OMNIBUS - "Whistle And I'll Come To You" (1968)

 

This week's Saturday Night Special was an interpretation of a short story by classic ghost story author M.R. James titled "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad"

 

"Omnibus" was a British TV show that was on the air from 1967 to 2003, that specialized in presenting documentaries with an emphasis on music and the arts. Over the years they have had everybody on the show from Pink Floyd, Debbie Harry, and Prince, to Orson Welles, Ray Bradbury, and Ken Russell. Tonight's program is an odd one, and is an actual fictional ghost story written by M. R. James, and not a documentary, something they rarely did. I guess they were just trying to spotlight his work!

 

"Whistle And I'll Come" is  almost a one man show, and stars Michael (Theater Of Blood) Hordern as that one man, an intellectual olde codger named Professor Parkins. The story was redone in 2010 as a TV movie starring John Hurt.

 

The Professor is taking a few days off and staying at this rustic inn in Norfolk in The Bristish Isles!

Since this was an educational show, we get to watch two British birds make a bed in real time.

That's George (Horror Of Dracula) Woodbridge as the proprietor strolling down the aisle to meet his new guest. George has a muttering, almost undecipherable style, right out of the Stanley Unwin school of acting.

"Whistle And I'll Come" and the main character Professor Parkins are both odd, and a lot of the action either doesn't exist, is understated, or moves at a snail's pace. The run time is only 42 minutes, and there are at least five 'eating' scenes where basically nothing happens. You'll be on the edge of your seat waiting for the next bite, or something to break loose, but this is not that kind of story.

Seemingly, most people come to this area to play golf, but the Professor is not one of them. He just wants to go for long walks on the beach, and to explore the local cemetery.

The Professor finds a grave in the most peculiar place, right on the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean!

Looking closer, the Professor finds an object that turns out to be an olde whistle. Naturally he retrieves it, unnaturally, he shouldn't have!

Now it appears someone or some thing is following him, but it never gets any closer than this.

Back in his room, the Professor cleans up the whistle, finds an inscription on it, and gives it a little toot!

Now it's time for another meal, and some very rambling conversation with another one of the guests.

The Professor then goes on another walk, stops and eats a sandwich, drinks a pint, and does a little reading. You can only imagine how exciting it is to watch a person read.

Slowly, and I mean slowly, things start to happen that make the Professor uncomfortable, and he's starting to have problems sleeping.

Then the dreams start up!

And linger on way past waking!

There is a very odd occurrence; a bed with a bunch of rumpled sheets appears in the Professor's room, and neither he nor the staff seem to have any knowledge of how it got there.

Finally, one night an apparition appears, and moves around in the sheets of the strange bed, and scares the living crap out of the Professor.

 

The Professor is emotionally scarred by the whole situation, and will never be the same man again, and that's it. That's how real ghost stories work!

CHILLY WILLY / "The Legend Of Rockabye Point" - 1955

Here's another March Madness Cartoon... This one's directed by Tex Avery and was written by good old Michael Maltese. We all love Chilly Willy.

The Captain of a fishing boat tells us the story of the strange voice you can hear through the fog, someone singing "Rock-A-Bye Baby!"

The tale begins with his ship bringing in a fresh catch of Blue Fin Tuna.

After the ship docks, there's a competition between a polar bear and Chilly Willy to get the fish. No matter what the bear does to get rid of Chilly, the little guy beats him up the plank every time.

Finally the bear gets up the plank before Chilly and he runs into the galley without reading the signs, big mistake!

After the dog is asleep, the bear sneaks into the galley again...

Chilly uses pepper to make the bear sneeze and wake the vicious dog up.

Every time the dog gets woken up, the bear has to sing him 'Rock-A-Bye Baby" which puts him right back to sleep. Then the bear can try to get his hands on those tasty fish again.

Chilly comes up with interesting ways to make noise and confuse the bear. Tex Avery wrote all the gags in this one.

In this attempt, Chilly moves the dog so that the bear trips over it, waking it up of course.

So then Chilly pushes a big anvil off the deck, the bear sees it coming and blocks it from hitting the dog... It even drives him into the floor!

My favorite still.

Chilly sticks a clarinet in the dog's mouth, so the bear runs over with sheet music and plays the lullaby, and when the dog is just asleep, Chilly changes the sheet music to a march or something. 

Finally fed up, the bear grabs a bag full of fish, jumps into a motor boat and lands on a tall iceberg, then climbs all the way to the top.

And when he empties the bag, what do think he finds?..

The Captain finishes by telling us that this has been going on for the last twenty years!

Now old friends, the dog says, could you sing it to me one more time, Charlie...

MIGHTY MOUSE - "The Jail Break" (1946)

Tonight's Weird Wednesday Featurette is a pretty cool Mighty Mouse cartoon from 1946 called "The Jail Break."

This is actually a pretty legitimate depicture of Alcatraz Island!

If you're ever in San Francisco, go visit the island, it's a lot cleaner than downtown!

They only housed the worst of the worst including Frankenstein..............

...................And Dracula! I wonder how Universal felt about it!

But here he is, the baddest of the bad, the worst of them all, the incorrigible Bad Bill Bunion!

His trusty steed comes to his rescue, bringing Bill a bagful of guns!

Bill literally shoots his way out of the place!

And makes a dramatic swan dive to freedom!

I'll tell you what, that's one damn fine horse Bill has got!

Not content with just escaping, Bill is so bad he taunts his pursuers too!

Further proof that this is the most evil man on the planet, he steals free food, and.......

............He steals a piggy bank from an innocent baby!

Bill comes up with an even more devious plan!

He rides out onto the field and steals the ball right in the middle of the Army-Navy game!

Well, that's the last straw, and now they send in The Army........

..................The Air Force....................

............and The Navy!!!

But Bill is just too tough! Is there nothing that can stop him??

Oh, yeah, did you almost forget this was a Mighty Mouse cartoon?

This cartoon is seven minutes long, and it's not until after four minutes that they finally bring our hero in. It just shows you how bad that Bill fellow really was!

Mighty Mouse saves the day once again, and returns the retrieved ball, and the game can continue! Thank the Lord for heroes, even small ones!