Film Year: 1948
Genre: Adventure
Director: Lewis D. Collins
Starring: George Reeves, Ralph Byrd, Wanda McKay
MST Season: 2
Featured Short: "The Phantom Creeps: Chapter One - The Menacing Power"
The Short
When we last left Commando Cody, the Radar Men had...
Wait...we don't have a Commando Cody? HALLELUJAH! What kind of short are they offering this week? Educational? Industrial? Advertisement?
Another serial?
Well crap.
The Phantom Creeps is actually a far different beast than Radar Men from the Moon. This serial stars Bela Lugosi as a mad scientist seeking to sell his maniacal inventions to enemy countries. Seeking to sneak his way out of the spotlight, he plots to fake his own death and kill his enemies.
Lugosi is always a fun and committed screen presence, and he makes Phantom Creeps a far more entertaining effort than it needs to be. It also helps that this chapter has a more engaging storyline than the last serial, which was more or less an excuse to get Commando Cody fly from location to location and punch people. This one is more character driven and is a bit more interesting.
But the only real question I have is how many episodes will it take for the guys at MST to abandon this one too? Let's watch and find out!
The Movie
Are you ready for some Caucasian superiority? I know I am!
Jungle Goddess is a B-movie from the 1940's about a woman who survives a plane wreck and is taken in by a primitive tribe of natives and worshiped as a goddess. Years later, future-Superman George Reeves and a eventually antagonist sidekick seek her out to collect reward money, but getting her away from the natives proves to be troublesome.
Probably the first thing I noticed about this movie is that the native tribe here doesn't seem to belong to one central race. Most of the speaking roles belong to Hispanics and Filipinos while non-speaking roles have been regulated to African Americans (and maybe there are a few white people mixed in too). We now live in an age where there is a rallying cry for all-inclusive casts that include minorities, and to that I daresay that Jungle Goddess was ahead of its time!
...or...it was a racially insensitive casting director who thought all non-whites looked the same.
Racial issues aside, Jungle Goddess is a silly but watchable movie about a girl lost in the wilderness. It's almost a scaled down King Kong without a giant ape. The story is mildly investing and the plight is fun, despite being haphazardly handled. George Reeves is a charismatic hero while Wanda McKay is a likable leading lady. The movie is simple, and runs an hour, so it doesn't overstay its welcome.
But it all boils down to how sensitive you are to racial insensitivity. I'm Caucasian myself, so to say I was insulted by this movie is a lie, though I see what is insulting about it. However I find myself unable to work up any hatred for a film that's seventy years old portraying a retro bigotry. I mean, sure I could, but what would the point be in pointing out the obvious in a forgotten movie that nobody remembers save for MST and most people today would probably never watch?
The Episode
Well that film break back in Robot Holocaust seems to have killed Commando Cody. Let's try another, shall we? Desperate to fill up airtime with films that are running short the show is forced to give us another serial, which is odd since they never finished the last one, but it is what it is. The Phantom Creeps is obviously done so everyone can break out a Bela Lugosi impression and they do so with enthusiasm. Thick Hungarian accents are all over the place during this short, and the line delivery is killer. This is a massive step up from Commando Cody riffing wise, but can they keep it up with more chapters?
And then we get to the movie, and for a movie with George Reeves there are less Superman references than you'd expect. There are a fair few, mostly confined to a specific portion of the film. There are also racial jokes that are less on the nose. You can hear a sly riff like Servo dubbing a native laughing to himself "She thinks we can speak English?" or when all hell breaks loose the natives murmuring "No white people from now on." There's a lot of funny stuff in this episode at the expense of the movie's cheapness and naivety. And since the movie is pretty watchable in spite of itself, I have a good time with this one.
The episode does however suffer from a bad edit for time in the last theater segment where they cut for commercial after a serene scene where the characters are falling asleep but when we come back some sort of conflict has erupted between George Reeves and Ralph Byrd. Even Joel and the Bots seem to be confused, wondering if they missed something. I can't help but wonder if there was something else from the film that could have been cut to keep a more proper flow in the picture.
Moving on to the host segments, they're mostly a pleasant bunch. My favorite is Joel's demonstration of different scope styles, which is really fun. There are a couple of movie related white superiority segments as well, the first featuring a visit from Michael J. Nelson and Jim Mallon as "white devils" who wish to kill what they don't understand, while the final segment has Joel and the Bots turning Jungle Goddess into a sitcom.* There is also an infomercial based on the spider bombs during The Phantom Creeps. The Invention Exchange offers up a fun saw gag as Joel hooks an electric saw up to a remote control car, while the Mads offer up a simple magic trick posing as an invention as they stick Dr. Forrester's head in a saxophone.
Jungle Goddess won't win any awards for most beloved episode of the series (although there might be somewhere out there who loves it to death), but I've always liked it. This is a pretty fun episode that's never boring. I can pop it in at any time and enjoy myself.
*Incidentally this sitcom sketch accidentally sparked a running gag on the show, where Joel imitates Jackie Gleeson and introduces Crow as "Art Crow," a reference to Art Carney. A little kid saw the sketch and sent in a drawing of Crow that was read on Giant Gila Monster where he labels Crow as "Art." As an in-joke, the Pearl Forrester character would often refer to Crow as "Art" whenever she converses with him.
And then we get to the movie, and for a movie with George Reeves there are less Superman references than you'd expect. There are a fair few, mostly confined to a specific portion of the film. There are also racial jokes that are less on the nose. You can hear a sly riff like Servo dubbing a native laughing to himself "She thinks we can speak English?" or when all hell breaks loose the natives murmuring "No white people from now on." There's a lot of funny stuff in this episode at the expense of the movie's cheapness and naivety. And since the movie is pretty watchable in spite of itself, I have a good time with this one.
The episode does however suffer from a bad edit for time in the last theater segment where they cut for commercial after a serene scene where the characters are falling asleep but when we come back some sort of conflict has erupted between George Reeves and Ralph Byrd. Even Joel and the Bots seem to be confused, wondering if they missed something. I can't help but wonder if there was something else from the film that could have been cut to keep a more proper flow in the picture.
Moving on to the host segments, they're mostly a pleasant bunch. My favorite is Joel's demonstration of different scope styles, which is really fun. There are a couple of movie related white superiority segments as well, the first featuring a visit from Michael J. Nelson and Jim Mallon as "white devils" who wish to kill what they don't understand, while the final segment has Joel and the Bots turning Jungle Goddess into a sitcom.* There is also an infomercial based on the spider bombs during The Phantom Creeps. The Invention Exchange offers up a fun saw gag as Joel hooks an electric saw up to a remote control car, while the Mads offer up a simple magic trick posing as an invention as they stick Dr. Forrester's head in a saxophone.
Jungle Goddess won't win any awards for most beloved episode of the series (although there might be somewhere out there who loves it to death), but I've always liked it. This is a pretty fun episode that's never boring. I can pop it in at any time and enjoy myself.
*Incidentally this sitcom sketch accidentally sparked a running gag on the show, where Joel imitates Jackie Gleeson and introduces Crow as "Art Crow," a reference to Art Carney. A little kid saw the sketch and sent in a drawing of Crow that was read on Giant Gila Monster where he labels Crow as "Art." As an in-joke, the Pearl Forrester character would often refer to Crow as "Art" whenever she converses with him.
Good
The DVD
Jungle Goddess was the first episode featured on Shout Factory's Thanksgiving celebration set, Volume XXXI: The Turkey Day Edition! Audio and video were exceptional, while a few Turkey Day themed bonus features highlighted the disc.
First up is a specially made Turkey Day intro for the episode starring Joel Hodgson as himself, and Trace Beaulieu and J. Elvis Weinstein reprising the roles of Crow and Tom Servo. The Bots discuss "teachable racism," like in those movies To Kill a Mockingbird and White Chicks, while Joel discusses Phantom Creeps more than the movie itself.
There is also an eleven minute documentary on the disc, titled Overcooked & Understuffed: Inside the Turkey Day Marathon. Joel, Trace, and Frank Conniff discuss the origins of the Turkey Day marathon, their enthusiasm for it, and how it evolved over the years.
The Phantom Creeps was featured as a part of Shout Factory's bonus Serial Variety Pack, released exclusively through Shout Factory's website on Volume XXVII.
The Phantom Creeps was featured as a part of Shout Factory's bonus Serial Variety Pack, released exclusively through Shout Factory's website on Volume XXVII.
No comments:
Post a Comment