Monster of the Day #3497

Updated on October 30, 2023 By Ken Begg 16 Comments

So we were down to the last two movies. We’ve taken to showing a classic film at each fest. We’d already showed Alice in Wonderland, but that was more a curiosity.  So I showed one of my favorite films (and my second favorite William Powell film) The Thin Man. To my relief, everyone really liked it, although there’s no reason they shouldn’t. It’s great.

Then for our final T-Rex Movie, we showed Fred Olen Ray’s The Phantom Empire. It doesn’t raise the peaks of his classic Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers, but it’s an amiable flick that clearly had a bit more of budget than he usually had. It has all the Ray trademarks, save nudity. The B-Movie veteran cast is expansive, and probably his best, including Ross Hagen, Sybil Danning (in exactly the kind of outfit you’d expect–no nudity, but lots of cheesecake), Jeffrey Combs, Robert “Count Yorga” Quarry, Michelle Bauer and Russ Tamblyn. A throwback–as the title would suggest–to the crazy serials of the ’40s, the film has Morlocks and dinosaurs (courtesy, I think, of stock footage from Dinosaur Planet) and a cameo from a retrofitted Robby the Robot and a funky hovercar vehicle from something or other. It doesn’t transcend the sum of it’s parts, but the parts were pretty good.

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  • KeithB

    Per “The Thin Man”, can you make a drinking game about a movie that is already a drinking game?

  • 🐻 bgbear_rnh

    The Thin Man book is really great as well.

  • The Rev.

    Ken’s always talked about his love of The Thin Man, so it was great to finally see it. And it was fantastic fun.

    The Phantom Empire was a good time, although I think I liked it more than most (not that anyone hated it, I think). But I also find that Fred Olen Ray’s movies generally sit better with me than most other schlock filmmakers. After Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers, I think either this or Deep Space is my favorite of his. But Ken is correct, the footage was definitely from Planet of the Dinosaurs; not a lot of films with a stop-motion Rhedosaurus, after all.

    Amusingly, the one actress fooled some of us by bearing a pretty close resemblance to Michelle Bauer, enough that we were happy that she’d gotten a chance to keep her clothes on and act for a change. Then the cavewoman showed up, screaming and grunting and falling out of her tiny outfit, and we were all like, “Oh, never mind, there’s Michelle, whoopsie!” And bless her for it.

  • kgb_san_diego

    You can make a drinking game about ANYTHING. So, yes. But do not try to match Myrna Loy or William Powell. Modern livers are not adapted to their rate.

    And yes, The Thin Man is not just great, it is all-time great. The sequels unfortunately conform to Ken’s Rule of Sequels.

  • The Thin Man is damn near perfect. So is Myrna Loy.

  • 🐻 bgbear_rnh

    “After the Thin Man” is pretty good. Another Thin man based on a continental op story stayed solid. Took awhile to jump the shark.

  • The greatest factor to the detriment of the sequels is that all but the original were made after the enforcement of the Production Code became mandatory. All suffer from having Nick and Nora’s (particularly Nora’s) personalities and adventures toned down to meet the censors’ demands.

  • Rock Baker

    I’ve been sometimes unable to leave comment, but I did want to thank you for Friday’s pic. I’d seen that same shot used in an episode of Muppet Babies and I wanted to know what it was from. Now I know. Thanks!

  • Eric Hinkle

    I may have to watch The Thin Man sometime. My sister is a fan of the series and I think she has a few of the films on DVD.

  • Gamera977

    I saw ‘The Thin Man’ years ago, great film, can’t argue!

    Haven’t seen ‘The Phantom Empire’ though.

  • Gamera977

    I did watch ‘Curse of the Undead’ 1959 over the weekend. On Ken’s review of ‘Billy the Kid vs. Dracula’ Rodford Smith listed it as a actual good horror/supernatural western. It’s not a fantastic movie or anything but it is solid. It’s just a competent idea of what would happen if a vampire gunslinger were running around in a western film.

    It’s on Amazon Prime if anyone wants to give it a shot.

  • Ken_Begg

    After the Thin Man, the second sequel, is pretty good–although obviously not a patch on the first one. But that’s a HIGH bar. After that…the Charles’ have their kid, and because of that the movies radically tone down the drinking, which kind of took some of the wind out of the series’ sails. Still, all five films are watchable at worst, thanks to Powell and Loy.

    I remember getting to see all five movies on a Saturday back when Chicago had revival theaters. Man, I miss those.

  • Ken_Begg

    In the last scene of The Thin Man, when Nick and Nora are on the train and clearly about to do the deed, Loy is wearing a thin silk top and her nipples are readily apparent. Jane is right, the couple’s sexiness (and again, the drinking) were way turned down after the second film. There was, for instance, a lot more focus on Asta’s antics.

  • Ken_Begg

    Yes, my face blindness fooled me again.

  • Eric Hinkle

    I did like the idea of the vampire using his invulnerability to become an (almost) unbeatable gunslinger. Plus the little conversation between him and the preacher was actually pretty good. And the fact that they used a classic origin for him rarely seen in film. Like you said, nothing great but it’s good.

  • Gamera977

    I too loved the spiel between him and the preacher. Only thing I didn’t really like was that I assumed the vampire had started the whole feud Yojimbo-like in order to profit from the chaos. Then to find out it was the two hot-heads that were behind it all and the vampire was just capitalizing from it. Still a neat film!