“The Strange Mr. Gregory” (1946) is a semi-engaging flick from Poverty Row studio Monogram Pictures. I wouldn’t recommend it to the casual viewer, but to movie fans who get a kick out of low budget melodramas it’s an engaging 63-minute filler..
Former matinee idol Edmund Lowe plays the titled Mr. Gregory, a magician and hypnotist of some renown who, in his spare time, practices the art of suspended animation. One night a fellow magician John Randall (Don Douglas) comes backstage with his wife Ellen (mega babe Jean Rogers from two 1930s Flash Gordon serials) to express his admiration for the show. Gregory becomes immediately infatuated with Ellen and hatches a plan to fake his own murder and frame John for it, freeing Ellen for himself.
How Gregory accomplishes this is pretty easy to figure out, but clever twists and writing were not the forte of Monogram. They specialized in cranking out B pictures of about an hour long in all genres to serve as supporting features for A pictures from the major studios. Casts frequently consisted of actors and actresses on their way down, or up, acting on economical sets and photographed in the most perfunctory manner.
But these little melodramas from the Poverty Row studios like Monogram or Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC) hold a fascination that’s quite indescribable. Nothing is very polished and the sets are appropriately grungy, but this helps these melodramas attain a certain authenticity.
Movie buffs will appreciate seeing Jonathan Hale, Mr. Dithers from the Blondie movies, as a defense attorney who sees nothing wrong with entering tombs in a cemetery without a search warrant.
Frank Reicher plays Gregory’s butler (oddly named Riker) who played the ship’s captain in “King Kong” (1933) and “Son of Kong” (1933). It was probably too taxing to come up with a name for the butler, so they let Frank keep his surname but changed its spelling. Because this is Monogram, allowances can be, and should be, made.
Jean Rogers is always a pleasure to watch and she boosts the proceedings considerably. Ten years since her role as Dale Arden in the legendary “Flash Gordon” serial, she is still as lovely as ever.
I taped this last summer off TCM and finally had a chance to watch it last night. TCM, bless them, has been showing more Monogram titles of late. I’m wondering if it’s a new package, like with their recent purchase of Columbia and post-1949 Paramount titles?
I hope to see more Monogram titles on TCM, including the rarely seen, intriguingly titled “I Wouldn’t Be In Your Shoes”, a film noir based on a Cornell Woolrich novel, and starring the very appealing Elyse Knox (mother of Mark Harmon). I would love to see that one.
To be fair, “The Strange Mr. Gregory” should only get two stars, but its low-rent atmosphere, and the presence of Jean Rogers, ups it to the two-and-a-half-stars range.
Showing posts with label Jean Rogers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jean Rogers. Show all posts
Flash Gordon
Friday, November 16, 2007
For the last several weeks, I’ve been watching the Universal “Flash Gordon” serial from 1936. I’ve seen this several times and have always enjoyed it. It’s probably my favorite serial of the ones I’ve seen.
For 13 chapters Flash Gordon (Buster Crabbe), girlfriend Dale Arden (Jean Rogers) and Dr. Zharkov (Frank Shannon) battle the nefarious forces of Ming the Merciless (Charles Middleton), who wants to rule the universe from the planet Mongo.
It’s one of the most perfectly cast serials you will ever see. Buster Crabbe, his hair dyed blonde, was born to play Flash. Jean Rogers is beyond adorable as girlfriend Dale Arden. True, she’s pretty ineffectual as a character, fainting away left and right at every opportunity and needing to be rescued by Flash, but gosh, she sure was pretty. I don’t think any movie character ever gazed as longingly and lovingly at another character as Dale does to Flash here. Her slinky costumes also must have escaped the eyes of the censors, figuring they didn’t need to bother reviewing a serial. Boy, were they wrong. Thankfully.
Charles Middleton makes a perfect Ming, willing to crush planets wherever they may be. I love the way he looks as he schemes to figure out a way how he can turn any situation to his advantage. By all accounts, Middleton was a most genial and gentle man off camera, nothing at all like the mean and dastardly villains he often played on screen. I remember reading an interview with one of his grandchildren and she remembers going to the theater to see Grandpa Charlie causing all kinds of havoc onscreen. Instead of being traumatized, they thought it was the funniest thing they had ever seen, knowing that the grandfather they adored, and who doted on them in return, was just playing pretend.
Unlike so many other serials that do nothing more than alternate action scenes with chase scenes, and then with fight scenes, “Flash Gordon” offers as much footage to the romantic rivalry between Flash, Dale and Ming’s daughter, Princess Aura (Priscilla Lawson). Many people think Flash should have shoved the fainting, helpless Dale aside for the more alluring Aura, but not me. Aura is too aggressively odd looking, with gobs of eye makeup, and besides, did I mention how pretty Jean Rogers is?
There’s also various enemies and allies of Ming, including Prince Barin, King Thun of the Lion Men, the avuncular King Vulcan of the Hawk Men (love those wings) and the Shark Men. In one scene, Flash fights an orangopoid, which is a gorilla with a curved horn jutting out from the forehead. It’s a terrific gorilla suit, and a look at the IMDB says the orangopoid was portrayed by Ray “Crash” Corrigan. When not starring in B westerns at Republic, Corrigan owned one of the best gorilla suits in Hollywood and would rent it - with him inside it - to producers of horror, science fiction and jungle movies. I’m assuming Universal provided the curved horn. There are giant fire dragons to overcome, as well as The Mighty Masked Swordsman of Mongo.
Who’s playing King Thun of the Lion Men but James Pierce, who has earned his piece in cinematic history by playing Tarzan in the silent film “Tarzan and the Golden Lion” (1927). The man certainly had a thing for lions.
For the movie buff who grew up watching Universal horror movies, it’s fun to spot the props and sets familiar from previous movies. Isn’t the statute of the Great God Tao the same one used in the climax of “The Mummy?”(1932). There’s Flash and Dale creeping down a long, curved castle stairway, the same one from “Frankenstein.” (1931). The music cues are a compilation of classical music and familiar cues from previous scores from Universal horror films, including “Bride of Frankenstein.” (1935).
Sure the rocketships are toy models, and the fight scenes are beyond amateurish, but I enjoyed ever chapter of “Flash Gordon” (all 300 minutes!) and look forward to the sequels.
Crabbe, Rogers, Shannon and Middleton all returned for the sequel “Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars” (1938). I haven’t seen it since it ran on Sunday mornings on Channel 9 but I remember it being good, especially the entrance scenes of the Clay People. Unfortunately, Jean Rogers is now a brunette (boo, hiss) and is considerably more covered up. Guess the censors caught up after all.
All returned for the third and final serial, “Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe” (1940) save for Rogers, who was getting ready to go on to bigger things at MGM. She was replaced by another brunette, Carol Hughes. I don’t remember much about it, save the costumes have changed and everyone runs around in Robin Hood-like garb. Some serial buffs think its best of the three, so I’m looking forward to it, but I don’t see how it can top the sheer fun and enjoyment of the original.
For 13 chapters Flash Gordon (Buster Crabbe), girlfriend Dale Arden (Jean Rogers) and Dr. Zharkov (Frank Shannon) battle the nefarious forces of Ming the Merciless (Charles Middleton), who wants to rule the universe from the planet Mongo.
It’s one of the most perfectly cast serials you will ever see. Buster Crabbe, his hair dyed blonde, was born to play Flash. Jean Rogers is beyond adorable as girlfriend Dale Arden. True, she’s pretty ineffectual as a character, fainting away left and right at every opportunity and needing to be rescued by Flash, but gosh, she sure was pretty. I don’t think any movie character ever gazed as longingly and lovingly at another character as Dale does to Flash here. Her slinky costumes also must have escaped the eyes of the censors, figuring they didn’t need to bother reviewing a serial. Boy, were they wrong. Thankfully.
Charles Middleton makes a perfect Ming, willing to crush planets wherever they may be. I love the way he looks as he schemes to figure out a way how he can turn any situation to his advantage. By all accounts, Middleton was a most genial and gentle man off camera, nothing at all like the mean and dastardly villains he often played on screen. I remember reading an interview with one of his grandchildren and she remembers going to the theater to see Grandpa Charlie causing all kinds of havoc onscreen. Instead of being traumatized, they thought it was the funniest thing they had ever seen, knowing that the grandfather they adored, and who doted on them in return, was just playing pretend.
Unlike so many other serials that do nothing more than alternate action scenes with chase scenes, and then with fight scenes, “Flash Gordon” offers as much footage to the romantic rivalry between Flash, Dale and Ming’s daughter, Princess Aura (Priscilla Lawson). Many people think Flash should have shoved the fainting, helpless Dale aside for the more alluring Aura, but not me. Aura is too aggressively odd looking, with gobs of eye makeup, and besides, did I mention how pretty Jean Rogers is?
There’s also various enemies and allies of Ming, including Prince Barin, King Thun of the Lion Men, the avuncular King Vulcan of the Hawk Men (love those wings) and the Shark Men. In one scene, Flash fights an orangopoid, which is a gorilla with a curved horn jutting out from the forehead. It’s a terrific gorilla suit, and a look at the IMDB says the orangopoid was portrayed by Ray “Crash” Corrigan. When not starring in B westerns at Republic, Corrigan owned one of the best gorilla suits in Hollywood and would rent it - with him inside it - to producers of horror, science fiction and jungle movies. I’m assuming Universal provided the curved horn. There are giant fire dragons to overcome, as well as The Mighty Masked Swordsman of Mongo.
Who’s playing King Thun of the Lion Men but James Pierce, who has earned his piece in cinematic history by playing Tarzan in the silent film “Tarzan and the Golden Lion” (1927). The man certainly had a thing for lions.
For the movie buff who grew up watching Universal horror movies, it’s fun to spot the props and sets familiar from previous movies. Isn’t the statute of the Great God Tao the same one used in the climax of “The Mummy?”(1932). There’s Flash and Dale creeping down a long, curved castle stairway, the same one from “Frankenstein.” (1931). The music cues are a compilation of classical music and familiar cues from previous scores from Universal horror films, including “Bride of Frankenstein.” (1935).
Sure the rocketships are toy models, and the fight scenes are beyond amateurish, but I enjoyed ever chapter of “Flash Gordon” (all 300 minutes!) and look forward to the sequels.
Crabbe, Rogers, Shannon and Middleton all returned for the sequel “Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars” (1938). I haven’t seen it since it ran on Sunday mornings on Channel 9 but I remember it being good, especially the entrance scenes of the Clay People. Unfortunately, Jean Rogers is now a brunette (boo, hiss) and is considerably more covered up. Guess the censors caught up after all.
All returned for the third and final serial, “Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe” (1940) save for Rogers, who was getting ready to go on to bigger things at MGM. She was replaced by another brunette, Carol Hughes. I don’t remember much about it, save the costumes have changed and everyone runs around in Robin Hood-like garb. Some serial buffs think its best of the three, so I’m looking forward to it, but I don’t see how it can top the sheer fun and enjoyment of the original.
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