Once in a New Moon (1935)

Once in a New Moon is just one of the vintage sci-fi movies in this box set

As a sci-fi fan of many years I love having my attention brought to any films I may have missed in the past so it was wonderful to see a movie I had never even heard of before being shown on Talking Pictures TV, a channel that shows less well known movies and TV shows.

A small English seaside town, Shrimpton-on-Sea, is wrenched from the face of the Earth by the gravitational attraction of what is referred to as a ‘dead star’ and the movie covers what happens during the enforced isolation from the rest of the planet from the discovery that the town is essentially a new moon to the resulting civil strife as resources start to dwindle.

Once in a New Moon is typical of a lot of early science fiction movies in that, if looked upon with a critical scientific eye, it fails to pass a reality check but does what sci-fi does so well – gives people a chance to view current social and political issues with enough intellectual distance between ‘real’ life and the scenario being played out.  In the case of Once in a New Moon the plot device used is isolation from the rest of society to give a brief exploration of class war albeit rather a basic one.

The landed gentry think that they shouldn’t have to share the dwindling resources on their new planetoid whilst the villagers are forced to ration what little they have leading to a General Election which the village representative, a Socialist proxy (the film doesn’t identify political ideologies), wins.  The Conservative proxy faction, the Lord and his family, refuse to accept the result of the election and continue to issue proclamations and hoard resources which leads to preparations for war.

Being a movie of just over 60 minutes in length, Once in a New Moon can’t really do much in the way of fully exploring the issue of class war and is forced to rush a conclusion that fails to investigate how the situation might play itself out had the small town’s isolation been curtailed so quickly which would have afforded a deeper exploration of human nature that underpins the ideological positions of the two sides of the political class battle.

Given that the film also throws in a love triangle between the postmaster’s daughter, a suitor from the village and a son of the manor and spends about a third of its running time to setting up the characters and situation, it achieves what it does achieve in an entertaining way albeit with a bit of a sledgehammer rather than the more nuanced approach a longer film would have allowed.

There are comedy moments with the story including the wholly unrealistic notion that both representatives in the General Election think that the other would be a better leader than they would be (something that would never occur to real life political leaders) and the villager’s preparations for battle readiness.

All in all, Once in a New Moon is an interesting movie that entertains and gives the viewer something to think about but does suffer from the malady of all early sci-fi – the fact that it would be hard pressed to interest the ‘average’ viewer given the lack of action compared with most modern day films.

UK cult movie fans are seriously being let down by the home entertainment companies

[Duplicated from my Meditations From The Abyss blog]

I am a great fan of the Phantasm movies so I have been looking forward to the release of the final movie in the series, Phantasm: Ravager, especially as it the last movie of Tall Man actor Angus Scrimm who died during the post-production process.

I was scanning a magazine when I noticed that a new box set was being released containing all five movies so I thought I’d go along to my local HMV store to see when it was due for release and how much the DVD of Phantasm: Ravager costs.  Imagine my surprise when I saw the complete movie series box set on the shelf but couldn’t find the individual release of the movie.  Upon making enquiries, I found that not only is Phantasm: Ravager not available on its own but that the box set is only available on Blu-Ray.  This is a serious problem for those of us who don’t have Blu-Ray players or the money to buy one and fans of the Phantasm series who may have the first four movies already and are unwilling (due to the cost of a box set containing four movies they’ve already got) or unable to buy the box set (because they don’t have the relevant player or the money to purchase the set).

Below is the text of an e-mail conversation I have started with the Customer Service department at Arrow Films who have released this new box set.  It gives more detail to my arguments that would be pointless to repeat here in this introductory section.

Subject: Phantasm V: Ravager

Could you tell me if Phantasm V: Ravager will be available separately and in the DVD format?  I only ask as I am a fan of the series and would like to complete the story arc (I already have the first four films) and only have a DVD cinema system and no money to purchase a Blu-Ray player.  I'm sure I'm not the only one in this situation.

Regards,

Myles Cook

Hi Myles,

Thank you for your email. There’s nothing confirmed on this at the moment as we’re concentrating on the Limited Edition release but it could be a possibility further down the line.

Kind regards,

Anthony Newcomb

Customer Service Supervisor

Hi Anthony,

Surely a release of the fifth film on its own as the box set of the series came out would follow the market lead of individual releases of films with its inclusion in a box set?  I understand that your company didn't release the previous films (or at least not to my knowledge) but an individual release for this film would increase your sales amongst the people who have already got the previous films in the series and who are unwilling or unable to purchase an expensive box set (especially as the box set seems to be only available in Blu-Ray which is a platform that not everyone has yet due to the expense of Blu-Ray players).  An individual release of this film would be a sound marketing move on Arrow Films' part and to make it available on DVD (which is still the dominant platform with regards to sales) would likewise be a sound move.

I have noticed that there are many films being released by your company on Blu-Ray only, some of them are films I would willingly purchase despite already having them already because I admire Arrow's loving attention to its releases; however, by only releasing some movies in Blu-Ray format, you risk alienating some of your most ardent supporters who only have DVD systems and reducing your profitability by ignoring the presently dominant platform with regards to sales.

I really am on Arrow's side because of your genuine respect for the films you release.  I just wish your respect extended to your customers and their needs.

Regards,

Myles Cook

I will post any further interactions on this blog as they happen.

Addendum to review of Somewhere In Time (1980)

I found this great video on YouTube that has Michael Crawford singing a song based on the music from the film "Somewhere In Time".  I really think that it's worth playing this version of the theme over the end credits of the movie as they encapsulate the whole feeling of the piece.

Enjoy.

Get Out and Get Under (1920)

Please note: this review contains spoilers!

Depending on your age and depth of interest in movies, some of you may not have heard of Harold Lloyd but he was one of the most prolific silent movie stars in comedy who proved himself to more sympathetic a character than Keaton.  Most famous for his ‘glasses’ character, Lloyd made countless films as the ‘boy next door’ who was always striving to make it in the world or get the girl or both.

Get Out and Get Under is one of the short features Lloyd made in the guise of the ‘glasses’ character and it is a gem that packs a lot into its 25 minute running time.

In this film, Lloyd plays ‘The Boy’, which is how he was usually billed, with Mildred Davis playing his love interest, billed only as ‘The Girl’.  Get Out and Get Under comes in four distinct parts if you care to breakdown films in such a way – a photograph session, getting the car ready, the trip to the venue for an amateur dramatics play in which he has a starring role and the eventual arrival at the venue.

Opening up in a photography studio, we find Lloyd sitting in a chair with his head held in a torturous device designed to keep one’s head still.  You wouldn’t think that sitting still would prove to be so difficult but a fly and a runaway mouse cause more than a few problems.  Lloyd’s character is also full of nerves due to wanting to ask his sweetheart to marry him until the photographer reveals that he knows her from having taken her photograph earlier and that she is due to marry his rival that morning.  Cue a race to the church for Harold who arrives too late to stop the marriage.

Just as we are feeling sorry for ‘The Boy’, the scene changes to him lying in bed chewing through his pillow and being woken up by a phone call from ‘The Girl’ telling him that he is getting late for the amateur dramatics production he is starring in as The Masked Prince.  Lloyd packs his bag and goes out to the shed-cum-garage in which his new Model T Ford is lovingly stored.

We are given a lengthy preparation for departure in which Lloyd manages to show himself to be a really proud car owner, keeping the new car under a cover in a shed heated by an oil stove.  The shed-cum-garage backs onto a man’s garden and Lloyd doesn’t make much of a good impression on the gardener by throwing trash out of the shed’s window and onto the gardener, leading to an angry exchange between the men.

Ever proud of his car, when the gardener turns on his water hose and some of the water goes through the window, Lloyd immediately fusses about his baby, drying it off before starting the car with the starting handle.  The shed doors keep closing as he prepares to set off so he has to sort them out so that he doesn’t damage the car before promptly setting off, smashing through the back wall of the shed and destroying the garden behind when it transpires that the gear was left in reverse.  Totally unconcerned with any damage to the garden, he proudly boasts that there’s no damage to the car and sets off.

The trip to the venue is the longest section and has the most action and sight gags.  As is usual for Harold Lloyd films, we are in for a long chase scene and problems to overcome.  Despite being obsessed with his car’s safety, Lloyd really doesn’t take much due care and attention, driving off the road at the sight of a woman’s ankle and leaving the car to proceed driverless as he has to go and pick up his bag that finds itself not once but twice on the road.

During this sequence we have intercuts with preparations at the amateur dramatics production to show us just how late Lloyd is getting at any given time.  These sections are tinted with different colours to show the change in location.  As Lloyd is having trouble with his bag, the audience is assembling at the venue.

Despite being a new purchase (he has only two more payments to make before the car is fully his), Lloyd doesn’t have much luck with it as it breaks down outside a row of shops and, as he is checking that the fuel tank has some fuel in it with a lit match, he is being replaced by his rival as star of the show.  We are offered a number of brilliantly funny set-pieces involving an elderly lady and an African American child as well as a fantastic sight gag of Lloyd climbing into the engine compartment to try to fix the engine, seeing only a lone hand reaching out for the tools he needs.  When I say that the sequences involve a banana peel, a dog, and an ice cream, you get an idea of what’s involved.  Finally getting the car started again, using a method that has to be seen to be believed, Lloyd finds himself out of control of the vehicle, almost running down a police officer directing traffic and careering through a march for a mayoral candidate before ending up on a flat-bed trailer on a train.

Meanwhile, the production has started without Lloyd as he has trouble with the railroad workers and attracts the attention of a two motorcycle cops with whom he plays a game of cat and mouse to avoid involving an off-road detour and a moved ‘Road Closed’ sign.

Lloyd’s troubles continue, however, when a third motorcycle cop joins the chase and, when all three are in danger of catching him, Lloyd is forced to hide his car in a roadside tent which he promptly ends up driving off in and finally allows him to give the cops the slip.

Arriving at the venue mere moments before the end of the play, Lloyd manages to get his rival out of the way long enough to take the credit for the rival’s performance and get the undue admiration from his sweetheart.  The film ends with the couple riding off in the but not without drenching the departing audience with water from the fire hydrant that Lloyd yanks out of the ground, having forgotten to unchain the car.

Lloyd effortlessly shows just how good a performer he is with every single frame he is in and, despite the lack of dialogue, manages to convey everything he needs to (with a little help from the score by Robert Israel).  Mildred Davis doesn’t really get a lot of time to shine but is beautiful and successfully does what is needed in such a small role.

This comedy short is classic Lloyd from the period in which he was working with director Hal Roach, one of the biggest names in silent cinema comedy direction.  The film is action packed and, most importantly of all, drop dead funny.  If you are new to Harold Lloyd, Get Out and Get Under is a good place to start as it is short enough to give you a taster of his work without the need for a lengthy allocation of time.  It may not be his best but it certainly indicates what he can achieve.

The version reviewed comes from the 9-disc box set Harold Lloyd – The Definitive Collection released by Optimum Classics and Studio Canal on Region 2 DVD.

Somewhere in Time (1980)

Please note: this review contains spoilers!

Richard Matheson's novel Bid Time Return forms the basis for an emotionally charged gentle science fiction romantic drama, scripted by the author himself.  Matheson is well-known for his ability to offer his readers or viewers something different and Somewhere in Time is a good example of that ability, blending romance, obsession and a rather unique take on time travel to give us a tragic love story with a bittersweet ending.

The film opens with a rather bizarre event – an old woman giving a young playwright a watch with the plea for him to “come back” for her – which really only gains significance eight years later when the playwright decides to return to his old college.  He decides to take a room at the neighbouring hotel and so the events set in motion eight years previously are set on their inevitable and tragic course.

The playwright, Richard Collier, played to perfection by the late Christopher Reeve, becomes obsessed with the photograph of an actress, Elise McKenna (played by Jane Seymour), he finds in the hotel’s museum and which provide the cue for a number of sleepless nights and lingering glances at the said photograph.  Driven by his obsession, he seeks out every bit of information he can find out about her and discovers that she is not only dead but was the old lady who gave him the watch eight years earlier.  Further investigation leads Collier to the Ms McKenna’s assistant and the few surviving items of personal belongings which include a book on time travel, written by Collier’s old philosophy professor.  Using the technique described in the book, Collier travels back in time to 1912 to meet his actress love.

During the 1912 scenes we meet the third pivotal character in our drama, W F Robinson, Ms McKenna’s agent (played by Christopher Plummer) who seems to have a very strange relationship with his client.  Equally obsessed with the young actress but for very different reasons, the two men find themselves at loggerheads throughout the two or three days Collier has with McKenna before he is yanked back to the present day.

A portrait of obsession, Somewhere in Time provides each of the main characters an obsession of sorts – Collier’s obsessive love for a woman he has never really met drives him to travel in time to meet her but will eventually lead to tragedy, McKenna’s obsessive love based on their short relationship in 1912 affects her life to such an extent that she willingly waited a lifetime to set in motion the events that would lead to their meeting and Robinson’s obsession with McKenna’s career (and not, as we are led to believe, a romantic obsession) finally drives her away.

Christopher Reeve gives the viewer the sense of his character's obsession with his love interest at just the right level that it remains believable even when the ultimate payoff ends in bittersweet tragedy whilst no one could fail to be enthralled by Jane Seymour’s performance as a woman who was willing to give up everything for a man she barely knew.  The scene in which Jane Seymour playing McKenna onstage in a play, going completely off-script to talk directly to Collier sitting in the audience, telling him just how much his presence had changed her life and how much she loves him, could melt even the stoniest heart.  Christopher Plummer gives an equally good performance, making the viewer at first despise his apparent ill-treatment of his client and then come to accept that what he was doing was not a malicious act of a romantically obsessed suitor but that of a man who wanted only the best for his client.

Somewhere in Time is much more than just a story of obsession though; it is a story of love at first sight, of love conquering all, of the lengths one will go to in the pursuit of love and it is a story that gives us a philosophical look at the consequences of time travel.  It is a character piece that manages to question our notions of time travel by giving us a ‘time travel through force of will’ method that also makes us question whether such a method would be possible because of the largely unknown potential of the human brain.

And with everything else this film gives us, Somewhere in Time also offers us both tragedy and joy in the final scene when the two lovers are reunited in death.  No words are needed, just the simple act of holding hands against a completely white background.

Somewhere in Time’s soundtrack perfectly brings to life the emotions for the viewer and continues to haunt the mind long after the film is over without overpowering the performances of the actors, something that more recent films are prey to.

Yes, the film has a bittersweet ending.  Yes, it is based on the well-worn cliché of love at first sight.  Yes, it has a method of time travel that people could argue is implausible.  However, this film is a beautifully shot piece of cinematic heaven for those who love romantic films and, as such, demands a place in any self-respecting romantic’s collection.

The version reviewed is that released by Anchor Bay Entertainment on Region 2 DVD.