RANDOM WORDS AND RANDOM MEMORIES

FROM WEEK 1
Hope you were able to watch Corridor of Mirrors – it was a very stylish piece of film making. A key scene took place in a waxworks, which set me to thinking about other films that have featured them. In 1924, there was a very good expressionist horror film (called Waxworks) directed by Paul Leni. He died tragically young from blood poisoning in 1929, after he had gone to Hollywood; otherwise, his work might well have eclipsed that of Tod Browning. The Mystery of the Wax Museum (1932) is a good early work of Michael Curtiz (Casablanca) and a good use of two-colour Technicolor. House of Wax (1953), with Vincent Price, was the most successful 3D film of the decade and is still classier than the 2004 update. Not so good is Chamber of Horrors (1966), which needed the gimmicks of a Tony Curtis cameo and the sounding of a “Horror Horn” just before a scary bit so you could close your eyes! It is still a better film, however, than Waxworks (1988) and Waxworks II (1992) – these should be avoided! 
FROM WEEK 2
Robinson Crusoe has always attracted the attention of film makers, although not remotely comparable to Sherlock Holmes in frequency, for example. Stanley Baker did a two hour BBC production in 1974 and Pierce Brosnan took on the role in a 1998 release that was not well received. Probably the best critical reception was for The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe in 1952, for which Daniel O’Herlihy was nominated for an Oscar. The director was the legendary Luis Bruñel – this film plus Wuthering Heights the next year, might be considered unusual projects for him! I have very fond memories of the 13-part serial The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe that was first transmitted by the BBC in 1965, and that seemed to be on in every school holiday thereafter. It is available on DVD from Network and holds up very well. Robinson Crusoe of Clipper Island (Republic’s only 14 chapter serial, released in 1936) starred Mala (as Mala) and I don’t think Daniel Defoe would have recognised it as his work, had he gone to see it!