THE STORY OF "LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD" - Ray Harryhausen (1949)

Here's a bit of Wednesday Weirdness for you, one of a handful of classic tales that were made into stop-motion cartoons by one of the greatest talents in film history, Mr. Ray Harryhausen! My favourite Ray Harryhausen film will always be "The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad,"  but that's not to take away from all his other awesome work like "Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers," or "20 Million Miles To Earth," or "Mysterious Island," or "Jason And The Argonauts" etc. etc. etc.

Seven Credits! Es Todo! That's All! Amazing, and it's really only 5 or 6 because Jerome Wray was also Ray Harryhausen, and I don't think Cinesound counts either, so basically Ray did everything except the narration and the costumes!

Red's Mom says, "Just stay on the path!"

Red's thinking, "Too many rules!"

Looks like a Maxfield Parrish painting!

Red senses trouble! I see flying saucers landing in the background!

And what the heck is this place Ray?  It looks like Oz, or Xanadu in the background!

Oh, No, it's not aliens, it's a talking wolf! 

Why the wolf didn't eat Red right then and there is anybody's guess, that's the biggest mystery to me!

So the wolf goes directly to Grandma's house!

"Is anybody home?"

"Oh, No, It's a Wolf!"

I never have found the story of Little Red Riding Hood to be very credible!! 

"Grandma, what big teeth you have!" Really? And what about that wolfy breath? Grandma, can I get you a breath mint?  I think the part they never told you about this story is that Little Red Riding Hood is physically impaired, because she obviously can't see, hear, or smell!

That's as good of a "The End" as you're ever likely to see, and that's right where I'll leave you!

The SCI-FI And HORROR MOVIES Of MORRIS ANKRUM 1950-63

 Here's a post I've wanted to do for a long time. As far as I can tell, Morris Ankrum gets the medal for being in the most sci-fi and horror movies in the fifties! Check out this lineup, I've also included the three movies he did in the early sixties. Morris died in 1964 at age 67.

First off, ROCKETSHIP X-M from 1950 was the first sci-fi movie Morris appeared in, he was part of the team on Earth supporting the crew on their ill-fated journey to the Red Planet.

Then, in 1951, Morris stars as the Martian, Ikron, in FLIGHT TO MARS. Those brightly colored suits the Martians wore always tripped me out, what the Hell?!

Morris plays the Secretary of Defense in RED PLANET MARS from 1952. If you haven't seen this strange little flick, check it out when you get the chance.

Morris plays the Army Colonel in INVADERS FROM MARS in 1953, his fourth movie in a row dealing with the deadly red planet. Damn, Mars was a popular subject in the movies of the early fifties!

Then, in 1956, Morris appears as Brig. Gen. Hanley in EARTH vs. THE FLYING SAUCERS, another movie with invaders from Mars. I think Morris was always perfect as a military officer!

In 1957, Morris appears in his first horror movie of the fifties, ZOMBIES OF MORA TAU.

Morris is back to sci-fi in 1957 with KRONOS. He plays Dr. Stern and gets electrocuted big time after discovering the secrets of the possessed Dr. Eliot!

In THE GIANT CLAW from 1957, he plays Lt. Gen. Considine, and helps Jeff Morrow shoot the big old ugly space bird out of the sky!

Also in 1957, Morris appears in Mr. BIG's THE BEGINNING OF THE END as who else, General Hanson. Peter Graves works with him to stop the mutant locusts from taking over the world!

He appeared as Dr. Cleveland in GIANT FROM THE UNKNOWN, also from 1958. He gets to try and solve the mystery of why there's a giant roaming the mountains, killing people!

He then has the part of Police Capt. Hancock in the very fun HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER in 1958! I watched this Herman Cohen classic again over the weekend, a great little movie!

  In CURSE OF THE FACELESS MAN from 1958, Morris is the narrator for this little low-budget thriller. Saw this one with my neighbors back in the day.

Morris has the role of President Ulysses S. Grant in FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON in 1958.

He also had the role of Dr. Jordan in the Americanized version of the wild and weird HALF HUMAN in 1958, which also stars Dungeon Hero, John Carradine.

Then, in 1961, Morris has the role of police Capt. Davis in MOST DANGEROUS MAN ALIVE.

In 1962, he appears as The Archbishop in TOWER OF LONDON with Vincent Price.

Our last movie on the list is X: THE MAN WITH THE X-RAY EYES from 1963, Morris plays the uncredited Mr. Bowhead. Wow, what a monstrous list of great sci-fi and horror movies. My man, Morris Ankrum!!

F FOR FAKE - Orson Welles - "Truth And Lies" (1973)

Tonight's Super Saturday Night Special is Orson Welle's "F For Fake!" It's the best documentary made since Fellini's "Clowns!"..and possibly the best documentary ever made!

You will have to wonder, is this movie even real? And you might be right and you might be wrong, because the man behind the curtain pulling all the strings is the notorious.....

..................Orson Welles, the Joker, the Jester, and one of the best Prestidigitationers of all time!

"F For Fake" is a movie about fakes, forgers, hoaxes, and more, and because he's a freakin' genius, Orson ties all the stories together almost seamlessly!

World famous forger Elmyr de Hory explains that if you see a beautiful painting in a museum, why does it matter if Matisse painted it or if Elmyr painted it posing as Matisse, because the end result is the same, the viewer gets to see a great piece of art! Elmyr has a cool way of legitimizing everything he has ever done!

Elmyr is being interviewed for a book by the writer Clifford Irving, who is also known as a world famous faker because he was the author of a biography about Howard Hughes. The only problem was he never spoke to Howard Hughes once. Howard Hughes was such a recluse, Irving thought he'd never find out or notice!

So Orson is filming the faker and the forger, and mixing it all up with other freakin' fantastic phony stuff! Why is there a monkey in Clifford Irving's shoulder? Because the whole thing is happening on the island of Ibiza off the coast of Spain! (Although the IMDB says it was shot in France! Why would you expect anything to be what it is supposed to be?)

Elmyr quickly whips out a fake Matisse, claims it would be worth thousands of dollars, and then burns it!

There are so many great shots of Orson, I thought about just using the pictures of him, but this movie is too picturesque to do that!

I'm pretty sure it was Orson himself who drew this portrait of Howard Hughes!

Every night at some oddball hour in the dead of night, a courier leaves a small but perfectly wrapped package in a designated tree outside the Los Angeles home of Howard Hughes! What was in the bag? A ham sandwich that very rarely got consumed! That's right, WTF!?

I just love these shots of vintage Las Vegas!

While incinerating, I  mean iterating his own hoax on the world, Orson used footage from the movie "Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers" instead of "War Of The Worlds," contractual problems, or just more deliberate confusion? The latter I'm sure!

"F For Fake" is credited as Orson Welle's last full length film, but he continued to act etc. until his death in 1985! Orson was looking good! Compare this picture to the way he looked in "Touch Of Evil" some 15 years earlier! It doesn't even look like the same guy!

Clifford Irving ended up spending 17 months behind bars for his little escapade into deceit!

"F For Fake" has more than it's share of eye candy footage, you might get a sugar spike watching it, like here's one sample, and......

........Here's another!

And then there's the story about the trombone player...........

.....................Oja Kodar, The mysterious girl.......................

.................and Picasso!

Orson Welles is, was, and will always simply be one of the best!

Fake, real, or just tomfoolery?  It doesn't really matter because Orson is entertaining, no matter what!
"F For Fake" is a Fabulist, Faburden, Facinorous, Factious, Fadoodle, Fain, Falsidical Farrago! Fuckin' A!