Friday then passed without any more monster action. Next we watched The Chapman Report, a 1962 social drama about four women who participate in a *gasp* Kinsey-esque sex survey. Jane Fonda is the frigid one, Shelley Winters is the wife stifled by her unsatisfying suburban life who has an affair (with sleazeball Ray Danton!), Claire Bloom is the tragic nympho–although in the end she always tries to back out, so I thought she was a bit too much like the Frigid one–and Glynis Johns is an airheaded arty ditz who comes off best because she’s the comic “relief”, although frankly the drama was tepid enough that little relief was necessary. However, her affectionate husband was played by the great John Dehner, so that was nice. Director George Cukor, an old Hollywood pro known as a woman’s director, did his stars little good by having (particularly) Winters and Fonda overact the supposed pathos. It’s no Magificent Obsession (oh, if only Douglas Sirk had directed this!) or Reflections in a Golden Eye, but it had it’s moments. Plus it’s been sitting on my shelf forever so it was good to finally watch it.
The rest of the day we watch Buster Keaton, starting with his classic Civil War train picture The General, and then watching the shorts The Playhouse and Cops. After that the Petersens arrived and we had dinner (Chad ran out and picked up What-A-Burger for everyone) and yakked.
Saturday was the Fest proper. We started with the Corman Fantastic Four, which is cheap and amateurish but still had a certain charm about it. There’s a great documentary on it called Doomed!, I think it’s still available on Amazon Prime.
Then we watched Dr. Satan, a Mexican black and while flick about a not particularly big time criminal who also has a pact with (a pretty cool backlit) Devil. Oddly, he still seemed to think his counterfeiting was his biggest deal. It had a real goofy charm, and we got our first running bit. Dr. Satan kept calling his Evil Master for weirdly small potato issues, and as you’d expect we ran with it. “King of Evil! Hear me! I have misplaced my TV remote! I beseech thee, King of Evil! Find it for me! And maybe put some new batteries in it!” This one was Sandy’s and it’s pretty great if you like this sort of thing. The image on the print on YouTube is regrettably soft, but it’s still worth a look.
