#john meredyth lucas

[whitewaterpaper]

Zorros märke / Sign of Zorro, the (1958) [US]

Eftersom @kulturdasset​ (och alla porrbottar som följer mig) kokat av nyfikenhet sedan jag släppte bomben att jag inte hann se klart en film förra månaden. Så Så kommer här den rafflande upplösningen på dramat.

¡Oi! Spoilers, stavfel och alternativa fakta kan förekomma rakt föröver!

Tv-serien "Zorro" från 1957 vill jag minnas gick på TV3 i min ungdom. Vill minnas att jag sett spridda delar av den, men att jag aldrig fastnade för den. (Det kan ju bero på att jag inte uppskattar äldre produktioner då som jag gör i dag). Den här filmen är ihopklippt av åtta avsnitt av den serien, trots det så klockar den inte in på mer än 1½ timme. Det är kanske därför den här filmen också listar två regissörer och sex manusförfattare. Den här filmen börjar, som sig bör med Diego de la Vega på väg hem till Los Angeles på sin fars begäran. Ombord på båten får han för första gången höra om de problem staden dras med, och han bestämmer sig för att problemen med stadens girige borgmästare kanske bäst hanteras inkognito...

Det enda som skvallrar om att det här är klippt från en längre produktion är dess aningen episodiska scener. (Märkligt nog överlevde en massa dansscener saxens ingrepp :p). Med dagens ögon mätt är det här också en väldigt obalanserad film, alla de stora rollerna är män och jag tror de enda kvinnorollerna är just dansarna inne på värdshuset. Trist är bara förnamnet. Annars har man fångat karaktärerna bra, och Sgt. Garcia (motsvarigheten till 1990 års Sgt. Mendoza) är så där lagom naiv och klumpig som han skall vara. Det enda som jag ställer mig emot är en scen i början av filmen där borgmästaren/kaptenen öppet säger "inget skall stoppa mig från att bli den rikaste mannen i Kalifornien". I min värld är karln lite smartare än så.

Det här är en fartfylld film med bra actionscener, och trots att den är filmad i svartvitt så känns den inte färglös. Jag hade gärna sett lite matigare kvinnoroller, avsaknaden av kvinnor i filmen ger filmen en air av "män som gör manliga saker" som känns lite småtrist och passé idag. Men annars en fullt sevärd film fortfarande. Jag kan sträcka mig så långt att erkänna att viss nyfikenhet på tv-serien till och med väcktes.

Även om Disney inte lagt upp tv-serien på Disney+ (än?) så återfinns den här filmen. Jag antar i en tid då tv inte var förunnats alla så var det här kanske då en godtagbar mellanväg till att eventuellt hitta ut till en ny publik. Kanske gör den samma jobb idag, men på helt nya plattformar?

Länkar:

Filmen @ IMDb.com.

Filmen @ Vodeville.se.

Filmen @ PlayPilot.se.

Filmen @ DuckDuckGo.

Poster @ affichesdisney.canalblog.com.

[defconprime]

TREKMATCH! # 409 - Star Trek's "Patterns of Force" vs 2019's The Hole in the Ground

THE HOLE IN THE GROUND

A woman and her son move into a huge ass mansion to escape a maybe abusive husband, but then the boy starts to act like a real weirdo. Maybe it has to do with the huge sinkhole behind the house? Well in middle school there was a huge sinkhole behind my house and I never threw my mother around the kitchen because I didn't like my dinner! I hate to compare it to another horror movie in which a single mother deals with complicated emotions but this is just a much worse Babadook.

GRADE: D

STAR TREK - "Patterns of Force"

The Enterprise is looking for a missing Federation historian when they instead find a planet full of gol dang space Nazis! Well, see, the historian thought that since the Nazis were so "efficient" that maybe if he turned the planet into space Nazis they'd fix some of their problems. Hey I'm no historian, but the first thing that comes to my mind when I think of Nazis isn't "efficiency." I do like the parts where Kirk and Spock beat up Nazis.

GRADE: C-

Victory to Trek, putting Trek up 205-204!

[jingle-bones]

Movie number 67: City Beneath the Sea (Irwin Allen, 1971)

Originally made for US TV, City Beneath the Sea is an underwater sci-fi adventure from producer/director Irwin Allen, initially pitched as a weekly TV series in 1969. At first unsuccessful, Irwin was able to secure support for a TV movie based upon the idea and City Beneath the Sea duly premiered on the NBC network in January 1971, fulfilling its duel purpose as both a 'Movie of the Week' and as a pilot for a proposed series.

Set in the year 2053, City Beneath the Sea stars Stuart Whitman as commander of underwater city Pacifica. As storage for both the US gold reserve and the valuable yet highly unstable explosive H128, Pacifica is the target of an inside robbery from certain unsavory officials. However, this problem pales in significance to the imminent threat posed by an asteroid (or rather 'planetoid') on a direct collision course with the sub-aquatic metropolis!

A fairly impressive cast was assembled for the movie; joining the likeable, square-jawed Whitman are TV regulars Robert Wagner and Richard Basehart. A little extra cachet is added by blink-and-you-miss-them cameos from Joseph Cotton and boxer Sugar Ray Robinson. Of course it betrays its TV origins; the effects, largely utilising model work, are obvious but appealingly and in no way detract from ones enjoyment of the film. The colourful set design and costumes exhibit a nice 1970's futurist chic. Where the movie fails is in its narrative. The premise, while inherently silly, is a fairly strong one. But the screenplay, by John Meredyth Lucas, suffers from too much exposition and too little action. This, perhaps more than anything, sealed the fate of the property as NBC did not commission any further episodes. It did, however, secure release in UK cinemas retitled One Hour to Doomsday.

Over time City Beneath the Sea has attained a significant and deserved cult following and remains an entertaining kitsch treat, especially for fans of vintage TV sci-fi and of the Allen oeuvre in particular.

Visit my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME to read a longer, more in-depth review of CITY BENEATH THE SEA! Link below.

City Beneath the Sea aka One Hour To Doomsday (1971)

City Beneath the Sea aka One Hour to Doomsday (Dir: Irwin Allen, 1971 Originally made for US TV, City Beneath the Sea is an underwa

[theyboldlywent]

John Meredyth Lucas bought mathematician Laurence N. Wolfe’s unsolicited teleplay for “The Ultimate Computer” because it would help relieve some of the season two budget woes that had hit Star Trek. It used existing sets, had few guest stars and only required two new pieces of hardware and one new optical effect.

Unfortunately, Wolfe’s script didn’t feature the crew of the Enterprise much at all, instead focusing on Daystrom and his relationship with the M-5. D.C. Fontana’s rewrite brought Jim Kirk and his fear of being replaced by a computer into the spotlight. 

[defconprime]

TREKMATCH! # 660 - Star Trek's "The Changeling" vs 2000s Best in Show

BEST IN SHOW

A group of disparate weirdos who raise competitive dogs all take different journeys to a big ole dog show. It's one a those Christopher Guest semi improvised comedies that's more of a chuckler than a belly-laugher. It's really gentle? I don't care for dogs really so maybe that's part of my problem.

GRADE: C

STAR TREK - "The Changeling "

The Enterprise almost gets blasted to bits by a tiny space robot who then starts to think maybe Kirk is its mother. Turns out it's an old lost Earth probe who got damaged and upgraded by aliens and thinks it's supposed to exterminate infestations of living creatures (see Star Trek: The Motion Picture). Kirk isn't scared of robots or computers though because he can easily talk them into self destructing. I also have to imagine that Bones finds a way to cure Uhura after this episode,  because the robot erases her mind and then Chapel just decides to teach her from scratch. She's gonna learn her whole life's studies in two weeks???

GRADE: C+

Victory to Trek, so Trek is up 333-327!

[data2364]

via memory-alpha

William Shatner (Captain James T. Kirk) and Director John Meredyth Lucas 1968 during the filming of the “Star Trek: The Original Series”-Episode „Elaan of Troyius“.

https://data2364.wordpress.com/2018/05/12/daily-star-trek-12-mai-2018/

[defconprime]

TREKMATCH! # 214 - Star Trek's "That Which Survives" vs 2016's Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders

BATMAN: RETURN OF THE CAPED CRUSADERS

In this 2016 animated continuation of the 1960s show, Burt Ward and Adam West reprise their roles as Robin and Batman to fight off the usual crowd of villains including Julie Newmar as Catwoman (all the other actors were dead). Except this time Batman duplicates himself into a cruel fascist who takes over Gotham, yikes! It does a good job replicating the feel of the 60s show, and Ward and West really do still sound like their old selves (Newmar not as much).

GRADE: C+

STAR TREK - "That Which Survives"

After beaming down to an impossible planet (because of science reasons) Kirk, McCoy, Sulu, and Jeffrey Nearcorpse have to defend themselves against a spooky woman whose touch is instant death. Instant death except for when she touches Sulu, a main character, then it's instant pain. Oh and the Enterprise can't help because it got knocked a couple days away. It's a good creepy episode!

GRADE: B

Victory to Trek, putting Trek up 108-106!

[eigabaka]

Night Gallery: The Deadman/The Housekeeper (1970; Douglas Heyes, John Meredyth Lucas)