tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5825429179234380868.post7867103033974798511..comments2024-03-25T21:59:05.113-07:00Comments on 13: DRUMS OF FU MANCHU - "CRUEL, INSIDIOUS IN HIS MAD SCHEME TO CONQUER ASIA!" (1940)Eegah!! and Tabonga!http://www.blogger.com/profile/05260131201716267229noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5825429179234380868.post-88818204995327517952012-11-05T16:15:54.422-08:002012-11-05T16:15:54.422-08:00Chaykin insulted my art at that Comic Con, too - t...Chaykin insulted my art at that Comic Con, too - the jerk!TABONGA!noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5825429179234380868.post-56339462591641158222012-11-05T14:09:11.405-08:002012-11-05T14:09:11.405-08:00I thought Bakersfield was the Bakersfield of Los A...I thought Bakersfield was the Bakersfield of Los Angeles. (Actually, in Hitchcock's <i>Psycho</i>, Studio City "plays" Bakersfield, which I guess means Studio City is the Bakersfield of Los Angeles, so Mr. Chaykin knows less than he thinks.)<br /><br />Chartsworth was good enough to be Smallville for Kirk Alyn (In Chapter One of <i>Superman</i>, Kirk Alyn catches the train for Metropolis at the " Atsworth" train station), to be "The Old West" to everything from <i>The Lone Ranger</i> to <i>Circus Boy</i>, to be The Stone Age for Buster Keaton and Laurel & Hardy. It was good enough to be Macedonia in <i>Serpent of the Nile</i>, the low-budget spectacle directed by William Castle in 1953 in which Raymond Burr plays Mark Antony and Rhonda Fleming plays Cleopatra. Now there is a movie that has to be seen to be disbelieved. (I think Castle's gimmick for this movie was "Historical Inaccuracio".) In that movie, Macedonia, Italy and Egypt all look exactly like China, that is to say, Chatsworth.<br /><br />I'm embarrassed to be the same age as Howard Chaykin.Douglas McEwannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5825429179234380868.post-3952173495965749882012-11-04T11:54:24.079-08:002012-11-04T11:54:24.079-08:00Busted again! You're absolutely correct, the p...Busted again! You're absolutely correct, the platform was being raised, I forgot about that detail, I'll blame my new meds! Chapters 5 and 6 were the two I liked the best out of the bunch! Funny story I'll never forget about Chatsworth, I was at the San Diego Com Con one year waiting to get an autograph from arrogant comics artist Howard Chaykin, and when the person getting the autograph told him he was from Chatsworth, Howard said quite condescendingly that Chatsworth was the Bakersfield of Los Angeles! I walked away at that point!Eegah!! and Tabonga!https://www.blogger.com/profile/05260131201716267229noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5825429179234380868.post-7706107838372586752012-11-04T11:39:42.871-08:002012-11-04T11:39:42.871-08:00"for me, once the action moves to Asia, I sta..."for me, once the action moves to Asia, I started to lose interest."<br /><br />And by "Asia," I assume you mean Chatsworth. That "China" was so obviously Chatsworth, with Fu and his cohorts chasing each other around the same rocks the Lone Ranger always used to ride around, I got more interested. Perhaps it's because I live about two miles from Chatsworth. Fu is in the neighborhood!<br /><br />Actually in "The Pendulum of Doom," I was suprised to notice that the pendulum is <i><b>not</b></i> an ever-lowering massive blade! In fact, a close view of the scene reveals that the pendulum stays fixed in place, and a dacoit, using apparently a tire-jack, raises the platform Allan Parker is strapped towards the pendulum, the only time I've ever seen that approach used. (And we gotta give Fu credit; he credits Poe with the device, rather than pass it off as one of his own inventions.)<br /><br />But for me, the highlight of the entire serial comes in Chapter 5 with the appearance of Dwight Frye. Seeing Renfield in a fist-fight with dacoits is a real treat.Douglas McEwannoreply@blogger.com