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There are moments in "Spell of Evil" which, thanks to the videotape format plus the inevitable fashions of the time (clothes, hair, moustaches) reminded me of Monty Python sketches. Particularly the amusing seduction of geeky office boss prat Jeremy Longhurst at the hands (and hair, and bling) of Diane Cilento. It "could" have worked on film, much as the shameless overacting of Robert Hardy and Patrick Magee in Hammer's "interesting failure" DEMONS OF THE MIND "works" because disbelief is just about suspended by the filmic atmosphere (on videotape, those shouty scenes between Hardy and Magee would have come across as a Two Ronnies sketch), but in this case it all misses its mark by a mile. And to see Cilento later summoning up the demons is on the level of a pantomime. In fact it's worse than a pantomime. It's like watching one's mum rehearsing for a pantomime, right there in front of you in the living room. That's the effect video has on me.
First, let me say that, having never seen the Two Ronnies, I would not associate any shouting scenes in films with sketch comedy.
I have seen some Monty Python TV, but never had gotten into their brand of humour. Still, my mind simply doesn't divert into that direction when viewing non-comedy programs.
Furthermore, I don't even consider the performances in either Demons of the Mind or "Spell of Evil" to be so outrageous or over-the-top as Mr. Watt describes them. If common-practice theatrical acting is Graham Watt's 'overacting', then whatever might Graham think about classic Japanese cinema from the 1950s such as Kurosawa's Throne of Blood with its exaggerated facial expressions and behavioral mannerisms? If Diane Cilento's witch is camp, then however would one label the filmic content of The Music Lovers by Ken Russell?
Must all leading protagonists be unsmiling poker faces such as Marlon Brando or Clint Eastwood to satisfy credulity?
Secondly ... what's so bad about pantomime? 45 seconds of non-verbal gestures, for example, may provide the viewer with a little respite from the dialogue-driven material. The demon summoning, after all, is not an hour-long Marcel Marceau Holiday special.
So, despite Graham's allergic intolerance towards videotape and the signaling succubus, I continue to succumb under this "Spell of Evil", warts 'n' all! 
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You asked me if I would "dislike the videotape version while simultaneously praising the filmed version". Are you only giving me those two options? As I stated last night, the short answer is yes, but I wouldn't have to automatically dislike one and "praise" the other. A huge amount of filmed material is average at best, so there's nothing to praise there. But it would always look and sound better than the video "twin" in your hypothetical scenario.
No, not 2 options only. But let me revise the question.
In a recent thread elsewhere inside FSM, you indicate that Philip Kaufman's 1978 remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers is one of your faves.
Suppose its studio recently discovered that Kaufman's Invasion had all its scenes shot simultaneously on videotape and that this previously unseen edition is released onto home video for us to view.
We already know GW loves this movie. Will he also love the same thing if it's shot on tape? ... or dislike it ?
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I think he'd be so put off by that pale picture and hissy sound he would be aggitated by it throughout! Lol
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I think he'd be so put off by that pale picture and hissy sound he would be aggitated by it throughout! Lol
Yeah. However did Christopher Lee tolerate Graham Watt's ESP (extra sensitive perception)?
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Posted: |
May 31, 2020 - 4:39 AM
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By: |
Graham Watt
(Member)
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With the greatest respect Your Honour, your being unfamiliar with "The Two Ronnies" and your disdain for Monty Python immediately makes you unsuitable for the toga you so proudly wear. "The Two Ronnies" made a series of sketches titled "The Phantom Raspberry Blower of Old London Town". The connection to the shameless overacting by Robert Hardy and Patrick Magee in the film DEMONS OF THE MIND is largely in the exaggerated 19th Century facial hair department, but also in the vocal delivery. "Shouting" is indeed occasionally present in comedy sketches. It was so in the Ronnies sketches, and was a staple of Fawlty Towers, and of Monty Python's Flying Circus. Its presence in "Thriller" made it almost a comedy along those lines.
The theatrical acting and "overdone" facial expressions in Kurosawa's THRONE OF BLOOD are perfectly in line with the "filmic theatricality" of Japanese tradition. Its presence in "Thriller" was out of place and risible.
Ken Russell's THE DEVILS is classic, knowing camp. Its presence in "Thriller" is UNknowing camp, and therefore does not work.
"Must all leading protagonists be unsmiling poker faces...?", you ask. Again with the greatest respect Your Majesty, you are polarizing once more. Performances in the history of acting run the gamut from A to Z. So if one is critical for example of a performer's "A" turn, it does not mean that one would prefer the opposite extreme, in this case "Z". Why not "D" or "P"? So my answer is no, of course not, and it's a damn stupid question, begging your pardon Your Honour.
What's wrong with pantomime? Nothing, when it's a pantomime. "Thriller" was not a pantomime, but when it veered towards it, it jarred. Because it wasn't supposed to be a pantomime.
Would the accused like Kaufman's "video version" of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS? With all due respect Your Majesty, you posed a similar question in a previous post, which I answered. For the sake of extra clarity I shall stoop to answer this one too, the answer being "not as much as his filmed one".
Would Christopher Lee tolerate... I can't remember what? I protest. It is irrelevant. Sustained.
Now that I have been sentenced to death without a fair trial, I bid you farewell and hope that others can extoll the virtues of "Thriller" instead of witnessing my public hanging.
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Sir Lew Grade and Brian Clemens never received this memo, it appears.
MEMO RE: pre-requisites on THRILLER
Dear Sirs:
In order for the thriller genre to successfully suspend disbelief, shooting on film is required.
Videotape is to be avoided.
Cast members should not:
overact
wear fake facial hair & wigs
make non-verbal gestures
shout
engage in pantomime, or campiness
induce unintentional humour
Thanks in advance for your adherence to this thriller genre manifesto.
Yours truly,
G.S. Watt
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I watched episode 1. I quite liked it. Robert Powell was watchable as the conman, and i didn't mind the plot. But it felt a little long by 15 minutes maybe, or maybe i'm just used to the brevity of Tales of the Unexpected. I'm looking forward to watching the rest of them.
This is "Lady Killer". It was the 4th story out of the initial 5 that were made in 1972. Unsure why this was selected to open the series, but I think it was because Barbara Feldon was a commodity from GET SMART and Linda Thorson was familiar from THE AVENGERS.
Have you seen any of the episodes from THE AVENGERS, Xebec?
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Posted: |
Jun 3, 2020 - 10:01 AM
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By: |
John Smith
(Member)
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Graham Watt wrote:
I did go back and watch the Tales of the Unexpected episode which Jehannum recommended ("The Flypaper") and was very impressed by how powerful it was. But yeah - bleak, downbeat, grimy... too much like real life to float my fantasy boat. All helped by the video look.
I need my visuals to be in some way cinematic, and video is the antithesis of cinema, even when it's "kinetic" (you see, I know what I'm talking about).
Graham, I’m happy to hear that you know what you’re talking about. But let’s leave reality for a moment and cross over to the Twilight Zone to explore an alternative world of the Tales of the Unexpected TV series.
Imagine a universe in which “The Flypaper” episode is shot not on videotape but film.
Try to envisage a mise-en-scene that, far from being “grimy”, luxuriates in picturesque images of the Cambridgeshire countryside - shots that wouldn’t look out of place in a David Lean film.
Imagine a Mondo Digital review of the first two DVD box sets of TOTU, where they single out “The Flypaper” as a – and I quote – “standout example” of an episode shot on film.
And now step back into the real world and see… that this alternative multiverse reality is, in fact, ours!
You see, “The Flypaper” WAS shot on film – in its entirety.
I don’t know what you watched, Graham, old chum, but it certainly doesn’t sound like “The Flypaper” episode that I’m familiar with. (My ex-girlfriend worked on the series and subsequently supplied me with excellent digital copies of all the episodes - just so you know…)
Yes, it’s definitely bleak and downbeat, as well as creepy – like all the best episodes of TOTU. But there isn’t a trace of the “video look” that seems to get your goat up, at least not on the pristine copy of “The Flypaper” that I have in my collection. (The duped sludge on YouTube is inadmissible as evidence.)
https://www.mondo-digital.com/talesunexpected.html
While it’s true that most of the 112 episodes of TOTU were videotaped, about a quarter were shot on film. Needless to say, the filmed episodes are credited on screen to a “film editor” and videotaped ones have a “videotape editor” credit. Check out Kevin Waters’ film editing gong at 22:51.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0vJztcnMOo
(NB: several of the videotaped episodes of TOTU include limited film footage, invariably involving exterior scenes; such episodes would have both a “Film Editor” and a “Videotape Editor” credit.)
When I‘m back in the bosom of the Polish Motherland, I’ll be happy to send you my copy of "The Flypaper" for immediate (re)appraisal…
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Holy flip, that A Killer in Every Corner was great. I'm a big Patrick Magee fan, and he was fantastic as the creepy quack. The whole thing was well cast. It was actually a pretty bleak little story. It put me in mind of a Pete Walker film, he directed Frightmare and House of Whipcord, and tonally this fits right in. The twist near the end was a good one. Fantastic stuff and creepy as hell.
Spell of Evil was pretty decent too.
Glad to learn that you like these 2.
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Kiss Me and Die was another decent one. Great to see Anton Diffring and Jenny Agutter. The story was fine, I enjoyed the allusions to Poe and the almost Wicker Man welcome of the visitors to the new American chap in town.
"Kiss Me and Die" is a compelling segment for me. Very visual. The sets are a change of pace. The cast is a one-of-a-kind appointment of American Chakiris & German Diffring with British Agutter and supporting cast. Rat-catcher Russell Hunter subsequently played sand-miner commander Ulvanov in "The Robots of Death" serial from classic DOCTOR WHO. Producer Sichel directed this as a sort of spiritual continuation of cinema's Roger Corman sequence of films inspired by Edgar Allan Poe. The last act is a TV attempt to capture the atmosphere of The Masque of the Red Death with creative usage of colored lighting effects.
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