:18:23.800 --> 0:18:27.000 Count Grindle on Doctor Who, among I think some other 0:18:27.080 --> 0:18:29.320 characters on Doctor Who. He did a lot of TV work. 0:18:29.640 --> 0:18:32.639 This is our main Scotland yard detective trying to solve 0:18:32.680 --> 0:18:35.800 the case of the doctors being murdered in bizarre ways, 0:18:36.280 --> 0:18:37.639 inspector killed or trout. 0:18:37.960 --> 0:18:41.840 Yeah, it's pretty fun because at times he comes up 0:18:41.840 --> 0:18:43.679 a little bit comedic. Other times he's just kind of 0:18:43.760 --> 0:18:45.160 just the hard nosed cop trope. 0:18:45.280 --> 0:18:47.199 Yeah, oh oh, but we've got to talk about so 0:18:47.320 --> 0:18:50.320 in this movie, doctor Fibes has a sidekick. He has 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:53.720 an assistant named Vulnavia and she's great. 0:18:54.240 --> 0:18:57.320 Yes, it's played by Virginia North who in my notes 0:18:57.320 --> 0:19:00.000 here I have nineteen forty six through two thousand, nine 0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:03.000 hundred and ninety four. I suspect that I have a 0:19:03.119 --> 0:19:06.520 typo there. And she actually lived to nineteen ninety four. 0:19:06.520 --> 0:19:07.400 Two thousand and four. 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:10.320 Make that two thousand and four, not twy nine hundred 0:19:10.320 --> 0:19:12.800 and ninety four. Anyway, she was a fashion model who 0:19:12.840 --> 0:19:15.520 only appeared in a handful of titles, including this, which 0:19:15.560 --> 0:19:18.720 was her finer final film, and she also pops up 0:19:18.760 --> 0:19:21.959 in on her Majesty's Secret Service. She wasn't a bond girl, however, 0:19:22.119 --> 0:19:24.080 as the main love interest in that movie was played 0:19:24.080 --> 0:19:25.160 by Diana Rigg. 0:19:25.320 --> 0:19:28.560 The Great Diana rig But yeah, I really enjoy North 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:32.360 as Velnavia in this movie. This is also both of 0:19:32.359 --> 0:19:35.639 our sort of villain roles. That the killers in this 0:19:35.720 --> 0:19:39.160 movie do not speak directly. Vincent Price only speaks through 0:19:39.200 --> 0:19:41.760 like a tube in his neck plugged into a phonograph 0:19:41.880 --> 0:19:44.960 in some scenes, and Velnavia doesn't speak at all, though 0:19:44.960 --> 0:19:48.400 she does play a mean violin as like doctors are 0:19:48.400 --> 0:19:51.480 being drained of all their blood and she can wield 0:19:51.520 --> 0:19:52.480 a golden axe. 0:19:52.800 --> 0:19:57.600 That's right, So yeah, she's stylish and she's helpful. Now, 0:19:57.640 --> 0:19:59.680 we're not going to list all of the various doctors 0:19:59.680 --> 0:20:02.239 who are murdered by doctor Phibes, but two of them 0:20:02.280 --> 0:20:06.919 are noteworthy. There's a doctor Longstreet played by Terry Thomas. That, 0:20:06.960 --> 0:20:10.399 of course is Terry hyphen Thomas, who lived nineteen eleven 0:20:10.480 --> 0:20:11.560 through nineteen ninety. 0:20:11.840 --> 0:20:13.480 This is one of those guys who you just see 0:20:13.520 --> 0:20:15.840 his face and even if it's a still photograph, you 0:20:15.880 --> 0:20:22.000 can imagine the sounds he's making and there's something like yeah, yeah. 0:20:21.240 --> 0:20:25.200 Yes, yeah, he tremendous British comedian and character actor who 0:20:25.480 --> 0:20:28.800 really excelled at playing kind of like kind of like 0:20:28.920 --> 0:20:35.879 bumbling fops and upper crust weirdos. And yeah, there's a 0:20:35.880 --> 0:20:40.040 certain type of role that Terry Thomas just absolutely excelled. 0:20:39.680 --> 0:20:42.760 At in this movie. He's a little bit Harvey Korman, 0:20:42.880 --> 0:20:45.920 but also a little you're gonna balk for a second, 0:20:45.960 --> 0:20:48.400 I think, but a little bit wings Howser. 0:20:49.720 --> 0:20:54.800 Well. He definitely choose the scenes with a wings howser 0:20:55.440 --> 0:21:00.719 Ian intensity. Terry Thomas was in a low oads of stuff, 0:21:00.800 --> 0:21:03.160 but I'd say probably the biggest film he was in 0:21:03.200 --> 0:21:05.960 the most well known as perhaps It's a Mad, Mad, 0:21:06.040 --> 0:21:09.119 Mad Mad World from sixty three. He also pops up 0:21:09.160 --> 0:21:12.879 in Danger Diabolic from sixty eight, which is another highly 0:21:12.880 --> 0:21:15.119 stylish film, and that one was of course featured on 0:21:15.200 --> 0:21:18.000 Mystery Science Theater three thousand. He was also a great 0:21:18.080 --> 0:21:21.800 voice actor. If you've seen Walt Disney's Robin Hood, the 0:21:21.800 --> 0:21:24.359 animated Robin Hood with all the animal characters from nineteen 0:21:24.359 --> 0:21:27.679 seventy three, he is the voice of Sir Hiss the Snake. 0:21:28.000 --> 0:21:32.200 He's sort of the toady to the cowardly lion Prince. 0:21:32.080 --> 0:21:35.000 I believe so yes, all right, another doctor. We have 0:21:35.080 --> 0:21:39.760 doctor Hargreaves, played by Alex Scott. Alex Scott was in 0:21:39.920 --> 0:21:42.280 Next of Ken from nineteen eighty two, which we just 0:21:42.880 --> 0:21:46.320 covered on a Weird House Cinema, so I won't go 0:21:46.359 --> 0:21:48.399 into detail about him, but you know, if you want 0:21:48.440 --> 0:21:51.560 to hear more about Alex Scott, we discuss him in 0:21:51.600 --> 0:21:54.800 the cast section for our previous episode. 0:21:54.880 --> 0:21:57.919 He was the doctor in Next of Ken. Yes, he 0:21:58.000 --> 0:22:01.520 was the doctor, and he's a doctor in this one too. Yeah, yeah, 0:22:01.760 --> 0:22:05.119 still doing in this one he's a psychiatrist, right he 0:22:05.400 --> 0:22:06.600 puts on the frog mask. 0:22:08.520 --> 0:22:11.840 Now another small but fun roll. We have Hugh Griffith 0:22:12.400 --> 0:22:15.520 popping up playing a rabbi who's called in or called 0:22:15.600 --> 0:22:20.920 upon by the inspectors to give some expert advice on 0:22:20.960 --> 0:22:24.520 some of the clues they've discovered. Griffith lived nineteen twelve 0:22:24.520 --> 0:22:27.560 through nineteen eighty a Welsh actor who actually won a 0:22:27.600 --> 0:22:32.480 Best Supporting Oscar Actor Oscar in nineteen sixty for ben 0:22:32.600 --> 0:22:37.000 Her Now the next oh, this is one where I 0:22:37.000 --> 0:22:40.200 think you. I don't think she was actually credited originally 0:22:40.200 --> 0:22:42.320 on this film, but you might say that this film 0:22:42.440 --> 0:22:45.720 also stars a photograph of Carolyn Monroe. 0:22:46.280 --> 0:22:51.320 That's right when we actually see so she plays doctor 0:22:51.400 --> 0:22:54.840 Fib's deceased wife, and at some point later in the 0:22:54.880 --> 0:22:57.160 movie we actually see her dead body. But I don't 0:22:57.160 --> 0:22:58.560 think that's Carolyn Monroe. 0:22:59.000 --> 0:23:01.720 Yeah, I think it's just photographs offtware that are used, 0:23:01.760 --> 0:23:06.000 which is interesting, especially since since she did go on 0:23:06.040 --> 0:23:09.040