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Stars / Parody movies - 1966

« on: January 22, 2012, 02:02:46 AM »

Parody movies - 1966

Don't Lose Your Head

Don't Lose Your Head (often incorrectly Carry On Don't Lose Your Head) is the thirteenth Carry On film (and one of only two not to have "Carry On" in the original title). It features regular team members Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Jim Dale, Charles Hawtrey and Joan Sims. French actress Dany Robin makes her only Carry On appearance in Don't Lose Your Head. It was released in 1966. Set in France and England in 1789 during the French revolution, it is a parody of Baroness Orczy's The Scarlet Pimpernel.

Plot

It is the time of the French Revolution, and two bored English noblemen, Sir Rodney Ffing (pronounced "Effing") and his best friend, Lord Darcy Pue, (played by Sid James and Jim Dale respectively) decide to have some fun and save their French counterparts from beheading by the guillotine.

Enraged revolutionary leader Citizen Camembert (Kenneth Williams) and his toadying lackey, Citizen Bidet (Peter Butterworth), scour France and England for the elusive saviour of the French nobles, who has become known as The Black Fingernail. After abducting the Fingernail's true love, Jacqueline (Dany Robin), Camembert and Bidet plot to lure the Fingernail to his death... oblivious that Desiree (Joan Sims), Camembert's flamboyant mistress, is herself in love with the hero and will do all she can to save him from the guillotine.

Cast

    Sid James as Sir Rodney Ffing/The Black Fingernail
    Kenneth Williams as Citizen Camembert
    Jim Dale as Lord Darcy de Pue
    Charles Hawtrey as Duke de Pommefrites
    Joan Sims as Desiree Dubarry
    Peter Butterworth as Citizen Bidet
    Dany Robin as Jacqueline
    Peter Gilmore as Citizen Robespierre
    Marianne Stone as Landlady
    Michael Ward as Henri
    Leon Green as Malabonce
    Hugh Futcher as Guard
    Richard Shaw as Captain
    David Davenport as Sergeant
    Jennifer Clulow as 1st lady
    Valerie Van Ost as 2nd lady

   

    Jacqueline Pearce as 3rd lady
    Nikki van der Zyl as Messenger
    Julian Orchard as Rake
    Elspeth March as Lady Binder
    Joan Ingram as Bald-headed Dowager
    Michael Nightingale as "What locket?" man
    Diana MacNamara as Princess Stephanie
    Ronnie Brody as Little man
    Billy Cornelius as Soldier
    Patrick Allen as Narrator
    Monica Dietrich as Girl
    Anna Willoughby as Girl
    Penny Keen as Girl
    June Cooper as Girl
    Christine Pryor as Girl
    Karen Young as Girl

Crew

    Screenplay - Talbot Rothwell
    Music - Eric Rogers
    Song - Bill Martin & Phil Coulter
    Performers - Michael Sammes Singers
    Production Manager - Jack Swinburne
    Director of Photography - Alan Hume
    Editor - Rod Keys
    Art Director - Lionel Couch
    Camera Operator - Jimmy Devis
    Assistant Director - Jack Causey
    Sound Editor - W Nelson
    Sound Recordists - Dudley Messenger & Ken Barker
    Continuity - Rita Davison
    Make-up - Geoffrey Rodway
    Hairdressing - Stella Rivers
    Costume Designer - Emma Selby-Walker
    Choreographer - Terry Gilbert
    Horse Master - Jeremy Taylor
    Producer - Peter Rogers
    Director - Gerald Thomas


Filming and locations

    Filming dates – 12 September-28 October 1966

Interiors:

    Pinewood Studios, Buckinghamshire

Exteriors:

    Clandon Hall, Guildford, Surrey, England
    Claydon Park, Claydon, Buckinghamshire, England
    Cliveden, Buckinghamshire, England, UK
    Waddesdon Manor, Waddesdon, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

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Stars / Parody movies - "Help!" (1965) - 2

« on: January 22, 2012, 01:52:35 AM »

  My pleasure! Long time no see! Glad to post here again.
 So, we're talking about the parody movies and right now about the parody film "Help!"
 Let's continue it with the post/part 2:
 
 Inspiration

 The Beatles said the film was inspired by the Marx Brothers classic Duck Soup; it was also directly satirical of the James Bond series of films. At the time of the original release of Help!, its distributor, United Artists, also held the rights to the Bond series (now owned by UA sister studio MGM.) The humour of the film is strongly influenced by the abstract humour of the Goon Show, in which the director had personal and direct experience in the conversion of the radio format to television, and personal working experience with Peter Sellers in particular. Many of the films concepts are derived from Goon Shows, such as the presence of wild animals, music, and abstractions such as the closing statement the concludes the film.

Production

According to interviews conducted with Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr for The Beatles Anthology, director Richard Lester was given a larger budget for this film than he had for A Hard Day's Night, thanks to the commercial success of the latter. Thus, this feature film was in colour and was shot on several exotic foreign locations. It was also given a fuller musical score than A Hard Day's Night, provided by a full orchestra, and including pieces of well known classical music: Wagner's Lohengrin, Act III Overture, Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture", Beethoven's "Ninth Symphony" ("Ode to Joy"), and, during the end credits and with their own comic vocal interpretation, Rossini's "Barber of Seville" overture. The original title for the film – only changed to Help! very near to its release – was Eight Arms To Hold You.

Help! was set in London, Salisbury Plain, the Austrian Alps, New Providence Island and Paradise Island in the Bahamas and Twickenham Film Studios, beginning in the Bahamas on 23 February 1965. Starr commented in The Beatles Anthology that they were in the Bahamas for the hot weather scenes, and therefore had to wear light clothing even though it was rather cold. Tony Bramwell, the assistant to Beatles manager Brian Epstein, stated in his book A Magical Mystery Tour that Epstein chose the Bahamas for tax reasons. According to The Beatles Anthology, during the restaurant sequence filmed in early April, George began to discover Indian-style music, which would be a key element in future songs such as "Norwegian Wood". Filming finished on 14 April at Ailsa Avenue in Twickenham.

The Beatles did not particularly enjoy the filming of the movie, nor were they pleased with the end product. In 1970, John Lennon said they felt like extras in their own movie.

    "The movie was out of our control. With A Hard Day's Night, we had a lot of input, and it was semi-realistic. But with Help!, Dick Lester didn't tell us what it was all about.

    —John Lennon on filming Help!

Ten years later Lennon was more charitable:

    I realize, looking back, how advanced it was. It was a precursor to the Batman "Pow! Wow!" on TV—that kind of stuff. But [Lester] never explained it to us. Partly, maybe, because we hadn't spent a lot of time together between A Hard Day's Night and Help!, and partly because we were smoking marijuana for breakfast during that period. Nobody could communicate with us, it was all glazed eyes and giggling all the time. In our own world. It's like doing nothing most of the time, but still having to rise at 7 am, so we became bored.

A contributing factor was exhaustion attributable to their busy schedule of writing, recording and touring. Afterward they were hesitant to begin another film project, and indeed Help! was their last full-length scripted theatrical film. Their obligation for a third film to United Artists was met by the 1970 documentary film Let It Be. The 1968 animated film Yellow Submarine did not meet contractual obligations because it did not star the Beatles, and their only live appearance was featured for less than two minutes at the film's conclusion.

"Haze of marijuana"

The Beatles later said the film was shot in a "haze of marijuana". According to Starr's interviews in The Beatles Anthology, during the Austrian Alps film shooting, he and McCartney ran off over the hill from the "curling" scene set to smoke a joint.

    "A hell of a lot of pot was being smoked while we were making the film. It was great. That helped make it a lot of fun...In one of the scenes, Victor Spinetti and Roy Kinnear are playing curling: sliding along those big stones. One of the stones has a bomb in it and we find out that it's going to blow up, and have to run away. Well, Paul and I ran about seven miles, we ran and ran, just so we could stop and have a joint before we came back. We could have run all the way to Switzerland. If you look at pictures of us you can see a lot of red-eyed shots; they were red from the dope we were smoking. And these were those clean-cut boys! Dick Lester knew that very little would get done after lunch. In the afternoon we very seldom got past the first line of the script. We had such hysterics that no one could do anything. Dick Lester would say, 'No, boys, could we do it again?' It was just that we had a lot of fun – a lot of fun in those days."

    —Ringo Starr

In the Beatles Anthology Director's Cut, Harrison admitted that they were smoking marijuana on the plane ride all the way to the Bahamas.

McCartney also shared some of his memories of when they were filming Help!:

    "We showed up a bit stoned, smiled a lot and hoped we'd get through it. We giggled a lot. I remember one time at Cliveden (Lord Astor's place, where the Christine Keeler/Profumo scandal went on); we were filming the Buckingham Palace scene where we were all supposed to have our hands up. It was after lunch, which was fatal because someone might have brought out a glass of wine as well. We were all a bit merry and all had our backs to the camera and the giggles set in. All we had to do was turn around and look amazed, or something. But every time we'd turn round to the camera there were tears streaming down our faces. It's OK to get the giggles anywhere else but in films, because the technicians get pissed off with you. They think, 'They're not very professional.' Then you start thinking, 'This isn't very professional – but we're having a great laugh.'"

    —Paul McCartney

    "John did once offer me a joint. And I obligingly tried to take a little puff. I knew there was some special way of doing it – but I don't smoke anyway. So I took a little puff and then thought, "This is so expensive. I mustn't waste it!" And gave it back to him. So that's your definition of naïve, I think."

    —Eleanor Bron

he photographer Michael Peto was commissioned in 1965 to take still photographs during the making of the film; these became known for their candid and expressive quality. During the digitisation of the Michael Peto Collection, which is held by Archive Services, University of Dundee, in 2002, 500 unpublished previously unpublished photographs of the Beatles taken during the making of Help! were reported to have been uncovered. Now These Days are Gone, a limited edition volume of Peto's photographs focusing on the Beatles images was produced in 2006 with deluxe editions of the book signed by Richard Lester. An exhibition of the photographs to mark the book's launch was held at Hoopers Gallery, Clerkenwell, in January, 2006.[2][9] Another exhibition of the photographs was held at the University of Dundee in 2007 as part of the University's 40th anniversary celebrations, with the exhibition then moving to the National Conservation Centre, Liverpool. In 2011 the photographs were exhibited in Dundee, as part of the Scottish Beatles Weekend, and at the Proud Gallery, Camden.

Songs

The song that appear in the film are:

    "Help!"
    "You're Going to Lose That Girl"
    "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away"
    "Ticket to Ride"
    "I Need You"
    "The Night Before"
    "Another Girl"
    "She's A Woman" (heard in the background, on a tape machine, and underground in the Salisbury Plain scene)
    "A Hard Day's Night" (played by Indian band and as an instrumental)
    "I'm Happy Just to Dance with You" (played by a band during the bike-riding scene)
    "You Can't Do That" (played as an instrumental during the Austrian Alps sequence)

The seven main songs formed the first side of the British release of the Help! album. The second half consisted of other new Beatles songs recorded at the same time.

Critical response

Critical opinion at the time of release was generally positive, but many critics feel that this big budget effort was not as strong as A Hard Day's Night. Leslie Halliwell describes it as an

    [e]xhausting attempt to outdo A Hard Day's Night in lunatic frenzy, which goes to show that some talents work best on low budgets. The humour is a frantic cross between Hellzapoppin', The Goons, Goofy, Mr. Magoo and the shade of Monty Python to come. It looks good but becomes too tiresome to entertain.

Allmovie's Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr. describes it as

    ... a forerunner to music videos. ... Lester seemed to find the right tone for Help!, creating an enjoyable portrait of the Beatles and never allowing the film to take itself too seriously. His style would later be co-opted by Bob Rafaelson [sic] for the Monkees' television series in the '60s and has continued to influence rock musicals like Spice World in 1998.

Novelisation

A novelisation entitled The Beatles in Help! was written by Al Hine and published by Dell in 1965.

A sequence featuring Frankie Howerd and Wendy Richard was filmed but left out of final editing owing to its length. However, the sequence was left in the film novelisation.

Release history

Like A Hard Day's Night, Help! was originally distributed theatrically by United Artists – the company handled distribution from 1965 to the end of 1980. In January 1981, rights to the movie reverted from UA to producer Walter Shenson, and the movie was withdrawn from circulation.

Help! was released several times in different video formats by MPI Home Video and The Criterion Collection. On VHS, a version was released during February 1987 through MPI, along with a reissue of A Hard Day's Night the very same day, and was followed by a special-edition release on 31 October 1995. MPI also issued a CLV laserdisc in 1995 and two releases on DVD, the first as a single DVD release on 12 November 1997 and the second as part of The Beatles DVD Collector's Set on 8 August 2000.

LaserDisc releases include a Criterion CAV laserdisc and a Voyager CLV laserdisc in 1987, each of which had three pressings. The first pressings had no UPC on the gatefold covers while the other two had the UPC either as a sticker or printed directly on the jacket.

The film's transfer on the CAV laserdiscs was done correctly so that no blending of frames occurs and thus movements are not blurry. The supplemental section, which, with few exceptions, has never been available on any other home video release, contains the following:

    original theatrical trailer (which includes deleted scenes)
    silent home movie footage of the film set and of the world premiere
    still photos, some of which are introduced by text describing the production history of the film
    posters
    sheet music
    record jackets
    radio ads (on audio during the silent footage)
    an open interview, originally designed for disc jockeys. By reading prompts on the screen, one can pretend to talk to the Beatles.

In June 2007, a version of Help!, sub-titled in Korean, became available on Amazon.com. However, by July 2007, all home video versions of the film were pulled from the market because of rights issues involving Apple Corps – now the full rights holders to the film. The rights issues were eventually resolved and Apple Corps/EMI/Capitol released a new double DVD version with a fully restored film negative and newly remixed in 2.0 stereo and 5.1 surround sound of the film. This came in standard 2xDVD packaging and 2xDVD deluxe edition box set on 30 October 2007 in the UK and 6 November 2007 in America. This latest release contains new featurettes, three trailers (one of which is in Spanish), and the aforementioned radio ads carried over from the Criterion LaserDisc issue.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help!_%28film%29

  That's all for now. I hope we don't need help anymore! 

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Stars / Parody movies (1955)

« on: January 05, 2012, 10:04:56 PM »

 Another 1955 parody movie is Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy

Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy is a 1955 film directed by Charles Lamont and starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello. It is also the 28th and final Abbott and Costello film produced by Universal Pictures.

Plot

Freddie Franklin (Lou Costello) and Peter Patterson (Bud Abbott) are Americans who are stranded in Cairo, Egypt. They happen to overhear Dr. Gustav Zoomer (Kurt Katch) discussing the mummy Klaris, the guardian of the Tomb of Princess Ara. Apparently the mummy has a sacred medallion that shows where the treasure of Princess Ara can be found. The Followers of Klaris, led by Semu (Richard Deacon), overhear the conversation along with Madame Rontru (Marie Windsor), a business woman interested in stealing the treasure of Princess Ara.

Pete and Freddie go to the doctor's house to apply for the position to accompany the mummy back to America. However, two of Semu's men, Iben (Mel Welles) and Hetsut (Richard Karlan), murder the doctor and steal the mummy just before Pete and Freddie arrive. However, the medallion has been left behind and is found by Pete and Freddie, who attempt to sell it. Rontru offers them $100, but Pete suspects it is worth much more and asks for $5,000, which Rontru agrees to pay. She tells them to meet her at the Cairo Café, where Pete and Freddie learn from a waiter that the medallion is cursed. They frantically try to give it to one another (the Slipping the Mickey routine from The Naughty Nineties), until it winds up in Freddie's hamburger and he swallows it. Rontru arrives and drags them to a doctor's office to get a look at the medallion under a fluoroscope. However, she cannot read the medallion's inscribed instructions, which are in hieroglyphics. Semu arrives, claiming to be an archaeologist, and offers to guide them all to the tomb. Meanwhile, Semu's followers have returned life to Klaris.

They arrive at the tomb, where Freddie learns of Semu's plans to murder them all. Rontru captures Semu, and one of her men, Charlie (Michael Ansara), disguises himself as a mummy and enters the temple. Pete follows suit by disguising himself as a mummy, and he and Freddie rescue Semu. Eventually all three mummies are in the same place at the same time, and the dynamite that Rontru intends to use to dig up the treasure detonates, killing Klaris and revealing the treasure. Freddie and Pete convince Semu to turn the temple into a nightclub to preserve the legend of Klaris and the three criminals who wanted to steal the treasure are presumably arrested.

Production

Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy was filmed from October 28 through November 24, 1954 and is the last film that Abbott and Costello made for Universal Pictures, although Universal released a compilation film of clips from their films, titled The World of Abbott and Costello in 1965.

Although Abbott and Costello were called "Pete and Freddie" in the script and in the closing credits, they used their real names onscreen during filming.

The day after filming completed, on November 25, 1954, Abbott and Costello arrived in New York City to ride on the first float of the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

In Universal's previous mummy films, the mummy was called "Kharis". In this film it is called "Klaris."

Stuntman Eddie Parker (billed as "Edwin") played Klaris the mummy. He had previously doubled Lon Chaney, Jr. as Kharis Universal's earlier Mummy films.

DVD releases

This film has been released three times on DVD. Originally released as single DVD on August 28, 2001, it was released twice as part of two different Abbott and Costello collections, The Best of Abbott and Costello Volume Four, on October 4, 2005, and again on October 28, 2008 as part of Abbott and Costello: The Complete Universal Pictures Collection.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbott_and_Costello_Meet_the_Mummy

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Other topics / Justin and Jessica

« on: January 05, 2012, 09:38:44 PM »

 I am wondering about Justin (Timberlake) and Jessica (Biel). I link about them: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1676742/justin-timberlake-jessica-biel-engaged.jhtml

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Stars / Parody movies (1955)

« on: January 05, 2012, 09:30:37 PM »

 A parody movie from 1955: Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops
 
 Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops is a 1955 film starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello.

After the film was completed, Universal wanted to rename it Abbott and Costello in the Stunt Men, because they did not consider the "Keystone Kops" to be relevant anymore. However, in October, 1954, the studio relented and agreed to use the "Keystone Kops" name.

Plot

Harry Pierce (Bud Abbott) and his friend, Willie Piper (Lou Costello), invest $5,000 in a motion picture studio. They are sold a deed to the Edison Studio by a con man, Joe Gorman (Fred Clark), who immediately leaves town with his girlfriend, Leota Van Cleef (Lynn Bari). The couple heads to Hollywood where he poses as a European director, Sergei Toumanoff, who plans to make a film starring Leota. Meanwhile, Harry and Willie pursue Gorman across the country in hopes of getting their money back after learning that the deed they purchased is worthless. They hop off a freight train near Los Angeles and stumble onto the set of the western film that Toumanoff happens to be directing. He is furious with the interruption, but the head of the movie studio, Mr. Snavely (Frank Wilcox), hires Harry and Willie because he is impressed with their "stunt work".

Toumanoff plots to dispose of Harry and Willie before they can learn his true identity, and he arranges for Willie to double for Leota during a dangerous airplane stunt. His cohort, Hinds (Maxie Rosenbloom), sabotages their parachute and arranges for live bullets to be fired from the other plane in the scene, but Harry and Willie manage to avoid harm. After viewing the film of the airplane stunt, Snavely decides that Harry and Willie would make a great comedy team, and assigns a visibly annoyed Toumanoff to direct them in a film. (Snavely is aware that Toumanoff is actually Gorman, and has arranged for everyone that has been swindled to get their money back if Toumanoff agrees, which he does). Gorman and Leota then go about robbing the studio safe of $75,000, but are discovered by Harry and Willie, who give chase. The studio's Keystone Kops are asked by Harry and Willie, who believe that they are real policemen, to assist in the chase. The Kops decide to play along, believing that they are on the same work team. The chase progresses onto the city streets before ending at an airport where the swindlers are finally captured. Unfortunately, the stolen money is blown away by the wind generated by the airplane's propeller.

Production

Filming ran from June 7 through July 9, 1954 and included cameos by Costello's daughter, Carole, as a theater cashier, Keystone Cops director Mack Sennett as himself, as well as three original Keystone Cops, Hank Mann, Heinie Conklin, and Herold Goodwin.

DVD releases

This film was released twice on DVD, on The Best of Abbott and Costello Volume Four, on October 4, 2005, and again on October 28, 2008 as part of Abbott and Costello: The Complete Universal Pictures Collection.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbott_and_Costello_Meet_the_Keystone_Kops

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Stars / Parody movies - Beat the Devil (1953)

« on: January 04, 2012, 11:58:17 PM »

 There is another 1953 parody movie: "Beat the Devil"


Beat the Devil is a 1953 film directed by John Huston. It was co-authored by Huston and Truman Capote, and loosely based upon a novel of the same name by British journalist and critic Claud Cockburn, writing under the pseudonym James Helvick. It was intended by Huston as a tongue-in-cheek spoof of his earlier masterpiece, The Maltese Falcon, and of films of its genre.

The script, which was written on a day-to-day basis as the film was being shot, concerns the adventures of a motley crew of swindlers and ne'er-do-wells trying to lay claim to land rich in uranium deposits in Kenya as they wait in a small Italian port to travel aboard an ill-fated tramp steamer en route to Mombasa. The all-star cast includes Humphrey Bogart, Jennifer Jones, Gina Lollobrigida, Robert Morley (playing the role that Sydney Greenstreet would have played had he still been acting), Peter Lorre and Bernard Lee (who was to gain widespread recognition with his appearances as "M" in the James Bond movies).

This Huston opus does not easily fit into the standard set of film categories; it has variously been classified as a "thriller," a "comedy," a "drama," a "crime" and a "romance" movie. It is above all else a parody of the Film Noir style[citation needed] that Huston himself had pioneered and as such has developed cult status in the ensuing years.

A quartet of international crooks -- Peterson, O'Hara, Ross and Ravello -- is stranded in Italy while their steamer is being repaired. With them are the Dannreuthers. The six are headed for Africa, presumably to sell vacuum cleaners but actually to buy land supposedly loaded with uranium. They are joined by others who apparently have similar designs.

Cast

    Humphrey Bogart as Billy Dannreuther
    Jennifer Jones as Mrs. Gwendolen Chelm
    Gina Lollobrigida as Maria Dannreuther
    Robert Morley as Peterson
    Peter Lorre as Julius O'Hara
    Edward Underdown as Harry Chelm
    Ivor Barnard as Maj. Jack Ross
    Marco Tulli as Ravello
    Bernard Lee as Insp. Jack Clayton
    Mario Perrone as Purser on SS Nyanga
    Giulio Donnini as Administrator
    Saro Urzì as Captain of SS Nyanga
    Aldo Silvani as Charles, Restaurant Manager
    Juan de Landa as Hispano-Suiza Driver


Reception

The movie was not well received critically (although it was to become a National Board of Review winner) and was to mark the closure of the "quest movies" period in Huston’s career. Despite its disappointing performance, Beat The Devil has gone on to garner mild cult status.

Humphrey Bogart never liked the movie, perhaps because he lost a good deal of his own money bankrolling it, and said of Beat the Devil, "Only phonies like it." Roger Ebert notes that the film has been characterized as the first camp movie. In the biographical film dramas Infamous (2006) and Capote (2005), Truman Capote, portrayed by Toby Jones and Philip Seymour Hoffman, reminisces about life during the filming of Beat the Devil.

Beat the Devil is in the public domain because of unrenewed copyright, and is freely available and distributed over the internet as seen below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beat_the_Devil

Edit - I'm sorry for my mistake. Now I think is alright. Good wishes to you parody movies!

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Stars / Parody movies (1953)

« on: January 04, 2012, 11:54:26 PM »

 Here is another one with a very interesting title about Jekyll and Hyde !

Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a 1953 comedy horror film directed by Charles Lamont and starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello, and co-starring Boris Karloff.

Loosely based on the novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, the film follows the story of two American detectives visiting Edwardian London who become involved with the hunt for Dr. Jekyll, who is responsible for a series of murders.

Plot

Slim (Bud Abbott) and Tubby (Lou Costello) are American cops in London studying police tactics. A newspaper reporter, Bruce Adams (Craig Stevens), gets into an altercation at Hyde Park that was instigated by Vicky Edwards (Helen Westcott), a suffragette. Bruce and Vicky wind up in jail, while Slim and Tubby are kicked off the police force. Dr. Henry Jekyll, Vicky's guardian, bails them out.

Jekyll has been conducting home experiments in which he injects a potion and transforms into Mr. Hyde, a monster who murders a fellow doctor when he scoffed at Jekyll's experiments. Jekyll has more thoughts of murder when he notices that Vicky and Bruce are mutually attracted. Tubby and Slim witness the doctor's shenanigans at a music hall, where they begin to chase him with Bruce at their side. Tubby traps Hyde in a wax museum, but by the time he brings the Inspector (Reginald Denny) and Slim to the scene, the monster has already reverted back to Dr. Jekyll. The "good" doctor then asks Slim and Tubby to escort him to his home, where Tubby drinks a potion that transforms him into a large mouse. Slim and Tubby bring news of Jekyll's activities to the Inspector, who refuses to believe them.

Vicky announces her engagement to Bruce and Mr. Hyde reemerges, this time with intent to murder Vicky. Bruce saves her, but Hyde escapes. Tubby accidentally falls onto a serum-filled syringe, transforming Tubby into a Hyde-like monster as well. Bruce chases after Hyde, while Slim pursues Tubby, each believing still that there is only a single monster. Bruce ends up back at Jekyll's home, where Hyde falls from an upstairs window to his death, revealing to everyone his true identity when he reverts to normal form. Slim then brings Tubby (still in monster form) to the Inspector. Before reverting to human form, Tubby bites the Inspector and four officers, transforming them into monsters who begin to chase Slim and Tubby.

Production

Filmed between January 26 and February 20, 1953, Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde received an "X" rating in Britain because of the scenes with Mr. Hyde. In these scenes, the transformed character of Mr Hyde is played by stuntman Eddie Parker, who remained uncredited, while Karloff plays the sole role of Dr. Jekyll.

Cast

    Bud Abbott as Slim
    Lou Costello as Tubby
    Boris Karloff as Dr. Henry Jekyll/Mr. Hyde
    Craig Stevens as Bruce Adams
    Helen Westcott as Vicky Edwards
    Reginald Denny as Inspector
    John Dierkes as Batley


DVD releases

This film has been released twice on DVD, on The Best of Abbott and Costello Volume Four, on October 4, 2005, and again on October 28, 2008 as part of Abbott and Costello: The Complete Universal Pictures Collection.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbott_and_Costello_Meet_Dr._Jekyll_and_Mr._Hyde

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Stars / Parody movies (1951)

« on: January 04, 2012, 11:20:54 PM »

Another parody movies is Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man
Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (also known as Bud Abbott Lou Costello Meet the Invisible Man (full screen title)) is a 1951 comedy horror film directed by Charles Lamont and starring the team of Abbott and Costello alongside Nancy Guild.

The film depicts the misadventures of Lou Francis and Bud Alexander, two private detectives investigating the murder of a boxing promoter. The film was part of a series in which the duo meet classic characters from Universal's stable, including Frankenstein, the Mummy and the Keystone Kops.

Plot

Lou Francis (Lou Costello) and Bud Alexander (Bud Abbott) have just graduated from a private detective school. Tommy Nelson (Arthur Franz), a middleweight boxer, comes to them with their first case. Tommy recently escaped from jail, after being accused of murdering his manager, and asks the duo to accompany him on a visit to his fiancée, Helen Gray (Nancy Guild). He wants her uncle, Dr. Philip Gray (Gavin Muir), to inject him with a special serum he has developed which will render Tommy invisible, and hopes to use the newfound invisibility to investigate his manager's murder and proved his innocence. Dr. Gray adamantly refuses, arguing that the serum is still unstable, but as the police arrive Tommy injects himself with it. Detective Roberts (William Frawley) questions Dr. Gray and Helen while Bud and Lou search for Tommy.

Helen and Tommy convince Bud and Lou to help them seek the real killer, after Tommy explains that the motive for the murder occurred after he refused to "throw" a fight, knocking his opponent out. Morgan (Sheldon Leonard), the promoter who fixed the fight, ordered Tommy's manager beaten to death while framing Tommy for the crime. In order to investigate undercover, Lou poses as a boxer, with Bud as his manager. They go to Stillwell's gym where Lou gets in the ring with Rocky Hanlon (John Day), the boxer who Tommy knocked out. Tommy, still invisible, gets into the ring with them and again knocks out Hanlon with the illusion that Lou did it, and an official match is arranged. Morgan urges Lou to throw the fight, but when the match occurs (with the aid of an invisible Tommy), Hanlon is knocked out yet again. Morgan plans Bud's murder which is thwarted by Tommy, who unfortunately is wounded in the battle. The protagonists rush to the hospital where a blood transfusion is arranged between Lou and Tommy. During the transfusion, Tommy becomes visible again. Unfortunately, some of Tommy's blood has apparently entered Lou,who briefly turns invisible, only to reappear with his legs on backwards.


Production

Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man was filmed between October 3 and November 6, 1950 and is a modified remake of the 1940 film The Invisible Man Returns. The character names of Abbott and Costello are Bud and Lou's real first and middle names.

The special effects, which depicted invisibility and other optical illusions, were created by David S. Horsley, who also did the special effects for The Invisible Man Returns, The Invisible Woman and Invisible Agent.

Cast

    Bud Abbott as Bud Alexander
    Lou Costello as Lou Francis
    Nancy Guild as Helen Gray
    Arthur Franz as Tommy Nelson
    Adele Jergens as Boots Marsden
    Sheldon Leonard as Morgan
    William Frawley as Detective Roberts
    Gavin Muir as Dr. Philip Gray
    Sam Balter as Radio announcer
    John Daheim as Rocky Hanlon
    Paul Maxey as Dr. James C. Turner
    James Best as Tommy Nelson (Franz's stand-in)


DVD releases

This film has been released twice on DVD, on The Best of Abbott and Costello Volume Three, on August 3, 2004, and again on October 28, 2008 as part of Abbott and Costello: The Complete Universal Pictures Collection.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbott_and_Costello_Meet_the_Invisible_Man

9

Stars / Re: Parody movies

« on: January 03, 2012, 12:59:45 AM »

Yes. Parody movies show must go on.

10

Stars / A parody movie

« on: January 03, 2012, 12:46:55 AM »

It was a parody movie. 

11

Stars / What are the parody movies?

« on: January 02, 2012, 10:07:10 PM »

  What are the parody movies? A parody film is a comedy that satirizes other film genres or films. Although the genre is often overlooked, parody films are commonly profitable at the box office.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parody_film
Because they are very funny, surprising, attractive and people like to watch this celebrity fun.

12

Stars / Parody movies

« on: January 02, 2012, 09:02:57 PM »

 Parody movies are so funny. And I want to make this topic for all parody movies admirers in the world. They will find here many information about these movies.