Post by Salzmank on Oct 12, 2018 17:23:42 GMT
Beneath the Planet of the Apes was trying for a Roman epic feeling (the steam bath scene comes to mind). Yeah, Roddy McDowall's absence hurts though I assume if he had been in it, it would still have been written as it was.
I think the Vietnam parallels was very heavy handed.
Finally watched THE MUMMY (1932) and CAT PEOPLE (1942). Both I had known of quite well since the mid 70s yet never saw in complete form.
I am convinced Karl Freund should have directed Dracula.
David Manners claimed that he did, and his claims have been repeated over and over again, but that claim was never supported by anyone else; Lugosi, for example, always said it was Browning behind the camera. Dracula, one of my favorite Universal horrors, has always seemed to me like the work of both—Freund’s mood and atmospherics, Browning’s story-structure (Everson noted insightfully that Browning movies always have evocative openings and then grow weaker and more claustrophobic as the story progresses) and old carny trickery (those armadillos in particular).
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I’m a fan of Beneath the Planet of the Apes, mostly because it’s the only sequel that really looks and feels like the original (actually, its story is pretty much identical). As you say, McDowall’s absence hurts it, though David Watson’s impression isn’t bad. James Gregory is a hoot as the General, and I like how we get to see more of the Forbidden Zone. Heston is wasted, which is disappointing, but apparently he wanted it that way, and the ending is a huge anticlimax. But I do like it.