Stuff

One of my favourite films of the 1930s is the black and white feature “Oh, Mr Porter!”, starring Will Hay.

Hay was a very interesting chap, hugely clever, a serious astronomer (there is an asteroid named after him) and the person who gave Amy Johnson flying lessons.

He made a number of very funny films where he played a bumbling, slightly corrupt official who gets into trouble. In this film he is a station master, he is often a teacher or policeman. In his best films, he is accompanied by Graham Moffatt and Moore Marriott (centre).

Marriott was a seriously good straight actor. He could take out his teeth, insert a false plate with a single tooth and it was so funny.

The plot is simple and eerily familiar: Hay takes over as station master at a forgotten station in Ireland, near the border. He tries to make something of the station, offering day trips, but gets involved with smugglers.

The film ends with a famous windmill scene, followed by a train chase.

It may seem a big corny these days, but some of the one liners, especially “Where’s your clock?” are hilarious.

“Ask A Policeman” is also worth a watch.

This is out of position, but we are following on from Kong…

“King Kong” was a massive success. It has been re-made and there were follow-ups, like “Mighty Joe Young”.

But we really don’t like modern monster movies, you know, the “Kong Eats Godzilla’s Brain On Dinosaur Island” type of thing. Often they are boring, there’s a cgi fuzziness to the picture. Peter Jackson’s version of “King Kong” was long and dull and had Jack Black. A previous version, with Jeff Bridges, is grim, and as for its follow up with Linda Hamilton…

But there is one film that we quite enjoy, in parts, the 1998 version of “Godzilla” with Matthew Broderick (we also like the original).

Why do we like it? Well, not for the nonsensical story, or the multiple errors, or the music. For a film where characters rely on so much technology, it looks dated, even for then.

But New York city looks fantastic in the rain, and the monster looks like a real monster.

The absolute highlight though is Jean Reno and his team of French agents, coping with American culture. There are some very funny moments, and it’s worth watching the film and skipping the non-Reno stuff just to enjoy his performance.

“King Kong” is a film that has been made and re-made and sequelled (!) times. I think the most recent was the snooze fest (more than three hours!) by Peter Jackson. It was slow, the effects were poor in places and the acting dreadful, especially, of course, Jack Black. Not to mention the Jeff Bridges version…

Here we are talking about the original 1933 sound film with Fay Wray as the heroine.

The original idea was part-conceived by mystery writer Edgar Wallace. It was a black and white sound film, about 100 minutes, directed by Merian Cooper and Ernest Schoedsack.

In case you don’t know the plot: film maker Carl Denham hires a ship to go to the mysterious Skull Island. He takes with him the blonde star-to-be Ann Darrow. Arriving at the island, they find hostile natives, mysterious animals and a giant ape. This is Kong, who is intrigued by Ann as he has never seen anyone so white and blonde before. They capture him, take him back to New York and put him on display. But Kong escapes and causes havoc.

In the film, Kong is mostly stop motion animation, though sometimes his arms or face are large models. For example, a giant hand is needed for Kong to remove Ann’s clothes and sniff her, well…

The animation may seem a bit rough, and you can see the finger marks of the animators on his fur, and there are plot holes and other oddities that could be a problem, but ignore those and it is a great story, with, of course, a sad end.

Kong is a victim. He had a happy life on the island with the odd sacrificial female for fun. He was the boss. The Bonzo Dog Band’s first album, ‘Gorilla’, was dedicated to Kong: “Dedicated to Kong who must have been a great bloke.”