DR. PYCKLE AND MR. PRYDE - "Diabolically Hilarious" (1925)

 

A few years ago, I did a write up titled "Over 100 Years of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Variations," but somehow I recently found out that there was a glaring omission from 1925 called "Dr. Pyckle And Mr. Pryde" that starred the phenomenal Stan Laurel, so that's what this Weird Wednesday is all about. 

I don't know why this title card says Mr. Pride instead of Mr. Pryde.

 

It's difficult trying to know about every film ever made, so thank the Lord, I have my editor to root some of this stuff out for me!

For anybody out there who thinks they just couldn't possibly watch a black and white or silent film, this short movie should change your mind real quick. It's fast paced and hilarious!

Julie Leonard is the good Doctor's lovely assistant. Julie started her career in 1921, and has 23 acting credits. This was the second to the last of her films.

When I was first told about this movie, I thought maybe Stan the Doctor would turn into an Ollie Hyde, but this was a solo feature for Stan Laurel. Although Laurel and Hardy did appear together in a film in 1921 called "The Lucky Dog," it wasn't until 1931 and a film called "Pardon Us," that they appeared for the first time together as a comedy team.

 

Fight the Devil, Doctor, you can do it! 

But of course he'll drink it anyway, or we wouldn't have a story!

In this movie, you really get a chance to see another side to Stan Laurel, and the depth of his acting abilities! He was truly incredible!

"Dr. Pyckle And Mr. Pryde" is 21 minutes long, and was shot on the back lot at Universal Studios.

Mr. Pryde reminded me a lot of "The Creep." He's a quite loathsome character who is actually sillier than Hell. In this scene, he steals this kid's ice cream cone. Now that's mean!

 

Mr. Pryde is fairly pleased with himself!

Oops!

For his next stunt, Mr. Pryde pulls out his trusty pea shooter!

Aw, quit your sniveling, it didn't hurt that bad!

After that incident, Mr. Pryde is chased back to his laboratory where he quickly reverts back to the much more pleasant Dr. Pyckle again.

But it doesn't take long for him to get back to his nefarious and devious actions again such as blowing a party blow-out in this woman's face!

Mr. Pryde scares this lady so bad, after he sneaks up behind her, and pops a paper bag! What diabolical act is he not capable of?

Mr. Pryde gets caught when he's trying to hide behind this pole, so he hands this gentleman a gift as a distraction.

The gift turns out to be a dastardly Chinese Finger Trap, also sometimes known as Chinese Handcuffs.

The Chinese Finger Trap dates back to the early 6th century BC, when Lao Tzu, used the device to thwart invaders. They've been sold in novelty shops for years, and still delight kids to this day!

 

After all those horrendous acts, Mr. Pryde must once again revert back his normal dull self.

As the local denizens descend on his doorway, Dr. Pyckle notices that he's starting to change back to Mr. Pryde, but without taking the transformation potion!

Mr. Pryde then turns his attention to his assistant, who promptly hits him over the head with a bottle, and the movie is over!

I highly suggest you take the time to watch this wonderful film from 97 years ago, and to make it that much easier for you, here's one of the places you can see it for free!

MERRIE MELODIES / "Falling Hare" - 1943

Here's a great Bugs Bunny cartoon, it's directed by Bob Clampett, written by Warren Foster, with voices by Mel Blanc and Bob Clampett, Mel doing Bugs and Bob doing the gremlin!!

Bugs is on an airfield, relaxing and reading a book.

He's learning all about how rabbits have contributed to the victories in the war against Germany and Japan...

He gets to a segment in the book about gremlins, who wreck planes with their diabolical acts of sabotage. That makes him chuckle to himself... Gremlins!

But when one of them tries to use a mallet on a blockbuster bomb to no avail, Bugs offers to help the little guy out. He takes the mallet, winds up, swings and comes within an inch of hitting the bomb before he realizes what he's doing. Bugs grabs a big wrench and chases the little troublemaker.

Of course Bugs is the one that gets conked on the head. When he asks the gremlin... Which way did he go, George?.. The little guys says... He went that-a-way! Bugs thanks him and then falls flat on his face.

After shaking off the conk on the head, Bugs chases the gremlin into the plane.

The gremlin ducks out of the plane, starts the engines, and pushes the wheels until the plane takes off into the wild blue yonder...

Bugs tries to get to the gremlin (on the outside) by busting down the door, but the little guy opens the door instead, and Bugs rushes out into thin air. That's how Bugs feels after he realizes what he's done!

Bugs rushes back inside the plane only to slip and slide his way back out the other door!

The little gremlin menace is now flying the plane, and it's like he's trying to wreck it. So, Bugs grabs the controls and does his own insane maneuvers, until...

The plane goes into a nose dive and starts streaking toward the ground below.

As Bugs turns green from air sickness, the gremlin calmly plays with a yo-yo!

And the freaking ground just keeps getting closer!

Bugs makes the best faces in this one!

And wouldn't you know it! They ran out of gas!!.. This is one of the best cartoons to come out of Termite Terrace!

KOMMISSAR X - DREI BLAUE PANTHER - "Kill Panther Kill" (1968)

"Kommissar X - Drei Blaue Panther" was the third of five Kommissar X movies that had three shades of animals in the title. In 1966, it was Three Yellow Cats, 1967, it was Three Green Dogs, and in 1968, it was this Saturday Night Special feature about Three Blue Panthers. To round it out, there were Three Golden Serpents in 1969, and Three Red Tigers in 1971.

In English, only "The Three Golden Serpents" used that info in the title. This one is close because it at least mentioned a panther, but the titles of the other three are "Death Is Nimble, Death Is Quick," "Death Trip," and "FBI Operation Pakistan."

The people who made these Kommissar X films are smart, and they use locations where they can get cool shots for free. "Kill Panther Kill" was filmed in Canada. A lot of the early footage was shot at the Calgary Stampede, a celebration that has been going on since 1912. These days it's billed as "The Biggest Outdoor Show On Earth," and will open this year on July 8.

 

This float cracked me up, and all I could think of was............

.............A giant Hostess Snowball!

I just had to include this shot of Miss Pot O' Gold. 

Following the parade, they have a huge rodeo, an

event that is still one of the highlights of this ten day celebration!

Brad Harris is Captain Tom Rowland, and Tony Kendall is Jo Walker. They have a complicated relationship. They are like best friends, but they don't like each other getting involved in their business, so they fight and argue a lot. The Captain is from Los Angeles, but he's in Canada working on a case. Jo Walker works for an insurance company, and is trying to retrieve stolen jewelry in the same case.

Austrian born Hannelore Auer has the role of Jo Walker's girlfriend/secretary Betty Rogers. She was also in "Three Golden Serpents" as one of Jo's girlfriends.

In the sixties, Hannelore Auer was a popular singer in Germany. She was married to Austrian prince Alfred von Auersperg for eleven years, and after their divorce, she married German singer Heino, to whom she has been married ever since.

577477 has escaped from jail and is headed back to Canada to get the jewels he left with his twin brother years earlier.

Wow! They had a rocket pack demonstration at the rodeo. Pretty cool for 1968!

Even though he's north of the border, Jo Walker shows up in disguise as somebody from south of the border to try and blend in with the western festivities.

From Calgary, the action moves to Montreal, and a shot of the Biosphere, which was donated to Canada by President Lyndon B. Johnson after the the Expo 67 ended.

Dirty bastard 577477 kills his twin brother, and assumes his identity so he can find out where the jewels are.

Jo Louis Walker, sometimes also known as Kommissar X, starts putting all the pieces together after reading about brothers Cain and Abel in a Bible that a nice lady gave him.

Sometimes they are at each other's throats, and sometimes you just can't separate these two.

Here are the three panthers in question, and inside is the key to the jewels.

You just know that they are going to use each and every object you see in this shot, and indeed they do!

This is what villains see most of the time when they mess with the Captain and the Kommissar!

 

Somebody finally gets to the location of the jewels, and of course, this is what they find instead, a picture of Kommissar X.

The bottom line is that every Kommissar X film I've seen so far has been fun to watch, and are always full of shots like this!

Not much of a surprise that Jo's got the key! 

There's no reason for me to tell you how it all works out, because you can see for yourself right

HERE!