Midnight Movie Mania

Plan 9 for Weekend Viewing ... - Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter

Miscellany

Today’s blog will bring two movie mini-reviews which were viewed on my fun new toy -- the ROKU 2 streaming video box. It’s similar in appearance to an Apple TV box, but even smaller. I’ll reserve anymore ROKU commentary for a future article, there’s a lot to report on. I also got real and put my VCR in the Good Will giveaway pile. Haven’t watched a video cassette in @ 4 years and that was a pretty grainy, low-res experience. Most of my old video cassettes went into File 13… no big losses there. Enough chit-chat, now let’s cover our movies…

Plan 9 from Outer Space

1959’s sci-fi movie Plan 9 received a lot of publicity when Tim Burton did a biography of its director, Ed Wood, back in the 1990’s. Plan 9 was billed by many as “the worst movie ever made” and it was the punching bag for aspiring film critics everywhere. With its cheesy props, non-sequitur WWII stock film insertions, and loopy dialog it would be difficult to elevate Plan 9 to Oscar level status.

The plot is about outer space aliens who land on Earth and reanimate recently dead Earthlings into zombies (or “ghouls”). The alien goal is to scare humans into discontinuing a new solar technology that could destroy the universe. The aliens look like humans in fast food uniforms. Some of the props (gravestones, spaceship portals) appear to be cardboard and it’s a known fact that the flying saucer itself was a toy suspended by a string. Plan 9 was filmed over 5 days on what must have been a $1000 budget. Leftover footage of the late Bela Lugosi was used as a basis for Plan 9. Lugosi and Vampira were the two “stars” of the movie.

Before writing it off as the worst movie ever, I’d question the director’s overall goal and the effects (intended or otherwise) on the audience. The fact is that the movie now has people rolling on the floor, laughing their asses off. That by itself makes it much better than “worst”. A truly bad movie is one where you click stop after 5 minutes and don’t come back. Some intrepid viewers have even suggested that Plan 9 actually has a good message alluding to nuclear weapons although that’s a stretch.

I actually think Plan 9 could be remade… I would have John Waters direct it and cast people like Mink Stole or Pee Wee Herman. John Goodman could play the role of Tor Johnson. You could put some new spin on the cheesy effects and play it all for laughs – you might need to goose the dialog just a little bit. You could also go a different direction and have David Lynch direct it. You could play up the surreal, nonsensical aspects of it – Lynch is the master of that. I heartily recommend Plan 9 from Outer Space as a movie for anyone studying the film industry or film history. It’s really a gem that should be polished and appreciated.

She Done Him Wrong

I also watched 1933’s She Done Him Wrong with Mae West and Cary Grant as a very young man. I probably haven’t watched a feature-length Mae West film since I was a kid. This movie has her playing Lady Lou, a Gay 90’s dance hall siren who’s wronged her boyfriend by seeing other men while he’s serving time. Mae West is positively magnetic and owns every scene – star power magnified by ten. She sings “Frankie and Johnnie” and "Easy Rider” – numbers that make the movie worthwhile by themselves. Some of her lines I recall ..

“Come up and see me some time” (a classic, said to Cary Grant)
“Honey I was so poor.. at one point I didn’t know where my next husband was coming from”’
“When a woman goes wrong, a man goes right behind her”.

Mae West was fantastic – sort of a smart-aleck spitfire Dolly Parton of yesteryear. She was a prime asset to Hollywood, and a thorn in the side of censors at the time.

So there you have two reviews in one. Both movies make us realize that black-and-white “Midnight movies” of times past can still inform us, amuse us and mesmerize us. You don’t need high tech, car explosions or high definition 3-D to be thoroughly entertained.

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