Tomb Of Ligiea.

Was a bit cut off the last few days with the damn wintery weather. The surface of thepavements around my house being turned to slippery wet glass by the layers of ice. Felt quite melancholy so I turned to my Roger Corman Poe cycle of movies in order to learn just what melancholy really means.
Watched his adaption of Edgar Allen Poe's short story "Ligiea". With Vincen Price bedecked in a suitably funereal fashion as a widower, Vernon Fell, who is haunted by the spirit of his dead wife who has returned from the dead in a vengeful angry mood in the form of a black cat.
              Tomb Of Ligiea is a lovely film to look at with the exterior filming being particularly striking as it was done in a ruined ancient abbey somewhere in a lost middle England. While the interior sets include every left over prop from every other Roger Corman Poe adaption made up to that point. I thoroughly enjoyed this piece and thought that Vincent Price was ubber-cool with his specially made wrap around glasses created for his character who was sensitive to direct sun light.
               At one point though I had to pause the movie as the dialogue totally threw me. I had never heard such an a weird marriage of goobly-gook and bizarre skewed sentiment delivered with such heart felt sincerity, as an actor of Vincent Price's abilities was capable off.delivering. The dialogue went as follows; "Christopher,not ten minutes ago I tried to kill a stray cat with a cabbage and all but made love to the Lady Rowena. I succeeded in squashing the cabbage and badly frightening the lady. If only I could lay open my own brain as easily as I did that vegetable. What rot would be freed from its grey leaves. I need a stroll."
               It was so unintentionally funny, so loaded with wonkily poetic melancholy I could not stop laughing. Honestly, for about ten minutes. I love Vincent Price and he delivered this clanger of a statement with one hundred per cent commitment to the dialogue and character. But boy did I think it was so funny. The screen play was written by a writer called Robert Towne who later went on to win an Oscar for his Screen play for Chinatown. I do not remember any dialogue from that movie but I will never forget his dialogue for this one.

 

Wilde In Action.

Now this is what I call an action figure. For the boy, or girl, who wants to remain thoroughly modern. Garth Ennis picked it up for me from a store in New York. Who would have thought, a store in New York that sells odd little things. Its a lovely thing all the same. I suspect Oscar would approve. Him being a full on celeb and media figure before the world even understood what that was. Celebrity being the ultimate disposable today. Oscar blazed like a meteor in his time. A heavenly spectacle that crashed and burned when it fell to earth.
            The flame that burned twice as bright burned only half as long.

A Mid Winter Mid Summer Nights Dream.

If you find yourself struggling or indifferent to an enchanted frame of mind and possibly wish to open an envelope mailed from the land of Faerie then you could do worse than to give this old BBC adaption of the Shakespeare play a view. Or a couple. Or a thrice. Sometimes it takes a while for these things to percolate past our reserves of modernity to the forgotten pagan inside. The one who believes in magic and all the possible others. it is such a strikingly beautiful adaption that looks and sounds ethereal. one to light a fire in the heart of ones imagination, the seat of dreams. I found a copy that some one had donated to an Oxfam book store near me and it has charmed me no end. I have been glamoured by Shakespeare.
           This version has the most amazing cast. Almost every part played by a familiar old face that are so good at what they do they make it seem so natural and easy.  There is Helen Merren as a beautiful but equally other worldly and imperious Titania. See Phil Daniels as a punk street urchin Puck who seems filled with a boundless energy yet also slyly natural. And what a joy to see Brian Glover as Bottom. That Dead-pan delivery in the dourest of northern tones whose transformation generates a magical smile despite the fact you know its a coming. The whole production has an wonderful dark wintery night production feel to it. As though it ticks every box that made the BBC a creative force to be reckoned with the world over. It is a joy and it is a keeper.
             "Lord, what fools these mortals be!"

Whats On Your Mind, Worzel?

Was browsing through an old Worzel Gummidge annual (from 1981 published by Grandreams.) and I came across this rather poignant photograph of himself having a right old rumination in his turnipy old head. Found it strangely moving. Could not help but wonder what could be going through the mind of the brilliant and magical Jon Pertwee. Something tells me it was probably something other than " A nice cup of tea and a slice of cake..."

What Rodger Knows.

Say hello to another genius creation by Ken Reid. Rodger The Dodger. Another comic book creation who's name entered the shared cultural zeitgeist of generations of readers of British comics as a description for someone who would never do anything they could get someone to do for them instead. Playful and ingenious and wise as an old owl who likes to trick and deceive people. He has been sitting gathering dust in my old home for years now but Roger was never a fellow to let dust settle. Not when he could quite easily and craftily trick someone into dusting on his behalf.
             Oh that Rodger. He was incorrigible.

Radio Times Bitter Sweet Festive Treat.

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Its a cliche I know. Just imagine Dean Martin is saying it and you could almost believe it. What a cover. Peter Capaldi really shows us the soul of The Doctor when he looks directly at us. I am going to miss him so much. When David Tennant emotionally breathed " I don't want to go" I remember thinking " I don't want you to go either but you decided to go..". it was a haunting and truthful performance and I always believed the weight and implications of his decision to go really hit him in that moment. I could be wrong. David Tennant is such a great actor he could make me believe anything. But not since the glory days of Tom Baker has an actor in the role said so much when saying so little as the lovely Peter Capaldi.
            Twice Upon A Time airs on Christmas Day.
            How is it possible to look forward so much to something you know is going wring a tear? Its possible ,I suppose, thanks to the man who put the Who back into Doctor Who.

Faceache.

Comic of the week of the week for me was this amazing new release of the Faceache collection by the truly genius Ken Reid. Faceache was a boy, named Ricky Rubberneck (Faceache is almost an improvement,)who could contort, twist and scrunge his face into all manner of shapes and sizes. Actually that barely does credit to the sheer elasticity of contortion his strange ability lent him. Although to begin with it was mostly his face he would contort he quite quickly advanced into total body alchemy and could evolve in a heart beat into the weirdest of beings or creatures and the brilliant Ken Reid had the unrestrained imagination and pencil to deliver such extraordinary flights of fancy. Faceache was and remains very funny and inventive and wholly original. He was so loved and enjoyed by people of all ages that the name of the strip became a by word for impossibly grungy faces and down beat scowling expressions. As with so many great British comic strips there are huge amounts of class based humorous situations that resonate across the years in the tradition of many television comedians such as Les Dawson or Spike Milligan. There is a superb Northern bleakness hovering over proceeding like the smoke of some Dark Satanic Mill.
           Ken Reid was also responsible for other great comic book favourites of mine; Rodger the dodger and Jonah. What a great thing it would be to see similar collections using these these two great and much missed heroes of yester-year. I suppose it will depend on the success of this volume but hopefully it will happen. This world needs its funny characters more than ever.